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shinydelirium · 4 years

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Kiro’s R&S: Lonely (Season 2 Chapters, 2-5) Translation [CN]

***WARNING!!! THIS POST CONTAINS CONTENT THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET ON EN SERVER!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!***

This is a translation from Kiro’s R&S for Season 2, Chapters 2-5. Just to let everyone know, I do not know any Chinese but I have taken an interest in learning it because of this game. Therefore, I’m learning the language as I go. Everything has been done using Google Translate so do expect some errors and mistranslations. I’ve tried my best to make it flow well. Also, shout out to @link4eva for walking me through this process. I’m not gonna hide the fact that I hate technology and technology hates me so this is my first time posting something so monstrous, lol. Without further ado, please enjoy!

***Some context before reading. The events of this R&S takes place towards the end of Season 1 when an impending comet is about to hit Earth. MC spends what little time she has left with the guys until she is summoned to some unknown place and gets set back in time.***

Even if the world fusion collapses, it cannot stop a firm heart.

[Chapter 1]

*Click, click*

The sound of the gear turning stopped again and behind the door that was slowly opened, a calm voice sounded.

“She has gone.”

Drifting light spots lingered in the endless darkness and the stairs slowly retreated to its origin. Everything seems to have not happened and it seems to be silently waiting for some tomorrow to come.

“The future is far away, but it will come.”

Helios didn’t speak, but stood still, looking towards the end of the stairs.

“Are you scared?”

The person in the dark tempted again, and he smiled after listening.

“No matter how difficult it is, she will definitely find a way so that everyone can meet tomorrow. What is there to be afraid of?”

At the end of the speech, his voice became very soft, containing some fear hidden in his heart.

The girl’s face slowly appeared in front of Helios’ eyes. He suddenly remembered that in the world of Eternal Winter, she kept approaching bravely, gritted her teeth to face all the unknowns, remembering every moment she had illuminated. He always believed that she would be able to make the most correct choice and let the doomsday meet the future. It’s just...

There was a seemingly silent laugh from the darkness. Helios released the palm he had just unintentionally clenched, and turned to look at the scattered light spots, “I just want to know one thing.” His hand gently lifted. The light spot swayed at his fingertips, like stars hanging in the dark, losing their orbit. “That uncontrollable future is the future of this world?”

The distant voice seemed to sigh, “What do you think the world is like?”

Helios did not speak.

“The countless choices of mankind have gathered into all nets of the world. It is infinitely extended and leads to the future.” He paused. “But the future will end. This is countless civilizations relying on the destruction, over and over. The conclusion drawn again. Although it is moving forward slowly, it seems to return to a certain point of origin.”

“Destruction.” Helios raised his head and said this word in disbelief.

“This world should have stopped today, but a possibility has arisen.” While Helios was still speculating on the deep meaning behind this, the voice did not stop. “This possibility gives her the ability to choose the most correct one. The path leads the world to a distant place beyond truth and common sense.”

Helios frowned slightly and caught the core part of the words in an instant. “You mean, there will be even more incredible changes in the future?”

“This is not a question I can answer.”

The sound of the gear turning sounded again, and the person’s voice seemed a little tired, and finally slowly disappeared in the darkness, like the last hint.

“This world has completed its choice, and it will not stay. It will continue to move forward to witness the arrival of tomorrow, no matter what posture or form this tomorrow is presented to humanity...It belongs to the tomorrow of this world, and you...” The voice faintly revealed the meaning of expectation and scrutiny, “Tomorrow you will naturally be the same as her, you will be the way you crossed from today to tomorrow.”

[Chapter 2]

From the dome of the hall, one can see the lights of comets approaching from the sky. The people around the round table appear to be extremely silent. They all looked at Helios who walked in, seeming to be waiting for his final answer.

“It’s too early to prepare for the end.” Helios walked to the front of the main seat, but did not sit down. He gently propped his hands on the round table, and there seemed to be sparks jumping in his eyes. “Everything went according to the original plan. In time, we have a lot to do.” When everyone dispersed, Helios stood alone in the hall, looking to the sky through the dome, and muttered, “It seems that the secret that I can’t tell you is still valuable.”

No one can be seen on the street where the end is coming, not to mention such remote alleys. At the end, there is only the rustle of stray cats eating garbage.

Kiro pressed the brim of his hat, turning around in the scattered alleys in a familiar way, until a faint yellow light slowly hit his eyes. A little “Mondlicht” was written on the side of the door, like the spell of an ancient magician. He glanced at the end of the sky one last time, took a deep breath, and opened the door with firm eyes.

“Welcome.”

The man standing behind the bar didn’t seem to be surprised by the visitor who appeared suddenly. He gracefully wiped the wine glasses and greeted Kiro with a smile. Kiro quietly looked around and sat at the bar expertly.

“The end is two hours away. Do you want something to drink?” The man smiled and shook the wine bottle in his hand.

“It’s almost the end and you’re still opening the shop?” Kiro put his hat on the bar, ignoring the man’s invitation.

“My life creed is, I’d rather stand earning money and die than to lie down bored.” The man seemed to be indifferent to Kiro’s refusal, still mastering the bottle with skillful control.

“I’m not here to drink.”

“You have tried so many times, don’t you ever give up?”

Kiro’s eyes flashed with a hint of anger but only for a moment. He slowly smiled.

“I have no reason to give up.”

The man neatly put down the cup in his hand and took a breath: “Well, since you’re so insistent, I won’t stop you. The name is Drey.” ***Don’t know if this will be the name used for this character in EN server but it’s what Google Translate gave me, so we’ll go with it***

He put the wine in front of Kiro, the bright red liquid filled the man’s eyes with a smile, but seemed a little ruthless and indifferent.

“Thank you for the business and support.”

[Chapter 3]

Kiro found Drey a month ago. Seeing Drey again, he still couldn’t control the urge to retch inside. Kiro sat on the sofa, clenched his palms fiercely, and like a constant trance in his heart, forced himself to give priority to the task at hand. In a daze, he saw the girl standing under the soft light and shadow, her face radiating with warm light. She reached out to him and called his name. “You are the best Kiro in the world.”

The slight pain in the palm of his hand slowly pierced all consciousness along his fingertips. He barely raised his eyes and calmly looked at the man Drey, who was standing not far from him, the first assistant of the experiment.

Many years have passed since that distant and dark memory. He was also much older. Drey threw himself down in front of Kiro in a panic, “Please, don’t kill me...!!!”

Kiro looked coldly at the man who was kneeling in front of him, his whole body shaking. “If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have let you escape that time.”

Trembling, he took the box thrown by Kiro and saw the glinting “S” on it. He was so scared that he almost dropped it to the ground.

“How did you get this? No, you don’t need to answer me...” Drey shook his head and firmly gripped the box in his hand. He realized that Kiro who was cooperating with him now is no longer the advanced experiment: number 3684. Drey looked down at the box in his hand, “What do want me to do? Could it be...!!!”

Kiro knew from a long time ago that Drey was the person who knew his body data the best during that experiment, and naturally had enough ability to be the first assistant. “This is impossible!”

“I’m not here to listen to your nonsense.” Kiro interrupted him coldly, “You just have to work for me, right Dr. Drey “the current boss?”

Drey rubbed the box in his hand, gritted his teeth and finally let out a sigh of relief, “...I see, can the operating table on floor B4 be used?”

Even in the colorful laboratory covered with floral wallpaper, Kiro still had a serious mental rebuke. It took him a lot of effort to force himself to lie down on the experimental table. Since then, he can’t remember how many times he vomited and how many tubes of medicine he took.

Drey frowned, “I said it’s going to be difficult for you to become stronger.” He lowered his head. “Your experimental success is not universal. Considering the collective interference of many micro-factors, your body may not be able to withstand the second experiment. The experiment made your genes, under the catalysis of a special substance, form their own unique irregular structure, which is absolutely different from ordinary people.” He pursed his mouth and paused, his expression stricken, and looked at Kiro. “And we are not sure whether this reaction will continue, and all the side effects can’t be estimated. Why should you take such a big risk!?! You are fully capable now...”

“It’s okay, let’s just get there first today.” Kiro wiped the blood from his mouth, barely propped himself up and sat on the experimental table. The night fog filled him countless times, tying him into the abyss in the dark night. There are countless ferocious and scrutinizing gazes. He is standing in the bloody prison, but now, he is no longer afraid.

“I said that you aren’t too tired to go home and eat dessert?” Since Kiro accidentally missed the dessert date, this person always used it to tease him from time to time. Kiro didn’t answer him. He walked around the store several times, slowing down his trembling footsteps, “Is it natural?” ***Don’t really understand what's going here in this scene, lol***

The boss nodded, “It’s okay. You guys finished so early today?”

“It’s because there is a special performance today.” Kiro put on his hat, blocking most of his face, “It’s very important.”

Kiro walked towards floor B4 step by step. When he arrived at the entrance of the laboratory, Drey was already there waiting for him. “We’ve tried numerous times and if you continue like this, your body may...”

“It’s fine.” He unwaveringly interrupted Drey’s unfinished words. “There has been progress last time, hasn’t there? Let’s keep going.”

Kiro’s footsteps towards the laboratory were extremely firm. The whole world seemed to be only a piece of endless white, with the girl’s back at the end. He kept ordering himself to run towards her. This has always been the case. Although there is not much time to download this voice, he will never give up even if it is the end.

[Chapter 4]

When Kiro opened his eyes again, he knew that he had won the bet. Even if he didn’t have the strength to lift a finger, he raised a satisfied and happy smile for the first time. He couldn’t remember how long he laid until he could finally and slowly prop up his arm to support himself. He sat on the operating table panting and wanted to pull out the infusion affixed to his arm in disgust.

“it’s better not to pull that one out.”

Kiro raised his eyes in warning. The boss leaned against the door holding a hot cup of coffee along with a smile that has remained unchanged for years. Kiro blinked and tilted his head, “The time...”

“Don’t worry. It seems that the comet hasn’t hit yet.” The man stretched out his index finger and pulled Drey over who happened to be passing by and came back to check the situation. “Look at him.”

Kiro breathed a sigh of relief and covered his head with a bit of pain. Drey hurried over and said, “You’ve just woke up now, don’t be so anxious. You need to be observed again.”

Kiro snorted coldly. With a sound, the microcomputer he had been carrying around suddenly rang. He grabbed his head and pulled off the infusion from his body. He stood, limping hurriedly and almost fell to the ground due to the excessive movement.

“You can’t move right now!” Drey stopped him in a rush.

“Let go!” Kiro waved Drey’s hand away, reluctantly pressing it against the wall. He turned on the computer, tapping the keyboard intermittently with stiff fingers, looking at the screen with a heavy expression. “You guys leave.”

“You can’t use your abilities now!” Drey still insisted on explaining to Kiro, “We are not yet sure about their stability. Your current body is too weak. If you use your enhanced abilities immediately, you will...”

“Get out.” Kiro’s voice did not have a hint of warmth or room for argument.

“But your body...!!!”

“Excuse me.” The man drinking coffee beside him smiled and shook the syringe that came out of nowhere. “You will not be charged for the gift.” Kiro stretched out his pinhole arm without hesitation, “Thank you.”

Kiro recovered some strength after the drug injection. He leaned in the corner of the laboratory and gently closed his eyes.

“Ki...mmph!”

“.....If I said I might know a way, would you believe me?”

“It’s okay, you’re already amazing and you’re still my superhero!”

“Will you leave again this time too...?”

“I believe that no matter who you are, you will not change...”

“No matter what decision you make, I’ll support it.”

“All this time, you have always been illuminating me.”

He can always hear her voice. Kiro gently opened his eyes and saw himself in the mirror. He raised his mouth unconsciously, without a trace of hesitation. Since this world will not end, no matter what happens, it will become the future of tomorrow. He has to be prepared for this unknown future.

The golden light in the pupils of his eyes danced in the mirror but at this time, it was like a gentle and powerful blessing, giving strength to those who can cross all obstacles to reach hope. Even if it may be temporarily silent in time because of the drastically changing world, one day it will become a milestone to guide the future, pointing to the end in its heart, and meeting the long-awaited person.

“I command you to always be the one and only brightly shining Kiro--to be brave and to keep getting stronger.”

“I command you to never forget her.”

“She is MC, your Miss Chips.”

“She is your most favorite person.”

The golden light diffused through the pupils into every nerve ending and blood, melting into the grand and brilliant white snow at the end of the world to form the final agreement. The world was slowly shrouded by the seemingly gentle but unbreakable water mist. It was born from the bright white light and permeated the earth, extending in countless directions. On the note-filled recording paper in the notebook, the notes on the staff seemed to be placed upside down, disappearing one by one on the paper. And all this is just a moment.

End

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fineillsignup · 5 years

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tips for choosing a Chinese name for your OC when you don’t know Chinese

This is a meta for gifset trade with @purple-fury! Maybe you would like to trade something with me? You can PM me if so!

Choosing a Chinese name, if you don’t know a Chinese language, is difficult, but here’s a secret for you: choosing a Chinese name, when you do know a Chinese language, is also difficult. So, my tip #1 is: Relax. Did you know that Actual Chinese People choose shitty names all the dang time? It’s true!!! Just as you, doubtless, have come across people in your daily life in your native language that you think “God, your parents must have been on SOME SHIT when they named you”, the same is true about Chinese people, now and throughout history. If you choose a shitty name, it’s not the end of the world! Your character’s parents now canonically suck at choosing a name. There, we fixed it!

However. Just because you should not drive yourself to the brink of the grave fretting over choosing a Chinese name for a character, neither does that mean you shouldn’t care at all. Especially, tip #2, Never just pick some syllables that vaguely sound Chinese and call it a day. That shit is awful and tbh it’s as inaccurate and racist as saying “ching chong” to mimic the Chinese language. Examples: Cho Chang from Harry Potter, Tenten from Naruto, and most notorious of all, Fu Manchu and his daughter Fah lo Suee (how the F/UCK did he come up with that one).

So where do you begin then? Well, first you need to pick your character’s surname. This is actually not too difficult, because Chinese actually doesn’t have that many surnames in common use. One hundred surnames cover over eighty percent of China’s population, and in local areas especially, certain surnames within that one hundred are absurdly common, like one out of every ten people you meet is surnamed Wang, for example. Also, if you’re making an OC for an established media franchise, you may already have the surname based on who you want your character related to. Finally, if you’re writing an ethnically Chinese character who was born and raised outside of China, you might only want their surname to be Chinese, and give them a given name from the language/culture of their native country; that’s very very common.

If you don’t have a surname in mind, check out the Wikipedia page for the list of common Chinese surnames, roughly the top one hundred. If you’re not going to pick one of the top one hundred surnames, you should have a good reason why. Now you need to choose a romanization system. You’ll note that the Wikipedia list contains variant spellings. If your character is a Chinese-American (or other non-Chinese country) whose ancestors emigrated before the 1950s (or whose ancestors did not come from mainland China), their name will not be spelled according to pinyin. It might be spelled according to Wade-Giles romanization, or according to the name’s pronunciation in other Chinese languages, or according to what the name sounds like in the language of the country they immigrated to. (The latter is where you get spellings like Lee, Young, Woo, and Law.) A huge proportion of emigration especially came from southern China, where people spoke Cantonese, Min, Hakka, and other non-Mandarin languages.

So, for example, if you want to make a Chinese-Canadian character whose paternal source of their surname immigrated to Canada in the 20s, don’t give them the surname Xie, spelled that way, because #1 that spelling didn’t exist when their first generation ancestor left China and #2 their first generation ancestor was unlikely to have come from a part of China where Mandarin was spoken anyway (although still could have! that’s up to you). Instead, name them Tse, Tze, Sia, Chia, or Hsieh.

If you’re working with a character who lives in, or who left or is descended from people who left mainland China in the 1960s or later; or if you’re working with a historical or mythological setting, then you are going to want to use the pinyin romanization. The reason I say that you should use pinyin for historical or mythological settings is because pinyin is now the official or de facto romanization system for international standards in academia, the United Nations, etc. So if you’re writing a story with characters from ancient China, or medieval China, use pinyin, even though not only pinyin, but the Mandarin pronunciations themselves didn’t exist back then. Just... just accept this. This is one of those quirks of having a non-alphabetic language.

(Here’s an “exceptions” paragraph: there are various well known Chinese names that are typically, even now, transliterated in a non-standard way: Confucius, Mencius, the Yangtze River, Sun Yat-sen, etc. Go ahead and use these if you want. And if you really consciously want to make a Cantonese or Hakka or whatever setting, more power to you, but in that case you better be far beyond needing this tutorial and I don’t know why you’re here. Get. Scoot!)

One last point about names that use the ü with the umlaut over it. The umlaut ü is actually pretty critical for the meaning because wherever the ü appears, the consonant preceding it also can be used with u: lu/lü, nu/nü, etc. However, de facto, lots of individual people, media franchises, etc, simply drop the umlaut and write u instead when writing a name in English, such as “Lu Bu” in the Dynasty Warriors franchise in English (it should be written Lü Bu). And to be fair, since tones are also typically dropped in Latin script and are just as critical to the meaning and pronunciation of the original, dropping the umlaut probably doesn’t make much difference. This is kind of a choice you have to make for yourself. Maybe you even want to play with it! Maybe everybody thinks your character’s surname is pronounced “loo as in loo roll” but SURPRISE MOFO it’s actually lü! You could Do Something with that. Also, in contexts where people want to distinguish between u and ü when typing but don’t have easy access to a keyboard method of making the ü, the typical shorthand is the letter v.

Alright! So you have your surname and you know how you want it spelled using the Latin alphabet. Great! What next?

Alright, so, now we get to the hard part: choosing the given name. No, don’t cry, I know baby I know. We can do this. I believe in you.

Here are some premises we’re going to be operating on, and I’m not entirely sure why I made this a numbered list:

Chinese people, generally, love their kids. (Obviously, like in every culture, there are some awful exceptions, and I’ll give one specific example of this later on.)

As part of loving their kids, they want to give them a Good name.

So what makes a name a Good name??? Well, in Chinese culture, the cultural values (which have changed over time) have tended to prioritize things like: education; clan and family; health and beauty; religious devotions of various religions (Buddhism, Taoism, folk religions, Christianity, other); philosophical beliefs (Buddhism, Confucianism, etc) (see also education); refinement and culture (see also education); moral rectitude; and of course many other things as the individual personally finds important. You’ll notice that education is a big one. If you can’t decide on where to start, something related to education, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, etc, is a bet that can’t go wrong.

Unlike in English speaking cultures (and I’m going to limit myself to English because we’re writing English and good God look at how long this post is already), there is no canon of “names” in Chinese like there has traditionally been in English. No John, Mary, Susan, Jacob, Maxine, William, and other words that are names and only names and which, historically at least, almost everyone was named. Instead, in Chinese culture, you can basically choose any character you want. You can choose one character, or two characters. (More than two characters? No one can live at that speed. Seriously, do not give your character a given name with more than two characters. If you need this tutorial, you don’t know enough to try it.) Congratulations, it is now a name!!

But what this means is that Chinese names aggressively Mean Something in a way that most English names don’t. You know nature names like Rose and Pearl, and Puritan names like Wrestling, Makepeace, Prudence, Silence, Zeal, and Unity? I mean, yeah, you can technically look up that the name Mary comes from a etymological root meaning bitter, but Mary doesn’t mean bitter in the way that Silence means, well, silence. Chinese names are much much more like the latter, because even though there are some characters that are more common as names than as words, the meaning of the name is still far more upfront than English names.

So the meaning of the name is generally a much more direct expression of those Good Values mentioned before. But it gets more complicated!

Being too direct has, across many eras of Chinese history, been considered crude; the very opposite of the education you’re valuing in the first place. Therefore, rather than the Puritan slap you in the face approach where you just name your kid VIRTUE!, Chinese have typically favoured instead more indirect, related words about these virtues and values, or poetic allusions to same. What might seem like a very blunt, concrete name, such as Guan Yu’s “yu” (which means feather), is actually a poetic, referential name to all the things that feathers evoke: flight, freedom, intellectual broadmindness, protection...

So when you’re choosing a name, you start from the value you want to express, then see where looking up related words in a dictionary gets you until you find something that sounds “like a name”; you can also try researching Chinese art symbolism to get more concrete names. Then, here’s my favourite trick, try combining your fake name with several of the most common surnames: 王，李，陈. And Google that shit. If you find Actual Human Beings with that name: congratulations, at least if you did f/uck up, somebody else out there f/ucked up first and stuck a Human Being with it, so you’re still doing better than they are. High five!

You’re going to stick with the same romanization system (or lack thereof) as you’ve used for the surname. In the interests of time, I’m going to focus on pinyin only.

First let’s take a look at some real and actual Chinese names and talk about what they mean, why they might have been chosen, and also some fictional OC names that I’ve come up with that riff off of these actual Chinese names. And then we’ll go over some resources and also some pitfalls. Hopefully you can learn by example! Fun!!!

Let’s start with two great historical strategists: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, and the names I picked for some (fictional) sons of theirs. Then I will be talking about Sun Shangxiang and Guan Yinping, two historical-legendary women of the same era, and what I named their fictional daughters. And finally I’ll be talking about historical Chinese pirate Gan Ning and what I named his fictional wife and fictional daughter. Uh, this could be considered spoilers for my novel Clouds and Rain and associated one-shots in that universe, so you probably want to go and read that work... and its prequels... and leave lots of comments and kudos first and then come back. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

(I’m just kidding you don’t need to know a thing about my work to find this useful.)

ZHUGE Liang is written 諸葛亮 in traditional Chinese characters and 诸葛亮 in simplified Chinese characters. It is a two-character surname. Two character surnames used to be more common than they are now. When I read Chinese history, I notice that two character surname clans seem to have a bad habit of flying real high and then getting the Icarus treatment if Icarus when his wings melted also got beheaded and had the Nine Familial Exterminations performed on his clan. Yikes. Sooner or later that'll cost ya.

But anyway. Zhuge means “lots of kudzu”, which if you have been to the American south you know is that only way that kudzu comes. Liang means “light, shining” in the sense of daylight, moonlight, etc; and from this literal meaning also such figurative meanings as reveal or clear. (I’m going to talk about words have a primary and secondary meaning in this way because I think it’s important for understanding. It’s just like how in English, ‘run’ has many meanings, but almost of all them are derived from a primary meaning of ‘to move fast via one’s human legs’, if I can be weird for a moment. “Run” as in “home run” comes from that, “run” as in “run in your stocking” comes from that, “run” as in “that’ll run you at least $200″ comes from that. You have to get it straight which is the primary meaning, which is the one that people think of first and they way they get to the secondary meaning.)

“Light” has a similar “enlightenment” concept in Chinese as in English, so the person who chose Zhuge Liang’s name—most likely his father or grandfather—clearly valued learning.

I named my fictional son for Zhuge Liang Zhuge Jing 京. The value or direction I was coming from is that Zhuge Liang has come to the decision that he has to nurture the next generation for the benefit of the land, that he has to remain in the world in a way that he very much did not want to do when he himself was a young man. In this alternate universe, Liu Bei has formed a new Han dynasty and recaptured Luoyang, so when Zhuge Liang’s son is then born he chooses this name Jing which means literally “capital”. This concrete name is meant as an allusion to a devotion to public service and to remaining “central”. After I chose this name, I discovered that Zhuge Liang actually has a recorded grandson named Zhuge Jing with this same character.

above, me, realizing I picked a good name

ZHOU Yu is written 周瑜 in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters.

The surname Zhou was and remains a very common Chinese surname whose original meaning was like... a really nice field. Like just the greatest f/ucking field you’ve ever seen. “Dang, that is a sweet field” said an ancient Chinese farmer,��“I’m gonna make a new Chinese character to record just how great it is.” And then it came to mean things along the line of complete and thorough.

Yu means the excellence of a gemstone--its brilliance, lustre, etc, as opposed to its flaws. It is not a common word but does appear in some expressions such as 瑕不掩瑜 "a flaw does not conceal the rest of the gemstone's beauty; a defect does not mean the whole thing is bad".

Zhou Yu has gone down in history for being not only smart but also artistic and handsome. A real triple threat. And this name speaks to a family that valued art and beauty. It really does suit him.

Zhou Yu had two recorded sons but in my alternate history I gave him four. I borrowed the first one’s name from history: Xun 循, follow. Based on this name, I chose other names that I thought gave a similar sense of his values: Shou 守, guard; Wen 聞, listen. The youngest one I had born when he already knew he was dying, and things had not been going well generally; therefore I had him give him the name Shen 慎, which means “careful, cautious”.

SUN Shangxiang 孫尚香 is one of several names that history and legend give for a sister of w//arlord-king Sun Quan who was married to a rival w//arlord named Liu Bei in a marriage which, historically, uh, didn’t... didn’t go all that well. In my alternate history it goes well! You can’t stop me, I’ve already done it!

The surname Sun means “grandson” and the given name components are Shang mean “values, esteems” and Xiang “scent” which we can combine into meaning something like “precious perfume”. A lot of the recorded names for women in this era (a huge number didn’t have any names recorded, a problem in itself) seem to me to be more concrete, to contain more objects, to be more focused on affection, less focused on hopes and dreams. This makes sense for the era: you love your daughters (I HOPE) but then they get married and leave you. You don’t have long term plans for them because their long term belongs to another clan.

I gave her daughter by Liu Bei the name Liu Yitao 劉義桃. Yi 義 meaning righteousness, rectitude and 桃 meaning... peach. Okay, okay, I know "righteous peach" sounds damn funny in English, but the legendary oath in the peach garden, the "oath of brotherhood" is called in Chinese 結義 "tying righteousness" and the peach garden is, uh, a peach garden. I also give her the cutesy nickname Taotao 桃桃 which you could compare to “Peaches” or “Peachy”. Reduplication of a character in a two-character name is a classic nickname strategy in Chinese.

GUAN Yinping 關銀屏/关银屏 is a “made up” (scare quotes because old legends have their own kind of validity, fight me) name for a historical daughter of Guan Yu. Guan means “to close (a door)”. Yin means “silver” and ping means “a screen, to hide” and according to the legend, her father’s oath brother Zhang Fei named her after a silver treasure. So here again we see a name for a woman that completely lacks the kind of aspirations we see in male names. Who would have an aspiration for a daughter?

My fictional characters, that’s who. I named her daughter Lu Ruofeng 陸若鳳/陆若凤, Ruo (like the) Feng (phoenix), based on a quote from a Confucian text about what one should try to be during both times of chaos and times of good government. I portray her father as a devoted Confucian scholar, so that was another factor for why I looked to Confucian texts for a source of a name.

Modern parents also now have big dreams for their daughters :’) and so modern girls receive names that are far more similar to how boys are named.

GAN Ning 甘寧/甘宁 is a great example of a person whose name does not suit him. Gan 甘 depicts a tongue and means “sweet”, and Ning 寧 which shows a bowl and table and heart beneath a roof means “peaceful”. Which, it would be hard to come up with a name for this guy, a ruthless pirate turned extremely effective general:

that is less suitable than essentially being named “Sweet Peace”.

And when he was an adult, his style name—a name that Chinese men used to be given when they turned 20 (ie became adults) by East Asian reckoning—indeed reflects that. Choosing your own style name was widely considered to be crass. I absolutely think that Gan Ning chose his own style name; he was that kind of a guy. And the name he chose! Xingba 興霸/兴霸! I’ve never seen another style name like it. It means, basically, “thriving dominator”! Brand new official adult Gan Ning treats his style name like he’s picking his Xbox gamer tag and he picks BadassBoss69_420, that’s what this style name is like to me. Except, you know, he had almost certainly killed many hundreds of people by the time he was nineteen, so, uh, it wouldn’t be a wise idea to make fun of his name to his face.

In my fictional version of his life, he married a woman whose father was the exception to the “parents love their children” rule and who named his daughter Pandi 盼第 “expecting a younger brother”, which is a classic “daughters ain’t shit, I want a son” name. Real and actual Chinese women have been given this shitty name and ones like it.

Because Gan Ning had an ironically placid name, I also gave his daughter the placid single character name Wan 婉, which means “gentle, restrained”, as a foil to her wild personality.

So there are a bunch of examples of some historical characters and some OCs and how I chose their names. “But wait, all that was really cool, but how can I do that? You can read Chinese, I can’t!”

I originally had a bunch of links here to dictionaries and resources but Tumblr :) wouldn’t let the post show up in tag search with all the links :) :) :) so you need to check the reblogs of this post to see my own reblog; that reblog has all the links. I’M SORRY ABOUT THIS. Here are a list of the sites without the links if you want to Google them yourself.

MDBG - an open source dictionary - start here

Wiktionary - don’t knock it til you try it

iCIBA (they recently changed their user interface and it’s much less English-speaker friendly now but it’s still a great dictionary)

Pleco (an iOS app, maybe also Android???) contains same open source dictionary as MDBG and also its own proprietary dictionary

Chinese Etymology at hanziyuan dot net

You search some English keywords from the value you want, and then you see what kind of characters you get. You should take the character and then reverse search, making sure that it doesn’t have negative words/meanings, and similar. Look into the etymology and see if it has any thematic elements that appeal to what you’re doing with the character--eg a fire radical for a character with fire powers.

And then, like I mention before, when you have got a couple characters and you think “I think this could be a good name”, you go to Google, you take a very common surname, you append your chosen name—don’t forget to use quotation marks—and you see what happens. Did you get some results? Even better, did you get lots of results? Then you’re probably safe! No results does not necessarily mean your name won’t work, but you should probably run it by an Actual Chinese Native Speaker at that point to check. Also, remember, as I said at the beginning, sometimes people have weird names. If you consciously decide “you know what, I think this character’s parents would choose a weird name”, then own that.

THINGS YOU SHOULD PROBABLY IGNORE!

Starting in relatively recent history (not really a big thing until Song dynasty) and continuing, moreso outside of mainland China, to the modern day, there is something called a generation name component to a name. This means that of a name’s two characters, one of the characters is shared with every other paternal line relative of that person’s generation; historically, usually only boys get a generation name and girls don’t. (Chinese history, banging on pots and pans: DAUGHTERS AIN’T SHIT AND DON’T FORGET IT!) “Generation” here means everyone who is equidistant descendant from some past ancestor, not necessarily that they are exactly the same age. For example, all of ancestor’s X’s sons share the character 一 in their names, his grandsons all have the character 二，great-grandsons 三, great-great-grandsons 四 (I just used numbers because I’m lazy). By the time you get to great-great-grandson, you might have some that are forty years old and some that are babies (because of how old their fathers were when they were conceived), but they are still the same generation.

In some clans, this tradition goes so far as to have something called a name poem, where the generations cycle, character by character, through a poem that was specifically written for this purpose and which is generally about how their clan is super rad.

If you want to riff off of this idea and have siblings or paternal cousins share a character in their names, ok, but it genuinely isn’t necessary. Anyone with a single character name obviously doesn’t have one of these generation names, and by no means does every person with a two character name (especially female) have a generation name. If you’re doing an OC for an ancient Chinese setting (certainly anything before the year about 500), you shouldn’t use these generation names because it wasn’t a thing. Also, in a modern setting, even if such a generation name or name poem exists, it’s not like there is any legal requirement to use it (though there may be family pressure to do so).

As a further complication, some parents do the shared character thing among their children without it actually being a generation name per se because it isn’t shared by any cousins. Or, they have all their children (or all their children of the same gender) share a radical, which is a meaning component in a Chinese character.

If someone does have one of these shared character names, then their nickname will never come from that shared character; either they will be called by the full name or by some name riffing off of the character that is not shared. For example, I knew a pair of sisters called Yuru and Yufei with the same first character; the first sister went by her English name in daily life (even when speaking Chinese) while the second sister was called Feifei.

tl;dr If you don’t already know Chinese, consider generation names an extra complication for masochists only. Definitely not required for modern characters.

Fortune telling is another thing that I think you should either ignore or wildly make up. Do you know what ordinary Chinese people who want to choose a lucky name for their child do? They hire someone to work it out. This is not some DIY shit even if you are deeply immured in the culture. There are considerations of the number of strokes, the radicals, the birth date, the birth hour. You’re the god of your fictional universe, so go ahead and unilaterally declare that your desired names are lucky or unlucky as suits the story if you want to.

MILK NAMES

In modern times, babies get named right away, if for no other reason that the government requires it everywhere in the world for record keeping purposes.

However, in traditional times, Chinese people did not give babies a permanent name right away, instead waiting until a certain period of time had passed (3 months/100 days is a classic).

What do you call the baby in the meantime? A milk name 乳名, which your (close, older than you) family may or may not keep on using for you until such time as you die, just so that you remember that you used to be a funny looking little raisin that peed on people.

This kind of name is almost always very humble, sometimes to the point of being outright insulting. This is because to use any name on your baby that implies you might actually like the little thing is tempting Bad News. Possible exception: sometimes a baby would receive a milk name that dedicated it to some deity. In this case, I guess you’re hoping that deity will be flattered enough to take on the job of shooing away all the other spirits and things that might be otherwise attracted to this Delicious Fresh Baby.

Because milk names were only used by one’s (older) family and very close family friends of one’s parents/grandparents, most people’s milk names are not recorded or known, with some notable exceptions. Liu Shan, the son of Liu Bei, who as a baby was rescued by Zhao Yun during the Shu forces retreat from Changban. Perhaps because his big debut in history/legend was as a baby, he is well-known for his milk name A-Dou 阿斗, which means, essentially, Dipper.

If you’re writing a story, you really only need to worry about a milk name for your character if it’s a historical (or pseudohistorical) setting, and even then only if the character either makes an appearance as a small infant or you consciously decide to have them interact with characters who knew them well as a small child and choose to continue using the milk name. Not all parents, etc who could use the milk name with a youth or an adult actually did so.

Here are some milk names I’ve come up with in my fiction: Little Mouse/Xiaoshu 小鼠 for a girl, Tadpole/Kedou 蝌蚪 for a boy, and Shouty/A-Yao 阿吆 for a boy. In the first two cases the babies were both smol and quiet (as babies go). The last one neither small nor quiet, ahahaha. 蔷蔷 Qiangqiang, which is a pretty enough name meaning “wild rose” (duplication to make it lighter), except the baby is a boy, so this is the typical idea that making a boy feminine makes him worth less, which, yikes, but also, historically accurate. Also Xiaohei 小黑 “Blackie” for a work that I will probably never publish because I don’t ever see myself finishing it. I might recycle it to use on another story.

Here are some more milk names I came up with off the cuff for a friend that wanted an insulting milk name. They ended up not using any of these, so feel free to use, no credit necessary. Rongzi 冗子 “Unwanted Child”; Xiaochou 小丑 “Little Ugly”; A-Xu 阿虛 “Empty”; Pangzhu 胖豬 “Fat Pig”; Shasha 傻傻 “Dummy”.

PITFALLS!

Chinese has a lot of homophones. Like, so many, you cannot even believe. That means the potential for puns, double meanings, etc, is off the charts. And this can be bad, real real bad, when it comes to names. It is way too easy to pick a name and think to yourself “wow, this name is great” and then realize later that the name sounds exactly the same as “cat shit” or something even worse.

Some Chinese families live the name choosing life on hard mode because their surname is itself a homonym that can make almost any name sound bad. I’m speaking of course of the poor Wus and Bus of the world. You see Wu may have innocuous and pleasant surnames associated with it, but it also means “without, un-”. (Bu is similar, sounds like “no, not”.) Suddenly, any pleasant name you give your kid, your kid is NOT that thing.

This means picking a name that is pleasant in itself yet also somehow also pleasant when combined with Wu. So you might pick a character with a sound like Ting, Xian, Hui, or Liang - unstopping, unlimited, no regrets, immeasurable. A positive negative name, a kind of paradox. Like I said, this is naming on hard mode.

If you are naming an ancient character, I am going to say in my opinion you should ignore all considerations of sound, because reconstruction of ancient Chinese pronunciations is on some other, other level of pedantic and you just don’t need to do that to yourself.

For modern characters, however, an attractive name, in general, should be a mix of tones and a mix of sounds. As a non-Chinese speaker, basically this means especially if you go for a two character given name, having all three characters start with the same sound, or end with the same sound, can sound kind of tongue twistery and thus silly/stupid. That doesn’t mean that such names never exist, and can in some cases even sound good (or at least memorable), but how likely is it that you’ve found the exception? Not very. (Two out of three having repetition isn’t bad. It’s three out of three you have to be careful of. Something like Wang Fang or Zhou Pengpeng is probably fine; it’s something over the top like Guan Guangguo or Li Lili you want to avoid.)

Just like the West (sigh), in the modern Sinosphere it is widely acceptable for girls to have masculine names but totally unacceptable for boys to have feminine names. If you see the radical 女 which means woman, don’t choose that character for a boy, at least if you’re trying to be realistic. Now Chinese ideas of masculinity doesn’t have the same boundaries as Western ideas, but if you want to play around in those boundaries, you gotta do that research on your own; you’ve left what I can teach you in this already entirely too long tutorial.

Don’t name a character after someone else in story, or after a famous person. In some/many Western cultures, and actually in some Eastern cultures too (Japan is basically fine with this, for example), naming a baby the same name as someone else (a relative, a saint, a famous person, etc), is a respected and popular way to honour that person.

But not in Chinese culture, not now, not a thousand years ago, not two thousand years ago. (Disclaimer: I bet there is some weird rare exception that, eventually, somebody will “gotcha” me with. I am prepared to be amazed and delighted when this occurs.)

Part of this is because of a fundamentally different idea in Chinese culture vs many other cultures about what is valuing vs disrespecting with regard to personal names. The highest respect paid in Chinese history to a category of personal names is to the emperor, and what would happen there is that it would be under name taboo, a very serious and onerous custom where you not only have to not say the emperor’s name, but you can’t say anything that sounds the same as the emperor’s name.

Did I mention that this is in the language of CRAZY GO NUTS numbers of homonyms? The day-to-day troubles caused by observing name taboo were so potentially intense that there are even instances where, before ascending to the imperial throne, the emperor-to-be would change his name to something that was easier to observe taboo about!

So you see this is an attitude that says: if you want to honour and show respect to somebody, you don’t speak their name.

As the highest person in the land, only the emperor gets this extreme level of avoidance, but it trickles down all through society. You can’t use the personal names of people superior to you. Naming a baby after someone inherently throws the hierarchy out of whack. Now you have a young baby with the same name as a grown adult, or even a dead person, who is due honour from their rank in life. People who would not be permitted to use the inspiration’s name may now use that name because they are superior to the baby who received the name! This would mean that hierarchy was not being preserved, and oh my heaven, is there anything worse than hierarchy not being preserved? All of Chinese History: Noooooo!

Now. As an author—and I hope to God no one is using my Chinese name guide as a resource to name an actual human baby because I can’t take that kind of pressure—you can use the names of characters to inspire the names of other characters, in the following way.

Remember that I said that the key, the starting point, to naming someone in Chinese is to start from a value. Okay. So what you do, if as the author you want to draw a thematic connection between two fictional characters, is take the Inspiration character’s name, think about what the value is that caused that name to be chosen, and then go from that value to choose the New Character’s name.

If you’ll recall what I said about Gan Ning and his baby Wan, this is exactly the approach I took. Gan Ning had a placid single character name that belied his violent and outrageous personality; I chose a placid single character name for his similarly wild daughter to make them thematically similar. As an author, I named his baby after him. But within the context of the story, she was not named after him. Does the distinction make sense?

Values also run in families for obvious reasons. It’s very common to look at a family tree and see lots of names that follow a kind of theme and give you a sense that, eg, this family is rather low class and uneducated; this family is very erudite but a bit too fussy about it; this family is really big on Confucianism. So yes, as an author, looking to other characters for inspiration is not a bad idea.

Remember, a lot of times, as an author, you can and even should kick realism to the curb sometimes. If you want to make some Ominous Foreshadowing that Character A’s name is something to do with fire but! They name their child something to do with water and therefore they are destined to clash with their own offspring, gasp, you can do that kind of thing because you are the god of your universe. Relish your power.

Do you have any more questions? Feel free to send a PM or an ask. I hope this was helpful! Go forth and name your Chinese OCs with slightly more confidence!

Edit 22 April 2019: I added some more sections (fortune telling, Milk Names, and taboo on naming after people). I also need to overhaul the entirety of the previous to emphasize that even thought I thoughtlessly used “Chinese” as if it was synonymous with “Han”, there are non-Han Chinese and they can have very different naming customs. Mea culpa.

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meta-squash · 4 years

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Brick Club 1.3.8 “Death Of A Horse”

Lots of reference research and then Angry Feelings About Tholomyes in this one.

The facade is starting to crumble. Tholomyes has just kissed Favourite instead of Fantine. He’s drunk and even his friends want him to shut up. And now Zephine is complaining that she likes the food at Edon’s better than Bombarda’s.

Blacheville points out the mirrors on the walls, and there’s some wordplay there with Favourite re: “glace” for looking glass and ice creams. This also sounds like Favourite deliberately defying Tholomyes’ earlier rant about not eating sugar.

Tholomyes has a weird moment, he seems maybe about to get maudlin. “Silver is more precious than bone,” says Blacheville, to which Tholomyes replies “Except when it’s on the chin.” I may be reading this wrong, or backwards, but this sounds like a brief insecurity about aging. (Also I imagine the fact that he’s staring out at the dome of the Invalides is significant, but I don’t know why.)

“A discussion is good, a quarrel is better” is really just an excellent summary of what kind of “devil’s advocate” type douchebag Tholomyes is. (It’s also interesting that at no point does he “discuss,” “debate,” or “quarrel” with any of them. He has the floor and he monologues, there’s never any real back and forth with him.)

Tholomyes is pretty drunk at this point, so I’m really not sure if this following dialogue is him being mocking or him fully dismissing philosophy altogether in favor of theatre. I’m inclined to assume it’s the second, considering his earlier comments about preferring theatre. Descartes and Spinoza are, obviously, philosophers, but Desaugiers was a composer of operas and comedies, as well as the manager of the Vaudeville from 1815 until 1820. Either way, Tholomyes is pretty blatantly saying here that he doesn’t much care for philosophy.

He’s kind of the anti-Amis here, professing essentially that he doesn’t like Serious Thinking and would rather be entertained by theatre or by grisettes than think about anything substantial. His improvising is mostly empty, crappy advice where he criticizes women and gives bad dating opinions (compare with Grantaire’s improv which is mostly good social/political critique with dashes of obnoxiousness). His “wisdom” is comprised of the 19th century version of sexist pricks saying a bunch of stupid shit and then wondering why women don’t like “nice guys like him.”

More going on about contradictions, only this time seriously, rather than in the form of punnery. Life is about contradictions and irrationality, according to Tholomyes. He’s trying to be all science-y, but then he just goes back to talking about food. He goes on about how the wine they’re drinking is from a higher altitude, but it’s cheap. (Interesting that so far all of his improvised speeches have either been about women or food/drink.)

Fameuil gets a little barb in, though. He asks Tholomyes who his favorite writer is. Arnaud Berquin (which is Fameuil’s guess) was a French children’s author in the mid to late 1700s, so basically Fameuil is calling Tholomyes childish and maybe a little stupid. Berchoux (Tholomyes’ answer) was a comedic poet who invented the word “gastronomy.”

Everything with Tholomyes comes back to the sensual pleasures. Food and sex and theatre and gratification without having to actually reciprocate. This is drastically different from nearly every other character that we see. Most of them are incredibly poor and have barely any access to things necessary for survival, much less pleasure. Or, like Valjean or Javert, deny themselves sensual pleasures for various reasons. (Valjean out of piety and guilt, Javert for control, except for his little pinch of tobacco.) Tholomyes just cares about his own pleasure (but not his own personal wellbeing, considering Hugo says he’s “in poor shape” and basically physically gross) and whatever manipulation or money or schmoozing it takes to get it.

And a sudden barrage of references! Thargelia was a famous ancient Greek courtesan/hetaera who was very powerful and full of wit and had connections to Persian royalty. Hugo seems to have masculinized the name and imagined what that version would be like. I cannot find anything on Munophis of Elephanta; I’m guessing Hugo has butchered the spelling enough that whatever it is has become impossible to figure out, or he was talking out his ass. Apuleius wrote Metamorphosis, which had a lot of commentary on cultural/social life of the time; also Apuleius was part of the Dionysian cult. He quotes Solomon in Ecclesiastes (there is nothing new under the sun) and then pronounces that love is the same (quoting Virgil), there is nothing new there, either. From what I can understand by skimming that section in Georgics, that part of Virgil is about animal husbandry and is specifically talking about horny animals and how they’re going to want to mate no matter what. He’s basically saying that all men are horny and that‘s not going to change, and that they’re going to care more about sex than romance and always have. As far as I can tell, “carabine/carabin” is referencing a sex worker who caters to “carabin” aka medical students, although I’m not sure why the barge at Saint Cloud? Aspasia was the lover of Pericles; some sources depict her as a prostitute. She was foreign, so she actually had more rights than native Greek women, and she was very beautiful and very smart and witty.

Basically, Tholomyes is being a slimy bastard and saying men don’t want romance and women are there to keep men entertained and their dicks wet, and if they’re smart/witty as well as a good lay, that’s even better (perhaps a backhanded compliment for Favourite here? Since she’s supposed to be the “clever one”). Asshole. God, I hate him.

I know most people seem to say that Thenardier is the worst character in the Brick, the closest to a “bad guy” you can get in this book, but I think it’s actually Tholomyes. Thenardier, throughout the book, is awful, but most of his horrible actions are at least primarily fueled by desperation and a complete lack of access to, well, anything. Tholomyes, on the other hand, is the opposite of socially or financially desperate. He’s a rich, charismatic law student who thinks he’s hot shit. He manipulates and uses a girl 11 years younger than him, gets her pregnant, cheats on her, mocks her in front of his friends as well as her own friends (or the girls she thinks are her friends), never corrects her about the nature of their relationship, and then abandons her completely in a cruel prank. And if we’re interpreting this whole monologue right, it’s all for his own amusement. What a horrible, awful man.

The death of this poor weak horse feels like a foreshadowing, or at the very least a metaphor for the plight of poor women. Made to work hard, sacrifice themselves, starved, tired, and even when they’ve fallen either morally or literally, they’re blamed rather than helped, and then they die because no one ever tries to help them.

Tholomyes riffs on Francois de Malherbe in reaction to the death of the old horse. The Malherbe quote is from a letter of condolence to a colleague on the death of his daughter and says “But she bloomed on earth, where the most beautiful things have the saddest destiny; / And Rose, she lived as live the roses, for the space of a morning.” Tholomyes’ riff is (as best as I can do with google translate) “She was of this world where cuckoos [or cuckoo clocks?] and carriages have the same fate / And, nag, she lived as live the nags, in the space of a morning.”

Fantine gets her first spoken line here, sympathizing with the horse. Which, if this is foreshadowing as well as general commentary, is just so sad. Also, the fact that everyone else brushes off the horse’s death is interesting. If it is a metaphor, so is this brushing off. The grisettes are highly aware of their precarious position in life. One bad thing can send it all crashing down; but they expect it. They don’t sympathize or feel bad about it because they’ve seen it happen around them, they know it’ll happen to them one day too.

Favourite is the one who remembers the surprise. She’s been the only one of the girls actually talking about it. She’s the one who gets the dialogue asking for it and the one that keeps reminding the men about it. I don’t think she’s in cahoots with them about it or anything, but I wonder what she thinks is going on.

Also interesting that the “moment” that is suddenly right for this surprise has just been preceded by a downturn in mood at the shock of the dead horse. This horse has just dropped, and now the girls are waiting for yet another crushing emotional blow.

The fact that Tholomyes derails the kiss to a kiss on the forehead is definitely him trying to distance himself from Fantine. A kiss on the mouth would perhaps make her think he has feelings for her, that there’s any emotion involved in this at all. Plus he’s been cheating on her with Favourite. A kiss on the forehead is distant enough that it’s more emotionally “safe” for all of them, but especially Tholomyes, who really just wants out of this whole situation because he really doesn’t want to deal with a girl having feelings for him (or his child!) or pretty much anything that doesn’t have to do with his own pleasure. He’s just so manipulative and sleazy, I hate him.

The difference between Favourite’s reaction as they walk out the door and Fantine’s reaction is interesting to me because it seems to confirm just how oblivious Fantine really is. It’s not like she’s judging the others and thinks she’s in a Real Relationship, which is not like what the other girls have. She’s definitely not even remotely aware of the emotional status quo that everyone else recognizes. Favourite thinks it’s all good fun and games. Fantine seems to genuinely think that everyone else feels the same as she does about their affairs with the students. She seems to assume that she’s not the only one who’s in love. All the more shock for her in the next chapter, when the other girls are laughing and she’s devastated.

This whole thing is made all the worse with the fact that every single person involved in this affair is extremely aware of the difference between Fantine and everyone else. They talk about it to each other, and even to Fantine, who doesn’t seem to notice or get it. They probably giggle about her behind her back the entire time. They all know she’s in love with Tholomyes, and I assume they all know she also has a kid. They are perfectly aware of the difference between her and them. Which means all of the men are perfectly aware of how she’ll probably react to the “surprise” and what it might do to her socially. They don’t give a shit. They obviously think she’s a space case and a child and probably think she’s “no fun” compared to the other grisettes. So it doesn’t matter to them what happens to her; it doesn’t even matter to the other grisettes what happens to her, because they’re laughing at her too.

#les miserables #les miserables meta #brickclub #les mis #les mis meta #lm 1.3.8 #I am Angry About Tholomyes but bad at articulating it #because most of my thoughts are just a scribble of 'disgusting horrible awful sleazy manipulative gross motherfucker i hate him so much'#also it's almost 7am and i haven't slept yet so that might have something to do with it too

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michelles-garden-of-evil · 4 years

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Episode 29 Review: The Missing Cyanide

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 }

{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

Welcome back to the isle of Maljardin, whose lush foliage and majestic château mask a deadly evil, one who has grown deadlier with the acquisition of a bottle of cyanide. SIx episodes ago, Jean Paul Desmond removed the bottle from the medicine poison cabinet in the former laboratory of the late Dr. Menkin, only for Jean Paul’s ancestor Jacques Eloi des Mondes to spirit it away shortly after and hide it the-Devil-knows-where. Now the inhabitants and detained guests of the island search for the bottle before its contents can spell their death.

We open with Alison searching for the vial of cyanide in the aforementioned poison cabinet. (Speaking of which, the fact that Dr. Menkin had a whole cabinet full of bottles labeled “POISON” makes him appear just as suspicious as Jean Paul. What kinds of experiments might he have performed that required the use of poison?) For those of you who love to make fun of YouTube’s automatic captions (I hope it’s not just yours truly), the opening scene is a treat, with a whole 30 seconds of subtitled background music:

The YouTube caption bots have officially gone mad.

She sees Quito and asks him if he has seen the bottle, even drawing a picture of it to make sure he knows which one she’s referring to. He tries to tell her using various gestures, but she doesn’t understand the meaning, and neither Raxl nor Jean Paul is around to interpret. During his first two attempts, he touches his head and then sweeps a hand either outward or upward: “Jacques possessed Jean Paul and swiped it,” perhaps? For his third attempt, he points at himself, then towards the doorway, then makes a “chatterbox” motion with his hand, then points below. I think that means, “I’m going to tell Raxl” (or “I,” “go,” “talk,” “down below”) if only because he goes to fetch her to interpret next.

THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES, here playing the role of the Greek chorus. Colin Fox doesn’t appear in this episode[1], but he did record a voice-over for Jacques’ portrait in advance. Jacques is also looking especially rosy in this shot--very cute.

Back in the lab, Raxl interprets Quito’s signs, and it turns out I was close with my guess on the meaning of the first combination. According to Raxl, touching the forehead followed by the swiping motion means “the master took it.” Alison asks when he took the bottle, Quito signs some more, and Raxl translates: “Two days ago.” She adds that she doesn’t believe that Jean Paul intentionally took it, but that “I fear that he was under a spell of that accursed Jacques Eloi des Mondes.”

After Alison says that the bottle contained enough cyanide to kill everyone on the island, Raxl makes the Sign of the Great Serpent for the first time, albeit with only one hand instead of both.

This brings up the issue of who killed Dr. Menkin (obviously Jacques) and Erica (true cause of death still unknown), and is reminiscent of the mystery of where the conjure doll and silver pin was hidden. Alison begs her to search everywhere including Jean Paul’s room--which is normally off-limits to her--for the doll and pin, even though that will end her erotic dreams about dashing chevalier Jacques. I suppose we all need to make sacrifices.

In the Great Hall, Raxl tells Quito that she is going to contact the Conjure Woman aka Vangie Abbott. Quito shakes his head and grabs her as though pleading for her not to do it. This is reminiscent of the scene in Episode 13 when Quito freaked out over Raxl’s mention of Vangie’s father, the Conjure Man, and also begged her not to. Kurt Schiegl did an excellent job conveying Quito’s thoughts and feelings without speaking. He could have gone into silent films, if they were still a thing in the sixties.

Quito is undead. Does he even still have a heartbeat?

She descends to the crypt and then waits for Quito to join her before entering the Not-So-Hidden Temple (good, atmospheric scene).

Some favorite shots from the scene.

Meanwhile, Matt finds Alison calling for her in the Great Hall:

OK, Captain Obvious.

She tells him about the cyanide and convinces him to help her find it, but won’t tell him who she believes has it.

Meanwhile, Raxl lays out some Tarot cards in the Not-So-Hidden Temple. “The Tarot is as Evangeline Abbott said. Now with the help of the Great Serpent, I shall summon her.” She begins a ritual, bidding Quito beat the drums as she calls for the Conjure Woman to join her.

We cut back to the Great Hall and learn that Matt now considers Raxl’s beliefs superstition, because she believes in Jacques’ ghost and he does not. He doesn’t believe in witchcraft or possession either. Remember, this is a man who said nineteen episodes ago, “The Tarot is the soul’s way to God. Any path that leads to God should have a minister’s approval.” He’s far from anti-superstition when it comes to the Tarot--and besides, the Bible mentions witchcraft and possession, as Alison points out. But Matt denies that those two things exist and dismisses them as ancient, outdated beliefs. You know that his denial is making Jacques absolutely giddy and that somewhere in Hell (or wherever he goes when he’s not inside Jean Paul’s body) he is sitting on his throne grinning from ear to ear and polishing his ring.

Jacques, upon hearing that Reverend Dawson doesn’t believe in possession.

In the temple, Raxl lays some Tarot cards onto the altar. I have no idea if these cards were deliberately chosen to predict future events on Maljardin or if Cosette Lee just drew ten random cards, but I like writing these Tarot analyses, so I’m going to assume it’s the former. First, a photo of the cards, cropped, lightened, sharpened, flipped to show from Raxl’s perspective, and with the card names marked:

Because both the King of Swords and the Queen of Cups appear twice, these cards must be from two decks combined. (Normally, there is only one of each card in a Tarot deck, but some people choose to use multiple decks when doing readings. That's what I gather from a Googling "using multiple decks in tarot," anyway.)

Using the meanings given to certain cards in previous episodes and the established interpretations on Tarot.com and The Tarot Guide for the others, here is my brief card-by-card interpretation:

Strikingly, two of these cards, the Ace of Swords and the World, have very positive meanings. The Ace of Swords can be about force (in the sense meaning power, not the sense of being forced to do things) or it can foretell a new beginning or the start of a new project, according to The Tarot Guide. The World denotes success and the fulfillment of dreams; some interpretations such as that on Tarot.com consider it to always be a positive card, even when reversed (although The Tarot Guide argues in favor of a negative interpretation of The World RX). The Tarot Guide says that the Four of Coins/Pentacles can mean "possessiveness,” but I'm thinking that it, if this spread of cards was intentional, Ian Martin may have meant for it to mean "possession" instead. I included both Elizabeth and Holly as posible Queens of Cups in my interpretation, because, although I am inclined to believe Raxl’s and Vangie’s interpretation of the Queen of Cups over Matt’s, either one may be correct.

When examined together, these cards suggest a “new beginning” for Jean Paul, Elizabeth and/or Holly, and Dan. Jacques will either possess them or have them become possessed, and this scheme of his will be a success. We know that Jacques foreshadows Elizabeth’s eventual possession (in his original outline for the plot) as early as Episode 12, and we also know from Episodes 6 and 19, respectively, that Dan and Holly both had counterparts on 17th century Maljardin. If Martin had been allowed to stick to his original outline, would Dan have ended up being possessed by d’Anton and Holly by the blonde girl in her dream? Was that his original intention?

But I digress. The Tarot is less significant to this scene than the fact that Raxl is trying to summon Vangie again to the island. Quito pounds on the ritual drum, Raxl prays in a trance while kneeling before the altar. Unbeknownst to them, the Reverend Matt Dawson sneaks into the temple to search for both the cyanide and Erica’s notes.

Raxl and Quito in the Temple of the Serpent.

Raxl: “COME, CONJURE WOMAN, TAKE YOUR PLACE ON THE ALTAR OF THE GREAT SERPENT...CONJURE WOMAN, TAKE WHAT STRENGTH IS LEFT FROM THE SOUL OF YOUR FATHER AND USE IT! USE HIS STRENGTH! USE HIM!”

Matt discovers that he’s not strong enough to force the door open and so gives up. “What doors are closed to me I suppose I have no right to open,” he tells Alison cryptically as the “sad Jean Paul” music plays in the background. (That’s what I call the cue at least, because it mostly plays during sad Jean Paul scenes.)

Raxl: “COME, CONJURE WOMAN!”

Vangie: “When I die, it will be here on Maljardin. Why did you call me?”

Vangie protests that “[she] must be brought [to Maljardin] some other way” instead of summoning, which is pretty pointless, because Raxl’s ability to summon her to Maljardin eliminates the need for an invite from Jean Paul or Jacques (or, in Holly’s case, skill with sneaking onto ships). She ends this episode with a cryptic line that could refer to one of several female characters on this show: “When the master of the house is no longer the master of his soul, the house needs a mistress."

Overall, a good but not very eventful episode--but then, at this point, you can’t really do much unless Jean Paul and Jacques are around to stir things up. They’re not the only interesting characters--I would be more than happy to watch this, too, if it were The Raxl Show--but Jean Paul and Jacques are the catalysts, the “movers and shakers” if you will. Fortunately, the handsome devil and his 20th-century descendant will be back next episode

Coming up next: Vangie tries to convince Jean Paul to bring her to Maljardin by boat and we try to determine if the Lost Episode summary for Episode 30 was truly for a lost episode.

{ <- Previous: Episode 28 || Next: Episode 30 -> }

Notes

[1] Steve (leafshimmer) sent me an article recently with behind-the-scenes information on the show, including the reason why Fox is absent from roughly one episode per week:

Last year [i. e. 1968], Fox broke his neck while taping the Stratford Festival company's Three Musketeers for CBC. Although he doesn't have to wear a neck brace all the time, he still suffers pain. "Most of the early problems were cleared up, but it's much too exhausting doing this--working 12 hours a day," he said. "My doctor has given me a letter which insists I get one working day off a week. I have less than 48 hours off, with rehearsals every night, including Sunday."

(Source: Sid Adilman, “TV’s Colin Fox and his Strange Paradise,” Toronto Telegram (Nov. 29 1969).)

#strange paradise #soap opera #ian martin #week 6 #episode 29 #review #analysis #foxless episodes #the not so hidden voodoo temple #scenery chewing #sign of the great serpent #sp and religion #speculation on ian martin's original story #tarot #youtube automatic captions

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oculusius · 4 years

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Desk Jockey

“I want that report on my desk at 6 AM tomorrow or your ass is on the street.”

I look up from my keyboard, from the sickeningly modern, blank desk to the even worse face of my branch manager. Picture what you’d expect the person saying this to look like, and you’re probably right. Tall, dark hair combed back, slicked back with just enough gel to not be disgusting. Attractive, but only conventionally, because it hides his fetid interior. The rotten, wriggling insides of the kind of guy who relishes other’s misery, especially when he’s snorting high grade blow on the weekends. Though he’d probably prefer orphan’s tears (But that’s a story for another time).

I’ll do my best, you fucking cretin.

I mumble out some garbled excuse. I won’t even tell you what I said because I forget, or rather, it was so insignificant that I never committed it to memory in the first place. “Sorry Eric,” (He’s one of the ‘hip’ bosses that makes us call him by his first name), “Won’t happen again”, Please don’t take my healthcare away I will literally suck your dick to keep it. He shakes his head and walks away. We’re the last ones in the office, one of the tallest buildings in our shitty, Midwestern town; all glass and steel like some gaudy San Francisco startup. The only lights still on are in the lobby; besides that the only other illumination is from the sickeningly crisp glow emanating from my monitor. As soon as the elevator doors close behind Eric, I grasp my hair in my hands; it’s drenched in sweat and I’m balding already, despite being in my late twenties. Flakes of dandruff are appearing on my scalp, but by the time I get home from work I’m too damn tired to remember to get that special shampoo. Stress related? Probably. Did I have time to fix it? Fuck no.

I swear to God you motherfucker I’ll name you when I eat a fucking bullet you shit fuck…

Stop. The more rational voice in my head. Finish this shit in the next—5 hours? Shit, it’s already 1 AM! I’ll smash bottles and get proper wasted when I’m finished. And when the following day is over, seeing as I’d probably be pulling an all-nighter. Fuck. I take two caffeine pills from the nondescript tin in my top drawer.

Alright. I need to get the excel sheet from that old email inbox the intern left when he quit (not that I blame him). To do that, I need to go through my inbox and find that time I CC’ed him about scheduling that conference call. But to get into my inbox, I need to reset my password because company policy is to change passwords every 3 weeks, and it can’t be a past password…

Alright. One step at a time.

It’s two hours later. I found the file, finally. I feel like I crossed the fucking Rubicon with no limbs to get here. Now, to get the shit I need from it and send it to Eric. I hope he chokes on it. While bleeding. From every orifice, and then some. I open the file, and I’ve never been so goddamn happy to see the sickening green of excel. Document recovery—what’s that? Fuck it, I’ll deal with it later. I ctrl f the account name. Beads of sweat are dripping off my forehead. Outside, it’s still the vaguely pinkish black of night in any big city. I might actually get some sleep tonight…

WHY IS THERE A FUCKING HYPERLINK HERE?

Oh boy, this better not cost me my job. I get sent to a greyish webpage, the kind of soulless portal that screams ‘high finance’. A nondescript login page for “Kleene-Rosser Accounts Management LLC”. I roll my eyes. Management occasionally threw us these shitty platforms because their friends from way back developed them, and they wanted to help them out. Because God forbid we use Citibank.

There’s no login, but there’s a support number on the bottom of the page. Maybe if I call, they can help me? It’s worth a shot. I mean, I had nothing but time, and if it actually worked and saved my job, I would fly all the way to India or some shit to kiss that phone technician on the lips. Alright. God, when I was an undergrad did I ever imagine this would be my waking life (or lack thereof?) I should’ve joined the military. Better to be blown up overseas then mentally scarred over here.

4-887-612-393: 24/7 Live Support

I call from my office phone, in the hopes that it’ll lend credence to the claim that I fucking need this login. The phone rings for what seems like half an hour, but I can tell from the clock on the wall that it hasn’t been a single, godforsaken minute. Maybe I’d died and gone to purgatory? Seemed believable enough—although, I wasn’t sure what I’d done in a past life to deserve this. Maybe I was a Mongol slavedriver, and…

“Hello, this is ZenDesk, my name is Robert. How may I help you today?” My crisis of existential spiraling instantly, mercifully, shatters. I put on a cheery voice.

“Hi, I work at [company name]. I really need to find something for my boss, and in this accounts payable excel file, it says that I’m supposed to login to a ‘Kleene-Rosser Accounts Management?’ I have all my company info if you need it, I was just never told we used this firm before.”

A beat passes. I hope he heard the desperation in my voice, because if I had a guardian angel, it’d be on the other end of that phone line. Why did I tell him I never heard of this place? He doesn’t care! He isn’t paid to care!

“Of course, sir. Just a moment please. What’s your name sir?”

That thin veneer of politeness again.

“Uh, Keith Sanders. I also have my company email, if you can send the password there…”

“OK sir, what’s the address?”

I spell it out for him. My fingers are digging into the faux-leather of the chair. I’m starting to sweat. If this doesn’t work, I’m fucking hosed…

I tell him the address, and soon I have the URL to reset the Kleene-Rosser password. Surprisingly, my company email works for the username. Lucky guess I suppose? I thank him, truly from the bottom of my heart, and wait for the page to load.

According to the web page, the site was some kind of file storage service. Besides a few nondescript tabs on the top leading to “Home”, “Support”, etc. there’s nothing but a grey background set behind a very basic file directory.

[company_name]/Accounts/Accounts_Payable/2019/May/.

There it is! So deceptively close. 05.19.19.xcl

When I try to open it, I hear the most awful of noises: the Windows 10 error sound, impossibly loud. File corrupted. WHAT THE FUCK? HOW DO YOU CORRUPT A FUCKING EXCEL FILE? SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS SIDEWAYS?

I dig my fingertips into my temples. I can feel the faint outline of an engorged vein on the side of my head. I imagine it, an angry, vibrant purple, the shooting representation of my immense, earth-shattering frustration.

It was as if every cog in the infernal machine that was my work place was designed specifically to drive me fucking bananas. Like my life was some cosmic joke to see how much I would endure before going postal, or at least smashing my monitor. Jump out an office window, strapped with speakers blaring “FUCK THIS PLACE” over and over again, even when they’re scraping me off the pavement with a comically large spatula. Every little thing piled atop one another to form the worst shit tsunami eternally suspended above my head. Every wriggling, squealing fucking cell in my brain…

Alright, let’s think of solutions. Eric wanted the file, and if it was corrupted, I’d just tell him the truth: that it’s how I found it. Man, why did I drive myself up the wall earlier? So stupid… I log into my email. Actually, I don’t. As soon as I hit enter in the URL bar, I get that fucking google “no internet” error dinosaur. At this point, I try to keep rolling with the punches. Alright, network diagnostics, here we go. After what feels like centuries, after windows resets the router, etc. I finally get an answer. Sort of. An error code. I had two hours left before I was unemployed. I take another caffeine pill and keep going, determined to see this shit through to the end.

Hidden on the fifth page of the search results is my answer. It’s on an obscure, early 2000s web forum that had a grand total of 2 users online, probably bots. A post from a literal decade ago has my same issue, and one of the commenters mentions he had the same thing. Apparently, it’s a hardware issue with the router. Despite being woefully underqualified to deal with IT issues, I have no other choice. No fucking way Eric will believe that the internet cut out 2 hours before my deadline. I find the tech support number, and pray that the information is up to date and that they won’t have to send a technician out to fix it.

As the phone rings, I ponder my situation. I was unlucky enough to find what I needed right as the Wi-Fi died, and it was probably one of those issues that fixes itself in an hour anyway. There it is again; I can almost see the shadowy gears of the universe working against me, trying to crush my psyche beneath their teeth into bits of mental scrap. When I finally get a response, I’m caught off guard. This guy seems American. His voice is a bit hoarse, and I picture him as the fat comic book guy from the Simpsons, gut and all.

“----- tech support. How can I help you?”

I don’t like the way his voice trails off every word, leaving a breathy wisp behind like the tail of a comet. It makes me want to shudder.

“Yeah, uh—“

My mind blanks for a minute. I’ve been derailed, and it takes an agonizing few seconds for me to decide what I want to say.

“I was trying to email my boss, and—“again with the unnecessary details “I got this error code, and I saw online that it was an issue with the router.”

“Uh huh.” He sounds skeptical. And disapproving. I imagine he’s wrinkled that gob of cartilage clinging to his face he calls a nose. “What’s the model number?” He finally asks.

I read off the name, and he laughs. He fucking laughs. Is my suffering amusing him? Arousing him?

I have a clearer image of this guy now. Pervading my mind, filling the gaps in my brain, covering my synaptic gaps with fucking cement. He’s grossly overweight, in some dark room somewhere. He smells like BO and he is sweaty milky beads off his forehead that are landing into his keyboard and congealing. The scent is odious, like a corpse coated in mayonnaise and left in a tomb for five millennia, except it’s still wet.

“Sir?” That subtle tone of annoyance again. “Do you understand me, sir?”

“Uh, yeah, sorry. Would you mind repeating that? I was just—talking to someone.” Idiot he can tell you weren’t.

I write down his instructions, but first he pontificates about some issue with a chip in the router or some shit. Apparently I have to call the manufacturer? And they can help me dust it off or some such?

He’s fleshy and sickeningly soft, like a malformed, hairless puppy. That shirt’s been pasted to his damp stomach longer than you’ve been on Earth. It’s just a crude impersonation of the kind of people that run this industry. And you’re just his plaything, to be antagonized and fucked with until…

As soon as my attention is re-centered, I say “Alright thanks bye” without even knowing what he was rambling about before. He laughs. No, cackles. I can practically smell the stale coffee and tobacco on his breath. I slam the receiver down. It was starting to stick to my face with sweat and I really wanted to switch to my cell anyway. Peeling it away was orgasmic.

I examine the napkin I had scribbled on. I’d written it down in a haze, and it almost felt like I was reading someone else’s handwriting. Was that a 5, or a 6, or what? Doesn’t matter. I plug in the numbers, to some obscure fucking company I know nothing about. There’s like 12 digits, not like any number I’ve ever dialed. Unbeknownst to me, I was about to make the worst fucking mistake of my life, worse than taking on that debt to go to college or that time I puked on grandma’s casket at the funeral. Light years away, I imagine, some metaphysical blade was eagerly, sexually, preparing to scoop out my insides and flay them across time and space, flicking its imaginary tongue back and forth in anticipation.

I had expected that infuriating error code, but instead, I feel it. All of it. The other side is cold, and every hair on my body stands right on edge.

“Hello?”

The phone’s definitely connected.

“Hello?!”

This time it seems to echo. I’d opened a door, a beaming ray of light into a place that hasn’t been graced by it in eons.

“Is this Infolink appliances?” I gulp suddenly. My throat is impossibly dry. Everything that made me me, my identity, my memories, my interests… were spilling out into space, into an impossible void far blacker than even the darkest of nights. Please. Like my brain was a plastic bag full of air, but now it’s been punctured. It’s getting sucked out like a breached spaceship, and my body is curling around the now torturous void. I am a husk.

I drop the phone on the ground, and the screen cracks. But I’m far beyond caring about that screen now. The spiritual, inky black is billowing out of the phone like an endless wave going out in every direction. And there’s something else. A raucous laughter, and sneering, they’re laughing so hard somewhere backstage that their mouths, or whatever they call those fucking gullets, are overflowing with sickening white foam with streaks of yellow bile. Dark silhouettes that have been eagerly waiting this whole time for this horrible climax. I’d played my part. Everything else was out of my hands now.

#horror #writing #lovecraft

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S4 Episode 2: Rebecca...She’s back, I guess?

So I got hella sick this week so it’s...just one update this weekend. The rest of the next update has the caps done but then the copy I was putting together got very distracted about which Founding Father was the hottest and I think that was the Dayquil? I barely know what day of the week it is rn. I think it’s Saturday, is it Saturday?

Anyway, we’re battling that Monocle guy. Gurimo? Yeah his name is Gurimo. I honestly can’t remember him saying his name even once, so thanks Google for the help.

It’s a new season so not only did we suck all the power out of God Cards but now you can’t use them anymore with the new glowing green mechanic. The writers really did just...a lot to make it so God Cards are no longer relevant. Like they buried them so far.

This guy repeats himself quite a lot about being soul hungry? Yeah I watched all of Sailor Moon so like, I’m super up to date on my soul energy anime. I’ve walked this path before I know it well.

(read more under the cut)

Such a shame we can’t read those stats which may just be Hebrew letters in lorem ipsum (note that when Pegasus makes you a card, you don’t get to have stats) but it’s nice to know that, if you wanted to, you could play Rex and Weevil in universe of the show and something would happen.

Anyway, Gurimo lost, his eyes went all glowy red at some point, and decided to go out throwing stuff because it’s Yugioh and you have to throw cards at least 3 times a season, its in the contract.

Don’t think about physics guys, just trust that cards can do this on a roof where there’s no wind for some reason.

And then he went up in a green ball of glory. It was nice of the green beam of soul energy to wait until the impossible card toss was over.

Lol this show and how it just kills people on screen just...all the time. All the freakin time. Can’t show a gun, but murder as many people as you like. It’s OK, his soul is in a paper card so he’s not *really* dead. That won’t terrify children under the age of 10.

So Pharaoh decides to do the tactic of telling a bunch of motorcycle gang edgy kids (adults? not sure about those three) that stealing is Wrong.

They also, youknow, are implicit in murdering Rex and Weevil but youknow, stealing is wrong and the God Cards don’t belong to them and Pharaoh is shook that these kids won’t keep their end of their bargain that whoever wins the card fight keeps the cards.

So basically Gurimo died for freakin nothing.

Welcome back to the fold, Rex and Weevil, apparently this show isn’t done with you yet. I was pretty much done with both of you 3 seasons ago but alas, you will be back, with your raspy as hell voice acting, at the beginning of S5. I am sure of it.

(PS I just noticed I spelled resurrect wrong and I know I should go back into photoshop but like...I’m too sick to care at this moment so maybe I’ll change it in the next week or so I dunno, I’m just gonna post this thing so I can feel like I did something productive today.)

And so these kids decide the police are never going to freakin show up to the rooftop brawl where a guy super died and several children were endangered and a huge beam of light you can see from space went out like a bat signal to the rest of the city of “ps, something bad is happening over here, if any of you adults feel like helping out these four high school drop outs? Nobody?”

First, they decide to keep this horrible thing:

(which second thought is not SO surprising, because Yugi clearly loves hoarding dead people)

And then this other horrible thing:

Why would you keep these? Why would you do this?

I mean Yugi’s got such specific dark tastes that I wouldn’t be half surprised if his closet is filled with dozens and dozens of rat skulls he collected from the subway station.

And then the next day, Yugi decided to just like watch Joey and Tristan dangle Rex and Weevil like puppets. It just seemed super unnecessary.

Like Yugi isn’t even Pharaoh right now but he’s absolutely fine with these guys getting shook around. Yugi is all sorts of gray area in this show and I’m glad that’s never changed although sometimes it’s like “Is Yugi slowly turning into a mob boss? Because I’m down, but also somewhat concerned?”

Anyway, the God Cards aren’t even here anymore so we say farewell to Rex and Weevil who seem just as confused at how the hell you can steal a God Card as we are.

*not entirely sure where Rex and Weevil are from. I’ve been assuming the UK or the US but like...maybe they live here? I don’t even know.

And then Chibiusa--I mean Rebecca showed up.

Ah, remember this plot point from S1? What if she shows up and (according to Bro) Just never leaves?

I’m coming to terms with this. Anyway, Rebecca’s only purpose seems to be as a part of a (love????) triangle (square????) between Yugi and Tea but like...

And maybe this is the Dayquil speaking but...

Is this even weird?

Seriously, they’re family friends, why is this weird? Maybe it’s because one of Rebecca’s core traits is that she’s American and I’m also an American so I don’t even see a problem with Rebecca and how she acts (since she’s a freakin child with a crush on a card-famous person) but like what small child see her friend she hasn’t seen in 2 years and is not going to hug him?

Anyway, Yugi was the worst to not remember this chick. Maybe his brain looks like a box of loose packing peanuts (I say as a metaphor remembering that his brain literally looks like an Escher painting screensaver), but he can’t remember this chick from just 2 years ago that he gave his rarest card to? The chick who’s grandfather had that blue-eyes he gave to Yugi’s Grandfather? The chick who’s grandfather helped his grandfather get that necklace around Yugi’s neck? The necklace he wears every single day and is super cursed by?

How do you forget the Hawkins when they are part of the reason everyone thinks you’re losing your mind?

But I guess she looks older now and got a pair of glasses (bifocals????). She No longer has her hair in pigtails but, I dunno, she looks basically the same to me since she’s still about the same size as Yugi but wtv.

And then Yugioh was like “Listen everyone, we’re very tired of all of your angry reviews, and I see y’all are saying we never do romance, well get ready, we know how to do romance really well, get ready for it, we can make things move faster than a snail in wet cement, just watch.”

Because somehow, after Yugi was the biggest asshole ever to Rebeca, I guess she figured like “well, at least you’re still card famous”

You know what? I have several girlfriends who I am not dating, but, if it’s been a couple weeks since they’ve seen me last, will give me a huge as drunk hug on my arm and go “MY LOVE MY GIRLFRIEND MARRY ME” and like...Again I’m American so maybe this is just my culture here in California?

I’d like to believe that Rebecca is just messing with these people because she can.

Ps I’m pretty sure this girl was 6 last time we saw her but they decided...we better age her up if it’s gonna be a romance but they only made her 12. OK show. Yugi’s pushing 17 at this point so like...barely even logical. I’d say legal but I’m thinking more of just logic at this point because the last time we saw this girl she was holding a teddy bear (which we can guarantee is probably still shoved into her luggage)

...OK, show...

Now listen listen listen. All ships are fine here. I’m not gonna go after shipping because like, c’mon, it’s 2019. If you stan Rebecca and Yugi, go for it, why not? I’ve said it before, and my feelings haven’t really changed, I’m immune to shipping, so I feel absolutely no different with Rebecca and Yugi than I do with Tea and Yugi. I think Tea makes more sense, but that’s not saying very much because literally anyone else on this cast who isn’t related to him could probably work. Go ahead and bring back Mako Tsunami. There’d be a fun pair.

Bro got very excited when I mentioned a MakoxYugi pairing just now ps.

But it really does feel like this ship has the dynamic of the Usagi/Chibiusa/Mamaru ship from Sailor Moon where Usagi was always jealous of small little Chibiusa spending time with Mamaru who was her OWN DAD. Why would you EVER be jealous of a 12 year old girl hanging with your boy...friend? Tea is a 17ish year old ballerina who never, ever wears full pants. She’d have this in the bag if she ever decided to like...do anything with...this. And I don’t blame Tea for never doing anything with “this” because like...look at “this.”

I just don’t think the writing team knows how to write a competent love triangle (square) but...this exists now. They even had Rebecca decide to dress nearly identically to Tea as a demonstration of her devotion but like...it honestly comes off more that this small child just admires Tea. Because she’s 12.

Yugi is just babysitting this girl for his Grandfather and it feels like the writing team just had to have the girls be all catty at eachother. Because it’s a kids show. Gotta have those girls all catty. Can’t let them be friends.

Anyway, back at this museum that these kids visit so freakin often, you’d think they’d change their home address, we meet up with the granddads in question.

Ah, now Ishizu is no longer with us, Exposition Grandpa is here to take the torch. Can’t wait for that.

And I made his font gray because I freakin give up. Grandpa Hawkins might change his font color every episode. I...I’m figuring it out.

And then, every helicopter in Domino shed a single tear.

Wow. I’ve been so mad for so many seasons that they never use a freakin seaplane to cross the ocean that when they actually do I’m like...kind of disappointed?

I mean it’s not shaped like a dragon, but I will take this perfectly acceptable seaplane.

I can’t believe they drew a normal ass plane. on this show.

*Waits patiently for it to turn into a blimp next episode*

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to read all the caps in chrono order. There’s over 3 seasons of this. Y’all I’ve done over 100 episodes.

#Yugioh #Ygo #episode recap #photo recap #Yugi Muto #Rebecca Hawkins #Tea Gardner #Joey Wheeler #Gurimo #The biker guys I think one is called valon or something #tristan taylor #grandpa muto #grandpa hawkins #so I found out only the first 5 tags are searchable so I don't know why Im bothering writing so many tags other than it's fun #S4 #Ep2

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kumoriyami-xiuzhen · 5 years

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Hakuoki Hana no Shou Hijikata After Story Translation Attempt

My attempt at translating the “ Hakuoki Shinkai Hana no shou Stellaworth Early Reservation Bonus’ HIjikata Toshizou short story [ 「薄桜鬼真改華ノ章」ステラワース早期予約特典　ブロマイド土方歲三] from Chinese to English with lots of editing and mtl help...

The Shinsengumi oni-tan drama is going to take a while to translate since i’m worrying more about accuracy since the recent translations i added to my list were only available as jpgs... and none of the text extractors i’ve used have been able to extract an error-less version of all the words... also doesn’t help that the text is really small on these images so on some of the more complicated characters just can’t be replaced by me rewriting the word on google by hand... *sigh*.

On a side note, please check out my updated tumblr page since I put together a list of some of the Hakuoki dramas that I’m looking for as I translations for them (”Stuff I’m looking for” creative title, i know.). That list will probably won’t be updated anytime soon since anything I don’t have the audio for (in relation to the dramas anyway) has a very low priority for me to work on.

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Hakuoki Shinkai Hanashou Stellaworth Early Reservation Bonus Hijikata Toshizou After Story

Translation by KumoriYami

A few months after the Republic of Ezo's surrender to the new Meiji government-

The man known as the demon vice-commander, former Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizou has been living in a secluded house in the mountains.

Hearing of the Meji era's turbulence, but here, such tension cannot be felt/ (Despite) hearing of the Meiji era's turbulence, such change cannot be felt here.

“Hijikata-san.... No, Toshizou-san, it's time to get up. It's almost noon.”

He heard someone calling him from beside the bed.

Her name was Yukimura Chizuru. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she lived with the Shinsengumi and had continued to follow Hijikata to Ezo, eventually becoming his partner [the translation doesn't use the word 'wife' here].

"Really, quiet down [Hijikata probably says 'shut up’ here]. It's just oversleeping a bit. It's not like (I) have anything to do anyway/there's anything to do anyway.

Hijikata did not rise from bed and bluntly spoke.

"Although that's true..." 　 Chizuru softly muttered, then quietly whispered.

"........Hijikata-san has changed."

"Really?"

Hijikata gently rolled over to her side. He glanced at Chizuru who was now looking at him with a bewildered expression.

He looked up at the ceiling, muttering to himself.

"When I was vice-commander, the schedule was full everyday, and it was impossible to sleep for a long time/sleep in."

"Because the Hijikata-san then would blame/get upset at those who overslept."

Recalling their time in Kyoto, Chizuru laughed.

"That so..."

Although it hasn’t even been a year since the end of the war, it felt like more than a decade ago.

He believed that he had done his duty as the Shinsengumi's vice-commander together/along with Kondou-san, fighting as (true) warriors until the end. (Though) Nowadays, it was not good to reminisce about the secular world.

(I don't know/wonder how the surviving members are doing now...)

He heard that Shimada, Souma, as well as Saito, survived. According to rumours Souma had surrendered to the new government as the chief/representative of the Shinsengumi.... that is to say that the Shinsengumi surrendered.

Because of the new government's surveillance, we were unable to get in touch with them and could only hope that the name “Shinsengumi" would not become a hindrance/burden to the surviving members.

(I once thought that as long as I could die in battle, I would die without regrets...)

As Hijikata thought of this, he turned his gaze to Chizuru who was at his bedside.

At least now he can still live like this, just because of her(/At least now he has a reason to live because of her).

"Toshizou-san...?"

Noticing that his expression seemed a bit lost , she worriedly called Hijikata's name.

Wanting to dispel the embarrassment he felt, he reached to put/pull Chizuru in his arms.

"Eh...!?"

With a yell/yelp, she fell to the bed.

"Tha-that, Toshizou-san!"

Because of his abrupt behaviour, she couldn't help but yell/scream/raise her voice. Although they have been living under the same roof for a few months, it seemed like she was still not used to this.

In order to hold on to Chizuru who was trying to get up/away/escape, he tightened his grasp.

"What's wrong? Is it strange for a husband to treat his wife like this?"

Hijikata secretly smiled to himself at her reaction, asking her slyly.

"(It's) not strange... but, the food is going to get cold."

"Isn't it better to heat it up later? Compared to this..."

Having spoken, Hijikata made such a suggestion as he peered into Chizuru's eyes.

In his eyes/opinion, Chizuru seemed to be embarrassed as she lowered her eyes/gaze, though he did not see any signs of rejection.

Hijikata narrowed his eyes, seemingly urging her for a kiss.

Chizuru's ears were red as she whispered shyly.

"That... Toshizou-san, it's still day time?"

"What about that? There's no one watching."

"Isn't not that there is no one watching...."

Chizuru fell silent after she spoke/after Chizuru finished, they fell into silence, Hijikata held her before him, and kissed her lips in a predatory manner.

He then used the strength of his arms, tightening his grasp on her, to ensure that she could not escape as he deepened their kiss.

She seemed a bit bewildered at first, but then Chizuru also began responding to his kisses. Hijikata felt that she was very cute. 　 When their lips finally separated, Chizuru seemed unable to move and leaned on Hijikata.

“Really, you'd (think that you would) be used to this by now?”

His teasing words made Chizuru speak up/respond with indignation.

"That's because Toshizou-san always moves so abruptly. It wasn't like that before..."

"This is the real me. There's no burden (for me) to bear, no need to wear the mask of a demon anymore."

No matter what happens, she will not leave Hijikata - this strength and determination of hers is something that she has shown him countless times.

After, Chizuru buried her face into Hijikata's chest and spoke/replied.

....Regardless of how Toshizou-san looks/appears/is, I love it/you.

Such words/this sentence was/is the sweetest honey in the world, so Hijikata thought.

End

———

I’ve been able to translate a tad faster since I recognize more words now (though it’s a bit harder for me since i grew up learning traditional characters and the simplified ones make my head hurt at times... so i’ll be dragging my feet on some things)... but without the audio (in any Chinese dialect) my speaking ability isn’t really going to improve... *facepalm*

i also just noticed that i made errors in the two toshizous drama subs... im going to blame the hai toshizo vid for those errors in spelling..... ah ha ha.... oh well. T.T idc enough to fix it...also I can’t translate the 9th biyroi since I can’t access it...also havent bothered checking which ones are inaccessible to me either.. *sigh*.

#hakuouki #Hakuoki #Hakuoki Short Story Translation #Hakuoki Other Translation #Hijikata toshizou #yukimura chizuru #hakuoki shinkai

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otakween · 5 years

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Cyborg 009 (Manga) - Undersea Pyramid Arc (Part 1)

Moving onto a super long, never adapted arc. I don’t think this one has ever been translated so here I go with my sub-par Japanese comprehension skills!

Pandora’s Pyramid

-Ooh an undersea arc, that’s new. I guess that means it’s Pyunma’s time to shine? Although he’s barely in this chapter at all

-Didn’t expect Cyborg 009 to have a beach scene. 003 and 009 looked great in their swimsuits ;D (They were both showing so much skin!)

-The bad “journalist” guy and amnesia dude look so similar that I confused them for each other

-This is the second chapter in a row that strongly features 006! I guess Ishinomori was just in the mood lol

-005′s abs in this chapter look like he’s Mr.Potato Head and he has a pouch for his accessories lol (I don’t know if it’s worth calling the anatomy bad tho, since everything’s so stylized).

-The monster’s silhouette is creepy af D: he looks like a giant version of ET (who’s already creepy enough)

-So this is one of those “Curse of the Mummy” type horror plots. I like the deep sea twist tho. It’s kind of like a combo of The Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon

-Kind of an interesting bait and switch where they introduce “Syndicate M” as the bad guy and then they all get wiped out by the monster. I’m sure Syndicate M will be back but it almost would be more interesting if that was it for them.

Sugar Pyramid

-Damn, not only is this chapter really boring exposition and recap of what we’ve already seen but it’s like a million pages long! D: whyyyyy (edit: in retrospect, it’s not that long, I’m just slow at reading Japanese lol)

-Oh snap! Tripod aliens! :-0 Well, not really but that’s what the new monsters remind me of. We’re hitting all the classic monster-types here.

-...and of course they reference War of the Worlds two pages later lol. Can you tell I’m typing this as I read?

-What kind of Disney World Peter Pan nonsense is this!? That airship is cool and all but it’s design really goes against the usual scifi space look of everything else. The pea pod ship felt strangely fantasy/fairytale-esque as well (on the outside at least). The imagery is all over the place in this arc!

Bermuda Pyramid

-Did Ishinomori make up the “Bermuda Pyramid”? I’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle but I googled “Bermuda Pyramid” and didn’t find much

-I couldn’t find a translated version of this chapter so I have some questions. Number one being, is the ship named “Stupid Ivan”?? イワンのバカ

-Finally Pyunma gets to do something in this underwater themed arc! Took long enough...

-I’m a bit lost as to who the big bad is here. Who set up all those deep sea robot critters? Where did the Tripods come from?

-Found out that this arc is 13 chapters long RIP. So far the narrative feels very “make it up as you go” to me. I’m pretty sure it ends on a cliffhanger too according to the wiki :/

Green Hell Pyramid

-I honestly don’t have much to say about this chapter. The title reminds me of that horrible “Green Inferno” movie. The cyborgs get attacked by pyramids. Unclear if these pyramids are being piloted, remotely controlled or if they’re just sentient pyramids lol.

Moon Pyramid

-”Heinrich” is spelled in katakana like “hainrihi” which is either a typo or just...doesn’t make any sense. (Unless the final “i” is silent?)

-I’ve completely lost track of where we are but I’m guessing South America? The jungle art is really detailed and a nice change of pace

-I’ve learned all of my French pronunciations from anime lol. I love how Francoise sounds phoneticized (”Fu-ran-su-wa-zu”)

-The little exchange where 009 asks Francoise if she’s alright and then she says “What are you saying? I’m 003!” and then he smiles at her was really cute. More moments like that please! (Way better than hundreds of “Joe, I’m scared.” moments)

-I feel like bad guys keep showing up in this arc only to be killed by other bad guys. It’s kind of refreshing that it’s not your generic good vs. evil scenario like most modern shounen would go for. (Then again, I guess MHA has the League of Villains vs. Shie Hassaikai)

-I’m not sure how so many plants grew on their airship in so little time. It makes it seem like they were there for months!

-I know he’s supposed to be stoic but 005 hasn’t said anything for a reeeeally long time. I miss him :’(

Black Pyramid

-So this chapter begins with reflections on the mysteries of the moon. While I appreciate The level of depth and research Ishinomori’s bringing to the table. I only understood like 10% of it so :) -shrug-

-Mermaid girl! I didn’t see that coming. I wonder if this will be another Heinrich love story since he’s the one who found her...

-Heinrich mentions an alien species called “garura” which I read as “Galra” lol. Sudden Voltron crossover!?

-There’s a split screen reaction at one point and everyone looks really intense and serious except for 008 and 006 who just look extremely bored lol.

-I didn’t know I need to see 004 get all blushy and flustered about holding a girl’s hand until this chapter :3 <3

-So first we get an exposition dump about the moon followed by mermaid girl’s exposition dump. I think that’s why this arc feels kind of clunky, there’s way too much that needs setting up.

-Mermaid girl can just magically walk somehow? Is it like Mermaid Melody logic where she transforms in water?

#cyborg 009 #manga

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years

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New season...incoming!

Iruma-kun 13

How did Iruma even notice that collar? Geesh, that kid is perceptive…

This “spitting blood” joke is getting old already…

*Kiriwo starts his machine* - Why do I get the feeling something bad’s about to happen…?

Could you possibly call this “rank is the most important thing” a study of class consciousness, to throw some of Anime Feminist’s words? Or maybe this is a fantasy version of technology and it’s extolling the virtues of technology advancement?! *eyes sparkle*

Can Iruma join Kiriwo already? Please?!

Aw, dear darling! (<- I’m not sure if I’ve said that a lot in these notes, but I say that when I get the warm fuzzies and wanna protect a character…basically, platonic love, I guess…? Oh, “moe instinct” - that’s the words I’m looking for.) Iruma, go and live your best life, okay?

Thank you, story! Even though I knew it was being foreshadowed so heavily by being the focus of basically 24 minutes of this show’s runtime (= about 1 ep), I thank you from the bottom of my heart that Iruma went to the right Battler.

Wait, so Ameri is actually Iruma’s senpai by one year?! Hmm? I never realised that and I read some spoilers!

I like this new chibi animation style! Yay!

I never noticed this until now, but Kiriwo has one big horn and one little one.

I think the title, aside from the pronunciation of “Thirteen Dinner”, is meant to mean “The Thirteen Counts’ Gathering” (or some other high rank) or something of the sort. Update: So I checked and the character used, kanmuri/kan, is used to mean “crown” or someone who wears a crown, i.e. a peerless person, so it would be appropriate to translate that using the term for a high rank which is presumably going to be stated in the segment itself.

Turns out Babel…is just makaitou (the demon world tower). I don’t think it’s really Babylonian in any strict sense.

Depending on where you live, the 665th floor could count as the 666th or…well, the 665th. I know in Japanese, the word for the floor on the ground is ikkai (first floor)…I’m not going to tell you what I know it as though…that would reveal my location outside cyberspace, no?

According to the katakana, the guy’s name is Beruzebyuto (hence the translation as “Beelzebuth”). Beelzebub is the Lord of the Flies and a quick google tells me Beelzebul (close enough) was apparently an alternate spelling for him (or something like that…?). Patron demon of gluttony.

Astaroth, also a demon (king of rot, I think it was from Blue Exorcist)…interestingly, Beelzebub, Lucifer and Astaroth make up an unholy trio and all of them were referred to by a dude called...Solomon (which does kinda sound like “Sullivan”, if you think about it). There’s the connection between these guys…I like his top, too.

Asmodeus, patron demon of lust. We already knew that demon was represented through Azz-Azz, but now you see a spoiler I’ve been hiding for a while – Azz’s mother.

Amaimon…uh, I don’t remember what kind of demon he is in the demonic canon but I know him from Blue Exorcist.

Behemoth…?

Ooh, Ameri’s father is smokin’ hot! (Dangit, I do not want DILFs…) Azazel, a fallen angel and apparently personification of uncleanliness(…?)

Belial and (Lady) Leviathan, which we already knew existed from initial namedrops.

Who’s Baal? Even I have no idea…Update: Apparently he’s a Middle Eastern equivalent to Zeus, which explains his thunder allegiance.

Paimon kinda looks like Chaika, LOL.

LOL, “lifehack” is certainly the right word for it, Sullivan.

LOL, Belial is so short!

Although it’s kind of awkward to not see Lady Levi take a position of power for herself, it’s nice to see she has spirit!

Aw, this is cute. In much the same way I wanted Iruma to join the magical apparatus Battler, I want Sullivan to be Demon King.

Is Opera perhaps related to Ameri somehow…?

Somali 1

I was hoping to get to Plunderer, but got carried away writing another post and then lost the ability to watch both episode 1 and 2 ahead of schedule. So Somali is the new start of the season, but the last relic of the fact Plunderer was meant to start my season (outside ID: Invaded’s advance premiere) is the visual I have for this season. (Oh yeah, one of the reasons I’m supporting this – aside from it being a mid-ranker on my hype list – is that I heard a French animator, a friend of Thomas Romain, is getting his big start here.)

“Dad.” – Oh, f***. I have myself an Usagi Drop. I knew I was going to get something of the sort going into this show, but…Usagi Drop’s experiences (or rather, watching the anime knowing the manga has that ending) have left their mark. Not to mention Somali (as this girl will come to be known) has Latina eyes, which annoys me even more since I dropped that on the basis of being scarred by Usagi Drop.

I’m wondering what Crunchyroll was thinking when they decided to coproduce this – sure, it’s probably quite cute and wholesome, but I’m far from the target audience. Did they think, “Is this what Western audiences will like?” Sure, it would hit a niche that likes this surrogate father/daughter stuff, but I don’t think it’s for me (and I’ve been thinking that all through the OP). I’ll give it a bit more to wow me, but it’s doing pretty terrible so far (because note all other anime of this particular reputation I’m more on the “neutral” side than the “like” one). Somali’s voice is probably the biggest factor – it sounds like an adult woman’s voice got pitch-shifted to attempt to be a child, rather than an actual child.

How can this golem talk about sight when he doesn’t even have eyes??? (Kinda like Juzo from NGL.)

Alright, that’s it. I can see when you’re trying to bait me with supposedly “cute” children, show. You’re gone.

Okay, since I have time and the reviews say otherwise, I’m trying again. I don’t expect to be sold to this though…

Was it just me or was there a reduced frame rate when Somali’s cape was the only thing in the frame…?

For some reason the subbers put “Why?” when the word was actually “What?”, which is a bit silly to be honest with you. (Nande?/Doushite? vs. Nani?...it’s kind of similar-sounding, but the sound is distinctly different.)

Still dropping this show. I just have another episode to add to my list now.

Magia Record 1

I heard there’s no Urobutcher this time around, but the first time I encountered the Urobutcher (in ConRevo) he made a particularly weird-feeling (in the context of the show) episode, so…uh…let’s say the Urobutcher is only as good as the material he writes, and leave it at that. Anyways, this topped my list – even before ID: Invaded came to hunt down that top position – so this better be good.

Um, am I just imagining it, or is that Sayaka and Hitomi discussing magical girls (or Madoka?) over the top of Iroha (I know that’s her name already from the synopses floating around the ‘net) and her fellow magical girls fighting?

Letterboxing? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see in Madoka Magica, ever.

One of the books was on organic recipes.

The teacher talks a tad too fast – I can understand what she’s saying, but it’s like she operates on x1.5 speed compared to the x1 speed of everything else…

“Nakama – because we can do it” – I wonder if that will mean something later…? In Madoka Magica, strange details always mean something.

“The only good witch is a dead one!” “Speech is silver, silence is golden.”– The tiny English isn’t particularly subtle, is it?

Uwasa = rumour.

Takarazaki, huh? I’ll make a note of that.

Who’s Ui?

According to the credits, I assume the blue spear girl is Nanami Yachiyo.

This is a respectable re-entry into a universe which I left not too long ago (in 2017). I’m definitely going to be able to stick with it for a season or however long it lasts.

BnHA 75

All this talk about a database…reminds me of the Quirk I designed for the wiki (also called “Database”). I conceived it in 2015, but I don’t remember who was meant to use it before I retrofitted it to fit the BnHA universe. Update: Welp, I found the document. The superpower Database (which was retrofitted to be a Quirk) is for one Itsuki Hatano.

“One blow to the top of the head!”

Iruma-kun 14

(Note: Some notes may be missing because I was busy multitasking while watching this episode.)

Go, Iruma! Live your best life!

Note “speak of the devil” isn’t how it’s said in Japanese. It sounds something like “whisper a rumour and it will come back to you” based on what I heard Kiriwo say (since I heard the word uwasa in there). Update: Apparently the phrase is uwasa wo sureba… (if you spead a rumour…) and then you cut the saying off to finish the rest of the sentence, just like you would in English.

You can’t even see a substantial part of Iruma’s hair when that demon on the phone (<-I know who it is, because I read spoilers, but I’ll keep quiet on that front!) yells for the first time.

Makura (demon pillow) has that demon pun going on.

Ooh, Kiriwo-senpai is actully kinda sexy with his hair up like that…not that I know the first thing about sex appeal…

So is the ED about the Battler Party, in a sense?

Eizouken 1

I picked this show up because of the rave reviews it was getting.

Very Future Boy Conan, that.

…what? That OP was trippy. Then again, I didn’t mind ConRevo and that was trippy…this negative feeling is probably because I don’t know much about Masaki Yuasa’s quirks, I guess.

Why do people not translate “Eizouken”???? It means “video research club”.

The back is a good spot to sit in a theatre for anime. Why do I know this? I sit in the back of my anime club all the time, that’s why!

“Are those MiBs?” – I laughed pretty hard at that one sentence.

Why does this strawberry milk seem to be a parallel to the milk Asakusa promised Kanamori? (P.S. Asakusa is in Tokyo, IIRC.) Update: Mizusaki means “on top of water” if I understood the kanji right and Kanamori, with the right combo of characters, can mean “forest of gold”...which makes a lot of sense, considering how gold is equated with wealth and currency. Also, here’s proof Asakusa is in Tokyo...not to mention it’s the place from Sarazanmai! Meanwhile, I was thinking there was some sort of anime-related significance to the name, but I was thinking of Asagaya. Update 2: Mizusaki actually means “water peninsula”. Sorry, wrong saki.

I know there’s a chase scene at the end of this ep, thanks to reading reviews. I want to be wowed by it, which is why I’m (metaphorically) holding my breath.

I like how Asakusa and Mizusaki are bouncing around ideas. That really brings the process to life.

Long skirts and wind but no sexualisation. That’s a good sign!

Whoa, that scene with the comets was AWESOME! I want more!

Idolish7 s2 1

Back with some good boys one season too early…let’s have some fun while these simulcasters can get this stuff fast!

Oh no! (<- self-censored) Nagi’s stupid accent is back! *yells incoherently for a second*

I like the little sound effects that happened whe Nagi’s finger moved around (to suggest “magic”).

I think the joke was something to do with the word gera (?). I don’t quite get it myself.

Misuta- Shimooka, LOL. I love how this s2 isn’t doing any hand-holding, though! I half-expect a flashback to appear and it never does.

Yamato, how are you so-*crying and Yatta! can be heard in the background*Okay, nevvvvvvvvvver mind…

I remember mistakenly saying that Nishiyama was part of Idolish7 (since I looked through some of my old notes lately). Nishiyama is part of ZOOL, so now…I’m not wrong anymore…(That’s not quite relevant to the random announcement of Re:Vale showing up, but it’s on my mind now.)

Hmm…Yamato’s thoughts on Re:Vale…I’ll keep an eye on him.

I think people like Tamaki because he treats them like he would his little sister…a true gentleman. Or maybe that’s all in my head? I haven’t been in the fandom properly, y’know.

This switch to occasional chibi antics…I’m not sure I like it…

Ohmyglob! Another boy to add to my growing list of husbandos! *points at Yuki* I knew he existed, but I haven’t had a proper chance to have a reaction to him ever since I started really “having a thing” for long-haired guys.

Re:Vale are like a comic act (manzai).

Momo has pink nail polish…I just noticed. Update: It’s probably more red than pink.

“Chan-momo” appears to be a variety of modern slang similar to Pig Latin. Apparently Gen from Dr Stone uses it as well.

Yuki has these cute little diamond earrings and Momo has studs. I’ve also never noticed this until now. (I, myself, can’t wear anything past clip-ons because I have a genetic quirk that makes it annoying to get my ears pierced, called beta thalassemia, so I can only fangirl about other people’s earrings.)

What’s the FSC again…?

Kyu-to aidoru!

I think Momo and Yuki are going to reach out to Mitsuki and Tamaki (respectively) most this season…just a feeling, based on their dispositions. Tamaki and Yuki have similar faces, on top of that, so thank goodness we can tell them apart by hairstyle.

Yuki wears this steel blue shade of nail polish…ooh, also cute.

*Riku goes stiff-faced* - *audibly facepalms at Riku’s reaction*

Momo has a black and green earring set on one ear…huh.

Ooh, very nice. It’s a keeper.

Update: Apparently, you pronounce their name “Re:ba-re”, which is a bit different to what I was expecting (essentially “Re: veil”).

#simulcast commentary #mairimashita! iruma-kun #Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun #boku no hero academia #My Hero Academia #Idolish7 #Chesarka watches BnHA #Chesarka watches MI-k #Chesarka watches Idolish7 #Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!#Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!#somali and the forest spirit #Somali to Mori no Kamisama #Idolish7 Second Beat!#Magia Record #magia record: puella magi madoka magica side story #Chesarka watches Magia Record #Chesarka watches Eizouken

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diningpageantry · 5 years

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tag game(s)

anï (i’m too exhausted to do three separate posts but i was tagged in three tag games over the past few days and i’d forgotten to do the last few games i was tagged in and i feel super guilty so here they are in one go)

i don’t know who to tag to do these rn because my brain is dead i am emotionally exhausted and i’m writing a fic that’s about halfway done so i’m gonna say tag anyone who wants to be tagged for any of these. i’m so sorry that i’m dead, i will be back alive again after may 10th, which is my AP exam day

six questions challenge

tagged by @simon--speaks

rules: answer the questions, then tag 9 people you want to get to know better!

Q1: Relationship status?

single bby

Q2: Favorite color?

maroon !

Q3: Top 3 ships?

snowbaz (wow) and uh. wow. idk who else. i wanna say my own ocs matchstick and summer (is that allowed? i’m making it allowed)

Q4: Lipstick or chapstick?

whenever i get to this question in any ask i freeze up because i use a tinted chapstick so i don’t look dead but like. it can also be seen as a lipstick because it has pigment. but. chapstick.

Q5: Last song I listened to?

Run by Hozier

Q6: Last movie I watched?

uhhh i watched like. 5 minutes of the emperor’s new groove a few days ago, and watched a documentary about obscure houses like 10 minutes before that. so. i’m gonna say the house documentary.

21 questions

i was tagged by @simon--speaks, @angelsfalling16, @wo2ash, @alixanderthequeer, @sharkmartini and @bazypitchandsimonsnow

rules: answer 21 questions then tag 21 people

nickname: anï, munchkin, menina, and my hebrew name is elisheva

height: the doctor says i’m 5′3.5″, but they can’t put fractions on IDs so according to the state i’m 5′4″ and i cling to that

last movie i saw: see above (so like. funky houses)

last thing i googled: (next town over) movie tavern. i’m not saying where it is exactly bc hah i don’t wanna be stalked but. i was looking at movie times because they have $5 movies every tuesday

favorite musician: frank iero. love that funky rat man and his funky music too (i’m gonna see him for the second time next month because i made the executive adult decision to say fuck it to my seizures and go see him anyway)

song stuck in my head: i don’t have one rn but usually it’s a song by the killers (when you were young is a usual one)

other blogs: none, actually! i didn’t delete my old tumblr purely bc i’m a nostalgic dumbass, but it’s a completely different login and it’s inactive so i don’t count it.

followers: 1,666 (originally i wasn’t gonna share the number but it hit this last night and i was like heh. nice)

following: 231

amount of sleep: 8ish hours! (spring break bby)

lucky numbers: 7, multiples of 3 (only in cases of knocking), and multiples of 2 (only in cases like volume)

dream job: writing and illustrating books! i have a variety of dream jobs within art, and even within the subcategory of books, but my top dream job is creating inclusive/diverse children’s books that represent a variety different ethnicities/races, religions, abilities, and identities so that children can see themselves represented in media

what i’m wearing: a black turtleneck, a bra, and marvel boxers. that’s it.

favorite food: soup in general. i make a kick ass matzo ball soup

language: english, conversational portuguese, i know a small small bit of japanese (i should know more given i was raised being taught it but i always struggled with it), and i know some spanish. i also plan on teaching myself ASL.

can i play an instrument: yes! i’ve been playing violin since i was 2. i wanna play guitar and i know some chords but i have small hands so it’s hard to find one that’s the right size that isn’t a shitty children’s guitar, and i sing! i’m an alto

favorite song: hnnghg please don’t make me pick................ i’d have to say choke on one another by death spells

random fact: so like. if you didn’t know already, i’m an LGBTQ+ youth activist on a national scale. i disappear on occasion because i’m doing something or another, and sometimes i post about it on my blog (speaking of i have exciting news that i heard, but at the same time, i’m pretty much booked every weekend from middle of next month until middle of july), but........ i hate networking. i loathe it. if i never had to network again, i’d be thrilled. networking is my absolute least favorite thing because i struggle at everyday conversation, much less networking with people at least 10-20 years my senior. sure it’s usually free publicity and i get great connections, but god. at what cost? and like.... it’s always after a really emotionally taxing event, so i’m already drained and then wow here’s a room full of adults who want my 18 year old input. please. just let me steal a cupcake then leave.

describe yourself in aesthetic things: dye stained fingernails and necks. cranked open windows during a spring shower. dried tears and breaking laughs. coffee stains and milky tea splashes. trembling fingers, writing instead of speaking because you’re too afraid, and finally breaking free--running through the rain. scabbing blood, fresh piercings. knowing you’re loved and not saying it because it doesn’t need to be spoken. the smell of a new canvas, paint splattered jeans, and art school sweaters. black skirts with docs, then fairy lights and soft blankets hidden behind sharp profanities and harsh disgust. the unexpected. the unknown. the ever-changing, unstoppable force of the shifting tides.

carry on questions

tagged by @goodbyedandelion, @isthisisagoodkiss @wo2ash,

1- favorite type of scone?

cranberry orange! one of the farms a county over has a market and they sell them there and they’re to die for (altho, i found a sour cherry scone recipe that i’ve perfected and my family loves them so they’re a close second now)

2- london or la?

i’ve never been to london, but i’m gonna have to go with london. i went to la last october to present in an awards show for my organization and i lowkey was underwhelmed. i’m very much a gloom and rain kinda person, and it was too dry and sunny there. although, i did think the huge succulents were sick as fuck. but yeah definitely london. i’m planning to spend a semester abroad there in a few years for an illustration program

3- kissing in a forest or holding hands under the stars?

i’m afraid of forests because we have a lot of wildlife and i don’t want to get mauled by a bear don’t mind me holding hands under the stars :)

4- jeans or suit?

suit suit suIT SUIT suit. i love wearing suits. my chest doesn’t cooperate and my hips always hate them but god i do love suits.

5- loose hair or pulled back hair?

mine looks better loose, and my sides/back are shaved but the top reaches my ears, so it gets annoying sometimes and i pull it up to keep it out of my face

6- vampires or dragons?

i wanna say both. i used to say “yknow a dragon but in human form would be hot” then i got called dragon fucker for like two years so out of pure spite i’m going with vampires.

7- what saying do you wish could be a spell?

(this one’s a very specific reference so hear me out) “i’ve got to go pee on her” used to disorient and confuse the speech of the person casted upon. it’s one of my favorite quotes from scott pilgrim vs. the world (my favorite movie ngl) when scott’s brain can’t figure out two different sentences and he just says that. it’s so good and just fuckin weird that i love it.

8- which carry on character would you go on a coffee date with if you could?

depends tbh! if we’re talking date date, then penny because i would wife penny in 0.5 seconds, but if we’re talking friends getting coffee then 10000000% baz because i’d talk activism and identities with him

9- favorite carry on quote?

“he told me we would be stars” (i don’t have my book on me so i could be getting the line wrong), but it hit so hard for me. like it’s clear how davy manipulated lucy so much that she fell into it and couldn’t crawl out. it’s such a powerful message of control from those who are charismatic enough to hold it, and how sometimes we aren’t weak enough to let go.

10- how excited are you for wayward son?

lemme paint this picture: i started hyperventilating in the hallway when i found out, and then cried an hour or two later when my friend texted me that he preordered me a signed copy. like. i’ve been pre-planning how to get home from college to come and pick it up (okok the 24th is also my dad’s birthday so i’m. um. “coming home to visit him”, of course) because i’m just SO EXCITED to read them again in a canon way :’)

#anï rambles #tag game

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moondancewrites · 7 years

Text

Lunch Break

Pairing: Sebastian Stan/Reader

Warnings: Some fluff, eventual smut (in part two)

Author’s Notes: This is my first Sebastian Stan fiction. It was meant to be a one-shot, but ended up being two parts. The second part can be found here.

Finally. Lunch time. Your stomach rumbled as you made your way down to the corner deli that you started to go to nearly every day since you moved into the city six months ago. It was close, it was good, and it was cheap - three of your favorite things. Your afternoon meeting had run extra long and you were famished by the time you made the bell ding as you entered the deli.

“Man,” you grumbled to yourself, noticing how long the line was today. Was there some kind of special going on? It usually wasn’t this bad. Then again, you usually didn’t eat this late; maybe it was always like this at 1 pm. Crap… this was going to eat up all of your break time. You were too wrapped up in thinking about your schedule that you almost didn’t notice the man in front of you turn around and smile over his shoulder. Your disappointment in the line must have amused him.

Holy shit. You knew him. Well, not actually. But you knew his face. What was his name? You knew it. It was on the tip of your tongue. He was that one guy! The … Snow soldier? No, that wasn’t it. Snow captain? Nope. You looked up at the ceiling as if it would have the answer. Obviously, it didn’t. But maybe your phone did. He was in that new Avengers movie that came out a few months ago - you knew at least that much. You looked it up on Google and scrolled down the cast list. Winter Soldier!

“That’s it!” you said a little too loudly. The Winter Soldier, whose real name was Sebastian Stan according to Google, turned around again with a quizzical look on his face. You felt the heat rise in your cheeks. He wasn’t the only one who took notice of your sudden outburst. “Sorry,” you said with a wince, averting the gaze of everyone who turned at your exclamation.

“No big.” He shrugged, smiling at you once more … Man, that was a nice smile. Kind and disarming. And pretty sexy, if you were being honest with yourself. There was that heat again; this time it was starting in your toes. You looked down as if a stern gaze would make it stop and when you looked back up, his smile was gone. His back was to you once more, looking down at his phone.

What was he doing here? You wondered. You’d seen your fair share of celebrities since you moved from Idaho, but not usually in this part of the city and not usually midday on a Wednesday. Curious, you thought to yourself. Except it wasn’t to yourself.

“What’s curious?” Sebastian inquired, turning to you again.

“Huh?”

“You said curious,” he said with a chuckle. “And now …” There was that smile again … “Well, I guess I’m curious about what’s curious.”

“Oh.” Think. Think. Don’t say something stupid. But say something, you idiot! Too much time has passed now; you’re definitely looking like an idiot. “Just … something on my phone.” That’s the best you could come up with? Pitiful.

“Ah.” He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Is it always this crowded in here?” He gestured to the line that was growing behind you.

“I usually come in earlier, so I don’t really know.” You had forgotten how hungry you were until your stomach reminded you again. You prayed it was only audible to you.

“A friend recommended their Italian sandwich, but I’m not sure it’s worth the wait …”

“It is” you assured him.

“Oh, yeah?” His smile widened and yours did so in return.

“Definitely. Top notch,” you replied. He took a step toward you and you couldn’t help but take in the smell of his cologne; he smelled fantastic.

“I’m going to hold you to that, then,” he said in almost a whisper, winking at you. Your breath caught in your throat and you were sure that he heard it because of the way he smiled at you - he was obviously very aware of how charming he was.

“Mm-hmm,” was all you managed to get out.

“Eh-hem.” Both you and Sebastian turned to look behind you. A tall and lanky man in a sweater vest with pursed lips motioned to you both. “The line is moving.”

“Oh. Right,” Sebastian said with a chuckle. “Sorry, man.”

Sebastian moved forward and you followed, making sure to keep a good distance. Your stomach was getting louder now and it that spelled certain embarrassment. Sebastian obviously didn’t get the memo, leaning back and saying under his breath, “Someone’s got his underoos in a twist.” You can’t help but giggle.

“Yeah. I’m not sure how he’s going to get his food in there with his lips pursed so tight.” Sebastian full on guffawed at your observation and this time it was him that people were looking at. To be fair, though, people were already looking at him. He wasn’t exactly incognito. He was wearing dark jeans and a pale blue V-neck that was almost the same color as his eyes. Yes, you had noticed them. How could you not? They were quite … eye-catching. He wore a baseball hat and had sunglasses hooked on the V of his shirt. Maybe the sunglasses helped, but inside he was easy to spot. He had stubble, too. You were pretty sure he had that in the Avengers movie. But his hair was much shorter, or at least it looked like it was under the cap.

“So, do you come here often?” Sebastian asked, inching up as another person completed their order. “Wow … that sounded like a line.” He adjusted his hat by the bill.

“Did it?” you asked with a chuckle. He just shrugged. Was it a line? Was it not? The shrug was not helpful. You brushed it off; or tried to. “Yeah. My office is right around the corner and the food is good and pretty cheap. Although, my waistline is not a big fan of the aforementioned Italian sandwich.”

“Your waistline? It doesn’t have any right to complain from where I’m standing.” Your eyes squint at him. “I mean, it looks great. Good. I mean… you look nice.” He shakes his head. “Wow, Seb…”

“Seb?” you asked, trying to ignore that heat that’s definitely up passed your knees now.

“Oh. Yeah, that’s me.” He held his hand out. “I’m Sebastian.”

“Y/N,” you replied, shaking his hand. It was surprisingly soft.

“Y/N,” he repeated. You liked the way it sounded when it came from his lips. They were very nice lips, too. Full and pouty and-

“Eh-hem!” Sweater vest man was back but this time you were grateful to him for pulling him out of your little world. Not only was there a big space between Sebastian and the person in front of him, but you were still holding hands.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, dropping your hand from his.

“Are you?” he smirked.

“NEXT!” Georgie, the owner’s son and heir-apparent to Sal’s Delicatessen shouted out. He was a sweet guy - he always gave you extra cheese on your salad.

“That’s you,” you nodded.

“You go ahead,” Sebastian replied, motioning for you to go ahead of him.

“Oh, no. You got here first. Plus, I’m not sure what I want yet. Some guy has been distracting me from looking at the menu.” In truth, you always got the same thing, but the adorable look on his face when he pointed to himself and mouthed ‘me?’ was worth the little white lie. You nodded at him.

“But don’t you come here all the time?”

“Yeah, but variety is the spice of life,” you said, smiling widely.

“That’s tru-”

“If one of you doesn’t go, I’m going to jump ahead.” Sweater vest had turned red in the face. You believed him.

“Alright, man. Calm down,” Sebastian replied. He turned away from you and ordered his food.

“That’ll be 10.50,” Georgie said. Your eyes followed Sebastian’s hand as it went to his back pocket, patting for his wallet. You bit your lip and wondered how you hadn’t noticed how amazing his ass was before that moment. You’d been standing behind the man for at least 15 minutes and hadn’t noticed those firm cheeks what were snuggly wrapped in denim.

“Shit,” Sebastian murmured, feeling in his pockets. “I must have left my wallet back at the theater.”

“No money, no sandwich,” Georgie said with a furrowed brow.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sweater vest really needed to take a chill pill.

“I’ve got you,” you chimed in, stepping up to the counter. “Add on a chicken caesar Georgie?” Georgie’s brow unfurrowed and he smiled at you, nodding.

“What? No, I can’t let you.” Sebastian put his hand over yours as you reached out to hand Georgie your card.

“Sure you can.” You looked into his eyes and saw the sheepish uncertainty; it was endearing as all get out. “It’s the least I can do after talking up that sandwich.”

“But-” he started.

“Really, it’s nothing.” Georgie took your card and swiped it, handing it back to you. “See? Already done.”

“Well, thanks.” Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “That’s really kind.”

“Just pay it forward,” you replied with a smile. He nodded.

Despite the long line, your food came fast. Thank god for that, you thought, since you only had 15 minutes until you had to be back up for a meeting.

“So, you know you have to stick around and eat with me.”

“Oh?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, yeah. We made a deal. If this sandwich sucks, I’m holding you accountable.”

“Right. And how do you plan on doing that?” you asked, finding a recently vacated high-top in the corner of the deli that looked out on the busy street. Sebastian pulled your chair out for you and your heart skipped a beat. This dude could go from charming to intoxicatingly sexy to sweet as hell in no time at all - that was a dangerous talent.

“Well, I figure if it sucks then you have to let me show you what good food is by letting me take you to dinner.” You nearly choked on your water and Sebastian laughed, although you could tell he felt bad doing so. “You okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Fine.” You cleared your throat. “Just down the wrong pipe is all.” Bullshit. “So … what happens if you like the sandwich?” Sebastian leaned across the small table, getting close enough for you to breathe him in again. You looked up into his eyes and nibbled on your bottom lip nervously. Sebastian took notice, his eyes falling to your lips before moving back up.

“I’m really hoping I don’t,” he said. Sitting back up, he took a bite. You held your breath as he chewed. “Hmm,” he said, swallowing. “Well, that’s an awful sandwich.”

“Liar,” you laughed, pushing at his shoulder. It was rock hard. Right, you remembered. Avenger.

“No.” He made a grossed out face. “Honestly. It’s nasty. Paul is an idiot.”

“Uh huh …” You took a bite of your focaccia bread. “Sure.”

“Am I that bad of an actor?” Sebastian said, leaning on the table. You shrugged.

“I’ve seen better.” Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “Kidding.”

“Phew.” Sebastian fiddled with his hat again. “I thought I was going to have to change professions.”

“That would be a pity,” you said simply. Sebastian just smiled at you. “You know, you can eat the sandwich. I’ll still go out to dinner with you.”

“Yeah?” His eyes lit up.

“Sure. I mean, you owe me - I bought you lunch.”

“Right.” He nodded, clearing his throat.

“Kidding,” you assured him, putting you hand over his for a moment.

“Maybe you should be an actress,” he replied, taking another bite of his sandwich which he obviously thoroughly enjoyed.

“Who says I’m not?” you said. He looked at you quizzically. “I’m not.”

“Oh. Good.” He heaved a sigh of relief.

“Good?”

“Yeah. Actresses can be … I just want to date someone normal, I guess.”

“I’m far from normal.” You chuckled for a moment and then it caught in your throat. Did he say date?

“Well, you’re definitely intriguing.” That word had never been used to describe you before. You liked it.

“Shit, what time is it?” You looked down at your phone. You had five minutes to be upstairs for your meeting. “I have to go!” You started to gather up your stuff in a frantic rush.

“Oh. Well, can I get your number?” You stopped to look at Sebastian and his eyes seemed to sparkle with hope. How could you refuse those eyes? You were never going to, anyway.

“Definitely.” Sebastian handed you his phone and you punched in your digits.

“I’ll text you,” he said as you headed out the door. You wondered if he actually would.

As you made your way down the hall after your meeting, your phone dinged. You couldn’t help but smile when you saw the unfamiliar number.

‘Did you make it back in time?’

‘Just barely,’ you replied. ‘I definitely worked off that focaccia bread running back here.’

‘In those heels?’ He noticed your heels? What else had he noticed?

‘Just call me Wonder Woman.’

‘Black Widow suits you better ;)’ You smiled to yourself. ‘So … Dinner tonight?’

‘Tonight?’ That was soon. But to be honest, you couldn’t stop thinking about him. Tonight would be great.

‘Yeah. I kinda can’t stop thinking about you. Plus, there’s this new Moroccan restaurant down the street from my hotel that I’ve been eyeing up since I got into town. I’ve just been waiting to have some company. So ... ‘

‘Tonight would be great. I get off at 6. So, maybe we can meet there around 7:30?’

‘Great. I’ll text you the address.’

What does one wear on a date with an Avenger? You stared at your closet. It was a warm summer night, so it had to be cool. You had no idea how fancy this restaurant was, so you thought you should play it safe with a dress.

“Nope. Definitely not. ABSOLUTELY not,” you said to yourself, going through your dresses.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Tina, your roommate, peeked her head around the corner. “Got a hot date or something?”

“You could say that …”

“No way. Really?” You nodded. “You actually have a date?” She walked in. “Who is he?”

“His name is Sebastian. We met at the deli.”

“Sebastian,” Tina purred. “That’s a sexy name.” Tina was, as you had discovered in the half-year you’d lived with her, a very open person about her sexuality. There was seldom a night when she went to bed alone. You didn’t judge her for it at all - she was young and having fun. And she was gorgeous. But that wasn’t your style. Actually, you had never had a one-night stand. It just wasn’t in your make-up. You’d tried once or twice, but could never go through with it. You needed a connection; not just sex. What if Sebastian just wanted sex, though? He was definitely the sexiest man you’d ever gone out with. And you did feel a connection with him earlier that day - it was hard to deny it. But, if he wanted to … would you? Could you? You were really leaning towards yes, and that made you nervous as all hell.

“You okay?” Tina grabbed a dress. “Here. You look amazing in this one.” She pushed your blue wrap dress up against your body. It was sleeveless and had a skirt that would twirl when you spun. And it hugged you in all the right places. “It shows off the twins and that great ass of yours.”

“Tina!” you exclaimed.

“What? I call ‘em like I see ‘em. And it’s hard not to notice yours.”

“Thank you?” you replied as she walked away. She didn’t turn around, just twiddled her fingers in a wave.

“Have fun tonight.”

You swallowed hard, attempting to bury your nerves as you continued to get ready. You curled your hair and pinned one side back, giving you a Veronica Lake-type ‘do. You put on a little mascara and blush - not too much. You weren’t much of a make-up gal. You loved watching tutorials on YouTube, though, and you really didn’t know why.

Your Lyft arrived precisely on time and you got to the restaurant with five minutes to spare. Sebastian was already waiting when you pulled up - you’d notice that backside anywhere now. The jeans had been replaced with blue slacks that somehow made his ass look even better. He wore a white button down without a tie or jacket. It was too hot out for that nonsense. Anyway, you didn’t mind because that gave you more opportunity to see his bulging muscles. The man was fit - that was certain. His hair was no longer covered by a hat, which you were grateful for because he had great hair. It looked just long enough to pull on in a moment of … Snap out of it, you told yourself; it was too early in the night for those thoughts.

You cleared your throat as you approached him. He turned, his eyes and his smile widening as he took in the sight of you.

“Wow,” he breathed, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “Y/N, you look … Wow.”

“Yeah?” you looked down, nervously fiddling with your purse. “My roommate picked it out.”

“I’m going to have to write her a thank you letter,” Sebastian replied, stepping closer and taking your hand in his, bringing it up to his lips. You bit your lip to stifle what you were sure would be a moan if it escaped your lips; no man had ever kissed your hand before. His eyes fluttered as his lips gently pressed into the back of your hand and you noticed how long his eyelashes were; they were gorgeous.

“Thank you. I mean, I’ll thank her. For you. I mean … “ Shut up! Your mouth was going to fast for your brain to catch up and make anything coherent come out of it, but Sebastian didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed tickled by it. He brought your hand down to your side but didn’t let go.

“Ready to go in?” You nodded, hoping the silent answer would keep you from making an ass out of yourself. But you couldn’t be silent all night and you knew it.

“You look really nice, too, by the way,” you said as you were seated.

“Thanks.” He beamed. You swooned, hoping you weren’t too obvious. “So, Y/N … “ There he went again, saying your name like that. It was almost as if he had a slight accent, but you couldn’t be sure. It was so sensual, though, and your body was starting to react without your permission. “What do you do?”

“I work for a marketing firm. I just started a few months ago. Before that, I worked in a stationary store in the middle of Idaho.”

“Oh?” Sebastian leaned in. “What brought you here?”

“Well, I just turned 30-”

“No way.” Sebastian’s eyes widened in shock. You nodded. “I was going to guess 27, tops.”

“Yeah, I guess I have a baby face.” You shrugged. He just smiled at you. “Anyway, I felt like I was in a rut. And I was channel surfing and saw a TV sitcom about a marketing firm on some random channel and I thought … that looks like fun. Maybe I’ll try that. So, I did.”

“Wow. So, you just up and left on a whim?”

“I know.” You shook your head, pushing your hair back behind your ear. “It’s crazy-”

“It’s amazing.” His smile was gone. He was dead serious. “To have the guts to just start fresh on the other side of the country? Doing something new in a strange city all by yourself? That’s … That’s brave. That’s incredible. Honestly, there aren’t many people out there who say ‘enough’ and go for something like that.”

“Oh.” You were sure your cheeks were bright red. “Yeah. I guess I took a leap.”

“And you landed on your feet, too - even more amazing.”

The waiter came by and asked if you were ready to order. Neither of you had even glanced down at the menu, so Sebastian asked for a few more minutes. After you ordered, you got back to talking. You found out that he was actually born in Romania but had lived in New York since he was 12 and had been living in LA the last few years. He was in town looking at a few theater options for the fall. He loved theater and was looking for a chance to go back and now that he had some free time, albeit a very small amount, he was taking the opportunity to come back. Secretly you were hoping that it all panned out because that meant he’d be around more and you were enjoying the night so much that you hoped there might be more.

Other than that, he didn’t talk much about himself. He seemed to want to know about you and there was something about him that made him so easy to talk to. The only time you two weren’t talking was when you were eating, and the food was delicious.

“You know … I’ve never been so happy to lose money,” Sebastian said, taking a sip of wine after he finished his last bite of his meal.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“Today when I lost my wallet. I mean, if I had remembered it, I would have had to come up with another excuse to stick around you.” You looked down at your plate, smiling sheepishly. “And I definitely wanted to stick around you.” He reached for your hand, brushing his thumb over the back of it. “I still do …”

“I’m glad you lost your wallet.” The waiter chose that moment to come with the check and his eyes widened.

“Don’t worry - I found it,” Sebastian assured him. The waiter sighed with relief and left the table. “That dude almost had a heart attack.”

“Yeah. It was as if he didn’t think a woman could pay,” you replied, rolling your eyes.

“Well, of course you could. But, like I said, I owe you.”

“I feel like this is a little bit more pricey than a sub-par Italian sandwich.”

“That sandwich was fucking delicious,” Sebastian said with a shit-eating grin. You really liked the way he said that word. It was like he knew exactly how to use it … and probably how to do it, you thought. You crossed your legs.

“Ha! I knew you loved it.”

“Again, my acting skills fail me.” He shook his head at himself. “I better brush up before I go back to the stage, huh?”

“I’d say it’s a necessity,” you replied, winking at him. This time you could have sworn it was Sebastian’s cheeks that were turning pink.

Sebastian paid for the meal and, just as he had done earlier that day and when you got to the restaurant, he got up and pulled your chair out for you.

“So… what now?” he asked, putting his hands in his pockets as you walked down the street together. He walked close, but not too close. You wished he were closer.

“Well, I do have work tomorrow so … I can’t really stay out too late.”

“Right,” Sebastian nodded. “But it’s not too late yet, right? It’s only … “ he looked at his watch, “Holy shit … how long were we in there?”

“A while,” you chuckled. It hadn’t seemed like long at all, but the sun had set nearly an hour before you got out of the restaurant. “I could go for a drink, though.” Sebastian perked up. “But just one.”

“Right. Of course. Just one. Where?” You shrugged. “Well, my hotel is just around the corner … We could go to the bar there?”

Dangerous. What if the bar was just a pregame to the room for him? But the way he was looking at you, you couldn’t help yourself. You really wanted to go with him. Hell, you really wanted him. He was so charismatic and funny and sexy. Every time he smiled at you or said something flirty you had to squeeze your thighs together. Nobody had that effect on you in a very long time. Maybe that was why - you hadn’t gotten any in so long - but you knew you were kidding yourself if you thought that was the only reason. Sebastian was the sexiest man you’d ever talked to; let alone went out on a date with. And the way he looked at you suggested that he felt similarly about you. You caught him staring quite a few times and it only made your desire for him grow.

It was time to take another leap.

“Alright,” you replied with a smile, brushing your hair back behind your shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. But just one.” You held up your finger at him.

One turned into three and 9:30 pm turned into nearly 11. You talked and talked and flirted and flirted and every time you got a new drink, your bodies seemed to get closer. By the third drink, your hips were touching and you were both distinctly aware of the contact between your bodies.

“We could have a nightcap upstairs … Maybe. If you wanted.”

You definitely wanted. But should you? Probably not. Definitely not. But he … You looked up into his eyes and your breath caught in your throat. His lids were hooded but the blue still shown through. His eyes were simply hypnotic. He scratched his stubble and wetted his full lips. You nibbled on your lip in response. Without a word, Sebastian brought his hand to your shoulder, ghosting his fingertips down your arm. Your eyelids fluttered as he leaned in to brush his lips against your cheek and back to your ear. “Come up?” he whispered, his voice rough and sensual.

“Yes,” you replied without a second thought. He pulled back.

“Yes?” he asked, his eyes widened in surprise. You leaned in, resting your hand on his peck for support and as you did so, you heard Sebastian’s breath hitch. You smiled to yourself, bringing your lips to his stubbled cheek and mimicking his moves from moments before, dragging your lips to his ear.

“Yes.”

#Sebastian stan #Sebastian stan fan fiction #fan fiction #Sebastian stan fandom #bucky barnes #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan x reader

587 notes · View notes

theforgottenflight · 6 years

Text

Character Bio: Taletha Duskwind

(Art by ayieolaer! 🌺)

Full Name: Taletha Duskwind Gender: Female Sexuality: Bisexual Alignment: Chaotic Good Age: Adult (29 years old) Race: Ren’dorei (Formerly, Quel’dorei) OOC Class: Hunter IC Class: None; Taletha enjoys the use of guns in combat situations, though she will utilize other weapons as necessary and when her firearm(s) aren't available. While not a mage of any kind, she does know some simpler spells to enchant her arrows or bullets with as well. Additionally, Taletha has a basic knowledge of several alchemical concoctions, which are likely used to further enhance any weaponry.

✨ About Taletha ✨

Taletha Duskwind is a free spirit who can be considered both blessed and cursed given she is able to find excitement and trouble almost anywhere. She has a knack for winding up in questionable situations, usually brought on by her stubborn curiosity to investigate most anything that intrigues her. Even though Taletha often faces conflict, she somehow always manages to wriggle free of the consequences.. Most of the time, at least! An archaeologist by trade, Taletha has a fondness for learning about the world and the people that inhabit it. Throughout her life, she has been on many expeditions and explored some of the deepest reaches of Azeroth and beyond. Given she is an experienced adventurer, Duskwind is nearly always prepared with all the tools one might need in order to research and document. As of late, Taletha’s interests have shifted somewhat; after an excursion into Northrend that resulted in her living amongst a tribe of wolvar for some time, she has been drawn to the study of the world’s many peoples, forsaking old ruins and places of power to instead verse herself with other such colourful cultures.

✨ Roleplay Hooks ✨

💜 Taletha has been employed by various adventuring/archaeological companies throughout Azeroth. Some longer than others, and none of which she remained at permanently. (Your character may possibly have met her through one of these organizations!) 💜 She was/is a member of the Explorers' League which is based out of Ironforge, and considers herself a friend to the dwarves. She has even done work for the Reliquary (in more recent times), although her relationship with some of the blood elves is tenuous, at best, despite her attempts at diplomacy. 💜 A large, ethereal wolf can sometimes be seen at Taletha's side. While he is not one of the void-touched animals of (New) Draenor, he is somewhat reminiscent of such in appearance only. He seems to be far more intelligent than any normal beast as well, perhaps even sapient? 💜 Taletha is packing a variety of different weapons at almost any time. Her favoured weapon is an air rifle, of which was manufactured by none other than her half-brother, Viktor Merocin. While having a preference for guns of all kinds, Taletha is also an experienced archer, and has had some training which utilizes other types of weaponry as well (daggers, swords, and spears.) 💜 It's very possible that you have seen Taletha out exploring somewhere in the world! (Feel free to make up something or talk to me, and we can conjure up something together!)

✨ What I'm Seeking ✨

💞 Long-term roleplay contacts--whether they be friends, colleagues, distant family, old flames, rivals, or enemies. Open to pre-established relationships as well, but only after we discuss the details. As always, I am not actively seeking romance with my muses, but should it come about in a natural way (through RP) and the characters have chemistry, then that’s alright! 💞 Open to most roleplay, though I have a preference for the long-term variety (particularly with some kind of storyline!) Casual roleplay is a-okay, as well, though I take any kind of tavern roleplay in doses given it burns me out quickly, unfortunately. 💞 Mediums: Discord, Tumblr, in-game, Google Docs, Skype. 💞 The kinds of roleplay I enjoy specifically: anything adventure/exploration themed, supernatural/occult, mystery, and maybe a few dashes of horror! (This is not an expansive list, just a sampling!) 💞 Themes: Mature (though not necessarily sexual,) lighthearted, comedy, etc. I shy away from too much angst and extreme violence. I don't really have any triggers, per se, but I'm just not a fan of detailed torture scenes and excessive grimdark content.

✨ OOC ✨

❥ In-Game Name: Taletha (Wyrmrest Accord) ❥ Discord: Bawdy Mermaid#3520 ❥ Please check my OOC page! I do have a little 'Read Me' about my health issues that can make long roleplays difficult. (As in, lasting more than a few hours!) (Link here!) ❥ Thank you for reading, and any signal boosts are deeply appreciated! <3

#Taletha Duskwind #About Taletha #Roleplay hooks and OOC info beneath the cut!#Wyrmrest Accord #roleplayers #World of Warcraft roleplayers #THANK YOU FOR READING! <3

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house-of-ocs · 4 years

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Kraken Akutagawa x Mermaid Akkata

A/N: This was seven pages and 3k words on my google docs enjoy!

Atlantis was a legendary kingdom said to dwell under the waves of the mighty sea. Everyone passed the kingdom off as nothing more than a myth, a legend told to small children for entertainment, no one knew that it was indeed a real place. Atlantis was ruled by King Richard and his wife Queen Emily. Like most royal families Richard and Emily had a daughter, that they named Akkata. Akkata was a free spirited and outspoken mermaid, normally she did what she wanted no matter what anyone said, much to the chagrin of her parents, especially her father. They tried their hardest to keep Akkata in check, but were mostly unsuccessful, they hoped that as she got older Akkata’s personality would mellow out a bit, and while it did Akkata could never get rid of the adventurous spirit she had buried inside of her.

When she turned thirteen Akkata’s royal lessons began and she hated every second of them, she was forever trying to find excuses to get out of them, but everytime she thought she had escaped she was dragged right back. By the time she was sixteen Akkata had stopped trying to escape her lessons, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed them, her father had threatened to keep her on lockdown in the palace if she tried to escape again, and Akkata hated being cooped up in the castle more than she hated her lessons so she gritted her teeth and bared it. By the time she was eighteen Akkata was extremely bored. Being a princess was fine. It was just boring you couldn’t do anything on your own, everything was done for you. Her parents are always telling her that she should be proud of her kingdom and what she has, and she was but she couldn’t help but feel like something was missing, like there was this part of her that was missing and she didn’t know where to find it. One day these thoughts plagued Akkata’s mind as she swam through the reef not knowing that she was treading into deeper, darker unknown territory. She looked up when she ran into something hard, and saw that it was a cave.

There was a legend floating around the kingdom about a bloodthirsty, mer-eating kraken that lived where the sun didn’t touch the water. Akkata had heard these legends, but she had never believed them, according to the books she read in her spare time krakens were a species of octopus that died out centuries ago, so there was no way one could be living close to her home, and if it did live there she would have seen by now as krakens weren’t exactly easy to miss. Akkata turns to go back home, but a low growl coming from the cave makes her pause. A smart mermaid would swim away right then and there, but Akkata’s curiosity won over her survival instinct. She entered the cave finding that it had small bunches of bioluminescent plants scattered across the place, there were also the bones of fish and merfolk that littered the ground. Akkata hears the growl again, but this time it’s right behind her, she turns around toward the back of the cave to find a hulking shadow standing over her. It looked like it was laying on its stomach and Akkata could faintly make out the movements of eight long, big tentacles swirling behind it. It’s fathomless black eyes stare her down daring her to say anything, but she can't; she's speechless. The kraken growls at her again, and his hand moves forward Akkata easily dodges the oncoming appendage, she swims away as fast as she can; her heart beats out of her chest, but not from fear, oh no, from exhilaration.

Akkata spends the rest of the day in the palace library searching through every book, looking for more facts on the kraken legend, that isn’t a legend after all. She closes yet another book growling in frustration at how little information there is. “I’ve never seen you read this much Akkata” A voice says from behind her. Akkata turns to see her closest friend, Nina Franchesca swimming up to her. Nina has known Akkata since the two were very young, and they’ve always been there for each other. “Nina, what do you know about krakens?” Akkata asked, Nina raised an eyebrow and swept some of her wild, red hair out of her face “Not much, why do you ask?” Nina responded. “I met one” Akkata said shortly, Nina giggled “That’s funny Akkata” She said, but one look at the other mergirl’s expression told her that she wasn’t joking, although now that Nina thought about it Akkata rarely ever jokes, if at all. “What did he look like?!” Nina asked, Akkata shook her head “I don’t know, it was too damn dark to see, but I could tell he was huge, and he had these captivating eyes” Akkata recalled. Nina started to pace back and forth “So the legends they’re true?” She wonders, Akkata shrugs “I guess” She mutters.

“Shouldn’t we tell your parents?” Nina asks. Akkata jumps up from where she’s sitting “Abso-fucking-lutely not!” She hissed. “Why not? Akkata, with something as big as a kraken living dangerously close to your home it would be a good idea to at least let your parents know that it exists” Nina informed, “And if we do father dearest will just send an army to go terrorize it. He hasn’t threatened anyone, sure he eats merpeople but with a body as big as his you have to eat something. Nina we have to keep this a secret as far as anyone else knows the kraken is still a legend Okay?” Akkata said, holding Nina’s forearms. Nina sighed through her nose “Fine, we won’t tell your parents, but you have to promise not to bother it” Nina conceded. Akkata nodded “I promise I won’t bother the kraken” She said.

Later that night Akkata lay awake in bed thinking about that kraken, everytime she closed her eyes all she could see were those eyes, those dark, obsidian, eyes. She had promised Nina, but it wouldn’t hurt to visit it one more time would it? If it didn’t eat her the last time, maybe it wouldn’t this time, but just in case. Akkata got up and left her bedroom, she slipped past the guards, and out of the castle with practiced ease, she snatched up a fish from a passing reef, and swam to the location of the kraken’s cave.

Akkata floated in front of the cave for a second debating if she should just wait until tomorrow to see him again, but she knew her curiosity wouldn’t subside until she saw him again. She swam forward the cave having the same source of light as it did when she first entered it a few hours ago. That same growl from earlier echoed from behind her, and she turned and saw the same black eyes looking at her, only this time she could see the face that framed them. His skin was pale, and his hair was black and tipped with white, his arms were folded beneath his chest and he was glaring at her. “What are you doing back here mermaid?” He demanded, Akkata swallowed and dropped the fish she had brought on the ground in front of him “I brought you fish” She said simply before she turned and swam away. It continued like this for a few weeks Akkata would leave him fish and then would swim away without another word. One day that changed when she brought fish and a book she set the fish in front of him as she normally did but instead of leaving she made herself comfortable on a patch of moss, and opened her book.

“What are you doing?” Kraken asked, glaring at Akkata’s still figure “Reading” She answered, for some reason he didn’t try to chase her away. It was like that for a while, and then Akkata started to attempt conversation. Kraken wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but she did get a name out of him, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and in return she gave him her name. “Why do you keep coming back here?” Akutagawa demanded. Akkata looked up from the book she was reading “Hm?” She sounded. Akutagawa glared at her “Why do you keep coming back? Aren’t you afraid of me?” He hissed. Akkata shrugged “Not really. Should I be?” She asked, Akutagawa wrapped a thick tentacle around her waist and shoved her against the wall “I eat your kind Akkata, my name is spoken with fear across the entire ocean. I could rip you apart right now does that not bother you?!” He lectured. Akkata shook her head “I know you could hurt me, you could eat me right now, and no one would notice I’m gone until it's too late, but you haven’t yet and I’ve given you plenty of chances to, and you never took a single one of them” She observed. Akutagawa glared at her and unwrapped his tentacle from her waist he swam off to the deeper end of his cave leaving Akkata alone.

The next day Akkata didn’t show up at her normal time at first Akutagawa thought she was just late, but as the day turned to night and she still hadn’t shown up he found himself feeling oddly upset. At first he thought nothing of it ‘She’ll be back tomorrow’ He reasoned, but two days turned to two weeks and two weeks turned to two months and still no Akkata. At first Akutagawa was relieved, no annoying mergirl to disrupt his schedule, but relief soon turned into another more empty feeling in his chest. Had he finally convinced her? Had she finally realized how dangerous he was, and decided that it would be safer to stay away? Had he finally driven it into her thick skull that he was no good to be around? That he destroyed everything he touched? Somehow the knowledge that he might have driven her away for good didn’t sit as well with him as it would have weeks earlier.

Akutagawa sat in his cave the idea that he might have driven away the only true friend he'd ever had didn’t sit too well with him. What was this feeling? He hated it, he felt weak and helpless and he hated feeling that way. What had Akkata done to him? She must have cast some sort of spell on him, that was the only explanation wasn’t it? Almost three months later Akutagawa felt movement in his cave that didn’t come from him. He swam to the front of the cave ready to kill and eat whatever it was that had decided that it was smart to sneak into the lair of a kraken. He stopped when he saw who it was, Akkata stood there blissfully unaware of his previous intentions. She had come back, she had actually come back, he hadn’t driven her away after all. Another feeling, warmer than the one he had been feeling the past weeks, filled his chest he shook his head. Was he happy? He guessed he was.

Akkata turned around and jumped at the wide-eyed stare Akutagawa was giving her “Oh, there you are, I’ve got some really cool stuff to show you” She said as if she hadn’t left him alone for nearly three months without so much as a ‘goodbye’. “Where did you go?” He asked. Akkata rolled her eyes “My parents swept me off for some impromptu vacation something about ‘quality bonding time’” She scoffed. Akutagawa stared at her so she hadn’t left him. She was still going to visit him everyday until something like this happened again, he found himself feeling oddly light at the knowledge. “Did you miss me?” She asked, Akutagawa scoffed “Hardly, I was glad to be rid of you for a few months” He muttered. Akkata rolled her eyes “Whatever asshat” She settled down next to his hand and pulled the burlap sack she had brought along closer to herself she dug through it and pulled out what looked like a shiny stick, with smaller sticks attached to the top. “What is that?” Akutagawa asked as he squinted at the odd object “I have no idea but I saw some of the land dwellers eating with it” Akkata said.

“Where’s the rest of your family?” She asked one day nearly a year after he had met her. Akutagawa looked at her, his eyes unreadable “Dead, killed by pirates” He answered shortly, “Oh, how long have you been on your own?” She asked, Akutagawa thought for a moment “Seventeen years”, “And you haven’t had any other contact at all?”, “No, I haven’t why are you asking me all of this?” He demanded “Just curious I guess” Akkata said “Well, stop being curious!” He snapped. “What is your deal? I never said you had to answer my questions, you did that on your own” Akkata argued. Akutagawa growled at her because she was right; he didn’t have to answer her questions; he could have just not said anything, but he chose to answer them, not that he would ever admit to this. “Whatever” He muttered instead.

Weeks later those feelings Akutagawa detested began to grow and fester inside of him, he also noticed things about himself that have never been there before, and almost all of them would happen whenever Akkata was around. His cheeks would color, his heartbeat would quicken, and he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. Not to mention that she was around so often that her scent was starting to rub off on his cave. Akutagawa hated this, Akkata had done something to him. He was sure of it. Why else would he be feeling like this? One day as Akkata sat next to him, her newest book open in her lap, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Akutagawa's eyes followed the movement, and he growled. He was going to make her stop whatever she was doing to him right then and there. “Stop that” He demanded, “Stop what?” Akkata asked “Stop whatever it is you’re doing to me” He snapped “And what am I doing to you?” Akkata asked “You have cast a spell on me and I want to know how to make it stop” He said. Akkata raised an eyebrow “What makes you think I’ve casted a spell on you I don’t know magic” Akkata said. Akutagawa glared at her “These feelings only started because I met you, so obviously you caused them”, “What feelings?” Akkata asked exasperatedly. Akutagawa listed off the things he felt when Akkata was around, and by the time he was finished she was speechless “Ah, Akutagawa I didn’t cast a spell on you, but I think you have a crush on me” She supplied a light dusting of rose on her cheeks.

Akutagawa’s eyes widened. A crush, he had a crush? “How do I make it stop?” He asked, “Well, you make it stop by dating the person you’re crushing on” Akkata said. Akutagawa stared her down. Akkata rubbed the back of her neck “I’ve never dated anyone before, but I want to try with you. It'll be weird at first, but we’ll make it work, and if it doesn’t I still want to be friends” She said as she placed her hand on top of Akutagawa’s. Akkata was right, it was weird at first, suddenly everything felt different one touch was enough to cause electricity to run through their bodies, but they eventually got used to the idea of dating.

Nearly a year later, the feelings Akutagawa had for Akkata hadn’t lessened at all, they had only grown more. This time he refused to go to Akkata he would figure this out on his own, until then Akkata remained unaware of his feelings. One day as he waited for Akkata to come visit him Akutagawa noticed a shadow passing over the surface of the water, and he knew what that shadow was, a ship, a pirate ship, and it was heading straight for Akkata’s kingdom. Memories of how his family, his mother, his father, his sister, all died at the greedy hands of pirates, flashed through his mind if he lost Akkata, another person he cared deeply about, to pirates he would go mad. Without another thought he swam towards Akkata’s home hellbent on protecting what was his.

Meanwhile, the kingdom was in complete chaos. Soldiers, and men were readying for a battle with the pirates, and women and children were being urged into the palace for safety, and Akkata was still outside the palace directing the crowd into the castle. Akkata was so focused that she didn’t notice the net until it was too late. She was snagged and being dragged towards the surface with rapid speed she struggled and yanked attempting to free herself, but it was no use she was stuck. Suddenly the net she was in stopped moving she looked up and saw a large, black, white-tipped tentacle wrapped around the rope that held her net together “Akutagawa” She breathed, and there he was his jagged tentacles easily breaking the rope, the net fell apart and Akutagawa grabbed Akkata and placed her on his shoulder. She held on as he swam to the surface, and watched in fascination as he wrapped his tentacles around the ship and crushed it into smaller pieces the pirates scrambled for driftwood, but they were not able to handle the intensity of the waves. Akutagawa swam back down to the kingdom Akkata placed in his palm, everyone was quiet, no one quite believing what they were seeing.

‘Maybe they won’t be afraid’ Akkata thought, but she was proven wrong when someone screamed in fright. “It’s got the princess!” A soldier yelled the others drew their weapons, preparing for a battle that they would surely lose. Akutagawa wrapped a tentacle around Akkata’s waist “What are you doing?” She asked, “Just play along everything will be fine” Akutagawa urged, he lowered Akkata onto the ground, right next to her parents, he then released a cloud of ink and swam away. Akkata moved to go after him, but she was yanked into the castle before she could. After being checked over by the royal physician Akkata was released to her parents who fussed and fretted over her before sending her to her room with the promise of “Ending that vicious Kraken’s life”. Akkata attempted to escape her room only to be stopped by guards at her door, she was trapped. Akkata couldn’t help but worry about Akutagawa. The knowledge that he could easily defend himself against the palace guards did little to ease her anxieties.

That night, when she was sure everyone was asleep, Akkata snuck out of the palace and ventured to Akutagawa’s cave to see if he was okay. But when Akkata got to the home of her beloved she found that he wasn’t there, she searched the whole cave not believing what she was seeing, but he was gone and any trace that he had been there was gone too, as if he had never lived there in the first place. Akkata returned to the castle in a daze, she ignored her parent’s scolding, the worried glances of the servants, even Nina’s concerned fretting. When she was totally alone in her room she slid to the floor, tears surfacing in her eyes, and streaming down her face, she cried and cried until she could cry no more. For Akutagawa Ryunosuke, her lover, and the only person she could confide in was gone.

Two years later

Akkata sits on the throne of the queen, her coronation was a month ago and she still hasn’t gotten used to the fact that she now ruled Atlantis. Suddenly a guard burst through the doors of the courtroom “Your majesty! The kraken, its back!” He gasped. Akkata’s eyes widened could it be? She swam down from her throne and stopped in front of the frazzled guard “Are you sure it's the same kraken from two years ago?” She asked. The guard nodded “Yes, your majesty”, Akkata swam past him, the guard following closely behind her. She opened the doors to the palace, and there he was, all forty feet of him standing in front of the palace his tentacles sweeping over the area surrounding him, creating small currents. She swam forward and past the guards pointing their weapons at him “Hold your fire!” Akkata commanded, “Your majesty?” One soldier asked, but Akkata ignored him in favor of staring at Akutagawa, taking in his presence after such a long time. She swam up until she was eye level with him, it was really him he was actually here. She reached out and touched his cheek, she chuckled

“Hey Ryu,”

A/N: There it is folks! My first entry on Mermay! I really hope I didn’t screw up Akutagawa’s character, but I think I did fine. Anyway this is just the beginning. I hope to have more Mermay stuff out before the month ends, I’ll see when I get those done.

I think I’m gonna do that Gin x Abi Selkie Au I was talking about. I’m not sure yet.

#akkata rye #my ocs #my writing #akkata x akutagawa #Mermay #ship: yokohama’s bonnie and clyde

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vorthosjay · 7 years

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Let’s Talk About Pride of the Kraul

I wasn’t sure I was going to talk about today’s story, Pride of the Kraul, by Alison Luhrs, but it turns out, it’s super important to understanding what’s happening back on Ravnica. AND I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest by Matthias Kollros

Sobeslav, assistant to Guildmaster Jarad, sat cushioned in the comfort of the Guildhall. His desk attached to that of Jarad vod Savo, who could usually be found wandering the maze outside, avoiding the gaze of the public. Liches were not the social type.

Jarad is a major character in the original Ravnica cycle. He helps overthrow the former leaders of the Golgari, and has a quarter-human son, Myc, who last we saw decided to live with his lich dad. The reason Jarad is a lich? He sacrificed his life for his son. Don’t you ever disrepect good dad Jarad. Oh, and that quarter-human piece? The boy’s grandfather was Agrus Kos’ partner before Feather.

He’s one of the few relatively major Ravnica cycle characters who hasn’t seen a card yet, along with Feather and Pivlic. He’d be perfect for an elf tribal commander, given his parentage would put him in White-Green-Black.

HINT HINT WIZARDS, HINT HINT. Print a Myc, plz.

The kraul are an insectoid race loyal to the Golgari of Ravnica. They declared allegiance only recently after centuries of living unguilded on the outskirts of the Undercity.

IN YOUR FACE @sarpadianempiresvol-viii... although not really for long.

Gruul riots. Shuttering of communication between the Orzhov and the Azorius. It was for the best that the Golgari stayed below—unfortunate happenings were afoot now that the Guildpact could walk and talk and just up and leave.

Gosh, Jace. I wonder what would happen if the guilds suddenly became aware you just went off somewhere and were out of reach. If only someone could have warned you of the catastrophe brewing because of what you’re doing.

If only we had a story hook for Magic’s most popular plane to reappear for next year’s 25th Anniversary, perhaps following Dominaria.

Simple magic could be used to interpret location across these ecosystems of fungus and slime, and nearly all Golgari recognized the intent when gifted an unfamiliar mushroom.

This is a really cool world-building detail.

On the far end of the room, a massive carved slab loomed in front of the group of Golgari elves. Glittering quartz freckled the slab, and careful carvings framed the stone on two sides. Were this stone found Above, one would have mistaken it for part of an oligarch's manor, but here, below the surface, it spoke of a distant and forgotten past.

At the top of the slab, a single sentence, carved deep into the glistening black rock, lined the stonework.

This pretty much screams Orzhov. I wonder what the single sentence is. Perhaps it’s what Mazirek speaks later, the name of the Mausolem? Or is it something else. Something they won’t reveal until later because of it’s importance.

Vraska dropped a spoonful of sugar into her cup

VRASKA. Damn it, I should have known. Of course this is a re-introduction of Vraska, as she’s slated to appear in Ixalan.

Mazirek had first encountered the gorgon once several years ago while consulting the assassins of the Ochran. Mazirek had provided blessings and enchantments to those assassins who asked, and Vraska was the only one who engaged in conversation after. The two began meeting regularly afterward to discuss theology and politics, and their friendship had proven enriching through the years.

Vraska is to sipping tea and chatting, huh? More on that in a moment. We already known she’s corrupted a Boros agent named Javy way back in In the Shadows of Prahv. After her confrontation with Jace, it’s pretty clear she’s working to destroy the guildpact.

Vraska's chamber was cozy, above all else. It was a curiosity cabinet-turned-flat, with every inch of the walls covered in exquisite trinkets and objects beyond all familiarity. The colors and variety were always overwhelming for his compound eyes, but the effect wore off eventually. This was a welcoming place, a traveler's den. Above her kitchen was a dark violet banner. A clay pot with black waves painted along the rim sat on the bookcase. Dozens of little folded paper birds mingled with the ribbons that spanned her ceiling. The effect was calming and captivating; enjoying tea in Vraska's chamber was like sitting in the vaults of a museum.

So Vraska’s home has some interesting knick-knacks. Here’s what we see:

A dark violet banner. This could be one of a couple things. The first, for anyone who immediately googled all the magic cards with ‘banner’ in the title, is this:

Sultai Banner by Daniel Ljunggren

Vraska having some involvement with the Sultai makes some sense, except that they haven’t existed for over a thousand years. Silumgar, however, also has Naga and has kept the purple color scheme.

Another possible, and probably far more likely option, is that this is the banner of the faction to which she belongs on Ixalan. ‘Rivals’ indicates factions, and I’ve already said I strongly suspect pirates. It could be her pirate banner.

A clay pot with black waves painted along the rim. This could be another hint to the pirate theme. I haven’t had time to comb through a whole bunch of old art yet, but I’m pretty sure something like this doesn’t already exist. If you find it, let me know ASAP. I’ve heard some theories for this already, but it’s either an Ixalan piece, or a reference to Theros (given she IS a gorgon).

Dozens of little folded paper birds mingled with ribbons that spanned her ceiling. This is interesting. If you described Vraska’s home to me, I would say Tamiyo, and put Vraska very far back on the list. This is obviously origami, and something she values.

Black Tea adds another interesting wrinkle. I’m not sure how common it is on Ravnica, but tea exists there. You know who sips tea like that?

The story-circle. In Tamiyo’s home. And this intellectual take on Vraska offers up a whole new avenue.

We know Vraska is on Ixalan. We know Ajani is going to Ixalan to recruit someone. I’ve speculated that maybe, because of the story-circle connection, it’s Narset or Sarkhan or even Ugin. But what if it isn’t.

We know Vraska has visited a place where Origami exists. We know she drinks black tea (although that might be a meaningless detail). We know Ajani is going to recruit people against Bolas... and the only other known planeswalker on Ixalan is Vraska.

What if Ajani is going to recruit Vraska? Is she really any worse that Liliana? Or Chandra, for that matter?

Can you imagine the drama when Ajani brings Vraska to a meeting with Jace?

In front of them was a cavern so large they could not sense its walls, and placed like soldiers in formation across the grid of the mausoleum floor were hundreds of stone coffins. The ceiling was stately and ornate, gilded and painted to trick the eye into perceiving it as sky above. Everything about the space spoke of deep, ancient wealth and power.

As he stepped into the mausoleum a current of magic vibrated over the stones. Mazirek sensed he had triggered an ancient spell, and watched with delight as every single coffin began to loosen itself.

Delicate hands draped with lace and beautiful rings removed the lids of their own coffins, and the undead began to rise of their own accord, just as Vraska had told him they would.

This is DEFINITELY an Orzhov Vault. Perhaps this is the Orzhov threat hinted at in Nissa’s vision from The Hand that Moves? Remember, a sigil that sounds an awful lot like the Orzhov symbol destroyed the tablet that sounded an awful lot like the tablet of the guilds.

Mazirek stood to his full height, staff sweeping in grand gesture over the rising army before him. "Behold, child: Umerilek, Mausoleum of the Erstwhile, the salvation of the kraul and the key to the creation of the Golgari empire."

I don’t believe this is something that has been referenced before. Mausoleum of the Erstwhile is an amusing name, because it sounds fancy but it really just means tomb of the former. Doesn’t tell us much, as we already know it’s old and hidden.

But the Golgari empire piece? It sounds like Ravnica 3 might be able a civil war within the guilds. We have plenty of fracture lines for it already. Perhaps we might even see a return to the open warfare for dominion over the plane that was ended by the original Guildpact.

#archive trap blog #vorthos #mtgcma

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gabriella-lost-in-the-big-city · 7 years

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Say My Name... Say My Name (9/13/17)

As a trans-Latinx woman or TLW, as I will refer to myself from now on, coming up with a name that aligned with my new-found gender identity and eventually legalizing it meant the world to me. The story behind my birth name is not some drawn out story of trial or debate, or anything worth wild. It begins with a faint memory (which I have yet to fact check) of my mother stating that she always like the name Gabriella and that if she had a girl with my father that is what she would have named her. I do not remember if I ever thought about going with other names, Gabriella just always seemed to fit just right with me, as if I was always meant to be her (which eventually I knew was the truth). Focusing on my use of my mother’s favorite name for a baby girl for my name could be seen as an attempt to try fit into the empty space in my mom’s heart, mind, and soul of the potential to have a baby girl. In hindsight, she did have a daughter with my father (me, if it was not already obvious) and so me choosing to be Gabriella was just affirming that – not that I think my mother or father would ever see it that way. My middle name was kind of just a random encounter on the internet, much like many (all) of my intimate interactions with the men in my life, I had googled Hispanic/Latin baby names and for some reason Josephine called out to me. And so one faithful day in the study lounge of an NYU Dorm during my freshman year of nursing school, I unofficially/officially became Gabriella Josephine Bolanos with the support of my closest friends. Ever since that day, I have had no regrets or doubts that I was nothing but that person. Despite my roots in Central American culture (my parents being from El Salvador), I chose to spell my name the more American/Italian way of Gabriella instead of the Latin way Gabriela or Josephine instead of Josefine/Josfina. I am proud to be a Latinx woman, but in all honesty, I don’t have strong ties with my heritage. I was born and raised speaking English in the US, El Salvador was just this homeland that my family talked about here and there, but nothing I had any personal connections to (a post about my ethnic identity will be coming eventually). When I first discovered my new identity as Gabriella, some friends began to call me Gabby, not that I asked them to since I was not completely out as trans, but regardless made me feel secure in who I was. I began going as Gabby on Facebook for a while during my freshman year of college around the same time I dabbled in cross-dressing and makeup (a rough time compared to now). However, Gabriella was soon stripped away from me when freshman year came to an end. I moved back to my grams two-bedroom basement apartment in order to commute for the next X amount of years to save money on room and board. I was not out to may family and so I spent the next year and a half living my true life behind closed does (funny, because I actually slept in my grams living room for those 1.5 years with no door to close). My safe haven was our run down bathroom where I was able to play with makeup and women’s clothing and actually be Gabriella. Despite taking steps backward in my transition and essentially going back into the closet, I made the decision after a night of too many “cosmos” and Sex and the City episodes, to once again regain my place as Gabriella Josephine Bolanos on social media, and I have never not been her ever since. I eventually came out to my family as trans in a dramatic and emotional outburst after returning from a party where I got totally wasted, burned myself with a cigarette on my left wrist (my go-to form of self harm back then), got punched in the face by some guy that was sort of flirting with me, and losing my glasses. Although there was probably a healthier way to come out to my family, this unfortunate/fortunate event brought me closer to being Gabby once again. Fast forward to the summer of 2017 where after surviving what was probably the hardest thing I had to endure as a trans woman professionally in the closet (my externship at NYU Orthopedics Hospital – which we will also discuss at a later time), I finally legally became Gabriella Josephine Bolanos on August 16th, 2017.

Fast forwarding again to the present day, despite accomplishing what I thought was the biggest battle (the name change), having everyone around me get used to the whole name change was a whole other war to accomplish. For many of many of my friends, the name change was just affirmation of something they had knew for the past 3 years. However, for most, my name change and my reveal of being transgender seemed like calculus – incomprehensible. I soon returned to my job at NYUOH three weeks after my externship ended where I spent two months pretending that I did not go by Gabby and that I was trans. I’m still debating whether or not going back to the hospital was a great idea for my sanity, but it’s the choice I have to live with. I managed to get a new name badge with my new legal name (despite them spelling my last name wrong on it) and quickly began submitting my name change through NYU’s HR. However, unlike my experience with NYU the actual college were my transition to Gabriella was quick, easy, and tangible across all areas of the university, the hospital system is still taking its sweet old time to fully cover up my past. Now when I clock in it says Gabriella, but when I log on to the charting program or the job portal, it still has my old name on them – which makes for very awkward situations when I begin my shift and everyone is confused why the assignment says Gabriella but the patient’s chart says Justin is assigned to them. It’s these awkward situations where I have to reveal my identity as a trans women and that is something I HATE doing (which is evidently obvious according to one nurse I have encountered). To make matters worst, my friendly façade and work ethic during my externship allowed me to become friends with the various staff members at NYUOH which on my return to work, greeted me with the name Justin that I so HATE over and over again. Despite have a new name badge that clearly says Gabriella on my uniform, people still chose to call me Justin which made that first week back sooooo enjoyable. I eventually had to have the awkward conversations with many of these individuals who remembered me from the summer to let them know that I now go by Gabriella and I go by she/her/hers pronouns. However, another problem I am now facing is that some of these individuals I try to educate on my trans-ness still make the effort to call me Justin and He instead of what they should be calling me – despite my attempts to be a little more femme: have my long curls down and my face beat for my patients. Even some of the new people that I have never met before and only know me as Gabby, still would refer to me as a man, I guess because of my not so femme voice (again according to one nurse). For the longest time I was used to being called Justin and being referred to as a man, despite knowing I was trans and had a gender affirming name to go by, but now this repeated negligence of my right as a trans human being (being called Justin instead of Gabby, and being referred to as he instead of she) reminds me that maybe I’ll never be the woman I strive to be/that I am. I’ll never be seen as the woman I see everyday looking right back at me in the mirror. And with this point I end my first serious post of being me, a TLW named Gabriella Josephine Bolanos.

- G

#trans #transwoman #pronouns #transgender

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