#another boring portmanteau? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

drawnaghht · 2 years ago

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more thoughts on ship names (leosagi, sliderbunny, yuileo etc) - more is not bad

So I'd like to suggest a thought - multiple ship tags and names are not actually bad - it's more like a way of detecting what flavor the ship and resulting fanworks will be. let me explain more below. if this sounds a bit dated, that's because I wrote this back in january-march but noticed I hadn't archived it properly and that it needed a bit more writing to finish some thoughts so I'm posting this now, lest I forget it lol. maybe i have also already posted it before but... i cannot find this old version, so i guess not ^^;;

If you like the Yuichi x Leo ship, are annoyed at Leosagi being used as an umbrella term or are just curious abt another fan's thoughts on ship names, here-a we go. Some thoughts on the leosagi and leochi/leoichi ship names in general ^^

Some things are a bit more outdated: namely, transfem!12yuinardo has now been steadfastly used as a ship tag for transfem Yuichi x 12Leo, so kudos to that person! Thank you for making this unique tag more common!

resources used:

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Pairing_Name https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiosyncraticShipNaming

Anyway, more under cut.

so, being in the rottmnt fandom for a bit longer this time (or being longer in a tmnt phase this time) and browsing the leosagi and leochi tags since august last year... has made me realize again that I really enjoy/prefer genfic most times? i like writing romance, but I enjoy writing action a lot more + exploring character writing in general, so that’s probably what my own crossover works will try to feature more too now.

being in tmnt fandom longer this time around, I thought that it was nice ppl still remembered leosagi, but I didn't expect a "new" version of it. Now, seeing thru the history of it (the RabNerd video on Leosagi felt like a nice refresher on TMNT fandom history in general and it’s nice to listen to) and going thru the tumblr tag (that and ao3 being sorta the only reliable archives on fanwork, with the exception of authors deleting their own work and tumblrtags not working as expected at times/finding hidden stuff), I think it's good we have multiple tags. Now about the tag I made up in september, "yuinardo" (I believe I already made two tagging-related posts thinking abt this tag/name way back in autumn 2022)

this YuiNardo ship name was mostly made as a portmanteau to make tagging and finding easier - for the ship Yuichi x Rise!Leo bc I wanted to differentiate it from Leochi/Leoichi but also the old Leosagi ship, because to me that was a bit different. at first I thought people would use the numbering system (03 leosagi etc per tmnt series airing year), but I started to notice that there was a lot more fanon with the ship this time than before. So when Netflix suggested the show to me one august evening after seeing the Rise movie, I started watching the series proper out of curiosity. as I’ve written before in a few places publicly (i think), the series was a bit slow and boring for me at first. But as I kept watching, I suddenly saw where the writing was going and what interesting things about its characters it was telling us. I got invested in the series for it’s strong family themes and how it handled its characters and story arcs, but also the music was something holding it all together for me emotionally. So I became a genuine fan and started reading more of the original Usagi Yojimbo comic too

one commonality I saw in many fanworks is that Yuichi is often changed a lot to fit a fan's own idea of who he should be as a character in relation to Leo or the fan's own setting/AU. This is fairly normal in fandom in general, esp for smth like TMNT. After all, why not play around in the sandbox given by canon? I also noticed fanworks often ignore the canon or worldbuilding set in his own show, and even the other prominent SRTUC characters get ignored/rewritten more than not. Or people make their own new versions with the same name. Which is fine, fanon!Yuichi and other fanversions are interesting. I usually like seeing redesigns in other fandoms and here they are interesting too, but I actually like the character as he is! He's funny to see fail but also fun/funny to watch/listen in general, especially interacting with other characters, whether main cast or one-off characters. He's a blorbo for me now who has taken up permanent root in my fandom/artist brain. I felt like he'd be fun to write in a shipfic or genfic with Rise!Leo bc their personalities are both so similar and so different. They feel like a strangely matching set, despite the shows never having a crossover (and despite Yuichi technically being a whole new original character for the show from the crew to avoid messing up the og Usagi cast too much). I want to write some genfic and Chizu and Kitsune centric fic one day too if I got the time.

Now after becoming a fan though, it’s honestly a bit sad to see people eschew his personality and writing completely - it feels fine that other fans are making AU and fandesign versions based on him, but this just means that when I open the Yuichi Usagi tags or search - I only find these fan interpretations but no versions where another fan is also a fan of the series. Which isn’t to say, that there aren’t other fans posting fanart, but that it’s just a lot less common that people tagging him as “TMNT usagi” or “Rise Usagi” etc. Some fans have said this is disrespectful to Sakai and the Samurai Rabbit crew - some even go on to hate the character (???) which like - it’s a cartoon. why are you angry at it. And these are often the older fans who are around my age (30+) or older, who are fed up with the younger parts of fandom - which I kinda get. I’ve even seen people make stuff up about the series, but I’m not really interested in pursuing that further because you know what. People have grievances about fandom stuff all the time. It’s pointless and a little mindless sometimes. There are so many bigger problems going on in the world. Fandom is something we are all supposed to enjoy. So to argue with another fan - I don’t have the energy to do that anymore. I might correct factual errors here and there, because that feels like it can be a courtesy sometimes. But I’m not interested in laying down blame or building some sort of longer discussion around things that should be fun, if they’re not fun anymore. Honestly, it would be nice if for once, the older and younger parts of TMNT fandoms could respect each other and get along. Like I’m not feeling hopeless about that but it’s just annoying to come back every 5-8 years and see people fighting and arguing about similar things. But that’s another topic entirely.

I don't honestly quite get the dislike of the character either, but I guess when I was younger, I would have been annoyed by a character like this too. (Foster’s Home comes to mind...where I hated Bloo because of his personality sdfsdfs but I was a very picky child with cartoons in generally) Personally, to me it seems ppl ignore the show and its writing bc of various aspects: besides simple dislike, it's easy to look at a newer cartoon show in a surface-level way; many still have this stance on cartoons that a "dumb kids show" can't be interesting or have substance; the show falls into many concessions to fit what netflix ordered of the crew. + audience tastes have changed over time - and no, not even talking abt just spiderverse, tho thankfully that has changed what more "general" audiences expect of both an 3D, animated film and a superhero/action flick. (cinemas here even listed it as a 2D animated film a while ago lol. it's a complex bag of factors but audiences + specifically distributors/studios are becoming slowly more receptive to 2D animation again. slightly.)

What may have been fun to see 10+ years ago for a 3D tv cartoon then, would not fly for viewers now. Even if we ignore internet-posting fans who do like it (who seem to be primarily teens and young adults up to age 24), and how popular the show was at it's premiere (3rd in the UK among kids?), there might be those in the target audience itself as well who do not like it for various reasons. Additionally, viewers are fickle about cartoons in general. So there are probably many more reasons people have to dislike the character and show that are related to other things. Again, this is just how fandom sometimes works. I’ve been in a lot of other fandoms before where I’m the only one who likes canon or likes writing canon-adjacent, exploring theories in canon etc and this to me started to feel like a similar situation. So I understand when people say the SRTUC fandom is kind of non-existant, if so much of the “fan content” relies on a ship. But saying as someone whose seen sort of “worse” at least there are other people at all and the tags mostly have fanart/fic and not other kinds of stuff, like spam or worse.

Whatever us fans' view might be however, he is still a valid character in the Usagi-verse, AU or not. I've read and listened to interviews with both Stan Sakai and the show crew, and seen artist portfolios with work from the show. The overall experience on the creators' side seems to have been positive. That, and I primarily view the show as a sort of transmedia storytelling venue... almost. It never takes away from the og comic and it adds an interesting alternative future to it, similar to Space Usagi, but as a fun cartoon. It becomes a sort of "gateway tent" for Usagi media and kids who watch this might be inclined to open up the comics, rifle through their parents old books and discover the world of Usagi Yojimbo proper. Like the comic, it also becomes a vehicle for learning for those willing to look things up later after the show, i.e. the yokai lore, customs in modern japan etc. So to me, the show is a net positive and Yuichi Usagi an interesting take on a Usagi descendant. The show is also interesting for me for it's casting (all asian-american cast. hello???) and staff choices as it seemed that everyone was on board with anything Stan Sakai wanted +they tried to put Miyamoto Usagi into the series as much as they could despite Netflix giving them a full limit (or almost a no?) at first - but the series writers and artists included him in an interesting way. So to me the series is good and as a fan, I can see it have interesting crossovers (a lot of the crew also seemed to be big TMNT fans and big UY fans at the same time)

Yuichi is headstrong, openly friendly and impulsive, but also the only one who notices things "outside of the box" more often than the rest of his team. He relies almost entirely on his trained sword skills and complete chance to get out of almost any situations. Leo is sorta painted as a "team clown" and "team faceman", (s1) always trying to make things more lighthearted in stressful situations, which starts to contrast his more strategic nature as we go on in the series. He wonders why he's not trusted (s2) but the thing is, most times he does not tell them his plans, even if they work, so he's seen as impulsive. Together in any shipping or genfic scenarios, I feel like they would feed off each other's lighthearted natures and impulsive instincts, but also work well together bc of how many things they notice, but also, rabbit brain empty, and Leo would be more cautious. That was what I initially kind of imagined for them when I first watched through Samurai Rabbit.

I had a big "mega-crossover" fic idea back in august which would also feature the 03 ship Leosagi, where I could both have a tmnt crossover, write fun action-adventure with the TMNT + Usagi kids and write some sort of neat continuation to what 03 Leo and Usagi might have been going through in a 13-year timeskip. But for that, I thought the tagging would be easier with og tags vs just trying to number leosagi again. Since Rise started in 2018, we often tag it as TMNT 2018, but Usagi Chronicles aired in 2022, (even if production started in 2020) so any attempt to tag it as "2020s leosagi" has just left me more confused. So a unique tag was needed for my own tagging use. I’ve helped make some smoosh names before and this just seemed like a fun thing to do in a fandom I was sort of new to (the ship and SRTUC fandom)

Oh also, I read thru the fanlore article linked above on pairing name conventions and I had totally forgotten some of the ways to make ship names bc I've become so accustomed to portmanteaus and "_shipping" rather than x (used both in general ship names as well as slash pairings) + (preslash or platonic) or even / (slashfic) just bc those sort of conventional ways to tag are harder to find on tumblr bc of its tagging system (special characters make tagging unorganizable or harder to use)

+ I've been more active in modern fandom spaces for only 13+ years, while stuff like ff.net was maybe confusing to use as a young teen. So again, some pairing naming conventions have sorta escaped me over time lol. So it would be interesting to see what else people start to use for this newer ship of Yuichi x Rise!Leo

Different kinds of names for one pairing are fairly common in any kind of fandom. Pokemon and YGO fandoms have put these on vote for example (thinking of doing this out of curiosity) but that would have to mean a more unified fandom I suppose? Having both a smoosh name (leosagi) and _shipping name (katanashipping) have stuck with the old ship and imo that should be respected because the ship conventions were there way before this newer ship or these newer series came about. I’ve seen many posts now where ppl complain about the tagging, especially the character tagging and the leosagi tag itself, because technically again, totally new ship. So to be a bit upset at that imo is totally understandable. imagine your favourite old ship you’ve been tagging the same is suddenly overtaken by a new, only vaguely related one? I also like the online shipping-related analogy: if you’re looking for a specific game in the store, why would a pair of shoes be tagged? or a different game? you’re only at the store for that one game, but now other stuff is being suggested to you because of other users’ tagging.

Considering those slash-ship naming conventions, I suppose I made the ship name to be more Yuichi-centric a bit - starts with his name, tho again, this was just one way to "flavor" the ship for me - but also specifically for the Yuichi we have on the show, because I enjoy the show and understand why Usagi is written the way he is on it. Mainly that he is given "annoying teen" traits to contrast the changes he goes through in the short time of the 2 seasons + he seems be written with intentional ADHD-coding. + I wanted something more lighthearted and funnier-sounding, so Nardo was added bc that is Leo's nickname on the Rise show that his family uses teasingly, mainly by Donnie. I thought that would make it unique. (And, this is more subtle, but I also thought it was more funny that Nardo sorta sounded like "Naruto" and that Usagi Chronicles has a few Naruto influences in its art and design, so, slightly matching in coincidence.)

But also Yuinardo just sounds fun and easy to pronounce + I cannot find any other tags that it overlaps with. Main use for tags after all - easy to find and unique - which I think is why the og Leosagi tag prevailed among the other names that popped up back then when the Leosagi 2003 ship first became popular online. I have no idea however if there was a ship for this before this, since I never went looking really (and there weren't much leosagi fic on ff.net then to get any impression of previous fandom activity)

If you want to continue to use Leochi or Leoichi as a tag, that's still fine bc its a big tag and more popular for this ship. But if you also like the Samurai Rabbit show, feel free to use the Yuinardo tag as well, depending on the the use ^^

Going through the fanlore article, I also realized that hey, actually having multiple tags/names is normal in fandoms! It's to make searching/naming for different flavours of pairings easier. I forgor. Let me explain.

the Leosagi as well as the Leochi/Leoichi tags sorta blew up in august after the ROTTMNT movie bc of new or returning fans rediscovering an old ship that's been a constant since the 03 fandom. and ppl posted fanart of the two versions in the tags before this too, but there was a notable uptick in those new fans after august 2022. I think when Samurai Rabbit aired, ppl posted fanart then too.

The SliderBunny tag existed already for people's own teen!Miyamoto Usagi x Rise!Leo versions and honestly, this could continue as an umbrella tag for any Rise!Leo x Usagi ships going forward, as "Rise Leosagi" has built up more as a tag. or "2018 Leosagi" whichever do you prefer

For 2003 Leosagi, Katanashipping exists bc it's unique to them (the katana-gifting scene in the 03 show) + it is a more specific name and tag, which helps to find it easier or make it more specific. + it just adds the extra flavor of knowing what went on between the two in the show. That was their last canon interaction as far as we know.

I want to also add here that the 03 version of Miyamoto Usagi is specifically very different. I remember reading an article somewhere which mentioned that Stan Sakai had been a bit upset w the 03 team that they made Usagi so young and different from his comics. I'll repost/add the link another time, but the main point is that the 03 pairing/friendship is quite different from both the existing canon comics and the 12!tmnt iteration of their friendship.

someone pointed out that the yuinardo tag could be for the ship Yuichi Usagi x 12!Leonardo but I do not see it that way for the above reasons. But what could be the name for that then? That's for the shippers of that ship to decide. I've heard some variations of smashing the names together for this like Luichi and YuiLeo (I kinda like that 2nd one myself), but they both sound a bit too much like real names to be tags/ship names.

I do not know the Yuichi x 12Leo name, but I suppose it could follow common convention of adding 12 in front, since that has been done before for people's own versions of 12leosagi as well, so thir's world and see what happens! so it'll be interesting takes off more. There is potential for both angst and comedy in this one. 🤔 what people will start tagging this onnce coed be 12leochi or 12yuinardo maybe even. I do not see it honestly, but I also did not continue watching much of tmnt12 after season 3 bc it was hard to see Leo go through Stuff(tm) again and I did not like how the show approached writing its female characters. So I don't quite get the appeal, but I think if fans see opportunities to write it in interesting/fun ways, why not. I headcanon 12!Leo as a transfem lesbian, and Yuichi reads slightly transmasc for me, so maybe that's why I don't quite see it bc my fanon ideas are a bit different for them ^^; + it feels like they are from different times from a "when it was made" perspective, the shows' vibes are different (12 is more horror-genre scifi a lot of times while SRTUC does not lean into its horror thematics as much as it could be the name for that then? That's for the shippers of that ship to decide.

the transfem sapphic version I know one person calls Blue Sapphics, which is cute, but idk if there's a common name that every shipper uses? let me know in the reblogs or comments.

anyway, larger point also; it's not so bad to have multiple tags (as long as you use them according to what's in the post) and multiple names - so that one tag (leosagi) doesn't have to do all the heavy-lifting and that fans who only want one flavor, can have that. tagging is more like a courtesy but it helps to make finding fanart/other fans of the same thing easier, but they often also follow what becomes commonly discussed and used among a fandom.

Sorry if this is super-duper long, I haven't been able to write normally since discovering the internet and that I could post on it and things just happen to get this long when I finally finish a writing ^^;

crunches my brain a lil as I make this post bc i have other stuff cooking in my brain

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romanreadsbooks · 3 hours ago

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Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros - Review

TL;DR

4.1 Stars

Pros: Characters (mostly Ridoc), Xaden's Character Arc, acknowledgement of the toxicity in relationships

Cons: Violet's reaction to Andarna, who lives and dies (feat. My probably unpopular opinion)

Continue the Series? Yes

Spoilers in review? YES MAJOR SPOILERS

Opinions going in/why I picked it up:

I picked up the series pretty late into it's popularity, reading Fourth Wing in July of 2024 followed shortly by Iron Flame in August of the same year. I was in the mood for an easy to read, fun fantasy and it fit the bill perfectly.

The characters are fun, the world is interesting enough to make up for when romance gets boring and vice versa. As a lover of both romance and fantasy, I actually struggle with the romantasy genre as a whole. Most of the time I just find that instead of bringing the best parts of both fantasy and romance into one engaging story, books in the romantasy genre just do both halves of the portmanteau poorly.

I had always assumed I just hadn't read the right romantasy and The Empyrean series gives me hope that it's true.

Is Fourth Wing a literary masterpiece? Is it a immaculate example of complex world building? Or a love story that can rival the best of the best? No, of course not. But it's *fun* and *engaging* and makes me actually give a shit about the characters, which is not a common occurrence for me. Overall Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were a good time and earned 4.5 and 4.75 stars respectively (and yes I did like IF more than FW).

All that to say I was excited to read Onyx Storm and I went into the book with my head completely empty of theories and ready to have another good time. I did not do a re read ahead of starting the book and only watched a single two minute tiktok that gave me the spark notes of what previously happened in the series.

Likes:

As I referenced above, I really like all of the characters in this series, my previous favorite being either Sawyer or Imogen but my lord did this book make me love Ridoc. I of course liked his jokes and one-liners, but I also love the moments when he was serious, both with his concern with Xaden and Violets increasingly toxic relationship and his confrontation with the rest of the Iron Squad not seeing him as capable/powerful because he is humorous/fun loving. That said, I have been pronouncing his name wrong this whole time. I thought it was like the name Murdoc/Murdock (like from the band Gorillaz and the game Paragon), so 'Rye-doc' and it is not -- it's "Rid-ick".

To jump to another character, Xaden's arc over this section of the book was great. I enjoyed his struggle with the inevitability of his turning both feeling completely defeatist about it and still holding out hope, if only for Violets sake. And I assume by the end of the five book series, he will be saved/turned back, but I like that he still gave in this moment.

As he and Violet were traveling with Quest Squad (so happy for Ridoc that the name stuck lol) I started growing a little uncomfortable at how codependent and toxic their relationship was becoming. It felt like as Xaden was turning more and more venin, he was losing care for everything other than Violet. Some might find that romantic, but I personally find it to be more than a bit much. Which brings to mind two things: 1) I love that the woman who gave Violet the books completely called her out on how unhealthy the relationship was. 2) I glad that Ridoc stepped in and forced Violet to make a boundary and set up a support system for when Xaden eventually fully turns.

Dislikes:

Most of my "dislikes" are simple me being frustrated that we won't have answers to so many questions until we get the next book in the series, so they aren't really negatives. Those will be in the 'other notes' section. I do have a couple of problems though:

First, I don't like how quickly Violet got over the severed bond. Like we were told she laid in bed for four days, but that's about it? She was up and back to normal way too fast in my opinion. Like it seemed like she grieved Liam far longer than she did Andarna. I know she knew Liam for longer and that Andarna didn't die, she just left, but Andarna was bonded to Violets very *soul*.

The lore of the world makes it out to be that losing a dragon is worse than losing a spouse, even without the whole 'if your dragon dies, you die' part. I understand being a soldier and having work to do, but I just would have liked to see her grieve more for Andarna.

And speaking of grief, this may be a hot take, but Mira should have died. Or at the very least,

we should have had a more major death in the last battle. Like the most major death was Quinn and, while her death actually made me nearly cry, she wasn't *that* major of a character.

I need something irreversibly devastating to happen to Violet. Not like Liam, who she is kind of paying reparations to by taking care of Sloane. Not like Brennan, who came back to life. Not like Andarna who would eventually come back, even if she had actually stayed away for a few years. Not like Xaden who Violet will never give up on trying to turn back human. Not like her mother who she already had a complicated relationship with.

I need someone Violet loves to be gone with nothing to be done about it other than grieve. Some one irreplaceably important to Violet, namely either Mira or Rhiannon or (if Yarros wants to really hurt me) Ridoc. I want Yarros to have me nearly quitting the series because I am so upset over a death of a character. This thing with Mira being brought back from the brink has be worried that I won't ever get that major, heartbreaking death.

Other Notes:

I'm gonna be honest, when I first read Xaden's chapter at the end I was Very Confused™. Obviously now that I've seen other people's reactions, I'm aware that we don't know who the referenced 'brother' is, but at the time I thought I just wasn't understanding the words and I had missed the part where they said who the brother was. Since Panchek was there and he was the one giving information on Violets whereabouts to the Venin I assume he was the new brother? I don't know, with this series I like to complete avoid theorizing and just enjoy the ride, but I think I had leaned into the 'no thoughts, head empty' a bit too much.

I used to try and predict every book I read because I liked feeling smart, but it made me not like reading. It was almost like I had looked up a the twist of a movie and then went to see the film anyway. Obviously the twist can be impactful even if you know it ahead of time, but it makes it a lot harder to enjoy it in my personal experience.

In a similar vein, I also don't really enjoy watching/partaking in fandom theory-crafting or trying to get information out of authors for future seasons. I want to experience the story in its final form, not from Yarros hinting at future events/lore etc. I have seen a few theories as to who this mysterious brother is and a few about Andarna and her role in the last chapters plan, but honestly until the book is out -- I don't want to speculate. Others are 100% free to speculate and theorize and ask Yarros questions, but I'm gonna stay out of it.

Rating Breakdown

Characters: 10

Atmosphere: 8

Writing: 7

Plot: 7

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 9

Enjoyment: 9

Dialogue: 8

Total: 8.3/10 or 4.1 Stars

#book review #booklr #onyx storm #rebecca yarros #4.0-4.4 #fantasy romance

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nickgerlich · 8 hours ago

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Orange You Glad

I am such a nerd. I get excited about things that everyone else thinks is boring. Right now I am reading a book on immigration, which I find to be very intellectually stimulating. Stats, baby. Bring ‘em. It’s just that my wife thinks I am as boring as the subject matter of the book she gave me. And don’t ever let me back you into a corner in a social setting, because your eyes will be glazing over in minutes.

So when I saw Coca-Cola’s latest campaign for its new Orange Cream line extension, I stopped dead in my tracks to check out every aspect. I get paid to study these things. Actually, I get paid to be a nerd. And, being the nerd I am, after a deep dive I do soundly declare this is very well done. All they have to do is wait for the customers to start giving them their money.

As I have said before several times now, line extensions are the easy way to keep pushing new products. Of course, there’s risk when they fail, and you aren’t going to get extra shelf space just because you have another flavor.

If anyone should know this, it is Coca-Cola, which recently discontinued last-year’s line extension, Coca-Cola Spice. It was trying to tap into the Gen-Z and Millennial love affair with “swicy” food, a cute portmanteau of sweet and spicy. Why not make a soda that mimics the same flavor sensation they find in foods?

It’s just that it flopped miserably.

But back to Orange Cream, which company execs say was influenced by consumer research indicating a current fascination with that flavor. Remember, taste preferences come and go. You have to hop on the trend early, but also be prepared to jump off when our quirky tastes move on to the next big thing. Who knows. Maybe umami needs a soda.

This campaign, though, is a text book example of how to use nostalgia as a touchpoint, but also send the message out through a perfect mix of analog and digital platforms. In other words, expect to see Coca-Cola Orange Cream everywhere you go, from TV to billboards, from in-store to your socials. Hot on the heels of the Westside’s Finest campaign we discussed a few days ago, this one too is flawless. I absolutely love the video that features an ice cream truck. Who among us doesn’t have childhood memories of the ice cream truck? And who didn’t have at least one Orange Creamsicle? I am betting all y’all—there, I said it in my best Texan—have done this.

I must comment on the abundant use of nostalgia these days by marketers. The lack of American cohesion in identity and politics, the uncertain economy, all the change around us whether we like it or not…all of these have left us in a collective funk. Nostalgia is a great escape, albeit momentary, from all the junk in our minds these days. If a can of orange Coke—in both sugar and zero sugar varietals—can put us in a better place for a few minutes, then so be it. It’s not hurting anyone.

Coca-Cola also earns high marks in their branding consistency. The familiar script font is used to identify the brand, so that on the shelf or in a c-store cooler, there is little doubt this is a Coke product. It should be noted that Coca-Cola has already had an Orange Vanilla variant, so the flavor is not exactly new to the brand. The company has embraced flavorful line extensions for many years now, once they introduced Diet Coke in 1982. In some supermarkets, it is possible to find 20 or more different flavor, sugar, and caffeine versions. It’s mind-boggling, but they are doing their best to hit every customer flavor preference.

How long the current attraction to orange cream will last is anyone’s guess. It could be that we have entered the era of “flavor of the year,” a lot like how peach was a huge hit last year. There were many peachy beers, seltzers, and ciders introduced. I bet they won’t last long. In my mind, it’s almost as if there’s a company behind this, declaring which flavor to push. If you are thinking you have seen this concept elsewhere, you would be right. Each fall Pantone declares what the next year’s color will be, influencing marketers of all kinds to bring to market as many bed sheets, curtains, clothing, etc., that are in that color.

All told, Coca-Cola has pulled out all the stops, as a company of their size should. The company boasts it is willing to take chances, knowing full well that some of their products may miss the mark. What a great attitude. And what a great campaign, even if I probably won’t buy any. I’m just not a frequent soda drinker.

Of course, the bottom line is consumer behavior. Will people buy it? And, more importantly, will people buy it again? Never mind the cannibalization that will necessarily go on, because we can only drink so much soda. Soft drink sales in the US have been declining throughout this century. Now here’s an interesting fact: per capita consumption of soft drinks in the US was 42.2 gallons last year. Yikes. Mine was less than 12 ounces. And yet this number has been in steady decline.

Coca-Cola is betting a lot of money on a category that is slowly dying. Whether this can help bolster sales is the great unknown. Heck, all that’s missing is a collab with a pop icon. Maybe Beyonce would like to help create a new beverage? You never know. That might have a great marketing rhythm.

Dr “Nerding Out” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #Coca-Cola #soda #soft drinks

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il-predestinato · 3 years ago

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90% of my dash are in mourning, and here I am wondering what Lando/Oscar’s ship name would be.

#another boring portmanteau?#norstri?#lanscar?#oslando?#piaris? nope sounds too much like piarles #evil twinks (affectionate)#anyone who is not in mourning - help me out here #elle.txt

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cyclaes · 2 years ago

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fic fragment - title undecided for now

Summary: Selena Burke has a bad reaction to hearing about Prince Geordo’s new engagement, and Prince Ian is having none of that. Inspired by this post and the rumors of LN12 involving a new fiancée for Prince Geordo.

The engagement between the third prince and the daughter of Duke Claes has always been a topic of much discussion among the people of Sorciere. All four princes and their fiancées are much-discussed, of course - but unlike Mary Hunt and Susanna Randall, too competent to attack, or Selena Burke, weak but disgustingly proper, more boring than hateful - the eccentric and magically-weak Katarina Claes is always good for a sneer and a gossip session.

And, unlike Alan and Geoffrey, their blond brothers are subject to unceasing speculation as to whether their engagements are...open to negotiation. It has died down some since the incident with the kidnapping, at least for Ian and Selena - but now it is raging at full force for Geordo and Katarina.

(Quietly, with the secrecy of men aiming for a previously-unthinkable goal, there are those who gossip about the rumored break - but about Katarina Claes's availability, not Prince Geordo's)

"...what can you expect, with a prince that capable and the Claes girl being like..." sniggers one nobleman to another in the halls outside the public throne-room.

Prince Ian, with his fiancée on his arm, are nearby - close enough to catch the unkind remark, far enough for the nobles not to notice them. Selena, more resolute than people think she is, controls her reaction to a small flinch. But Ian notices it.

***

"...I won't!" Geordo is insisting to their father when Ian walks in. For a rarity, all the male members of the royal family are now gathered in one room at the same time - the king behind his desk, weary; Geoffrey leaning against the wall and watching, his face uncharacteristically somber; Alan standing near his twin, his expression complicated.

All conversation cuts off as Ian strides to their father's desk and upends a portmanteau, covering the teakwood surface with papers and envelopes.

"Ian!" King Owen says in surprise. "What are you..."

"This talk of new engagements for Geordo is stupid," Ian says bluntly. "So I went ahead and got the rescindments from everyone who sent in their application. There. That should fix it."

"...what?" comes the same reply from four different voices at once.

"Everyone who's sent in an application has now sent in a formal renouncement of their offer in writing," Ian explains, slowly, in a tone that indicates his opinion of his family's intelligence is dropping rapidly. "There they are."

King Owen picks up a particularly creamy-looking envelope and studies it. "This - this is from Duke Richaud of Quid. We don't even have an application from him."

"Oh, his application must not have gotten here yet." Ian shrugs. "Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. We can keep this on file for when it does show up."

Geordo is staring at him with the shocked look of a drowning man who has unexpectedly been hit in the head by a life-preserver dropping out of the sky. "Ian...Ian-nii..." He swallows hard and stands up straight, shoulders relaxing from a tension that has been stiffening them for days. "Th-thank you!"

Ian slants a cool blue gaze at his younger brother. "I didn't do it for you," he informs Geordo. "Next time - better let a few months pass first, a half-year if we can - just let her be the one to break it. Don't let her name be dragged in the mud further than it has been already just because she's had the terrible luck to be engaged to you."

Geordo staggers backwards as if Ian has struck him in the face. "What?"

Ian ignores Geordo and turns to his staring father. "And then, adopt the girl as a ward of our family. We don't, legally speaking, need to have precedent, but Grandmother Calla's link to the Adeths and your own time as a ward of Duke Lucan Claes will serve as justification. That way it'll be clear that it was us seeking a tie with House Claes, and not the other way around, and people will stop running their mouths about a girl who deserves better at our hands."

"Duke Claes is still alive, though," Geoffrey points out. "As her legal guardian and actual father..."

"But she's not his heir, and as a ward of House Stuart we can make her one," Ian replies. "The estate I was given from mother's side, Atholl..."

"What are you talking about?" Geordo demands, grabbing Ian's shoulder.

"She doesn't need to marry you to be my younger sister," Ian states baldly. "And at Atholl she'll be closer to me and Selena..."

"She's not yours!" Geordo screams.

"And she's certainly not yours, nor do you deserve her," Ian says coolly. Alan flinches, but Geordo just stares with eyes aflame. Ian stares back, water-magic as potent as Geordo's fire-magic backing the coldness of his gaze. If Geordo's eyes flare with inferno, Ian's has all the dark, hidden depths of a northern sea.

(Ian thinks back to his visit with Selena to Katarina at her Claes household; the staff staring with anger at the royal sigil on Ian's clothes. They are well-trained and the pick of the wealthy and expansive Claes holdings; still they cannot help but show it. They, too, have heard the unflattering rumours about the prince casting off their young mistress.

But Katarina Claes herself does not look the slightest bit unhappy or flustered as she welcomes them to tea with the grace only actual happiness at a guest's arrival can give.

"Oh no," she laughs, waving her hand airily, when Selena - anxious, sad, seeing herself all too easily in the younger girl's place - brings the topic up with much fear. "I always knew Geordo would end up with someone better than me."

There is a moment of silence.

"But…Katarina…you're crying," Selena says, her voice very soft.

Katarina puts a hand up to her face, feels tears on her fingertips. "Oh.”

She swallows hard. “Oh, you're right."

And Ian remembers the feeling of watching Katarina Claes, who had given Selena the confidence she needed, had given Ian the chance he didn’t deserve, who had forgiven her own kidnapping and imprisonment and become the best friend her kidnapper could have, who had been the reason he and Selena had finally realized their love - watching the girl who had been so bright and joyous in the face of so much darkness - watching her smile waver and tremble but stick on her pale face as the tears streamed down - remembers the sick twisting in his belly, remembers the answering and too-empathetic tears on Selena's face as she had taken a finally-sobbing Katarina into her arms.)

And, remembering, he finds the strength to tell his younger brother, "She deserves better than this."

"How dare you," Geordo begins to snarl.

"And I don't deserve Selena. I hurt her, for longer. I was pathetic. You - you've been braver than me, but just as pathetic. You're braver, but not brave enough to actually open your heart enough to convince her. Not when she knows the real reason you pushed for the engagement to begin with," Ian tells Geordo, remembering what Katarina had gasped out to Selena as she sobbed in the older girl's arms.

Geordo goes pale. "She - she knows?"

Alan is pale as well. "Knows - knows what? Geordo, what real reason? Ian!"

Geoffrey exhales sharply, in conjunction with his father.

"She's always known."

#hamefura #my fics #fic scrap #geokata #geordo stuart #ian stuart #selena burke #katarina claes #using 'nii' because english has no good sibling-relationship modifiers/pronouns/etc #it's so cute when the twins have their big brothers visit

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subtlereferencetomyinterests · 5 years ago

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Hypothetically,

Ao3, MasterPost

Relationships: Romantic Intrulogical, Platonic Logince

It is about! Damn! Time! That I wrote some Intrulogical! Also, y’all already know my stance on platonic logince,,,, guys they ARE best friends i’m sorry I don’t make the rules.

Warnings: Angst (with a happy ending). mentions of stuff like autopsies and nuclear explosions in the context of like experiments- they do stuff in The Imagination, basically. Panic attack (?). Hurt/comfort. Pretty heated kissing; It’s more intense makin’ out than I usually write but it isn’t anything explicit at all, don’t worry! ADHD Remus and Autistic Logan. Cursing- like So Much Cursing. Mentions of space, deep sea, etc. Food mention.

Word count: 6,769

There was a conundrum.

A., Logan needed to use the Imagination. B., He could not use it on his own, considering that he was Logic. C., Roman was nowhere to be found. The answer to what was frustrating Logan at that moment would be all of the above.

To be clear, he didn’t like going into the Imagination. It was simply the only suitable place to perform his ‘experiments’. His very necessary, very distracting experiments. But, as stated, Roman was God-knows-where doing God-knows-what.

Logan sighed at the door, as though it was the inanimate structure’s fault. The cracks gleamed obnoxiously bright, golden light pouring out from behind the door in a somewhat eerie manner. It was a nonsensical, unrealistic, completely insignificant place, and he wanted in.

Logan was contemplating asking Janus for help (lies took imagination, right?) when, out of nowhere, an arm was thrown around his shoulders. Literally an arm, disembodied and oozing sick-smelling blood onto the carpet. Ah. Wonderful.

“Hello, Remus,” he pulled the appendage from around him, holding it at arm’s length (no pun intended, dammit).

“Hi!” Remus took his arm back and reattached it with a disturbing crunch, a grin stretching his face. He sidled up to Logan, imitating the side’s stance in front of the door.

“Can I help you with something?” the logical trait tilted his shoulder away from where Remus had pressed against him.

“Not unless you’re willing to get really messy- but I can help you!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re implying.”

The Duke rolled his eyes, promptly flinging the door to The Imagination open. An encompassing energy radiated into the common room, corrupting the usual neutrality of the space. It didn't last long before Remus grabbed Logan’s wrist and dragged him along through the entryway, movements as sporadic and fast-paced as everything else about the creative.

“It’s not very logical to just stand there staring at the door all day, in my opinion. I dunno what you need Imagination for, but whatever it is, I can help! My half is much more interesting, anyway.”

“Oh,” Logan blinked, narrowly ducking his head under a branch as he was pulled forward, “Thank you, I suppose.”

He politely didn’t mention that he doubted Remus’ capacity for helpfulness. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all.

The door from the commons was quite a walk from the darker half of The Imagination, but at the pace its owner had them going they were there in minutes. The border was marked with tangles of densely thorned shrubbery, which parted for them, as if they sensed the approach. Logan just barely avoided snagging his shoe on one as they passed.

There was forest, twisted and shadowy, for only a minute. After that, they were in a city, with tall buildings and winding streets and dark alleys. Another switch, they came into what seemed like an amusement park. Nothing was consistent in theme, and none of the scenes held up for more than a minute or two. Remus shook his head and tisked. With a snap, a good portion of the ever-changing scenery was erased, leaving blank white space. The Duke turned to look at Logan with a satisfied smile.

“Ta-da! What do you need?”

Logan blanched for a moment, surprised at Remus’ willingness to completely delete Imaginings without a second thought. It usually took Roman ages to find a spot that he was okay with giving up on for Logan’s “projects”- which he always had thought was a little silly, seeing as he could bring it back when they were done. The change of pace was a pleasant one, though, so there was no need to dawdle for long.

“I need a miniature fully-functioning model of our solar system. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Oh, totally,” Remus waved his hand and the request appeared suspended in the air, spread out to be the size of a dining table. All was accounted for- sun, moons, eight planets plus pluto- orbiting and spinning around each other. Imagination, by nature, had no real limits, but the detail was still a sight to behold every time. Logic smiled, surveying the set-up, before gesturing to the edge of their blank section.

“Thank you for the help, you may go.”

“May I now?” Remus conjured a seat for himself, staring at Logan with his chin resting on his hands, “You’re not even going to tell me what this is for? That’s just rude.”

Logan glanced up from the tiny earth he was inspecting, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“You are welcome to stay, if you wish, but your brother usually leaves at this point. He says my experiments are-” he summons his notebook, “‘Bore-ifying’, which I assume is a portmanteau for ‘boring’ and ‘horrifying’.”

“Roman’s a big baby!”

Logan shrugged, not disagreeing, and resumed his careful observation of the tiny model earth. Remus made no move to go, wheeling his chair even closer. The scientific side carried on before his new audience of one, hovering a hand over the little planet. Abruptly, it stopped spinning. Logan made a gesture with his hand that magnified the model significantly.

The results were immediately catastrophic. Logan jotted a few observations down in his notebook, watching closely at the ways torrents of wind ripped up trees and buildings. In the back of his mind, he was faintly impressed by just how well-rendered ‘Dark’ Creativity’s earth was, down to the individual humans, brutalized by the storms.

“Whoah, what the fuck?!”

Logan looked up briefly to see Remus craning his head over the destruction of the stilled planet. His eyes were wide and bright with curiosity.

“Oh- I should probably explain. I come here, usually, to run some improbable scenarios as a sort of stress-reliever. Specifically, this one is what would happen if earth stopped spinning on its axis. As you can see, due to the earth no longer rotating at its usual speed, the wind would continue on at-” he cut himself off abruptly, sensing the beginnings of a ramble, “I’m sorry, I’ve been told that I have a tendency to ‘go off’ when a subject particularly interests me.”

Remus rolled his chair even closer, looking much like an excited animal (more so than usual, anyway).

“Well then, go off! Don’t leave me hanging! Is that really what would happen, just if it stopped?” He gestured enthusiastically to the way that the oceans had begun to crash against and consume shorelines. He looked interested- genuinely interested.

Logan bit back a smile. He didn’t have to be told twice.

It was one of those particularly restless nights. For no foreseeable goddamn reason, Logic’s mind had become alight with enough half-formed thoughts and barely sensible ideas to fill a very, very weird book. The Imagination did wonders when he got like this, but it usually wasn’t two in the morning when he needed to use it. That wasn’t to say the circumstance was unheard of, but all times prior he could push the urge to investigate away with the reasoning that he could just ask Roman in the morning, and that the Creative side needed his ‘beauty sleep’, as he called it. There wasn’t anything he could do about that, was there?

Tonight was different. Logan could hear the occasional snap or tear or cackle from the room across from his. Remus’ room.

It had been less than a week since The Duke let him use the darker half of the Mindpalace, and that was pretty much the only meaningful interaction they’d had in as many days. They weren’t close, Logan wasn’t even sure if they were friends (not that he was a good judge of that, given the first time Roman referred to them as ‘besties’ he had all but cried), but Remus was at the very least an option. He was also unlikely to mind, given that he was already awake and had exhibited excitement previously.

Logan made up his mind after yet again failing to fall asleep. Quietly, he opened his door and took the few short steps across the hall, raising his fist. Remus’ door was open before his second knock.

“Oh, hey! What are you doing, coming knocking at this hour?” he didn’t even try to whisper, accompanying his statement with an over-exaggerated wink. Logan didn’t waste his time trying to shush the side.

“Good evening, I hope I’m not interrupting anything-”

“You know I don’t mind your ‘interruptions’, Twunk-y Megamind!”

“-But I was wondering if you would… Help me, again. I seem to be having a hard time getting to sleep, and I think that getting out some of my ideas could help.”

Remus’ face lit up dramatically.

“Oh hell yes! Are we gonna blow up more planets?”

“Something like that,” he kept his voice monotone, disguising the relief and hint of pride at such a positive reaction.

“Well, come on!”

Logan let himself be dragged into Remus’ room, barely having time to make note of the surprisingly organized layout before he was pulled through a sleek black door.

“But you have to tell me about it,” he ordered, twisting them through narrow paths in his half of The Imagination. Logan suppressed a smile.

“If you want to hear it, then I’m happy to.”

Without warning, they stopped the breakneck pace that Remus moved at. The trait seemed appeased with their surroundings, though as far as Logan could tell it was just another piece of ever-shifting ominous landscape.

Remus snapped his fingers. The scene remained intact.

“Sorry,” he glanced around nervously, “Things get stuck in my head sometimes. Can’t get ‘em out. I’ll get it, I just-”

“It’s no trouble.”

Logan rolled up his sleeves. He didn’t like using his ‘abilities’ much, as every side had some set of special skills, and all of them were much too ostentatious. But they were helpful, at times. He waved a hand, gesturing carefully so that he didn’t dismantle any more of The Imagination than was absolutely necessary. With a small stutter, the landscape shifted to a blank slate.

When he looked back up, Remus’ expression was not unlike that of a Cheshire cat.

“What was that?”

“I am Logic, therefore it follows that I am the antithesis to any Imagination creations. It’s very easy to erase them with just a bit of rationality.”

“No clue what a lot of those words meant, but it’s still cool that you can destroy shit.”

Laughing was unbecoming, to say the least, and so the logical trait tended to avoid it at all costs. The snort that escaped him was entirely involuntary.

If Remus noticed the noise, he said nothing about it. He was too busy bouncing from foot to foot, expectantly waiting for instructions. Logan cleared his throat of the outburst and clapped his hands together.

“Alright, let’s start with something simple…”

At his request, Remus would construct immaculately detailed creatures, settings, and models, watching gleefully at the ordeals Logan put each one through. They tested various and progressively elaborate ways to sink populated cruise liners, they simulated the effects of falling from the Empire State Building, dissected approximations of obscure marine animals (a shared special interest of theirs, apparently), and any of the other unrealistic questions that occurred to the typically rational Logic.

The only way to get such questions from his mind, he’d found out a long time ago, was deconstructing them one step at a time, to see them in their full ridiculousness.

It was also, he was coming to realize, incredibly fun.

Before the two knew it, the already late hour had turned unreasonable. Logan blinked owlishly at his watch, distracted from the tiny supernova that he’d created.

“Oh, I must have lost track of time,” four in the morning. Four in the morning!

“Aw, does that mean we’re done?” Remus whined, yet he still began unmaking his small star system.

Logan was suddenly very aware of the heaviness of his eyelids and a rubbery feeling in his limbs. God, was he tired.

“I’m afraid so. I really should’ve gone to sleep hours ago.”

“Fine,” Remus dragged the word out with a groan, “But let me know next time you wanna fuck with space, or deep sea stuff, or anything like that.”

Next time.

As much as Logan adored Roman, there was something very nice about having the more grim brother help him out with these experiments. For one, his creations were often much more accurate to the real world- likely because gore and destruction were that much more impactful when they were realistic. For two, he actually seemed to enjoy the work.

Logan’s deliberation was brief.

“I will.”

As it happened, the night spent delving into dozens of ideas had purged Logan’s need to use The Imagination, for the time being. Clearly, Remus was not patient enough to wait for him.

He popped up, unannounced, in Logic’s room.

“Lo!!!”

The trait in question fell out of his office chair in a very undignified way. Not that there’s a particularly dignified way to fall out of a chair, but if there was, this definitely wouldn’t have been it. He ‘ate shit’, as the saying goes.

Out of pure embarrassment, Logan made no move to get off the floor.

“Hello, Remus,” he greeted, “How may I help you?”

The Duke laughed raucously, sprawling into the now-unoccupied chair and leaning over him.

“You’re a riot, Dork,” then, added with glittering eyes, “Did you break anything?”

“No. Given that I am metaphysical, I’m not sure that I have bones.”

“I have bones!”

“Are they your bones?”

“They are bones and they are in my possession, yes.”

Logan let the subject drop and repeated his first question.

“Right, I forgot! I have an idea for an experiment!”

Logan thought that, despite his mild humiliation, it would probably benefit the conversation if he wasn’t lying on the ground, so he stopped doing that. Brushing mostly imaginary dust from his clothes, he shot Remus a bemused look.

“That’s nice. But I was asking you why you were here.”

The Duke’s face fell, almost imperceptibly.

“I thought you’d wanna know, because of what you said last time. Isn’t this, like, a thing we do now? You know how shit works, and I know how to make that shit, and then you can tell me about it!”

Oh.

“Remember when you were talking about radiation the other day? You can’t just say stuff like that and then not expect me to want to try it out, so really this is on you. It’d be dumb not to let you in on it.”

Oh.

He’d been listening to that rant? Moreover, he’d remembered it, and now had his own ideas and follow-up questions about it?

Logan felt light-headed.

“You’re probably too busy with work, huh? I guess my explosions don't have to be accurate, if you’re set on being boring,” Remus’ tone was nonchalant, but he was obviously lingering for attention. Logan then remembered that words are a thing, and people use them to communicate.

“No! I mean, yes- I mean, I’m not busy. I can join you, I- I’d like to, even,” the intelligent side heard a small voice in his head, his own miniature Virgil, screaming- what the fuck was that, get it together, Jesus, because he, despite what his fellow sides insisted, was absolutely nonfunctional when trying to form a friendship.

Remus didn’t seem to notice or care much past his own cheer.

“Cool!” he, yet again, wasted no time in seizing Logan’s arm and yanking him away, “I wanted to see what would happen to animals and plants and stuff bunches of years after lots of radiation! Do you think they’d mutate? Get all twisted and fucked up so that they aren’t even recognizable as, say, a dog?”

Logan considered the question as he was led through the Mindpalace.

“Well, nothing would be able to live there at all. Additionally, anything within a little under a mile of the nuclear fallout- depending on a few variables- would be completely incinerated upon impact.”

“Like, flesh-melting incinerated?”

“More like vaporized. The fireball would burn 10,000 times the heat of the sun.”

Remus went starry eyed, bringing them to a halt a mere five feet from the door.

“I wanna see that,” he waved his hands around at their surroundings, “Can you do the white-out thing?”

Logan, much less hesitant than last time, obliged. A small smile escaped him at the wondrous look on The Duke’s face. It was another form of expression he didn’t particularly care for, but containing his emoting was more trouble than it was worth by now. He couldn’t find it in him to care much either, for once.

“Where do we start?” Remus prompted.

“You tell me. I will help you make it as accurate as possible, and provide any insight that you want, but it is your idea,” and he wanted to hear more about those ideas. Odd and violent, mesmerizing and clever. There was so much that he wanted to hear about, to talk about, to puzzle out together.

Logan couldn’t remember the last time he’d had someone to share such interests with. Maybe, despite how deeply he cared for his ‘family’, as Patton called them- maybe it was never.

Remus chattered as he worked, disrupting the train of thought. Logan almost tuned it out- after all, everyone had grown perfectly used to The Duke’s rambling- but he caught himself. That was hardly how he should treat the side that was so strangely considerate to him, wasn’t it?

Logan listened from then on. He began to add on to the conversation, corrections and elaborations and actual questions, because he actually didn’t know some of it. He didn’t regret the choice.

By the end, Remus and Logan were sitting together in the smoldering ruins of their make-believe test town, exchanging notes for different variables they could use in the next trial. They only stopped when Logan was abruptly summoned away by Thomas. He excused himself, a bit apologetic, promising to visit again soon.

As he helped Thomas (with what really should have been a simple task, honestly), Logic wondered briefly about the origins of the hollow feeling that grew in his chest. Something distracted, longing, and unfamiliar.

And then the oven caught fire, and the only thing he felt was annoyance with the man that he was somehow a component of.

So, that was that- Logan and Remus were friends, now spent regular time together, and shared interests. By all accounts, it was a simple and obviously positive development.

But then there was Roman.

“What’s wrong with my work? You’d really prefer whatever edgy 12-year-old DeviantArt account nonsense that he thinks up?”

Logan set his book down with a sigh and looked over to his doorway, where Roman stood with his hands on his hips.

“Come in, Roman, and thank you for knocking,” he snarked. The Creative side made a vaguely sassy noise, trotting right in and flopping backwards onto the bed. Without closing the door, the monster.

“I thought that building your Weird Science contraptions was our thing.”

Logan made a show of standing up and manually shutting his door before responding.

“You don’t like my ‘contraptions’, as you call them.”

“Yeah, but I still made them for you! Because we’re friends, but I suppose you’ve forgotten all about that!”

He really should have expected the melodrama. And yet, Logan had lived in a delusional world where he didn’t care about the most Extra being on earth.

With an eye roll, Logic dropped down beside Roman on the bed- though he wasn’t half as flamboyant about it.

“I can have more than one friend.”

“Yeah, but I’m supposed to be your favorite! We’re supposed to hang out together! Do the friendship bracelets I made mean nothing to you?”

He flung his arm across Logan’s chest, a ‘friendship bracelet’ clearly visible on his wrist (a loose usage of the term, given that it was a solid gold band with inlaid sapphires, because of course it was).

Logan held up his arm as well, showing that his (silver with inlaid rubies) was still very much in use, despite his distaste for jewelry.

“We hang out plenty. It wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings by spending time with your brother. My reason for doing so is that he seems to take active enjoyment in building and learning about these things with me. He also makes very good conversation, in regards to the more, ah, eccentric experiments.”

Roman tossed his head to the side to watch Logan with narrowed eyes. After a pause, he linked their arms at the elbow.

“Yeah, you would think that. You’re secretly just as much of a weirdo as him.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Oh please, I can barely keep up with a word that either of you say,” Roman headbutted Logan’s shoulder in what was likely another of his odd displays of affection. He let his head rest there for a minute, a rare instance of peace before he inevitably resumed talking.

“Anyways-”

“Anyway,” Logan corrected.

“Anyways, if you nerds wanna talk about your weird, creepy experiments, then I guess that’s fine. But he isn’t allowed to co-opt anything else that we do together that we both actually like- no making fun of movies together, no Crofters jams, and no poetry-slash-rap battles.”

“Of course not, Roman. You will always be my favorite person to disagree with.”

“Love you, too,” Creativity bumped him again, then sat up to stretch. Logan snorted a laugh and considered shoving Roman off the bed, watching as he raised his arms up and straightened his back. Before the trait had the chance, unfortunately, his friend was already standing.

“Leaving already? Weren’t you just going on about spending time together?”

“Nah, that was all I wanted to yell at you about for now. I’ve gotta go help Pat with dinner.”

“Well, don’t let me keep you.”

“Thanks, I won’t.”

“I hate you.”

“Ditto.”

Halfway out the door, Roman threw a glance over his shoulder.

“Oh, and whatever you two end up doing, do not give me the details. Please.”

Okay, finally, that really was that. Friendship established, blessings given, the end. A simple symbiosis.

Logan was thinking about the practical uses of medieval torture devices? Remus. He wanted to see exactly how long it would take your average healthy adult to succumb to drowning? Remus. Logan wanted to just rant, about anything and everything, his brain moving a mile a minute? Remus. They spent an inordinate amount of time together.

Occasionally, when he didn’t even have the energy to converse, he would sit down with a book in the commons when he knew Remus was there and let the trait’s never ending word-vomit wash over him. It was an odd sort of intimacy, but that fit within the theme of their dynamic. Like he said, simple symbiosis.

And that was when the not-very-platonic fondness grew. And Logan, to his own surprise, allowed it to.

After deep consideration he had seen no reason not to; Remus wouldn’t judge him, not ever. It put a name to the hollow longing that occurred whenever he, eventually, had to get back to work and part from their talks.

He hadn’t sorted out what to do about the feeling yet, but he felt no urgency.

Logan’s book lay forgotten in his lap, that morning being one of the quiet ones as he reflected on his unfamiliar emotions. It was almost nice, letting such affection curl up in his chest and settle there.

His contemplation was broken by a sharp jab to his shoulder.

“Are you listening to me?”

He tilted his head at Remus.

“Sorry, I got distracted.”

“What were you thinking about?” his eyes lit up, very obviously hoping for it to be something disgusting. Logan glanced away, given that he didn’t even like eye-contact in the best of circumstances.

“Nothing important. You have my attention now.”

Remus rolled his eyes with a huff, apparently genuinely irritated.

“Well now I forgot what I was saying.”

“Let’s backtrack: what were you talking about before?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s fine, we can talk about something else.”

The irritation had grown to something unrecognizable to Logan- frustrating, given how closely he tried to study body language. He felt a stab of guilt as Remus stood up from his spot.

“It probably didn’t matter. I’m gonna go annoy Janus.”

“Oh,” Logan’s voice was small, “Alright, then.”

He was already gone.

That was… concerning. Not to mention bewildering; Remus didn’t just pass up opportunities to talk! He didn’t just leave, not even when he wasn’t wanted! Logan really hadn’t thought his zoning out would earn such a reaction.

But he was far from perceptive about emotional problems. There was no way to know if it was anything to throw a fit over. For all he knew, it was just an off-day. He couldn’t always expect his friend to be rambunctious and energetic, even if that was a big part of his personality.

The issue would likely resolve itself.

The issue did not do that. It did the polar opposite, speeding from mildly concerning to downright frightening at a whiplash-inducing pace.

Remus barely asked questions and almost never offered insight, as he usually did when they spent time together. In fact, his contributions had become rare and unenthusiastic enough that he could have passed as neurotypical, however disturbing the thought was. And that was when they did end up spending time together, which was becoming less and less often, much to the dismay of one significantly smitten smart side.

Something was very clearly wrong with Remus. Not the demented, destructive, mildly endearing and unhinged sort of wrong. It was the wrong sort of wrong.

Logan was hesitant to confront him outright. After a couple weeks of careful consideration, a more subtle solution occurred to him, as he idly flipped through a very graphic murder-mystery late into the night. Something bloody, and awful, and very much Remus’ taste. He set the novel down, knowing full well that his friend would be wide awake as he made his way across the hall.

“Remus?” he knocked at the side’s door, wearing a smile much wider than he usually liked. He was more than willing to express exuberance, if there was even the slightest chance that it would be infectious.

The door decidedly did not fly open. Rather, after a good deal of wrapping at it, Remus slowly pulled it back and poked his head out.

“Oh. Hey.”

Logan didn't dwell on the concern that reaction brought. He had something that would cheer Creativity up, of that he was sure.

“I have a test tonight- it’s going to be very messy,” he began, searching the impulsive trait’s eyes for any signs of interest. There was the slightest glint, but not much more.

“So, you want me to make stuff for you?” His speech was monotonous.

“Yes, that was the idea. It’s going to be gory.”

Hardly a reaction. All Remus did was open the door the rest of the way to allow Logan inside. Clearly, he had underestimated just how poorly his friend felt.

“Alright, I’ll set it up for you. Just don’t take too long, I was actually hoping to use my part of the Mindscape today.”

Logan nodded, very taken aback. He couldn’t ignore the slight hurt at the cold, dismissive tone (the irony of that wasn’t lost on him).

They stepped foot into The Imagination and immediately Remus stopped, destroying whatever had been in front of them- which was usually fine, it was just how he operated, but normally out of enthusiasm, not apathy. Maybe this was more than could be fixed with some blood and guts.

“What do you need?”

Logan conjured a tiny notebook, giving a tentative smile. Still, he was giving this plan a shot.

“Operating table,” one appeared before him, sleek metal with rolly legs, “A standard set of surgical tools,” he looked up to gauge Remus’ interest, but his expression still hadn’t changed as he continued to create, “A human corpse, and then we can get started.”

With a wave, a perfectly generic body fell onto the table, but Logan’s attention remained on The Duke.

“Great, have fun, let me know when you’re finished.”

Logan faltered, watching him turn to leave.

“You- you aren’t going to stay and do this with me?”

“You want me to?” Remus crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Logan with a gaze that could (figuratively) wilt flowers.

“I- Yes? If you aren’t at all interested right now, then I can save this experiment for another day?” Yeah, this wasn’t working, but Logan had no backup.

“No, no, don’t wait for me, you’ve already got everything you need, right?”

“I mean- technically, yes, but it- it wouldn’t be the same.”

Remus cackled, sounding quite like the cartoonish villain that he often acted as. It hurt to listen to.

“So that’s what this is about! Let me just fix you up, then!”

He snapped, and a blank humanoid form appeared at his side. It tilted its faceless head curiously at Logan, who recoiled.

“Not good enough? Is a hunk of nothing too unrealistic for you?” he snapped again, and the being suddenly transformed to match its creator exactly.

Nearly exactly: it wore an enthusiastic grin, eyes wide and sparkling, rather than the steadily building fire that raged in real-Remus’ eyes. It spoke in a disgustingly cheery tone.

“Wow, tell me more! Show me that again? What happens when you do that? You’re just so interesting, Lo!”

Remus watched the creation, a look of one part pride and a million parts resentment.

“Is that what you want? It’s just like me, but without any of the hassle of being another person that you have to deal with! And this one, you really can get rid of whenever you want, isn’t that great?”

Logan looked between the two, a fearful understanding creeping up his spine. There was something he was missing here, wasn’t there?

“No,” he muttered, half to the fake-Duke and half to the real one.

“No?” Remus spat, circling his mirror, “No, of course, you’re so right. This isn’t nearly enough.”

He made an elaborate gesture, and about a dozen more Creativities appeared, surrounding them. Logan stumbled back from them, nearly tripping on the operating table that they’d previously made. When he looked up, the real Remus was approaching him with an expression that fought its way between guilt and indignation. It was all at once heart-wrenching and frightening.

Logan tried to right himself, tried to look unaffected and certain of himself, as he raised his voice. He would not let this go a step farther, despite his confusion.

“Stop,” and with that, a wave rocked across The Imagination, and all was erased. In the aftermath he stood before a teary-eyed Remus (just the one, though), uncharacteristically looking like a stiff wind would knock him right over.

“What’s wrong? I gave you what you wanted!”

Logan reeled.

“Why would you think I wanted any of that?”

“You wanted an experiment, I gave you one! You wanted a willing audience, I gave you twelve! But I guess I just get everything wrong, right?”

“You know that isn’t true,” Logan felt choked, his words clumsy. It was foreign and horrible and disgusting, but he’d trudge through it all if it meant fixing whatever he’d done wrong. It couldn’t have just been him losing focus once? Could it?

“Oh, of course, I do just enough to be useful. So I’ve got that right; I’m a good utensil. Is it so much to ask that people would care about me, not just what I can do?” he posed a rhetorical oozing with vitriol, but it quickly evaporated into something much more desperate, “What if it’s my fault? It was my idea, I wanted to help. I don’t know why I thought you’d care past all that, did I give you a reason to? I can’t remember. It might make more sense that way, if I were the problem, wouldn’t it?”

Logan was running out of time to fix this, watching Remus curl in on himself, barely keeping from falling to the floor. He had no clue how The Duke had reached the conclusion that he didn’t care about him! They spent nearly all their free time together: sitting next to each other just to have the company, throwing each other tricky and often troubling questions to answer, constantly toiling away at things in The Imagination. Sometimes, they didn’t even need to talk, they just worked together in rapt silence; Remus did the creating and Logan arranged his work just so, and- Wait. Wait. Wait.

Logan didn’t need to talk, or touch, for that matter. Perhaps it was a mistake to presume the same for such a needy, affectionate, boisterous side?

No, not perhaps, it was a huge mistake. A major fuck-up, if you will.

He’d thought, if the blunt side had needed such comforts, surely he would initiate it? He hardly shied away from anything, except, well.

Except. Feelings.

God, he was the dumbest smart person in the world.

“Oh, Remus…”

The Duke’s head jerked up, continuing his back-and-forth of desperation and rage.

“I don't need your pity!”

Logan sighed, twisting the end of his tie in frustration.

“That isn't what I'm offering,” he took a breath before continuing, linking the words together so it would come out right. “I'm so sorry, I didn't take into account how you would interpret our interactions. I thought it was obvious that I cared for you, that I didn't need to say it outright. Clearly… I was wrong. So, if you need more than what I previously expressed- which I'm now realizing was very little in the eyes of someone who is not me- then I am happy to provide that for you.”

Remus was shaken, a good deal of his ire slipping away. Whether that was good or bad remained unclear.

Before it could be overthought, Logan crossed the remaining few feet between them and brought his arms around The Duke in his loose approximation of a hug. The trait froze, but he didn't pull away.

Physical affection, check.

“I value your companionship more than I'm entirely sure how to verbalize. You understand me in a way that most others don’t seem to. While your ability to make detailed creations is very helpful, it is hardly the only thing I appreciate about you.

“For one, you make me laugh. A lot. More than I'm used to. Additionally, you can easily match the pace with which I speak, or change topics! And, you are so much smarter than you make yourself out to be,” Logan finished the spiel with a smile, genuinely proud at his ability to articulate such… sentimental things, with relative ease. Words of affirmation, check.

He snapped back to attention when Remus brought shaking hands up to Logan's chest. For a moment, he worried that Remus would shove him away. The fears dissipated when all he did was bunch the front of Logan's shirt in his hands and hold on tight.

“Do you mean that,” his volume was low, “Or do you just want me to calm down?”

Logan tightened his grip around him and, following a motion that he'd seen Patton employ many times to great success, he rubbed up and down his back.

“I understand that it might be hard for you to trust me, but I promise I'm not lying to you. I would have to be pretty awful to do something like that, wouldn't I?”

Hesitantly, Remus nodded against his collar. A good sign, but there was one thing left he had to say.

“And- If you need further convincing- then you should know. I love you.”

Remus stilled. He then unfisted his hands from Logan's shirt. It was an anticipatory second before he threw his arms around the logical trait and finally returned the hug. His hold was crushing, and it was the most comforting thing that Logan had ever felt.

They were okay.

“I'm sorry I-”

Logan didn’t let him finish the apology.

“Don't be. You didn't know how I felt, because I hadn't communicated it in a way you understood. That is hardly your fault.”

Remus nodded again, remaining much quieter than he’d probably ever been in his entire existence.

They held each other for longer than either would like to admit, speaking softly.

“Thanks,” was muttered against Logan’s shoulder.

“Of course. Just so you know, I'm more than willing to do this again whenever you need reassurance.”

“It might be a lot,” his tone was turning more mischievous, more him, “Are you sure you can handle that?”

“Absolutely.”

Logan hardly minded having an opportunity to gush about Remus to Remus. Not to mention, the physical affection was even nicer than he'd imagined it being. And oh, had he imagined it.

Remus' face returned to his usual ever-present zeal, and he ended their hug to bounce in place.

“Great! I'm good now! We can get on with that autopsy you wanted to show me- there better be buckets of blood!”

Logan shifted his weight.

“Maybe we should save that for another day.”

“Oh,” Remus' face fell the smallest bit, “Okay.”

Logan was quick to amend:

“By that I mean, I have something better in mind.”

Remus curled himself up in Logan’s lap, his eyes barely focused on the TV as the side carded his hands through his tangled mop of hair. Final Destination 3 played on the television (he had assured Logan that they didn't need to see the first two, and he was mostly right), serving as an excuse for the two to drink in each other's company.

It was right in the middle of a particularly graphic rollercoaster scene that Remus took Logan's hands from his hair to hold them, twisting around to face him.

“Is something wrong, Remus?”

“You told me you loved me,” he stated blankly.

“Yes, I did.”

“I didn't say it back!”

“No, you didn't,” it hadn't been the most important matter at the time, really. “You don't have to say it. It's perfectly okay if you don't feel the s- Mmph!”

Remus smashed their lips together, holding the sides of Logan's face (disrupting his glasses in the process) and pulling him forward harshly.

Logan, for less than a second, was floored. And then Remus tilted his head to deepen the already heated kiss, and the situation properly clicked. Logan reciprocated, slightly uncertain in his movements, wrapping his arms around the other’s waist.

Remus smiled against him. He nipped at Logan's lower lip with sharpened teeth, eliciting a very embarrassing yelp. Logic let his lips part in response as his thoughts grew fuzzier by the second.

The (somewhat clumsy) open-mouthed kiss lasted right until they absolutely had to break, separating for air. Neither moved very far, letting their foreheads rest against each other and all but panting for breath.

“I love you so fuckin' much, nerd,” when Remus spoke, their lips brushed ever so slightly, “Just so you know.”

“I picked up on that, yes.”

“A little clarity never hurts, right?”

Logan chuckled at the reference to his own sentiments, but the sound was abruptly cut off when Remus kissed him properly again.

When they broke apart, he explained how 'stupid-cute' that laugh was. And Logan, only half-joking (since when did he joke at all?), said that he’d have to do it more often.

Banter came easily to them, despite the raw undercurrent that still laced their conversation. Although, neither of them had ever found it difficult to talk; talk about the first thing that came to mind and the last thing that would come to anyone’s mind, talk about exceedingly simple nonsense and topics so intricate that they wound up sounding like nonsense, just talk.

So things would stay mostly the same. They would ramble to each other when no one else could stand to hear such disturbing things. They would sit, working side by side, running through plans and ideas and results at rapid-paced speech. They’d speak, and they would listen, when even their closest friends couldn’t manage such patience.

Only now, sometimes the rushed words might turn soft. Now, all that ranting might be more substantial than anyone would at first see. Now, they’d still listen, but leaned close together, gazes impossibly fond.

But then, on occasion, they would find that there were things far more fun than talking to do together.

@shrimp-crockpot

354 notes · View notes

tl-notes · 4 years ago

Text

Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 2 Notes

Here’s some notes for episode two, too, if you’d care to join me.

The “stay quiet” here is 大人し[い] otonashii, which takes the word for “adult” and adjectivizes it. It’s a common word with a variety of meanings, such as when something is “behaving” properly and not raising a fuss (from children to computer code to a chronic disease to political forces, all sorts of things) or when something comes across as “mature” (like a clothing design or a young person).

In this case the idea is that the dragons had chosen to “behave” and mind their own business, which (they seem to assume) led the humans into underestimating them and deciding to attack. (”Stay quiet” probably does a pretty good job of getting that across, but just to fill it out.)

This is 残念ながら zannen nagara, or “unfortunately...”.

The reason I bring it up here, is that it’s not a particularly intimate way of speaking and leans somewhat formal—potentially implying Ilulu has no more close relatives left to give her this news (and/or maybe her family’s social position is one where other dragons had to treat them with respect).

The second line here is 平��心を保つよ、私は, which is a fairly strong declaration of intent. I kind of feel like “I need to keep a clear head” sounds less confident, like convincing herself “ok bad situation, but if I just do this I’m fine.” In contrast, the Japanese imo is more of a “[Ilulu can do what she may,] but it won’t get it to me either way.” Just a mild point of characterization I suppose.

Just for clarity, she does use the word 雄 osu here, which is the more biological term for “in a sexually reproducing species, the one that produces sperm,” rather than a more gender-based term.

The TV show, シャシャシャシャキーン Sha-sha-sha-shakiin, is a combo reference to irl Saturday-morning kids’ variety show じゃじゃじゃじゃ～ン Ja-ja-ja-jaaN and weekday-morning シャキーン! Shakiin!.

The former’s name comes from the Japanese equivalent of ta-dah!, while the latter’s comes from the ”sound” for becoming alert, going from relaxed/sleepy/bored/etc. to “wide awake let’s go.” (though not necessarily sleep/wake related)

If you’ve seen these two emoji:

(´・ω・｀) (｀・ω・´)

The one on the right is the “シャキーン” one, and is the contrast to the gloomy one on the left (ショボーン shobon). Or these, going from asleep to awake:

( ˘ω˘ )ｽﾔｧ… (｀・ω・´) ｼｬｷｰﾝ

In manga and stuff you’ll also see it used for e.g. someone drawing/brandishing a sword, striking a cool poses with a lens flare, things like that.

I think it gets translated to metallic-y sounds in English fairly often in those cases (like drawing a katana, or a mecha pose), hence the translation above.

The verb for “frolic” here is じゃれる jareru (no relation to jajaan above), which is like to play/mess around, typically in a physical sense. For example it’s used in the compound word じゃれ合う jareau, which is often used in the same way English might say “playful wrestling” about kids or animals.

Though the word Kobayashi uses is actually a different じゃれる compound, じゃれつく jaretsuku, which is like playfully/affectionately grabbing/cuddling up/etc., (also primarily regarding kids or animals). There’s a bit of overlap with some of the uses of あまえる amaeru mentioned in the last episode’s notes.

Assuming I had the visuals, I’d probably just write this as “Please not on my lap...” or similar. (Kobayashi also uses a different verb conjugation for Tohru vs. Kanna in this scene, ~つくな vs. ~つかないで; Kanna’s being more plead-y compared to Tohru’s more “cut it out!” feel, hence the “please.”)

“Contact” here is “skin-ship,” a portmanteau-esque combination of skin and kinship or relationship. It’s primarily a Japanese word (you won’t find it in English dictionaries typically), but it was apparently coined by an American speaker at an international WHO seminar in 1953 (from which a Japanese attendee brought it back to Japan and it was later popularized).

The original use of the word was in reference specifically to parent-child physical intimacy, but as it became more widespread in usage the meaning extended to all sorts of relationships, from the platonic to the romantic.

One reason, presumably, that the term caught on so powerfully in Japan is that it has historically been a very touch-adverse culture (at least compared to say the US), and this extends even to parents with their children after the first few years. You’d see (and still see) psychologists recommend “more skinship” to people, for example.

The relative lack of skinship may partially explain the head pat thing mentioned in last episode’s notes (e.g. when you want to touch your kid, but hugs aren’t on the menu) and things like the old “hand-holding is lewd” meme. (Note this isn’t just me getting all orientalist here; there’s been a good bit of research on the skinship gap, and how it may be shrinking, by Japanese scholars.)

This line is also a bit of foreshadowing that Tohru has realized Kobayashi’s... situation already.

The Japanese here is 心と心でつながった後は体ですよ, which I only really mention because I kinda felt like the English’s “Now...” implied she was saying they only recently ‘connected their hearts,’ which I don’t feel from the Japanese wording and would say is probably not how Tohru thinks. E.g. more of a “Our hearts are already connected; now it’s time for our bodies!” kinda thing.

This 3/3 is March 3rd, which “equals” ♀ because that’s the date of Hinamatsuri, sometimes also referred to as Girl’s Day. The third day of the third month was originally a holiday brought over with the Chinese calendar, and it morphed from a more spring/peaches holiday into it’s more girl-oriented version at some point in the Edo period.

One of the highlights of Hinamatsuri is the doll displays, as pictured in this short bit with the Saikawa sisters. There are various types of displays, but this sort of staircase arrangement is the most common I believe. Each level has a certain type of doll that goes on it, with the top level having an “emperor” and an “empress” doll—which is the pair Riko replaces with dolls of herself and Kanna.

There’s some similarities between these doll displays and stereotypical Christmas trees: a family is likely to have a set of ornaments/dolls they mostly reuse each year, you put them up some time in advance of the actual holiday, then get lazy and leave them up too long put them away for a year after it’s over. A lot of businesses and such will put up displays as well.

“The judge in the underworld” is left vague here and isn’t a specific reference to anything, but is generally in line with the typical “image” of what happens after you die (setting aside actual religious beliefs) in Japan.

Please see the documentary series Hoozuki no Reitetsu for more info.

As of right now in the anime, Ilulu has only shown up twice, and only once of those when Kobayashi was alone. The implication seems to be that there have been other Ilulu encounters that we haven’t seen.

Also, for clarity, the Japanese is 私が一人の時にいつもイルルは来るから, which is more of a “whenever I’m alone Ilulu shows up” than a “she only shows up when I’m alone.” (The English could sorta be read either way I think?)

This bit is それだけじゃないって、争い以外もあると思ってくれているからだ。私はそんなトールを信じているから…　だからその為にイルルと和解したい

The main point of contention I have with this English is that it implies Kobayashi wants Tohru and Ilulu to make up. However, I’d say this is more Kobayashi wanting to come to terms with Ilulu herself (and just by extension Tohru/the other dragons/maybe other humans).

That is, by making peace between herself the human and the “hostile” dragon Ilulu, she’d be helping prove Tohru’s belief correct—and she has faith in Tohru that it is (see also last season finale).

(Notably while Tohru is Chaos faction herself, there’s not really been another Chaos dragon yet to be convinced like this. Kanna is no-faction, Fafnir is technically no-faction even if Chaos-ish, Quetzalcoatl is an observer, Elma is Harmony, and Tohru’s father is an exception on multiple levels.)

Without getting too deep into the “why,” one quick thing I’ll point out is that she says 和解したい wakai shitai, not してほしい shite hoshii or させたい sasetai etc., meaning it’s something she wants to do herself, not want/make someone else do. Generally speaking you can’t use the ~たい “want to” form for anyone but yourself (you don’t know what anyone else is thinking, after all), unless quoting them, asking, or in the ~��る “seems to want to” form.

This is a 防犯ブザー bouhan buzaa, a crime-prevention buzzer, also known as a personal or self-defense alarm. They emit a very loud sound when activated. The idea is you, well, use it like she does here, when someone is trying to do a crime to you.

Since most Japanese children walk to school, it’s extremely common for these devices to given to students (either by parents or a gov’t body). It’s technically recommended for adults to carry them too, though the advent of the mobile phone has driven down carry rates.

This particular one was probably purchased in episode four of season one, if you want to rewatch and see why!

This is 私にぶつけたい気持ちでもあるの？in the Japanese.

The verb for “tell” is ぶつける butsukeru, an evocative word meaning ~to slam against (somewhat similar to “vent” in English when used with emotions/feelings).

The “something” is 気持ち kimochi, ~emotion/feeling/thought.

So the Japanese here feels a lot more expressive than "something you want to tell me,” I would say (that could just as easily be a translation of 話したいこと). That said it’s not an easy thing to express in English within the confines of the format here, especially if you want to keep the “target = ‘me’” part.

It might feel somewhat like “You got something bottled up you wanna hit me with?”, though I doubt if I’d use that either.

As a side note, the manga has Kobayashi say an extra line after this, about being the “main tank” to take her “hate” (Japanese for “aggro” in MMOs).

A small note that “that girl and that boy” is あの子とあの子 ano ko to ano ko, so no gender specification in the Japanese (it’s a good language for talking about people without specifying a gender!).

“Next time” here is 今度 kondo, which is an interesting word because you can situationally use it for “recently,” “this time,” “next time,” or “soon.”

The reason I bring it up here is the English “next time,” personally, leaves me thinking “Was there a previous time? What ‘next’ do you mean?”—just a heads up that that’s not really an issue in the original line.

Also: this whole extended scene with Kobayashi saving Ilulu is one of the “many senses” mentioned in the episode title. (see also episode one notes re ikemen)

As an aside, this "play” is じゃれ合い jareai, the noun form of the jareau that was mentioned in the above “frolic” note.

If you were wondering: “Do dragons use paper?”, the word here is 形骸化 keigai-ka, (almost) lit. ~reduced to bones, meaning something that once was strong/effective is now basically just a formality. It’s similar to the phrase “dead letter” in reference to old laws that aren’t really enforced anymore.

So two potential points of ~lore relevance~ here: 1) the rules probably used to be enforced, 2) we have no evidence (either way, from this) that they actually have them on paper somewhere.

こりゃトールの父ちゃんは本格的に優しかったみたいだな

This might just be me reading too much into the English (again), but one difference in nuance between these two lines is that the English has Kobayashi implying Tohru’s dad “seemed” kind (which implies he’s not really kind, just kind in contrast to this villain), while the Japanese is more taking this as evidence that Tohru’s dad was actually being kind (see also last season finale).

For those wondering if the みたい in that line would imply a “seems”: it sort of does, but it applies across the whole observation here. I.e. “seems Tohru’s father was genuinely nice” vs. “making Tohru’s father seem genuinely nice” (which I’d guess would probably use 優しく見えてくる or something).

When you see “underestimate” in anime, most of the time it’s なめる nameru. It comes from the verbified archaic adjective 無礼し nameshi, meaning a combination of looking down on, acting rude towards, etc., and uses the same characters as “rude” (though often written in hiragana/katakana).

It also is a homonym of the verb “to lick,” so “Don’t underestimate humans” sounds identical to “Don’t lick humans.”

“Functional member of society” is 社会人 shakaijin, ~lit. person of society, which is a very commonly used word to refer to basically anyone who is an active member of society. It includes homemakers, so it’s not strictly “has a job at a company,” but in many contexts it’s used like “people with jobs” versus “students and NEETs.”

(Not that there’s anything wrong with the translation, just some extra context.)

A technique reminiscent of this shadow puppet silhouette style was also used in Hyouka, another Kyoani show and one directed by the late Series Director Takemoto Yasuhiro.

I kind of feel like yelling “Stay with me!” at someone injured is something you do when they’re in danger of fading away, not when they’re waking back up? Maybe that’s just me.

The Japanese is お気を確かに o-ki wo tashika ni, a polite (since Tohru almost always speaks kinda formally to Kobayashi, as part of the maid thing) way of saying “pull/hold it together,” and is used in a variety of situations.

Kanna’s line is a question (e.g. like “are you okay?”) in the Japanese here, whereas the English sounds more like something you say to someone who’s injured to try to reassure them.

This line is その子離れようとしないんです sono ko hanareyou to shinai n desu.

The English is a pretty literal translation: hanareru is the verb for leaving/separating (in some senses), and the ~you conjugation means “try to ~”. However, that conjugation also has a second use in just indicating intent—especially when used in the negative, like here—so e.g. “She didn’t want to leave your side,” or “She wouldn’t leave your side at all.”

（◎Д◎）

Just in case: this is an emoji for expressing shock.

One thing that is left out of the English in this line is the だけ dake, “only.”

So Kobayashi’s not necessarily surprised at this by itself, but in contrast to the fact that Tohru says she probably can hide her claws/tail (so why not this too?).

The base phrase Tohru is saying here is 私たちの仲じゃないですか, which roughly means “that’s just our relationship,” and is used commonly when being thanked for doing a favor for someone close. It’s similar in meaning to something like “hey of course, no problem, I know you’d do the same for me.”

Tohru puts a little spin on it by adding the “eternal” to make it 永遠の仲, which is a separate phrase that means probably what you’d think it means.

This quick cut to Tohru’s feet and the light “foot pop” motion... I have a hard time believing it’s anything but the director trying to give some subtle “goodbye kiss when leaving for work” vibes, even if they aren’t literally kissing. Just me?

Here she says あのトール ano Tohru, lit. “that Tohru,“ which in this sort of context carries a meaning similar to using an italicized “that” in English: not just any Tohru, but that Tohru, the famous one. The implication is that yes indeed Tohru is well-known among other dragons—and known to be quite strong and merciless.

It’s not a particularly big deal, but technically this is 人間と, i.e. Living with.

The ball hands thing is generally thought of as “Doraemon hands” in Japan. Doraemon gets the name from the food “dorayaki,” but “Dora” is also how you pronounce the first two syllables in “Dragon” (ドラゴン doragon).

Keep this in mind.

挨拶 (あいさつ) aisatsu, often translated as “greeting(s)”, is a lot bigger of a thing culturally for Japan than it might be for where you live. Though translated as “greetings” it also includes farewells and more. Basically a general term for “in X situation, say Y” style semi-set phrases.

In more traditionally minded companies, for example, employees are often expected to give a rote ohayou gozaimasu when they arrive (even if they think no one is around to hear it), and may get chewed out for not doing so or half-assing it. Then when passing someone in the hallway etc., an otsukare-sama desu, and yet another phrase when leaving for the day. Also the ittekimasu and itterasshai (when leaving home/saying bye to them) or tadaima and okaeri (returning home/welcoming back) that probably many anime-watchers are familiar with. Even itadakimasu is an aisatsu.

Obviously every culture utilizes “greetings” like this, but in Japan they’re pretty heavily ritualized and treated as a cornerstone of human relations, a key part of showing respect for your fellow humans (even people you hate!) and ensuring the smooth working of society. It’s not the thing they chose to have Tohru put first in her “living with humans [in Japan]” notebook for nothing!

The English “the” is a popular word to use in Japanese as an intensifier, similar to how it’s used in a sentence like “this isn’t just an [example], it’s the [example]!”

It’s usually pronounced “za” and often written that way in katakana (ザ) for this usage. (If you type “za” in a Japanese IME, most will offer up “the” as one of the options to convert the text to, even.)

The word she says here is 喝 katsu, which, in this sense, is a stereotypical thing for a Zen teacher to say to a student as a stand-in for explaining some deep Zen concept that words can’t describe. So here, it’s kinda like “Yes this may seem contradictory, but really it’s just too complicated for you! No more questions!”

Obviously that’s oversimplified and it’s used in other ways too (see Saikawa’s father during the sports festival), but just for the purposes of this joke, there you have it.

The word used in the Japanese here is 建前 tatemae. If you’ve ever studied any Japanese, you’ve likely heard about honne vs. tatemae, your inner feelings vs. the front you put up for social reasons.

People new to the language are sometimes prone to approaching that distinction with “well why doesn’t everyone just honne all the time, why play games?”, but of course almost everyone splits themselves like this. You probably hate your boss, but you also probably don’t tell them that to their face to avoid getting fired. Or maybe you have some family members you can’t stand, but act nice around anyway because it’s not worth the trouble to start fights.

Japan just put names to the idea, and maybe leans a little more toward encouraging tatemae in more situations.

This is せいぜい悩むんですね.

せいぜい seizei as an adverb means doing something to utmost extent one is capable of. You’ve likely heard it from a villain somewhere saying something like “Struggle all you like, wahaha!”.

Though it’s not necessarily down-talky like that, in modern times that is the trend (you can use it for yourself no problem, but if used to talk about someone else’s actions it may come off as belittling). Tohru, as one of the strongest beings in the setting and with the pride to match, uses it a lot.

悩む nayamu is to worry, fret, ruminate over (some difficulty etc.).

The sentence in general is one that is highly context dependent, but here it’s Tohru thinking to herself, somewhat impressed, that Ilulu is actually putting serious thought into the question of what she wants to do with her life.

And, as the background suggests, finding it surprisingly adorable/admirable; up until just a few days ago, Ilulu was known as one of the most extremist Chaos faction dragons obsessed with nothing but destruction, yet look at her now. In a way, Tohru’s taken over an older sister kind of role for her.

(For the curious, if the ね was dropped or swapped to a よ here, that would imply she was directing the comment “at” Ilulu, rather than saying it in observation.)

The word here is 契る chigiru, which usually means to swear/pledge (e.g. swear a pact, pledge your love), but can also be a somewhat fancy word for having sex, especially of a married couple.

I feel like I personally would have used more of a euphemism for the translation.

The phrase here is ダメの助 dame-no-suke, where dame is no/bad/can’t do/useless, and (no)suke is a common ending to first names; both actual names and sort of on-the-spot nicknames; someone looking sleepy might be called a 寝坊助 nebou-suke in the same way as “sleepyhead.”

Or, as here, sticking to the end of things for comedic effect or as indication of a panicked/confused thought process.

（ ° ρ ° ）

Just in case: this one is also expressing shock, but a kind of dumbfounded shock. The ρ is a drooling, slack-jawed mouth.

In the next episode preview they talk about where Ilulu will sleep, since they don’t have room for another bed. Ilulu wants to sleep in the closet—or more specifically, the 押し入れ oshi-ire, which is a particular closet layout you’ll find in many Japanese bedrooms.

The typical difference is that an 押し入れ was originally designed for 和室 washitsu, traditional-style Japanese rooms with tatami floors, primarily as storage space for folded-up futon/blankets/pillows, as you would put those away during the day to free up space. Thus they typically are rather wide, mildly deep, and have a waist-height, solid horizontal divider capable of supporting a lot of weight.

They actually are pretty okay for sleeping in if you’re not claustrophobic or tall.

Anyway, I bring this up because you know who else very famously sleeps in one of these? That’s right: Doraemon.

#maidragon #kobayashi's dragon maid #kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon #miss kobayashi's dragon maid #anime #translation notes #season 2

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abyssmail · 4 years ago

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Caerul Design Notes,

because I’ve actually put a lot of thought into creating Caerul’s aesthetic and I’m lowkey really proud of it. I won’t get into her actual character concept/personality/backstory/etc. since this got super long, but this is how/why I made the choices I did with regards to her name and visual design!

▶ Caerul’s color scheme started off way bluer (hence the name “Caerul,” from caeruleus/a/um - “blue”/“cerulean”/“azure”/“of the sky/sea” in Latin) and less saturated, but when I gave her a (dead) twin with a red theme, I wanted them to look more alike and made both of their hair purple (although I haven’t actually done more than sketch Roseus before... he’s got purple hair and red eyes). Purple’s my favorite color, and unnatural hair colors don’t seem to be uncommon in Orth, so why not, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The red elements in Caerul’s design are meant to represent her honoring Roseus!

All of the base colors I use when drawing Caerul! They all end up looking a bit darker once they’re shaded though.

▶ As well as shamelessly using one of my favorite Latin words (I’m a Classics major, okay ;;>~>), I also tried to pick a name that sounded similar to the ones that already exist in-universe. This was actually fairly tricky, since as far as I can tell the names in Made in Abyss have a WIDE variety of influences. Some of them seem passably Japanese-sounding (Riko, Jiruo, Kiyui, Nanachi) disclaimer I bring dishonor to my ancestors and know 0 Japanese so this is just about vibez, others seem Western-ish (Reg, Nat, Lyza, Prushka). Some are fairly whimsical (Shiggy, Maruruk, Mitty) while others are more mysterious and fantastic (Any of the White Whistles besides maybe Lyza). The only common thread I could really settle on was a general fantasy feeling to all of the names. I tried to capture that nebulous vibe with Caerul’s name, although with something so vague and subjective it’s pretty much impossible to say if I was entirely successful. I named her siblings afterward with other Latin color words and ended up with a RGB theme lol.

▸ By the way, “Caerul” is pronounced “KAI-rool.” It rhymes with “Hyrule.” The ae diphthong makes an “eye” sound in Latin #TheMoreYouKnow

▸ “Caducalae” is a portmanteau of “caducae alae,” literally “falling/doomed/futile wings” in Latin (again), playing off how pointless it is to be able to fly when the Curse of the Abyss is a thing. Originally, they weren’t supposed to work at all outside of the Abyss, but I decided that was boring for crossovers/other verses so I scrapped it. I’m not too happy with the name since it doesn’t fit the naming scheme of the canon relics (there is no precedent at all for gratuitous Latin in Made in Abyss, which is a good thing because it’s overused in fantasy, but Latin was the only thing I was good at in high school sooooo... ^^;), but I didn’t like any of my other ideas that much, either. “Wings of Futility” feels more canon, but it’s also kinda depressing :/

▶ I’ve mentioned before that Caerul’s build is based off of mine for art reference purposes (it’s convenient to just look in the mirror while making the pose I want =w=)b), but another reason she’s so short is that I didn’t have to make the caducalae quite as big since she’s smaller, so she can actually go indoors if she’s careful.

▶ Long hair isn’t super practical with mechanical wings with lots of bits for it to get caught in, but Caerul idolizes Lyza, so I left her hair as long as I could reasonably get away with.

▶ I heavily referenced the canon Made in Abyss character designs for Caerul’s clothing so she would fit into the world, but made some alterations to make everything more personal to her and accommodate for her wings. In general, I lightened everything up, since she takes a bunch of short, quick trips rather than lengthy expeditions. Her gloves, for instance, are loosely inspired by the ones we see many delvers wearing in the manga/anime, but are less heavy-duty and are convertible mittens/fingerless gloves for better dexterity with handling letters and such.

The best close up of the gloves I could find was actually a screenshot of the aftermath Reg & Riko’s orb piercer encounter, but I didn’t want to have to tag this for gore, so you get Lyza ^^; There’s a filter over Caerul here so you can see the glove better which is why she looks kinda washed out :/

▶ Her coat is heavily influenced by Jiruo’s, since he’s the only Moon Whistle we’ve seen in canon.

yeah, uhhhh, sorry to yoink your style my dude ^^;

▸ Caerul’s has a different color palette, a simpler lapel border, an extra set of outer pockets, and three separate panels in the back that button around her wings so she can put it on! I haven’t drawn it, but her shirt works similarly.

This is my favorite detail about her design tbh... it’s just really satisfying what a logical solution it is for some reason??? the original doodle is off rotting somewhere in my Modern European History notes, but I tried to recreate it just as sloppily here =w=)b

▶ Caerul’s corset isn’t just a painful fashion choice - it’s actually meant to be a(n admittedly heavily stylized) brace for her back against the weight of her wings.

▶ Since Caerul can’t wear a backpack with the wings, I had to get creative with storage options for her. In addition to an undetermined number of pockets on the inside of her coat, I gave her these two pouches on her thighs to carry more stuff.

I wonder how buff your quads could get carrying a significant amount of weight there...

▸ Messenger bags don’t seem super practical for delving, so I didn’t design a specific one for her to carry all the time, but Caerul does use them on occasion. Even with that, though, she still has far less carrying capacity than the average delver, which is a problem she has to deal with when carrying out her duties!

▶ The wings/caducalae were by far the most difficult part of designing Caerul, and it took several redesigns over 2+ years before I was finally happy with them. Their first design was deliberately far simpler in the interest of having to draw them a zillion times, but they ended up clunky and unwieldy looking:

chonky o~O

▸ The final design is MUCH more of a pain to draw (in fact, a lot of the time I cheat and just copy and paste them from drawings I’ve already done), but I think it looks much sleeker and more “functional”.

I also got better at making my diagrams look slightly more authentic ;0

▸ I knew I wanted jetpack-style thrusters to be a component of the wings to somewhat justify the shit I wanted Caerul to be able to pull with them (especially to eliminate the need for accounting for the damage landing suddenly could do to her ankles), but incorporating them proved to be one of the biggest problems of the design. At one point, they were going to have a whole separate attachment point on her back, but I finally just made them an offshoot of the first “joint,” as you can see in the final design.

A really messy intermediate caducalae sketch. The weird double pentagon shape was meant to be the part of the relic actually fused to Caerul’s back, but I scrapped that too when I scrapped the separate limbs for the thrusters.

▸ Speaking of the joints, they’re all balls so they can rotate all over and I don’t have to fuss too much about how they move. Likewise, the frame is metal, but I treat it like it’s kind of flexible, so Caerul can “flex” the wings open and closed. These wings are hard enough to draw period okay I’m giving myself every excuse to be inconsistent af on purpose.

▸ The caducalae have some “bonus” features that I’ve sketched out, but that Caerul hasn’t unlocked yet, and won’t for a while.

owo what’s this?

▸ For the wings, I think my biggest inspirations were some of the mechier Cardfight!! Vanguard dragon units (although I don’t remember which cards specifically) and the energy wings on the ninth-generation knightmares in Code Geass R2.

I’ve made a lot of OCs, and since I don’t like to use faceclaims, I’ve done a fair amount of character designing. I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time or had as much fun with any of them as I have with Caerul, though! OCs aren’t always super well accepted in fandom roleplay, but the Made in Abyss community has been super welcoming and I’ve had a blast. Thanks for listening to me gush about Caerul if you got this far, and thank you to everyone who’s interacted with her!

The original sketch of Caerul from back in 2017. How far we’ve come :’D

#miscellaneous info #mun art #appearance #ooc #((no one cares lol))#((but I had fun putting all my thoughts down in writing ^^;))#((also! the full version of the new caerul art from the promo!))

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nitr0glycer1ne · 5 years ago

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Ducktober/Duckvember Day 8 - Ship

Hooooo there it is!!! Some Drakepad!!! Well, some pre-relationship Drakepad, but still! And also I get to write Lena and Gos for the first time! My headcanon is that Gosalyn is a year younger than Webby (HDL's age), and that Lena "is" a year older than Webby. Gos and Violet are the same age, but Violet skipped a grade. Also I mainly took inspiration from the original Gosalyn, though I did make her a bit more done with her dads maybe??? Please enjoy!

“Uuuuugh!” “What’s going on, Gos?”

The redhead let her head slump on the table, while Webby gave her a puzzled look. It was rather unusual to see Gosalyn look so discouraged; the fiery girl was usually the first to motivate other people when they felt down, and was a seemingly endless well of energy. But Gosalyn had seemed a bit distant since the morning. Since they were a year older, Webby and Violet didn’t have classes with her; but when the three of them and Lena had met up before classes, Gosalyn had already seemed a bit down.

“It’s my dad.” she mumbled. “And Launchpad.” “Are they arguing about whether or not you should be allowed to stay up past nine again?” Violet asked, finishing her yogurt. “No, thank God.” Gosalyn answered, her face still again the table. Lena, who was a grade above Violet and Webby, looked at her with a small smile. “Then come on, spill the beans."

Drake had bonded with her and Violet’s dads, and while she considered him a friend, she also loved teasing him, since he was very easy to tick off.

“It’s just that they won’t go out together! It’s annoying!” Gosalyn complained, lifting her head from the table and rolling her eyes. “They look at each other all lovey-dovey, Launchpad basically lives in our guest room and acts like he’s also my dad, and when they argue it’s like seeing an old married couple!”

She almost added that they fought crime together, but she wisely decided to keep quiet about that last fact.

“It’s true that I did hear Launchpad talking to Dewey about the many ways in which your dad is amazing and looks dashing and stuff for half an hour the other day.” Webby remembered as Lena snickered and Violet nodded in understanding. “It was sweet, but also pretty funny to see the exact moment when Dewey’s face lost all expression. He does that a lot when he’s bored.” “See!” Gosalyn roared. “That’s why I’m talking about! There’s nothing not romantic about that! But when I tell dad that he should date Launchpad, he gets super pissed off!” “Hmm…” Violet lost herself in her thoughts for a moment, gathering them. “Maybe you should try a different approach, if direct confrontation was inefficient.” “I’m sure I could make some sort of love potion.” Lena offered, eating the last piece of her fruit salad. “They’re already in love, dummy!” Webby smiled and affectionately ruffled her best friend’s hair. “But I have another idea, and I’m sure you’ll like it!” “You do? Really?”

Webby nodded, offering her friend the brightest smile she could. Gosalyn couldn’t help but be a little bit scared.

“Ahem. Ladies, thank you for being here today!” “You literally dragged us here right after school.” Lena reminded Webby, who coughed a little. “Details, details, my dear Lena. Anyways, let’s kick off Operation Drakepad!” “Drake… pad?” Violet asked, tilting her head. “Is that a portmanteau of my dad and Launchpad’s name?” Gosalyn asked in disbelief. “That’s so… cheesy. Exactly like them. I love it!” “Thank you, Miss Mallard.” Webby bowed, pleased. “But I’m not the one who came up with the name. Meet my associate in romantic cases, Hueeeeey Duck!”

Like a proud mother, Webby pointed her two indexes at the duckling who was standing right next to her.

“Why does he have to be involved?” Gosalyn asked. She didn’t mind the Duck triplets at all; but she was curious as to why Webby had decided Huey would be, in her words, “a precious ally”. “Oh, because he was the other brilliant mind behind Operation Fendra!” “Fendra?” Lena repeated. “Huey, seriously?” “Hey!” Huey replied defensively. “It was a great name! Short, efficient, straight to the point!” “Silence!” Gosalyn yelled. “Was that operation about making two idiots in love realize that they’re in love?”

Huey and Webby looked at each other, suddenly embarrassed.

“… kind of?” the girl answered. “OK, and did it work?” “Weeeell…” Huey hesitated. “Not really, but we didn’t really have a backup plan for the eventuality of one of them being a spy sent by Mark Beaks to infiltrate Gyro’s laboratory, so it… wasn’t a failure either?”

Lena, Violet and Gosalyn looked at each other in disbelief. Gosalyn was starting to look even more disappointed than during lunch, so Webby was quick to do her best to avoid further damage:

“But there’s no reason it shouldn’t work for Drake and Launchpad! I mean, I don’t think either of them own a laboratory? Or that they’re an enemy of Mark Beak?”

Gosalyn thought back to the time her father had investigated a case involving the egotistical and childish owner of Waddle, but she remained silent. After all, Launchpad had been investigating alongside Darkwing Duck, and there was absolutely no way the loyalty the pilot had towards her father was anything but genuine.

“Nah, I don’t think so.” “Then the plan should be an absolute success, I guarantee it!” Webby giddily promised, although Huey looked a bit more skeptic. “And what is than plan?” Violet inquired, curious. “Will you tailor it to the targets’ personalities and interests, or is it something you can apply to every situation and soon-to-be couple?” “A mix of both.” Huey answered. “The idea is to set them up for a date, and to try to make it a date they’ll enjoy.” “So, Gos!” Webby turned her attention to her redhead friend, who seemed a bit lost, somewhere between tempted by the idea and being in utter disbelief at the somewhat surreal scene that was unfolding in Webby’s room. “What do you think your dad would like for an ideal, romantic, sure-to-sweep-Launchpad-off-his-feet date?”

Gosalyn did have an idea, but she wasn’t sure making the date Darkwing Duck theme was going to help set a romantic tone- it would just be like one of their regular Darkwing Duck marathons.

“It’s really nice for your boss to invite us for dinner.”

Launchpad, Drake and Gosalyn were in the pilot’s car, an old thing that had seen better days but that Launchpad lovingly took care of. The trio was headed towards the McDuck manor, the two adults sitting in the front while Gosalyn was in the back, seemingly innocently reading comics. However, her mind was focused on what awaited her father and his almost-boyfriend that night.

“In fact, it’s almost too nice.” Drake continued suspiciously. “I mean, he does owe us for the heroic help I provided when those aliens invaded us, but still, isn’t it a bit weird for Scrooge McDuck to-” “Daaad.” Gosalyn rolled her eyes. “Geez, can’t you enjoy a nice gesture from an old man?” “Gosalyn is right!” Launchpad nodded. “Mr McD is nicer than people think. He took me in when I didn’t have a place to stay, you know!” “Mmmh.” Drake nodded. “Still…” “You worry too much!” Gosalyn scolded, putting her comic aside. “That’s what too much crime fighting will do to you.” “What?! There’s never enough crime fighting, young lady!” “Whatever. Just… let Darkwing in the car for tonight, okay? Be Drake and have fun.” “Yeah, DW! It’s gonna be a fun evening!” “Launchpad, don’t call him that!”

They had been so busy bickering that they barely noticed they had arrived. Launchpad almost crashed the car when parking it in front of the garage, but the three of them arrived in one piece in front of the manor’s entrance. Out of habit, Launchpad was about to open the door, but Drake gently grabbed his wrist and rang instead. A surprised Mrs Beakley opened them.

“Launchpad? What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn’t be coming back here before Sunday.” “What?” it was the pilot’s turn to be puzzled. “We’re here for dinner?” Drake clarified, suspicious. “The one Scrooge McDuck invited us to?” “Dinner? Mr McDuck hasn’t told me-” “Oh hey, hi Launchpad! Hi Mr Mallard! Hi Gos!”

Webby had sled right in front of her grandmother, offering the trio the warmest and most welcoming smile she could. Mrs Beakley looked at her granddaughter, suspicion growing more and more obvious on her face, but the girl ignored the heavy gaze she felt on her back:

“How wonderful of you to join us for a magical evening sure to please your minds and your palate! Please, come inside.”

Launchpad stepped inside the house, oblivious, but Drake kept looking at Webby as if she had grown a second head. He then glanced at his daughter, but she raised her shoulders, the very picture of innocence. Sighing, Drake followed his friend. When Gosalyn entered the manor, she saw Mrs Beakley was talking with Lena in a hushed tone, looking somewhat displeased but mostly perplexed. The redhead understood Webby hadn’t told her grandmother about their plan, probably because she would have done everything in her power to dissuade the kids from putting it to execution.

And, to be honest, Gosalyn couldn’t blame her.

But the plan was now in motion, for better or for worse. Gosalyn had, of course, been heavily helping Webby and Huey with it; but in the end, the last steps were entirely up to them, and she truly hoped it would succeed. She would never forgive herself if her meddling somehow hurt her father and Launchpad’s relationship; but she truly believed neither of them would do the first move, and that someone had to intervene, for their own good.

She met with Violet and Lena, who had apparently managed to convince Mrs Beakley to let them handle the situation if the way the housekeeper had gone upstairs while muttering “children…” half annoyed and half affectionately was any indication.

“And now, we wait.”

“Woah! Did you change the decoration? The kitchen didn’t look like that last week!”

While Launchpad looked around the room, amazed, Drake felt like he had stepped into one of those trashy novels oozing with over the top romanticism. Every surface available was covered in rose petals and candles, save for the table at the center of the room, covered with a pink tablecloth. Soft jazz music was playing, and strings of small paper hearts had been taped to the wall.

One of the Duck triplets – Drake still had trouble telling them apart, this one wore a white shirt with a red bow tie – greeted them, a napkin thrown over his arm.

“Ah, welcome, welcome! Your table awaits, gentlemen.”

The duckling guided them to the table, which was around two meters away from them, and let the two adults sit down. Launchpad was still looking around, marvelling at the gentle and cosy atmosphere the candles gave the room, while Drake listened to him, feeling a smile blossom on his beak.

It was when Webby brought them a menu, one that only had a single option available – labelled as “Cupid’s Choice” and whose main dish was a plate of meatball spaghetti – that everything clicked in Drake’s head. Gosalyn’s enthusiasm when she had told them of the dinner, the way she had been looking at him and Launchpad all day long, Beakley’s confusion, the ridiculously romantic decoration of the room-

Gosalyn may not have been his biological child, but she was definitely his clever daughter. She took so much after him, and after Launchpad too, now that he thought about it.

And as a complete understanding of the situation hit him, Drake laughed, taking Launchpad by surprise.

“DW- uh, I mean, Drake, what’s going on?” “Oh, nothing, nothing, don’t worry.” Drake reassured his friend, looking at the emerald eyes he could get lost in, noticing for the first time how close their hands were, resting on the table. “I’m just looking forward to this dinner.”

-------

And of course the dinner was a success!! Let me know if I should write it! I'm just weak for the Mallard-McQuack family......... and Webby and Huey's matrimonial agency of sorts... and Team Magic befriending Gos.... I hope I did this pairing justice, it's my favorite DT17 ship!!

#drakepad #drake mallard #launchpad mcquack #gosalyn mallard #ducktales #ducktober #violet sabrewing #lena de spell #lena despell #Webby Vanderquack #huey duck #bentina beakley #mrs beakley #dt17 #my writing #my fics #team magic

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artificialqueens · 6 years ago

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Punny title about lesbians in love on an airplane (Branjie) - Mermelada

Hola! Did somebody ask for a Branjie lesbian flight attendant AU? Of course they didn’t, but it’s here anyway! Trigger warning for racism (third flight: Cancun section, skip if necessary as it’s not vital to the story). I hope you enjoy!

They first met on a flight to Tampa. They were both working in economy class, and were taking advantage of the turbulence to chitchat on their jumpseats at the back of the plane and get to know each other. Brooke Lynn learned that Vanessa had grown up in Tampa, had somehow acquired the nickname Vanjie at school, and was planning on spending that evening with her family. Vanessa learned that Brooke Lynn was Canadian, but had been living in the US for long enough to have almost completely lost her accent – except after a few tequilas, apparently – and used to be a pretty serious ballerina. Their personalities were polar opposites, and yet they hit it off immediately. They kept laughing with each other well after the plane’s wheels were on the ground and the passengers were nowhere to be seen. Although she didn’t want to admit it, Vanessa was somewhat disappointed when she saw her mother and aunt standing in the arrivals hall, and was thus forced to say goodbye to Brooke Lynn, who begrudgingly followed the rest of the crew out of the terminal to find their transport to the hotel. On the flight home the next day, both ladies picked up where they’d left off, their natural chemistry making their job feel easy and the flight seem quick. Far too quick. Before disembarking once they were safely parked back at base, Vanessa added Brooke Lynn on Facebook, delighted that their 56 mutual friends had made it easy. Their airline, however, was big, and they knew their chances of flying together again anytime soon was limited. Nonetheless, they exchanged goodbyes and thanked each other for such a nice flight.

-*-

They didn’t have to wait long for their next meeting, when Vanessa was called from reserve to go to Seattle the next week. All of her stress from speed-walking to the gate disappeared as soon as she stepped on board and saw the voluptuous blonde giant, who handed her a freshly brewed coffee. Airplane drinks had never tasted so good. Brooke Lynn was working in business class, so they didn’t get the chance to speak until the bus ride to their hotel in the city centre.

“I’ve never been to Seattle before, do you want to come sightseeing with me?”

Vanessa agreed perhaps too enthusiastically, her smile wide enough to park a bus, before she realised that in her frantic dash to the airport that morning, she hadn’t packed anything appropriate for the damp and chilly Seattle spring. A few awkward explanations and suggestive comments later, Vanessa found herself walking around Pike Place Market in her pyjama leggings, white jelly sandals, and Brooke’s red hoodie which drowned her tiny frame. It smelled like maple syrup – not in a stereotypical sort of way, but it was sweet, unique, and warmed Vanessa’s heart. They spent the day walking beside each other, neither woman flinching when their arms or hands bumped together. They chatted comfortably, and felt completely at ease in each other’s company. They’d spent as much time as possible exploring the city and eating more than either had thought possible, but the time change and early start was making staying awake increasingly difficult, and both made the decision to retire to their respective rooms before dinner time, promising to meet for breakfast when they inevitably woke up at the crack of dawn.

-*-

Their third flight together was the hardest. Brooke Lynn’s face had lit up the moment she saw Vanessa’s name beside a two-night trip to Cancun on her roster. They’d exchanged excited Whatsapp messages, having swapped phone numbers after breakfast in Seattle the previous two months prior, and planned a visit to a turtle sanctuary to find out “if those cute little fuckers really do try and swim to the moon”, a question Vanessa had been pondering since watching an Animal Planet documentary as a child. The reality, however, wasn’t quite as fun. An oil leak on their original plane meant a four hour wait in the terminal beside increasingly-agitated passengers while a new plane was found. Once they were finally on their way, a lady in the back row – who had most likely spent the delay downing gin and tonics at the airport bar – decided she didn’t like Vanessa’s bilingual English and Spanish announcements, unironically declaring loudly from her seat that “we want to keep America for Americans, we don’t want to be force-fed your taco-eating shit.”

In shock, Brooke left her colleague in the aisle and went to the nearest phone to call the Captain, thinking ahead of the next steps from the ‘dealing with disruptive passengers’ chapter in her training notes. Vanessa, surprisingly, kept her cool.

“Ma’am, I’m Puerto Rican. We eat sorullitos.”

The angry woman stared at Vanessa like she’d just killed a puppy. Her face turned red with rage, and she spat obscenities at Vanessa like they were on special offer. Not wanting to listen anymore, Vanessa just walked away to join Brooke Lynn in the back galley, leaving the passengers around the lady to deal with her themselves. Unfortunately, the captain had decided that the woman was a potential risk to the safety of the aircraft, which is how they found themselves diverting into Charleston and exceeding their maximum time limit for a day’s work. As the rest of the crew debriefed over miniature bottles of wine on the bus to their unplanned hotel for the night, Brooke and Vanessa sat close together in the back row. The taller woman had her arm wrapped around the shorter one’s shoulder, gently rubbing circles into her upper arm. Out of nowhere, the impact of what had happened hit Vanessa. She buried her face into Brooke’s chest, unable to stop the tears which were now falling incessantly from her eyes. Vanessa looked even smaller than normal, as fragile as a glass Christmas bauble. All Brooke could do was hold her closer, stroke her hair, and hope that Vanessa knew that she cared.

Back at the hotel, Vanessa wouldn’t let go of Brooke Lynn as they collected their keys from the bored-looking teenager at the front desk. Brooke had never experienced racism at work before – drunk football fans shouting ‘aboot’ across the aisle didn’t count – but she knew that the most important thing at that moment was to support her friend.

“Do you want to sleep in my room tonight? We can get pizza and watch The Notebook.”

In the short time they had known each other, Brooke Lynn had learned a lot about Vanessa’s favourite things, including her surprising love of all things romantic, despite a less-than-perfect love life about which she often dropped elusive snippets into conversation. Despite never having been one for soppy movies, Brooke wanted nothing more than to spend the evening doing whatever she could to make Vanessa happy.

The short Latina looked up through wet, brown eyes.

“Only if I can borrow your hoodie again, that shit was ugly but comfy as fuck.”

-*-

A month after their failed trip to Cancun, Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been in contact every day, trying to figure out how to get another trip together. Finally, they were lucky, when Vanessa convinced her friend Silky to swap her night-stop in San Francisco with Brooke for two days in Pittsburgh.

“Think of the ketchup, girl, you’ll love Pittsburgh!”

“Bitch, you are pussy whipped, I better be your maid of honour.”

The words replayed on a loop in Vanessa’s head during her entire journey to the airport that morning. “Pussy whipped.” It sounded disgusting, but she couldn’t deny, there was something so attractive about Brooke Lynn that she couldn’t ignore. It wasn’t just that she was tall, athletic, curvaceous, and had the twinkliest eyes in the universe; she was intelligent, thoughtful, caring, and wickedly funny at the same time. She was never bored when they were together, and she felt entire swarms of butterflies flutter in her stomach every time her phone dinged with a new message from the Canadian. She also gave amazing cuddles. They’d gotten a lot closer over the last month, especially since Brooke had opened up about never having had a serious relationship at their Charleston sleepover. Brooke had also admitted that night to having had no idea that Vanessa was also a lesbian, which elicited even more flirtatious teasing.

“Is it because I don’t wear plaid? Brooky-poo, you can’t just pigeon-hole your sisters like that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, Jesus Christ, I told you, my gaydar has been broken since the 90s! This is why I’m single!”

They spent the long flight to San Fran working together in economy again, their smiles never fading as their bantered with the passengers during the bar round. They were able to remove the frowns from even the grumpiest of businessmen’s faces, which left the colleagues feeling like they were on cloud 9. As they gathered their belongings at the end of the flight, the cabin manager Nina walked down the aisle to see them.

“Those were some of the happiest customers I have ever seen, what on earth did you give them?!” she beamed, her enthusiasm somehow even higher than usual.

“Oh, you know”, began Brooke, “A bit of the ol’ Branjie charm does wonders!”

Vanessa’s snort in response caused the three to burst into hysterical laughter, their good moods only getting better and better.

It wasn’t until they were sat together at a bar on Pier 39 that it was brought up again.

“So, Branjie, huh?” smirked Vanessa, stirring her cocktail with her straw and fluttering her eyelashes at Brooke.

“Yeah, it’s like a… what’s the word for it? A portmanteau. Brooke and Vanjie – Branjie!”

Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh at how comfortable Brooke was explaining it, “you’ve thought about this before, haven’t you?!”

Brooke’s cheeks turned the same colour as her strawberry daiquiri, and she couldn’t drink it quick enough to hide from the fact that she’d been caught. “Well, yeah… I was just brainstorming, y’know. Branjie is better than Broonessa or Vanooke.”

Vanessa successfully maintained serious eye contact with Brooke for four seconds before exploding into uncontrollable laughter, the Canadian joining in immediately. At some point during the raucousness, Vanessa’s hand found its way onto Brooke’s thigh, and Brooke’s foot wrapped itself around Vanessa’s shin. They inched closer until there was virtually no space between them, conversing as before, only this time with far more intimacy. A natural lull in the conversation led to a comfortable silence, where they stared into each other’s eyes, neither sure of how to proceed. Just as Brooke Lynn caught Vanessa’s eyes dart down to her lips, she jumped up from her seat and extended her hand, which Vanessa took graciously.

“Let’s go for a walk, you like sea lions?”

The pier was swarming with tourists, all trying to take photographs of every single square centimetre. Vanessa and Brooke Lynn aimlessly sauntered along, their hands connected and swinging at a gentle pace beside them. Despite not looking at each other, they knew that they were wearing matching smiles. They stopped at the end of the pier and took in the deafening racket from the giant creatures below, huddling together closely to counter the effects of the cool sea breeze.

“Sorry, I thought this was going to be romantic”, sighed Brooke, lightly removing her hand from Vanessa’s and looking down to inspect her nails, a nervous tick she’d developed as a teenager in dance class. “I wasn’t expecting it to smell quite so fishy.”

Vanessa couldn’t help but grin at her counterpart’s sudden shyness, taking it upon herself to make the first move by wrapping her arms around Brooke Lynn’s waist.

“I didn’t even notice.” With that, Vanessa stood as high on her tip-toes as possible and stretched her neck as far as she could, meeting Brooke’s lips halfway in a flurry of quick, chaste kisses. They held each other as they stared out to the sea, the cacophony of the sea lion choir filling the air. It was perfect.

-*-

They saw each other a lot more after San Francisco, meeting for coffee and drinks at home whenever their schedules aligned, or spending hours on Facetime when they didn’t. They were seeing each other, Brooke supposed. It wasn’t official or exclusive, nor had they spoken about what their exact status was, but whatever it was, it was good. It felt right. It had been 52 days since their first kiss, and the Canadian was ready to take their relationship to the next level. Unbeknownst to Brooke Lynn, Vanessa was had also been planning the perfect way to do so as soon as she’d laid eyes upon the 3-night trip to Maui appear on their rosters for next month. Sunshine, sea, and coconut bras… what could possibly be sexier?

The flight passed without a hitch, and all nine crew members chatted drowsily in the hotel lobby as they waited for their room keys to be ready. Vanessa and Brooke were sharing an armchair that was far too small to fit both of them, but they relished the closeness. Drawing gentle patterns onto Brooke Lynn’s lower back, Vanessa put the first part of her plan into action.

“So, I was wondering,” she began hesitantly, clearing her throat as a pair of sleepy green eyes met her brown ones, “since we’ve basically spent all of our last two trips together, do you want to maybe share a room?”

Vanessa knew it was a big step: despite having shared a bed for one night in Charleston, and enjoying an evening kissing during Food Network ad breaks in Brooke’s room in San Fran, they were yet to officially spend a night together together. And a room all to themselves would mean they could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without having to run halfway across the hotel to brush their teeth or change clothes. Vanessa was also desperate to explore every inch of Brooke’s body and do whatever she could to make her feel good, but Brooke’s slight hesitation in that moment made her doubt herself.

“We don’t have to, don’t worry, I was just thinking it might be nice to spend some time alone together since it’s been so long since we’ve been together just the two of us, but I understand if you want your personal space, I know you probably don’t want all my bikinis and shit cluttering up your room and…”

Before Vanessa could finish ranting, Brooke stopped her by pressing their lips together, so soft in contrast to Vanessa’s erratic rambling.

“Yes”, was all she needed to say, before Vanessa grinned like the Cheshire Cat and pulled her in for a longer kiss, not even caring that the rest of their crewmates had already left.

The atmosphere was unusually quiet in the girls’ room. Brooke had opened the door to the balcony, looking out onto the beach, meanwhile Vanessa rifled through her suitcase to find her phone charger. She really should start organising her luggage better one day, maybe Brooke could teach her. Neither had uttered a word to each other since walking through the door to their humble double room, and both seemed reluctant to be the first to break the tension. Eventually, having successfully plugged her phone in to charge, Vanessa decided to take a shower to wash the smell of Boeing off of her skin. Singing off-key to herself as she lathered up her fruity shampoo, she didn’t hear the bathroom door open and close again.

“Need some help?”

Vanessa jumped as she realised that standing in front of her was the most perfect, beautiful woman she has ever seen, completely naked, and looking at Vanessa with matching awe.

“If you want to”, was all Vanessa could muster before pushing herself onto the blonde goddess in front of her, pinning her against the wall of the shower cubicle and kissing her with a passion she’d never known she had. Brooke kissed back with a far greater intensity than any of their previous kisses, moving to nibble at Vanessa’s neck and clavicle.

Not content with not being in control, Brooke Lynn reached her hands down to grab Vanessa’s ass, and in one swift motion lifted her up and spun them around so that the shorter girl’s back was now against the tiled wall, with her legs wrapped as tightly as she could around Brooke’s hips. They continued kissing passionately, grabbing each other’s hair and softly moaning into each other’s mouth, when Brooke, who still had a hold on Vanessa as she inadvertently grinded against the Canadian’s pubic bone, lost her grip and could only watch as the brunette slid in slow-motion all the way down Brooke’s body like a firefighter’s pole, unable to land on her legs in time. She looked down at the shocked brown eyes staring up from the corner of the cubicle floor, not sure how it had happened, when the room was filled with the most glorious sound of Vanessa’s laughter. Once she’d started laughing, she couldn’t stop, which then infected Brooke to the point where neither could breathe. The situation only worsened with Brooke’s failed attempts to pull Vanessa back up again, the women’s hands slipping constantly in the stream of water.

“This wasn’t what I had in mind when I wanted to get you wet tonight”, Brooke barely managed to wheeze out as her stomach muscles ached from their sudden exertion. Just about succeeding to regain composure as Vanessa still howled below her, she turned off the shower and extended her hand, finally managing to pull the brunette up to stand beside her. They shared several soft kisses, hands wandering across their torsos, holding on to each other as if they might suddenly be split apart. As their kisses once more began getting more heated, Vanessa snickered and looked up at Brooke.

“My ass really hurts, I think you should kiss it better.”

All Brooke could do was roll her eyes and continue kissing Vanessa’s face, her smile never faltering.

“You are absolutely unbelievable, I can’t believe I have four more days of this.”

“You love it, really.”

Neither woman could possibly disagree, as they practically sprinted across the 1970’s-patterned carpet and jumped on the bed, which they had no intention of leaving in a hurry.

The whole duration of the flight home was spent with knowing smirks being passed between the other flight attendants as Brooke Lynn and Vanessa tried to remain professional and not hold hands or smash lips at every opportunity.

“Sooooo”, drawled Yvie over a dinner of over-cooked macaroni cheese behind the galley curtain, “did you two enjoy the beach?”

Vanessa began blushing as she stabbed her fork into her foil tray, looking to Brooke to save their dignity, however she appeared to be trying to shrink as far down as possible into her uniform blouse. They weren’t getting out of this one.

“I spent a lot of time there. There were a couple in the room next door to me who kept hammering shit to the walls and screaming about God all day and all night. I hope they had a good time, because I’m fucking tired.”

And with that, Yvie put her meal tray away and walked back out into the cabin, leaving Vanessa and Brooke to stare at each other in silence, willing the bottom of the plane to open up and suck them out.

-*-

They had been an item for six months. It was Brooke’s longest relationship, and the happiest six months of Vanessa’s life. It hadn’t been without its challenges: despite trying to synchronise rosters to spend more time together, they often found themselves on opposite sides of the continent for half of each week. They were eternally grateful for FaceTime, but nothing compared to the feeling of leaping into bed for a nap together after their respective flights home. They had both looked endlessly for flights they could work on together, sending out begging requests to swap at every opportunity, but none had been successful.

That was until Brooke cornered Yvie in the crew room, bought her a coffee, and pouted until the tall, brown-eyed girl had no choice to but cave.

“You still owe me about 20 hours of sleep from Hawaii, I’ll add this to your tab.”

Brooke’s initial plan had been to keep it a secret until the day of the flight to surprise Vanessa, but in her excited state, she couldn’t hold it in for one night.

“I’M COMING TO TAMPA!”

Flight six had been the best flight of all, with a fully-functioning plane, happy passengers, and the woman of her dreams across from her, somehow even making pouring coffee look sexy. Brooke Lynn thought back to their very first meeting, not quite remembering at which point it had all fallen into place, but she wouldn’t have changed a thing. She was in love.

Vanessa, feeling exactly the same way, couldn’t help but ride the overwhelming wave of joy whenever she thought about the tall blonde in front of her, handing out pretzels whilst looking like such a snack herself. Without wanting to scare Brooke Lynn away, Vanessa knew she was in this for the long run.

Just a couple of hours later, they walked through arrivals, each with one hand on their suitcases and the others linked together.

“I hope you don’t mind, baby, but I’ve already sorted out our transport home.” Vanessa smiled and squeeze Brooke’s hand, leading her through the throngs of lost-looking people in the terminal, until they were both embraced by two pairs of warm, welcoming arms.

“Mamá, Tía Alexis, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Brooke Lynn.”

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #lesbian au #fluff #mermelada #tw racism

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the-prophet-lemonade · 6 years ago

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Hi, it's me!💍I've been rereading everything in anticipation of chapter 10, like I promised, and I was wondering about everyone's super names. In universe, I assume the vigilantes picked their own names, but what about the Idris supers? And how long did it take you to come up with theirs, what made you decide on certain names? Did you end up going back to change any halfway through writing?

hello darling !!!!! i’m very excited about chapter 10, i think it’s gonna be a good one :D

the super names were probably the very first thing i came up with after i’d decided on my concept ... so, they all came long before the plot and i don’t think they changed very much after i settled on them - but a lot of thought went into most of them so i’m happy to explain!

alec | sentinel: i wanted to pick something stoic and powerful for alec, but something that reflected his presence and his willingness to watch over people from above. the name represents his protectiveness and his enduring nature, reflects his role as a soldier and a guard, and also has angelic connotations (to tie into sh canon and/or jace being arkangel) ... lastly, the word sentinel also ties into a particular line from javert’s solo (”stars”) in les miserables that he sings on a rooftop edge in the movie and that is a Very Relevant song ok, you should look up the lyrics

magnus | nightlock: i went back and forth on a couple ideas for magnus’ name, but i wanted something magical and colourful and magician-esque for him. in my mind, nightlock is a portmanteau of “deadly nightshade” and “warlock” (although the “-lock” suffix could also come from “hemlock”) . deadly nightshade is obviously very dangerous and poisonous, and causes delirium and hallucinations (which is reflected in magnus’ ability to manipulate the world around him), but the main symbolism i wanted from it is the flower’s colour - that very deep, plutonic purple matches very well with the fic aesthetic. in addition, a little historical relevance: socrates was executed through consumption of hemlock for “questioning the gods” and entertaining ideas of political insurgency and the pursuit of justice so that’s ... also very relevant.

jace | arkangel: this was the first name i settled on for jace and liked it a lot, so stuck with it. it has heavenly and angelic connotations (obviously) and is a name imbued with a great deal of omniscient power (representative of jace’s op abilities) and some golden colour symbolism too. i chose the “ark” spelling rather than “arch” because i liked the harder consonant sound, it works better for jace’s personality. also, jace can fly lol

clary | muse: clary was the one i went back and forth on a lot when i was picking her alias ... originally, she was going to have fire elemental powers like johnathan, but i decided against it, because pyrokinesis is a very violent and erratic power, and whilst clary is unpredictable and scrappy, i don’t think she’s intentionally destructive. i think her artistic manifestation suits her well and is a very adaptive ability, which matches her personality better. aNYWAY the other names i considered for her were “firestorm”, “sunfire”, and “athena” but i went with muse to match her powers. also, it’s a single syllable so sounds better in tandem with arkangel (three syllables) considering they’re often mentioned together in the text and i think lots about rhythm and sounds!

simon | 8-bit: i wanted something super geeky and given the time period, the snes and the gameboy had just been released by nintendo, so nintendocore and 8bit music was becoming a thing! plus, as simon is a technopath, i wanted a name to both represent his powers and represent simon’s playfulness and naivety when it comes to superhero business hahaha my alternative choices for simon were “cyber”, “shockwave”, and “electro” but those were all too boring

luke | wolfsbane: i considered “sabretooth” for luke but there’s a pretty well-known xmen hero by that name, so i went with wolfsbane. again, wolfsbane is the name of a poisonous dark purple plant (like nightshade), so there’s a direct link to magnus there, which is highly relevant as the two of them have history and used to be vigilante partners in the 1980s (which we haven’t yet uncovered in the fic). there’s also another member of the xmen called wolfsbane who, funnily enough, can turn into a werewolf, much like luke haha

maia | veil: this is another one i chose instantly and has everything to do with maia’s powers. now, maia as a person is pretty abrasive and unforgiving and unapologetic and doesn’t hesitate to get physical if need be (e.g. punching jace that one time lmfao), so i wanted to give her a power the exact opposite of this feisty outward persona. i think maia is an intensely vulnerable person who puts up a lot of walls and thick skin around her heart to protect herself and hide her feelings, so i wanted her to have a power that was cerebral, but also one that tied into this vulnerability and her unwillingness to let people see her real self. so, that’s why she can manipulate illusions, and that’s why her alias is veil.

catarina | witchlight: i don’t know if this one has been said outright in the fic yet, but it’s in between the lines if you read close enough! we’ll get a bit of cat in the upcoming ch 10, but magnus/nightlock has already mentioned her both by name and alias in past chapters. cat’s powers are healing magic (surprise surprise) and her name comes from a type of crystal that glows in the hands of good-intentioned and good-hearted people ... very much in-line with the phial of galadriel/light of earendil from lord of the rings if i’m honest (and a giant nerd) ... witchlight as a stone is also found in sh canon! in addition, witchlight has this great simultaneous feeling of antithesis and parallelism to “nightlock” and i don’t really know why but they sound good together! there’s a sense of balance between their names, don’t you think?

dot | salem: another one like cat, you’ll have to look between the lines for this one, but she’ll be cropping up a bit more and has a very crucial role to play in a later chapter. this matches cat’s witch motif but with darker connotations (reflective of dot’s superpowers) when taken in the context of the salem witch trials and therefore has links to the fic’s themes of persecution. however, the biblical connotations of the name “salem” are to do with peace, so that’s nice.

lydia | apex: this one is very literal - the apex of something is the pinnacle, the top, the best. lydia is one of idris’ best supers and her power is super strength, so go figure

valentine | silver tongue: we haven’t seen valentine use her powers of persuasion yet, and they’ve only been hinted at (and it seems that johnathan is doing most of the grunt work, golly gosh i wonder why that is and what it means and whether it matters for a later part of the plot ... hmm). this one’s pretty straightforward too though: someone with a silver tongue is someone who is eloquent and persuasive at speaking, and valentine is known to be a good orator as we know. honestly though i just think of that simpson’s episode where lisa finds out jebediah springfield has a silver tongue and that has nOTHING to do with this so idk why i brought it up lmfao

there are of course a few others: ragnor, aline, helen, raj, and victor, but i haven’t named them ... i think aline has electrical/lightning powers, and raj can teleport, but i don’t think i settled on what helen and victor can do, so i just didn’t bother mentioning their aliases. izzy and raphael (yet to appear) are also supers but don’t have code names ... and i’m also curious what maryse and robert’s powers and aliases might be! there’s also sebastian/johnathan who does have an alias but it hasn’t been revealed in the story yet so ... no spoilers!

your note about idris supers is interesting and honestly i hadn’t considered it ... i imagine idris supers do get to pick their aliases but they’d have to be ‘corporate-approved’ by higher ups. lydia (apex) and alec (sentinel) both have very strong and powerful names, whilst clary (muse) matches her powers, and jace (arkangel) is an odd one because the name reflects his wings rather than his adoptive muscle memory, and obviously he’s been a super longer than he’s had his wings so i guess that’s just a plothole hahahaha (maybe he had a different super name before he got his wings and much to alec and izzy’s annoyance, decided to change his name after he got his new gear? who knows)

#fic: a cold night for good deeds #lucy replies #long post #OH MAN I WROTE A LOT IM SORRY

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