serendipitycafe

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[multigenderswag]

Multigender Survey Results Dec 2023: Anything else relevant

Participants were asked "Share anything else about your multigender identity that you find relevant" and had the option to respond with long answer text. Some notable responses include:

As a m+f bigender person who uses he/she pronouns, I sometimes feel like the "he" refers to my female side, and the "she" refers to my male side

I am no longer religious/Christian, but the expression “God is Change” resonates deeply with me and my approach to gender as experience. I accept that my gender (holistically) is an amalgamation, something that breathes new life into itself repeatedly and often unexpectedly, sustained by its own willingness to grow past its bounds and taste richness anew. Teaching is part of my work, and as such I consider myself an eternal student: gender is just one avenue for discovery and learning for me.

I feel so boring but it is what it is, name wise I use one (completely feminine) with group A and one (completely masculine) with group B and hope and pray that they never interact

I identified as a 'tomboy' (gender wise) as a child and transmasc as a teenager. As an adult part of my being multigender is honouring these past versions of myself and acknowledging that who I was is an important part of who I am today.

I like to describe my gender like this: imagine there’s a house on a street. the house represents being a boy/male, and being *in* the house means you’re binary male. The road represents a neutral, non-male/female gender. My gender is like the driveway — both part of the road *and* the house

i think this is relevant-ish, but the way i experience gender kind of feels like. there's a man and a woman in my head at all times, not in a system way so much as a (this is very obviously stupid but i can't find another comparison to articulate it) inside out way. they're both always there, and they're both separate, but at the same time, they come together to make the same person, me! nonbinary is a label i understand and identify with, mostly to simplify the matter for others, but in reality, it kind of feels like a... superbinary of sorts. i'm 100% a man, and 100% a woman, but because the binary only "allows" you to choose one, nonbinary is technically correct, isn't it?

I'm multigender in the "one gender that fits into several categories" way than being multigender in a "has multiple genders" way

My gender is the intersection of butch dyke and trans man. I'm questioning things right now, but I'm somewhere in that region, with a foot in both at once. I've always been drawn to butchness and sapphicism as well as transmasculinity. I think most of my journey to understand my gender has been a balancing act between identifying as enough of a guy to feel comfortable in my skin but non-binary enough to not have to abandon my identity with butchness. Recently I've adopted the label multigender, and it's helped a lot. I'm only even a little bit a girl if I can be a boy first and foremost, and I could be just a boy or just a dyke but I would have to kill part of myself to do so. I'm trying to find a way to exist in my gender without blood on my hands. I think I'm getting there. It's hard but I'm getting there.

It is complicated but I love it

Yay I love multi gender people we are so cool. <3

A number of participants also referenced being autistic and how that has influenced their multigender identity, so it is possible that autism may be included as a question on the next survey.

[pixelkip]

Aight. It's Annello time.

SO my interpretation of Annello has a slightly different backstory from the semi-official one given by Rageminer. They still fuse the same way, with Annie showing up after Garcello dies but is still hanging around as a ghost, she runs up and reaches out for him and. Yea.

A big difference in mine though is that the fusion isn't as much physically painful as it is uh,, mentally. Once they fuse both.. I guess sides?? of them are terrified and confused. Once they even realize what happened they're understandably fuckin horrified. Mostly because.. it technically means the 2 won't really see each other ever again

I say this cause.. while I might refer to them acting more like Annie or garcy, it's not a situation of 2 consciousnesses (is that even a word hell if I know) existing simultaneously, but just one with personality traits and memories of both. Sure, they can recognize what parts of them come from who, but they still are just one.

It also takes them a while to really be able to function again. Their highly conflicting personality traits can make it really hard for them to make decisions and the energetic-ness from Annie and anxiety from Garcello don't exactly mix nicely. They are simultaneously not used to being so energetic and highly emotional from Garcy's side, and not used to being so anxious and tired from Annie's side. They have a lot of moments where Annie's impulsivity kicks in, they do something kind of foolish and immediately wonder wait why the hell did I do that??

They also probably talk to themself a lot. Both cause they sometimes need to do that to get their thoughts in order and cause they're lonely :[

They eventually start sorting themself out though (but also with my version of them they at least have lil Rascal with them, since for me she and Annie would've had a sibling-rivalry type relationship that would carry over to annello, but that's probably a post for another day)

So. I imagine their actual personality being a slightly ominous goofball. I say ominous because come the fuck on they have both the Annie chaos and the garcy calm chill guy demeanor. Do u see what I'm going for here. They're gonna take Garcy's mysterious dude in the alleyway thing and take it to the next level by actually seeming like theyre totally up to something. They can go from tired bastard to bouncy ball of mischief within seconds. I think they'd start to lean into how they seem weird and unpredictable, since it's something about them they really can't change, might as well embrace it.

I imagine them kind of speaking with kind of a sweet but sly tone while also sounding very calm and quiet. Unlike their 1 official voice line, I hc that their voice can shift between sounding more like Annie or garcello, with it naturally changing depending on how they feel or what they're trying to convey. They could also consciously change it but they can't perfectly mimick one or the other. If they're excited or shouting though, that's how you get then speaking with both voices at the same time.

Ok that's mostly it for their character but there's a few more lil details that didn't really fit in this whole explanation so here's a few more things I came up with, sometimes with inspo from people on discord:

- since they're a fusion of a very much alive Annie and a ghost garcy, annello is half-ghost. For a while they'd randomly phase through things accidentally before they learned to get it under control. Might also allow them to dissappear at will. Because fuck you I think that's fun and cool

- said half-ghost thing also lead to an agreement that Hiroari Shoots A Strange Bird ~ Till When? is annello boss fight theme. Though, I also heavily associate them with Hartmann's Youkai Girl too. Fuck I can't avoid bringing up touhou every chance I get god dAMMIT FU

- oh on the topic of songs that fit my version of them. Deathbody by Ghost and Pals and The Ballad of Jane Doe from Ride the Cyclone

- I'm not sure if I'm keeping this now but i feel like it's worth adding, I had an old liquid form design for annello where they were more of a vapor-y ghost monster instead

- they have a bit of claustrophobia, both cause of their memory of dying in a small alley but also because they are significantly taller than the 2 goobers were, everything they're familiar with like their apartment and such feels smaller to them.

-oh yea. They're taller than even garcello was. I imagine them at like 6'5-7 ft tall

- they are the epitome of 2 idiots does not make a smart person. It makes an ominous but awkward airheaded dingus

- despite them being all weird and shit they're a complete fucking softie. I don't need to explain why with these 2 goobers it should be obvious

- for a good while after they fused they dressed like a complete fucking mess since they didn't know how the fuck they wanted to dress. This is what happens when u have the fashion taste of an emo furry and a man who'd wear pajamas 24/7 if it was socially acceptable

- they have fangs, but unlike Annie that's the only part of their teeth that are still sharp. Even so, garcys influence means they still feel awkward having them, so the fangs cause them to sometimes speak with a bit of a lisp

- still kibby just a really fuckin weird one

That's all. Have some doobles of the silly and uhh stan annello or perish

[paceywittergayboatman]

Honest to God I don't believe shiv thinks tom and Greg are fucking when she confronts him at there house in 3.1!here's my explanation

(sa warning)

In my opinion shivs statements here lean more on the side of more tom strange behavior with her younger and clearly like gullible and childlike cousin who's maybe in his late 20s

But before we do let's look at the first scene where Greg interacts with the mother who raised him

So I'm gonna skip the beginning but mariane gets a call from Greg and he's like help mom I got fired again and then she like your literally a Roy dumbass and then she says like your gonna go to your Uncle's birthday party:

This is kid who unlike his cousins didn't grow up with wealth so he would already be inexperienced in rich people culture making him vulnerable

then she says GROWN UP twice which makes me think is someone who hasn't had a lot of adult experiences given the way she's eases her way into this with

Also her tone of voice and phrasing here is as if he's a child

Anyway let's go back to Shiv a GROWN woman with experience around men who were known to treat women like shit and disregard they're autonomy in many ways talking to Tom a GROWN man

So she calls him out for like encouraging Greg to sort of be shitty guy who flagrantly disrespects the women he's pursuing sexualy with her younger cousin who's life experiences are even to her obviously limited

The disgusting in disgusting brothers is used here as gross but gross man behavior also BROTHERS which given that fact tomgreg has been cousins makes sense for them to say but the behavior grosser

Quick Interlude

Rome quote that's from tomshiv wedding I feel is relevant

I'd like to welcome Tom to the family.

I don't feel like I'm losing a sister.

I don't feel like I'm gaining a brother, either.

I don't feel anything.

So there's two things happening here he would be her brother he's not gaining brother not because of how feels about tom

But it could also mean he doesn't feel like he's gain brother as family member and if he's not gaining brother and tom is related to Roy's that would mean he was Rome's cousin

As in words of Amy winehouse let's go back to black

So yes then tom says we just grab a drink something other woman esc but this is also her ex husband who would be technical cousins with Greg pre divorce so he's also saying I don't do weird sex shit with your cousin shiv we just grab a drink

She mentions models, which I think the idea that the models he's fucking are akin to sex workers is highly plausible the important thing is women in terms of using there body to make money in way that is visual objectifying labor (which leads theses women vulnerable to men feeling they have right to there bodies) and given the way sex workers are referred to in succession are primarily women

Also as woman who is gay and had bad comphet phase if you say model I think lady and presume shiv a woman would to

I also think tom is fruity but it's not how his homosexuality is shown on succ

So then she's like are you fucking the models Greg is gangly and cute but he's not a model so whomever this it isn't greg

So I wanna point out here if this is ithat shiv has shown Strong emotion towards the rape brutal sufferings of the women whether or not she decides to do anything for you which offers up her possible being a victim of some sort abuse involving sexual acts

And then she says

This is weird behavior to do with your almost ex wife's like childlike young cousin who I think even shiv could read as being someone who is more vulnerable than her

Also ken uses Greg very carefully as if he's thinks Greg is fragile and given that shiv asks if stewy can help take care of the family company in 3.9 as if he's helped her before probably with ken this is weirder.

The implicitaon here is that tom like molester (the cruise dude they call mo) view women as objects to be used for men's needs which in the world succ could be rape murder throwing women off boats pimping

So Greg use in the discussion is merely a way for shiv to point out tom's icky behavior

[castleoflions]

Welcome back for another comparison of the original Japanese text against the official English translations! We’ll also be doing a bit of analysis too.

This month, Yumeko's opening speech was heavily sanitized in the English release, compared to the original Japanese. There are also some points of clarification for words used, tone, and things that just don't have a 1:1 in English.

This one will be a bit longer, so let’s get into it.

Right away, the title breaks convention a bit this month. Normally the title refers to one singular "woman" (or "girl," as Yen Press insists on translating 女 — literally "woman" — as for some reason). This month it's women, plural.

Specifically, it's "Kakegurui Women" / 賭け狂い女たち

Specifically, it's the proper kanji form of "kakegurui"/賭け狂い, as opposed to the title version (賭ケグルイ) we see regularly, which has kanji followed by a string of katakana, likely for emphasis.

In English, "kakegurui" has been translated as "compulsive gambler." This isn't necessarily wrong, but some nuance gets left out. Kakegurui / 賭け狂い literally translates to any of the following, based on context:

Betting madness/insanity

Betting deviant/irregularity

Betting fanatic/enthusiast

One could make the argument that Yumeko is overtaken with a gambling insanity (closer to a true compulsive gambler), whereas Kirari, while still technically a kakegurui as well, is more of a gambling enthusiast: she uses gambling as a means to achieve her goals. I say this because the main difference between Yumeko and Kirari appears to be restraint. Yumeko must gamble or she withers and/or goes stir crazy, but Kirari can refuse a gamble and, as far as we've seen, be no worse for wear.

All of this to say, I'm not sure I would've chosen "Compulsive Girls" as the title for this chapter. Had it been up to me, I likely would've left it as "Kakegurui Women," so that all the different meanings of the term "kakegurui" could remain for the reader to interpret its layered meaning.

Next up is just a point of clarification:

Kirari does indeed say "Sayaka, come here, please," with the implication being "Sayaka, you should move away from Yumeko." Kirari seems to know something terrible is coming, and Yumeko is the harbinger. We joke about Kirari bringing up Yumeko when Sayaka is expressing her adoration and loyalty for Kirari, and it's definitely funny in a terrible sort of way, but Kirari has been shown to be someone who keeps her eyes on her goals, even if she has to wait and be patient: she knows Yumeko is up to no good and she needs to keep tabs on her. It explains why she insisted on knowing Yumeko's vote count last chapter even with the election decided, and I bet she knew what was coming as soon as Runa told her Yumeko didn't have any left.

What really inspired me to do a write-up for this month's release is how heavily sanitized Yumeko's opening speech was. While it is technically not wrong, the original Japanese kanji provides layered meanings, especially when coupled with the visuals we get for this speech.

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: Why do so many religions make self-control one of their core tenets? They prohibit the emotion of desire...They prohibit venting your desires...They tell you to live as if desire doesn't even exist. I could never understand that. I've never done it before. I never even thought about doing it. But now I understand. The more I restrain my desires, the greater the thrill is! That must be why god has ordered me to hold them back!

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 何故数多の宗教がが禁欲を戒律とするのでしょうか？ 欲を抱くことを禁じ。欲を発散することも禁じ。さも欲ななど存在しないかのように生きよと。理解できませんでした。やったこともない。やろうとも思わなかったから。でも今なら解ります。禁欲するほどに快感が増すから、神は禁欲を命ぜられたのですね！

Why do so many religions have abstinence/self-control as a commandment? It is forbidden to have desire. It is forbidden to give vent to/radiate our desire. They want us to live as if desire does not exist. I couldn't understand it. I've never done it. I had never even thought of doing it. But now I understand. God commanded me to be celibate/have self-control because the more I abstain, the more pleasure I feel, don't I!?

I'm only going to touch on this briefly because I know this can be a point of contention with some of the fans of the series (and honestly because this topic could be an entire thesis on its own), but Yumeko's compulsion for gambling has, from the beginning, been visually and verbally portrayed as being an intrinsic and irresistible urge, synonymous with hunger, or — in Yumeko's case — sexual desire. The kanji being used fluctuates based on context, or exists as a way to convey multiple things at once.

For example, the kanji that was translated into "self-control" (禁欲) means "abstinence; self-control; celibacy; abnegation; asceticism."

The kanji for "desire" (欲) also means "greed; craving; desire; appetite; hunger; avarice; wants," and is the first half of the kanji used for "lust."

The English release says the more she can hold back, the bigger the thrill is, which can be interpreted in a few ways. The Japanese more explicitly says that her abstinence results in more pleasure / 快感.

The overall takeaway is this: Yumeko suppressed her irresistible desire and craving to gamble with Kirari until she found a way to circumvent it; by directing that energy into the destruction of the house pet system and, as such, Kirari's aquarium.

Which leads to minor, yet still scuffed translation...

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: President, you figured you could take me one after you took on everyone else. But Igarashi-san was with you as well.

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 生徒会長貴女は他の方と戦った後で、私の相手をすれば良いと考えた。しかしそこには五十嵐さんがいた。

Student council president, after fighting the others, you thought that then you could deal with me. However, there was Igarashi-san.

The English release is confusing, insinuating that Sayaka was acting on Kirari's behalf somehow, when we know she acted of her own volition, even if it was ultimately intended to be for Kirari's benefit. The original Japanese is clearer: Yumeko was spiraling, until she noticed that Sayaka was out in the open, making moves that were all but certainly to benefit Kirari, and that Yumeko could use that to her advantage.

As for this next part, I just want to provide the original Japanese for comparison purposes. Again, the English here isn't necessarily wrong, but the Japanese paints a clearer picture, specifically in how Kirari asks what Yumeko got up to once she was rejected.

In the official English release, Yumeko and Kirari say this: Yumeko: Then you misjudged Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yes, I did. Hee hee! It all works out. ...So? Once you realized that you cannot take me on... What did you do then?

What Yumeko and Kirari actually said in the original Japanese is: Yumeko: 見誤りましたね。五十嵐さんの愛を。 Kirari: そうね。フフ。だから良いのよ。。。。それで？私と戦えないと悟った貴女は、一体何をしたの？

Yumeko: You misjudged it, didn't you? Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yeah, I did. [chuckle] But it's fine/good. ...So? When you realized you couldn't fight me, what on earth did you do?

The "what on earth/what the hell did you" phrasing speaks volumes: Kirari knows Yumeko has done something terrible, she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop at this point.

Next up is after Sayaka has been mobbed by the house pets. I've seen some...uh, interesting, takes on Sayaka's state during this part. Everything ranging from trying to scrounge up a DSM diagnosis to trying to trying to fabricate any reason why her nose was bleeding other than "she got hit in the face with like a hundred bricks of cash thrown by pissed off students."

I mean this in the nicest way possible: just look at what happened on the pages.

Dozens if not hundreds of house pets just threw bricks of cash AT Sayaka, many of them with quite a bit of force – you can see several students winding their arms all the way back to pitch the cash at her like they're throwing a fastball. If you don't think that would cause some damage, imagine being pelted with hundreds of inch-thick, paperback novels from just a foot or two away. (Credit to LarkinUniverse for this comparison) You could probably come away unscathed from a few with nothing more than a few paper cuts, sure, but dozens? Hundreds? Thrown with force and vengeance? Aims at your head? She's shown actively taking cash bricks to the face. She's bleeding because she got slammed with solid objects moving with speed and force, just that simple.

Anyway. Let's keep moving, we only have a few more points of clarification to go.

There's a bit of nuance that gets lost when Kirari tells Sayaka she doesn't need to worry.

In the official English release, Kirari says this: Sayaka. It's nothing for you to fret over. I'm fine being the emperor with no clothes...as long as you're there with me.

What Kirari actually says in the original Japanese is: 清華気に病むことではないわ。私は裸の王様でもいいの。貴女が付いてきてくれるなら。

Sayaka. It's nothing to worry yourself sick about. I don't care if I'm the emperor with no clothes [literally: a naked king], as long as you're with me...

Kirari seems to know that Sayaka will go beyond her usual fretting and worrying over this. The kanji Kirari uses mentions "illness/sickness," so she knows that Sayaka is going to be so shaken by this it might make her ill. And she's unfortunately right, but it's beyond the degree she may have expected, judging by her shocked expression. Sayaka is bloodied, tear-stained, and in deep shock from the experience, explaining why she's drooling, staring off into space, and muttering an apology over and over. And when I say "shock" I don't mean the "oh she got super surprised," kind of shock, I mean the clinical term used for someone who just endured trauma and needs medical attention kind of "shock" that can happen to anyone who experiences a traumatic event. And make no mistake, this is very traumatic for Sayaka: she just inadvertently destroyed the very thing she moved heaven and earth to try and protect: Kirari's beloved aquarium. Kirari doesn't care, because her love is in Sayaka, but Sayaka doesn't seem to understand that just yet.

Also as a petty aside: Enormous Ls to any and everyone who has been saying Kirari doesn't care about Sayaka for years. It says a lot that one of the first things Kirari did when she was finally fully detached from Ririka is go to dote on Sayaka in front of everyone (credits go to RayDaug for that observation), let alone the fact that she's just freely admitted — again, in front of everyone! — that she doesn't care if she looks like a fool and is powerless, just so long as Sayaka is with her.

Which leads us into Yumeko's declaration. This is one of Yumeko's classic "Sa, kakegurui mashou!"/"Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" moments. However, in this instance, the official English translates it as "Now, let us give in to our compulsion!" instead of the usual "Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" it's been using for basically the rest of the series up until this point. For the same reason as the one I gave with the title of this chapter, I'm not sure I personally would've gone with that if for the simple reason that Kirari doesn't seem to have gambling as a true addiction or compulsion the way Yumeko does. If I personally had to choose a way to bring this over into English, I might err on the side of "Now, let's give in to our gambling madness!" instead.

And now for the final speech, which I'm including because some people were wondering about the phrasing used, and that's part of the reason why I do these – for comparison! The content is more or less fine, though "love confession," is never outright said, however "love letter" is.

In the official English release, the final speech goes like this: This is nothing short of a confession of love for her. A love letter the general public could never understand. Only its recipient would comprehend it. That...or perhaps she's forced to now? But either way, just one thing is clear. She...or they...they just aren't normal. They're completely obsessed. They're just compulsive gamblers.

In the original Japanese, the final speech goes like this: これは告白だ。公衆は誰一人として理解できないラブレター。解るのは相手だけ、それとも彼女が理解らせたのか！？いずれにせよ、ただひとつ明らかなこと。彼女はもしくは彼女らはまともじゃないギャンブル狂。賭ケグルイだ。

This is a confession. A love letter that none of the public could ever understand. Only the other person/recipient can understand it...Or did she make her understand it!? Either way, only one thing is clear. She, or they, are not sane – they're gamblers. They're kakegurui.

The implication of the English translation is that Kirari is the same as Yumeko – she's just a compulsive gambler with the same intrinsic, irresistible craving as Yumeko. Whereas with the original Japanese there's room for interpretation. So far in the series, Kirari has shown shades of that gambling madness, but it isn't quite the same. The text itself admits that perhaps Kirari didn't fully grasp the depths of Yumeko's madness until now, when Yumeko has taken advantage of Sayaka's recklessness and inability to see the forest for the trees as a way to get to Kirari. For me, personally, I see Kirari's surprise and weariness here as evidence that she isn't driven by the same compulsion that Yumeko is. They may both be kakegurui, but they aren't the same kind of kakegurui.

That's it for this chapter's Lost in Translation. Hope you enjoyed reading and comparing the texts, and — until next time — I'll keep chipping away at karis. :)

Thanks for reading!

[jennanydots]

im a huge cats the musical and ds9 fan please tell me everything about the AU

hehehe thank u for enabling me I will do so ! (pls bear in mind that in building this around elecetera I have largely disregarded the canon relationships in ds9 simply because I think it is more fun that way and also I LOVE to talk so this is so god damn long)

this started with the thought that electra and etcetera doing the nojay consortium plot would be unbearably cute, so of course Etcetera is cast as Nog (excitable accidental mischief maker who grows into a brave little champ and joins starfleet!) and Electra is cast as Jake (still silly but much more levelheaded/quieter than her counterpart, a worrier, and grows into a writer! a little reference to my own hc of electra as a library cat).

"why would pollicles steal your homework?" "[head tilt] because they don't have ethics?" PRECIOUS

so then building out from there you get Bombalurina as Benjamin (which I think is REALLY cool also visually I think she suits that part and I think it's such a cool thought to cast her as captain and emissary over anyone else. I love her I'm gay). and then obviously you need Demeter as Kasidy (the obvious choice for dem would be kira but I think this is much more fun for her. hot and in charge cargo ship captain! (and of course this makes her Bomba's gf :3 and Jemima their as-yet-unborn baby who I'm not technically meant to know about cause I haven't finished ds9 yet but hey) aslo. just really super hot. I'm gay. got stuck thinking about int tour dem in kasidy's boiler suit lookin outfits and ceased functioning.). as I mentioned I also cast Munkustrap as Jennifer just cause u know. makes sense. and obvs Deuteronomy as Joseph Sisko! (honestly my favourite characterisation of deut always has that little flavour of grandpa sisko I love him)

then on Etcetera!Nog's side of this family tree we have Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer taking over hybridised roles of Quark and Rom! (neither of them are her parents they're her older siblings/cousins/idk but she's theirs to raise. I've kind of been mixing and matching what narrative roles each of them take so it's sort of a. they run the bar together, jerrie is the one to become an engineer, teazer is the one to date the Leeta, they take bits and pieces of each of the ferengis plots u kno). speaking of, Victoria is cast as Leeta (because victeazer 4eva but also beautiful but kind and deceptively intelligent is literally her. also that shot of cet and vic hugging from 98 but it's rom/leeta stepmom moment Yes). also I love Ishka and originally I cast Jenny as her because YES but now that role goes to Skimbleshanks just for the utter nonsense! (I know moogie's plot is mostly about stuff that can't be reflected to skimble but I'm again thinking more of the relationship to etcetera here and I think this gives the best dynamic! also teazer as the mommas boy and jerrie with the rough relationship Yeah)

this is getting ridiculously long so I'll try to be more brief with the rest! Tugger as Kira (bomba's right hand man!), Mistoffelees as Jadzia (bestie!), Cassandra as Julian (Electra and Cass's roadtrips to disaster!), Asparagus as Worf (look at me and tell me that humour/grumpiness isn't familiar), Alonzo as Odo (elecetera hijinks to cause him to sigh grumpily as Much as possible), Jennyanydots as Miles O'Brien (this one feels kind of out of left field but 1. I love her as cettie's mentor and 2. I would LOVE to see her in the kind of irritated distress obrien lives in. I adore her let me put her in the torture machine just a little), and of couuuuurse Jellylorum as Keiko! (mentor to electra! deeply sweet and caring but also strict and kind and oooooh!), which means Tumble and Pouncival fall into Molly and Kirayoshi's places (makes them even littler than elecetera as revenge for [thing productions do that irritates me that I won't get into here cause we're having fun]), Tantomile and Coricopat as Morn (but instead of silence to the viewers and annoying chatter offscreen it's eerie staring to the viewers and referenced ominious statements they make offscreen. this is deeply funny to me), then Macavity as Dukat obviously (boos and hisses), Grizabella as Lwaxana (beloved), finally Plato as Alexander (my favourite star trek character the ds9 writers Don't understand him like I understand him but this makes so much sense), and Bustopher as the klingon chef!!!!!

this became a very long post!!!! I hope you enjoyed it!!!! please think about electra teaching etcetera to read in secret.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Are there any romance series that follows the same couple throughout all the books? It doesn't have to be HR. Not really looking for recommendations more so curious. I feel like when I do come across them It's always not purely a romance series? Like It's an erotic romance, it's technically new adult or it does follow a couple but it's also urban fantasy or sci-fi, stuff like that.

Yes, but by and large I haven't read them. There's a lot of debate about this, because you honestly can't maintain a book's HEA if the couple's story isn't done in the end. So it's not really a romance novel so much as it is a romance novel SERIES. In the end, as long as there's an HEA I think you're fine... But it's tricky.

The only series that I've read that really follows the one couple through the series is 50 Shades, and like... I think that says it all lol.

Now, I do think that some older series are a bit less standalone than many of them today, and there is more of an overarching plot that unites couples more through the series. This doesn't mean that one couple gets followed throughout the series, but rather that there are multiple couples whose journeys sort of continue through the series. Like, as a comparison--you could read any Hathaway book by Lisa Kleypas and they would stand alone pretty well, imo.

In comparison, take Nora Roberts's Circle Trilogy. That's an urban fantasy series in which there's this overarching plot of the three couples fighting this evil vampire queen in a parallel dimension (it's... great). Because that overarching plot isn't resolved until the final book, you do resolve the first two couples ROMANTICALLY in their books, but they're followed heavily and their true HEA is not guaranteed until the resolution of the series. I wouldn't call any of those books true standalones, even though the love stories are.

For reference, btw--

Morrigan's Cross--The adventure begins, we have a 1,000 year old time traveling Celtic warlock falling in love with a modern day healer/witch.

Dance of the Gods--We move from our world to the parallel Magical Ireland kingdom, our modern day vampire slayer badass babe falls in love with a fun love shapeshifter guy. He is a dragon sometimes. She rides him. Both as a dragon and as a man.

Valley of Silence--Culmination of the big war, 1,000 formerly evil vampire guy (twin brother of the warlock dude) falls in love with the virgin librarian queen of the alternate Magical Kingdom. It Saved Me In Every Way A Person Can Be Saved.

I'm currently reading Elizabeth Lowell's medieval trilogy, and it functions similarly. Best read in order, and each couple gets their HEA as their book ends but there is still a lot of drama surrounding land disputes in each book.

[stupid-stew]

character names keep me alive, toh is my lifeblood.

i am literally obsessed and this show really does provide (i still have to add more smh my head dana terrace why do you do this to me jk i love it so much please never stop) COPY AND PASTED FROM DOC UNDER BREAK

NAMES INCLUDED:

FIRST NAME

LILITH

EDA

LUZ

KING

WILLOW

GUS

ASSORTED BLIGHTS

LAST NAME

BLIGHT

CLAWTHORNE

NOCEDA

PORTER

PARK

BUMP

MISCELLANEOUS

BELOS

HIERONYMUS AND BOSCHA

ADEGAST

HOOTY

OWLBERT

KIKIMORA

GWENDOLYN

RAYNE

NOTE EVERYTHING BEFORE GWENDOLYN AS OF 6/24/21 WRITTEN WITHOUT SEASON 2 KNOWLEDGE, TO BE REVISED, REVISIONS IN BOLD!

Hello and welcome to the ramblings of a mad man. Before we get into it I think you should note that I do write like I talk because I think like a talk and I write how I think, so if you are confused as to why it sounds like i’m not making sense its because I'm not making sense also my capitalization and punctuation suck so sorry about that but we don’t have time for technicalities in this house. TO ADVENTURE!

FIRST NAME

LILITH

EDA

LUZ

KING

WILLOW

GUS

ASSORTED BLIGHTS

LAST NAME

BLIGHT

CLAWTHORNE

NOCEDA

PORTER

PARK

BUMP

MISCELLANEOUS

BELOS

HIERONYMUS AND BOSCHA

ADEGAST

HOOTY

OWLBERT

KIKIMORA

GWENDOLYN

RAYNE

GILBERT

FIRST NAME

LILITH

Ok so because I'm lilith’s bitch we are gonna start with her because her name is so cool and I love her and we should be besties Lilith hmu. Anyways as most people know Lilith is a pre existing mythological character which makes this very much good because that means it’s all outlined. Most people know her as a demonic figure, which I very much dig but similar to our lovely queen of curses out here, that's not all she is. There isn’t going to be a chronological explanation of similarities and conclusions, cope. The basic gist is that Lilith was this chick with fiery red hair (this is important iykyk) who refused to be beneath or below adam, more specifically to subjugate to him, funny because of the tapestry with belos what says subjugation on it, probably a coincidence but I do not believe in coincidence right now. Anyways basically she runs off and becomes this chick who like snatches children and will make them sick if they don’t have an amulet with the names Senoy, Sansenoy, or Semangelof on them, thats a different story but what I find interesting is this one passage,

“(12) Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; all her princes are gone. (13) Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. (14) Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest. (15) There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather them in her shadow; There shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its mate. (16) Look in the book of the LORD and read: No one of these shall be lacking, For the mouth of the LORD has ordered it, and His spirit shall gather them there. (17) It is He who casts the lot for them, and with His hands He marks off their shares of her; They shall possess her forever, and dwell there from generation to generation.”

And there are separate part of this that I find relevant, especially the description of the location, i’m not all that familiar with symbolism of animals in religious texts, so i’m gonna take it at face value and say that this is more or less a description that could be given to the physical owl house itself, sort of a place for people who don’t fit in, its a little messy and I guess one could say overgrown, but it’s a place for anyone, a place to rest now hopefully for Lilith away from the coven, there shall the Lilith repose. On top of that we see the “the hoot owl…” and you’re probably thinking what that so crazy wacko because like why are they referring to Lilith as the hoot owl isn't Eda the owl lady, yes she is. That’s why the actual meanings of lilith’s name that come from her mythological depiction as a demon lady are so important. We have night monster, night owl, night spectre, vampires, night hag, night creature, nightjar (which is another kind of bird), and night bird, all of these seem to fit lilith’s dark aesthetic very nicely which is very good for her, but there are two other ones, hot owl and screech owl, which draw her closer to Edaand away from the coven and her depiction in the mid-later episodes of the show as a monster for cursing eda, but also the name night monster could come into play if while sharing the curse Lilith acquired some of its traits, similar to Ed aas the owl beast. Ultimately, we have this little red head girl who eventually fights back against the men who are attempting to get her to be under them, for the character that is belos, for the other Lilith that is adam, god, and his angels, and now hopefully both of them will find solace and repose among the owls in a place they never thought they’d belong. All this talk of owls and god brings us into the other clawthorne baddie:

Lilith did find her repose! I love her staying in the owl house, get it queen oh yuh.

EDA

For this I'm going to use her full name edalyn, because you know like that’s just how it be it is her name. There isn’t a wiki page for her name like there is for Lilith which makes this a little bit harder but the general consensus seems to be that it means something along the lines of “gift of god”, which I find very interesting. If you are going to name a child gift of god i’m assuming that you are referring to the child themselves, but I don’t think that really applies to eda. I’m not religious, but its my impression that someone who lies, cheats, pranks, and steals their way to the top and isn’t exactly the most responsible witch on the isles and might not be the best gift god could give. I do really love Eda though, her character flaws are still a part of her character, but I think this refers to her powers. Eda considers herself to be the boiling isles gift to magic, which I mean like, have you seen the woman. In agony of a witch we see her at what probably 30% of her power with how much the curse was already tolling on her and how much magic she was probably using to fight it off, and like goddamn. She was almost beating lilith, definitely beating the shit out of her, but she was almost defeating Lilith who was at her full power, and that is just a fraction of what she used to be able to do. Her powers were a gift of god, and I think that the loss of them will greatly affect her. She’s already admitted that she doesn’t know how to do much without her magic, and I think going straight from the second most powerful witch on this isles to having no power at all is going to be incredibly taxing on her, physically and mentally.

Luckily for her the name edalyn also means patience, another thing about her name is that it not only means gift of god, but also similar things like gifted by the gods or even goddess, and this draws a connection to Lilith who is named after a demonic figure, casted out for having defied god, they are quite literally polar opposites on the name spectrum, and we see that a lot in the show, they are completely different people, I mean have you looked at them they don’t even look related, but the funnier thing is that their personalities do the same thing. You’d expect Edain her youth to be a gift from the devil, just ask principal bump, and Lilith seemed to be a goody two shoes who worked her ass off, their names could be switched based off their characters alone.

A random baby name site I found said that :

“Persons with the name edalyn are usually highly flexible and well equipped to making and accepting change throughout their life. They always seek excitement and are sometimes a bit of a risk taker. They are imaginative, and often, through their unconventional way of thinking, are naturally able to solve complex problems with ease. They are quick thinkers and observers who are clever, analytical and versatile”

Which I mean like very much applies to eda, she takes change like a champ, either genuinely or by pretending she’s ok with everything, and is always seeking excitement. Like literally all of the time. Always. I think she takes felonies as a compliment, and one of the biggest changes in her life that she genuinely was able to adapt to and appreciate was

OH MY GOD HER LEARNING THE NEW GLYPHS WAS SO CUUUUTTTEEE, I love her being able to adapt, she really is doing well. As the beginning of separate tides shows, she’s working around it, and is doing a damn good job, living up to her name.

LUZ

Ok I think at this point everyone knows that at this point the name Luz means light, and if you didn't, oopsies now you do. The character Luz was named and designed after a real life person the miss dana terrace knew at the time she was starting to really think about the show, Luz ’s personalty comes more from dana herself and we love that, but the character has really started to grow into her name. This is made most obvious when the first spell Luz learns is the light glyph, not only coming into her own as a witch, but also starting to live up to her name, which along with light also has to do with “Our Lady of Light”, which is the virgin mary, fitting her right in with the other biblical names we got going on here. I really want to stress that I know next to zero about religion, and all of the connections I am making come from wikipedia, so bare with me here. But most of the time mary seems to be this pure, saint like figure, which I think is what a lot of people see Luz as, especially on the isles. I’m going to flat out say that this is in no way meant to pass off Luz as simple minded, pure, or oblivious, because we have seen what that girl is willing to do, she faced death and poked him in the with an ice cicle. In terms of life on the isles, however, she is more or less pure and sheltered, she’s completely new to the world she’s in, but she does quickly adapt, and shows more of her strong side, and remains a good person throughout all of it, taking losses as they come, and not letting them remain losses at the same time.

Back to the whole light thing, we already touched on the whole literal bit of her and the light spell, but can you think of a better way to describe Luz ? She literally brings light everywhere she goes, even Eda admits that she’s changed things for the better, for everyone around her too. Willow got a new friend, probably the first friend she’s had in a long time, and even got to begin repairing her relationship with amity, and got placed in the plant track so she could do the things she loves, all because of Luz . Edagot to grow as a person and a mentor, and finally got someone willing to accept all her eda-ness, unconditionally, someone to really care about that really cares about her back, all because of Luz . Amity got a friend who cares about her, not just her family name and money, someone who supports her and will do anything for her because she is her friend, and a bit of self discovery along the way for amity, all because of Luz . Not a single person on the isles who has had more than 2 minutes of interaction with Luz hasn’t had their lives improved, even belos got his portal, and the thing is that even characters who people might not even consider changed have been, characters such as

Luz my beloved, she seems a little bit less of a light this season, and i do mean little. That’s totally fine though, it’s expected, i didn’t want her to just be this bright shining star after the events of the last two episodes of season 1, and appreciate her going and starting to take the fantasy of the isles with more than just a grain of salt. Obviously like in escaping expulsion, she’s still trying her best to make everything better and make friends with everyone, but there’s something a little different about it and i’m here for it tbh.

KING

The name king itself is obvious, he is royalty, the king of demoNS HIMSELF ASMODEUS hahahaha pulled a sneaky on you now accept my ideas as your own. I am on a mythological name kick, deal with it. The most important thing here is in the bible, asmodeus poses himself as a false god, which I know is something we have all considered with king, that he might be a full on liar, not be a king of anything and is just your ordinary street demon, it’s even come up in the show with him calling himself the king of artists and Luz asking him if he was just making it up at this point. It’s a good theory, I can see it, and this could be used as proof. There is also another legend that paints him as a good natured dude, who eventually banishes the king by literally throwing him, and then he loses his powers and is banished, but this is also the same legend where he marries Lilith and that is not something I am down for. There is another text in which he tells the king (the same one he threw in the other one) that his kingdom will one day be divided and the king does not believe him, and this is the same text where he admits to hating water and birds because they remind him of god. Lets think class, who has the god name and is related to birds here? King’s name by itself holds true to his character, who (regardless of if it is truthful or not) holds himself as if he is a king, and he isn't the only one with a name like that, there is also

WILLOW

Ok I know we all thought it, willow, the plant girl, how fiendishly clever. This also happens to be the only descriptor for her name I could find, which is totally fine because I think it’s a very cute name and willow is also very cute. This means we get to go into the symbolism of the willow tree wwwooooOOOOO aren’t you so very excited I know I am. Its kind of interesting, willow trees seem to match the character, understanding, warm, a safe space really, but most of all the ability to let go of pain and suffering, sometimes outright ignore it, and move on. Willow does always say out of sight out of mind does she not? She is willing to ignore, even excuse people bullying her, be it bosha or even amity, and the moment she got the chance her inner willow decided to try and literally burn the painful memories she had, willing to cause damage just to forget. Willow as a character is very willing to move on like nothing happened most of the time, key word most because another thing about willows is the ability to grow from the pain. Before understanding willow, we never really saw willow stand up for herself until she really had to, but hy the end of the episode she is willing to tell amity that she isn’t willing to fully forgive her, but she’s willing to grow and try. Heck, we see this over the entire first season, we see this little girl who can barely pull it together long enough to stand up for herself grow into this amazing character willing to publicly oppose the emperor and break into his castle for her friend, she tried to full out attack Lilith when 19 episodes earlier she wasn’t able to stand up to amity for bullying her. And I am in no way calling willow weak, she never was, she just needed to find the ability to show everyone that she’s strong, god I love willow so much, you wanna know who else loves willow?

GUS

Gus, my main man, love you but for this we are gonna have to use the full on augustus sorry babes. The name augustus means majestic, or venerable, which while I must say that the illusion of kiki doing the worm was probably one of the most majestic things I have ever seen, I’m going to focus on venerable a bit more here. Venerable is a big word, it means “accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character.”, which for gus the age part might play a smaller part here, but he is good as what he does, Luz and willow both respect him, Eda Respects him, he’s this little dude who is younger than everyone and has to rely on his ability to succeed, not only with his power but with his personality. Gus seems to be confident in himself, communicating with everyone regardless of who they are or what power they hold, similarly to willow he was willing to do anything to help Luz , leading into the second description of venerable, “heroic in nature”. Now, you might be wondering, bestie where ever did you get that description, it totally wasn’t from a religious page okyesitwas but that's fine because being pronounced venerable guarantees a spot in heaven so get it bestie. Overall, the general meaning for augustus is that they are strong, respectable, and powerful, which takes us right into the

Gus, shawty, ily but please stop the obsession with death babes ur starting to scare me. I hope with the upcoming Gus content in TTLGR we will see more of him growing into his powers and such.

ASSORTED BLIGHTS

The blight first names bring me joy so I am putting amity last because I think its really funny, starting off with alador, the name alador evokes diplomacy, correctness, and confidence. We know zilch about alador, but if the vibes of the blight family have anything to say it’s definitely something along those lines. The name odalia means wealth, which I mean like have you seeeen blight manor? Also back at it again with the fact that it’s a variant of the name odilia, like the saint olilia which I don't have ties for you right now because again, we know nothing about her. Edric also means wealth, fortune, riches, powerful, you get the vibes, same thing with emira which means commander, or prince, princess, leader, or star. So you know like we have all these super powerful names happening, and then, oh boy and then we get to little miss perfect herself, amity blight. It means friendship, or harmony. If I was her I would be so mad at my parents like yall have these mad powerful names and I got stuck with friendship? Hand me the emancipation papers. You know what they say, friendship is the real magic (even if no longer taught in schools due to budget constraints). I hope that this leads more into season 2 with amity working on her friendships and ultimately her relationships in general, which we got a bit of already with her working on repairing her relationship with willow, and making the moves to cut off old toxic friendships and moving into more genuine ones with willow, Luz , and gus. I guess you could say that the only thing ALL the blights have in common with each other is their

They are rich assholes, alador is a little wacko, odalia is hot asf dana seriously what the hell man that was out of pocket. The only thing about alador that lives up to his name is his money, odalia seems more obsessed with image and money, and i too am obsessed with her image literally boy what the hell boy.

LAST NAME

BLIGHT

The word blight by itself means a plant disease which boy oh boy can you believe how nicely that fits into amity bullying willow because I sure can. Outside of just the plant bit it overall just means like something that damages another thing, and this works beautifully for each member of the family. The parents are damaging their children, the twins just causing general damage, and amity and her goddamn relationships, but fortunately that whole plant thing brings us into the next couple of last names

CLAWTHORNE

The last name clawthorne means “cold or exposed thorn tree” which had me kind of like what the heck so I went off and had some fun and got you some presents that I think are funny, so there was this guy right, his name was joseph clawthorne, and he created the term whiffenpoof, which is the name for a wildly fictitious animal, things like a jackalope, or even a griffin with spider breath, though I guess that would be the work of a

NOCEDA

Back again with the trees good lord, it means field of nut trees, so again I went into prominent people an found this guy named jorge noceda sanchez, he was a painter and some of his works are kinda baller actually it seems like something that would fit in on the isles, but also not all of the names have a deeper meanings, names like

PORTER

Ok I am like pretty sure this was just meant to be a play on the fact that gus’ dad’s name is perry and is a reporter, get it, perry porter, perry porter, reporter, but nonetheless I did some digging because why the heck not, it means doorkeeper, or gate keeper, someone who guards something like an important building, which honestly I think this would be a good last name for hooty if he ever gets one, but again not all of these are important names at the moment, or maybe they won't ever be at all, names like

PARK

At first I was kinda like l m a o willow park plant girl hahahahah plants in the park parks have trees willow is a tree but then I remembered that someone pointed out that park is a traditionally korean surname and then like a week later disney posted about it for aisian pacific american heritage month which kind of confirmed it, and I don’t know if the whole intention behind it was to establish willow as representation or not, but the surname park by itself means gourd and willow I am so sorry that is so unfortunate LMAOSIFN

BUMP

To be honest I was not expecting bump to have a last name that meant anything but it means swift walker and I think thats funny so you have to know it now

MISCELLANEOUS

BELOS

BIIIITCH LISTEN UPPPP there is a butt tone of mythology surrounding his name and its mostly a different form of it, belus, that is referenced, but same thing different shape. Most of his depiction is as a great king or ruler, in babylonian mythology being the equivalent of zeus of jupiter, which liiikkkkkeeeoajolnjojnkjakjavnjfvdfkjf but its fine everything is great its all ok most importantly, he is recognized as the god or ruler of war, and in that same mythology he lived in babylon, which “... was originally water, and called a sea. But Belus put an end to this, and assigned a district to each, and surrounded Babylon with a wall; and at the appointed time he disappeared.” and idk about you but the smell of him assigning a divide and disappearing smells sour like funky to me babes

HIERONYMUS AND BOSCHA

I am only putting this here because the fact that it’s totally a play on hieronymus bosch makes me cackle and you all have to know it thank you

ADEGAST

B-but brevyn he was only there for like one episode, yeah ok and? Radegast is the slavic god of hospitality, and there is no host like a host that pretends to take you on a mythical quest and then tries to eat you and your mentor and her deranged cat demon, ok? His name translates to “dear guest” or “welcomed guest” and I mean I think if my host tried to suck me into some fantasy would delusion i’d feel pretty welcomed

HOOTY

He is an owl

OWLBERT

He is also an owl

KIKIMORA

First and foremost, she is a little night gremlin who hates children and I think that really fits her, but she is also a little house demon, who is very difficult to get to leave, have we seen her outside the castle? Will she be a spy along with the mask next season? She also has a name that means nightmare or night demon, similar to a certain other night creature we might have heard of a while ago. She tried to strangle children and I love that for her,and she is described as a little old ugly messy haired lady and I feel like her current character has the personality of one so i’ll take it, but what really gets me is her villain origin story, which is that she "grows up with a magician in the mountains. From dawn to sunset the magician’s cat regales Kikimora with fantastic tales of ancient times and faraway places, as Kikimora rocks in a cradle made of crystal. It takes her seven years to reach maturity, by which time her head is no larger than a thimble and her body no wider than a strand of straw. Kikimora spins flax from dusk and to dawn, with evil intentions for the world.”

GWENDOLYN

Ok, the queen herself, haven’t met her yet but like who knows. Not really a whole lot here (my ears are ringing oops one sec ok i’m back hi) anyways um uh rings? Her name right off the bat has a lot to do with rings, and really that only applies to eda, because her ring was a big thing for her, she gave it to lilith, we all watched wing it like witches you know what’s up, but i mean like was that gwen’s ring? I really wanted the hand on eda’s wall to be gwen’s, very upset to see she has all of her body parts so far. I am also not sure if that’s how it’s spelled, but it means the same thing anyways. Also meaning fair or blessed, any woman who created both eda and lilith is probably mad powerful and we love to see it, also she’s a beastkeeper and i like i want to talk about that with eda’s curse but now is not the time for shenanigans (that’s a lie every time is the time for shenanigans i’m just exhausted)

RAYNE

Bitch, sorry, ok listen like um sidebar I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS CHARACTER AND YOU ALL NEED TO KNOW IT but also at this point i’m not really sure about this character, is this their name, is that even how it’s spelled, girl idfk but like whooptydooo I do what I want so cope. Right now, we are assuming that they are the new bard coven head character, and like let me tell you the way that I am fully pissing my pants atm like bestie, anyways, if spelled rayne, then it means counsel or song, and this is why, do you see why this is why we spell it like this? It’s also scandanavian which means like nothing but it’s cool. This spelling fits because like counsel, head of the bard coven, you get it it’s fine, and then song, also head of the bard coven, you know. It fits so well, especially since this is supposed to be a friend from eda’s past, and like is supposed to try and recruit eda for a rebellion against the emperor in the episode eda’s requiem, i cannot convey to you how goddamn excited I am like there are not enough words in this realm or any others to tell you how prepared i am for this character to rock my world.

GILBERT

I AM S O B B I N GGGGG apparently one of willow’s dad’s names is gilbert and that is literally so cute I cannot like actually this knowledge makes up for coronavirus anyways it means bright promise and idk what that even has to do with anything but I love it and you should to omg

Now i have to go update the other characters see you in hell <3

[theemperorsfeather]

Angry work rant time - I already ranted at a coworker who shares some frustrations but I am still wound up about it, for historical reasons.

Back in January there was a meeting with me and one of hte other copyeditors (who was about to retire), and our supervisor, and one of the "technical" staff, because the tech staffer was upset about some level of imprecision happening in the copyediting, and so we went through a whole damn style guide (which I originally put together the first time I worked there) and it was left to me and one of hte marketing staff to finish it up.

So yesterday we had a followup meeting with me and a new copyeditor, and one of the older editors, and our supervisor plus my marketing coworker/sort-of-supervisor, plus of course the tech staffer. Who is still all GRR ARGH THINGS MUST BE PERFECT and thinks that if we only just share the style guide with the whole company this will solve everything.

It is a lovely dream, one I once shared, but if more than 5 people outside of the editing circle ever read the damn thing, let alone start changing their writing, it would be a fucking miracle.

We're not a publisher, we're a design firm.

Anyway the tech staffer had some other ancient grievances which frankly she should have kept out of this damn meeting instead of wasting our time on "but this one time this one thing got skipped over" and our supervisor having to say "Yes, everyone in the whole chain of writing and reviewing and rereviewing it missed it, long before it got to the copyeditors, and you know what, sometimes that just happens."

I did at one point get to point out that if they really want better copyediting, they have to give the editors more time. Like, time enough to review the document, set it aside for several hours, and then rereview it. Which isn't going to happen company-wide. Not ever. Those assholes aren't even giving the department a reasonable amount of time for ONE review. It is a long-standing problem. A style guide won't fucking fix it.

It has already been made abundantly clear that they want us to spend as little time as possible on a review, I mean what else was "we expect that most of these documents only need a quarter to half hour of billing time to review, and if you go over you may get called to account for why" if not that.

god i hate working in that department so fucking much, it's all "we're here to support the rest of the company uwu so we can't push back when they're awful" and then expected to do flawless fucking work under shit deadlines and heavy workload. At least very few people end up fussing over petty inconsistencies.

I'm unhappy we have one more fucking followup meeting to come - and that tech staffer gets to review the style guide before we finalize it, like, I'm sorry, that is not your job, it is OURS - but ugh whatever. At least my marketing colleague/quasi-supervisor also believes the style guide is mostly useless for changing the company at large, but whatever, it'll be a useful thing for the other editors to refer to.

I'm jus tso fucking angry every time I get confrtoned with the shit deadlines in that department, even if I barely need to content with them any more. THe 3 or 4 years I spent dealing with it on a daily basis has left a permanent anger rage there.

[leighlim]

As soon as I saw the meerkat, I thought: "Is someone taking the piss on another?"

Sometimes the fast forward button stays too long and I wasn't able to get the context until later.

(I thought it was something digital, then later after a close inspection of the image, it's actually a photo --- or possibly a scan? --- of an actual physical thing. It was the lit buzzer arcs that gave it away. It did look like manual squiggles...which sort of made sense...and made me wonder why Emma just didn't use a screenshot from an episode and work from that....then the penny dropped.)

PS: Why isn't meerkat included in the dictionary yet? I'm getting a spell check notification. Is that because it needs to be 'Meerkat' (nope...the dictionary doesn't like that either)?

--------------------

Highlights:

Sam: Hey, I wanted to say, welcome to Emma, who's in the front row. Because last week she was in the back row.

[Emma nods]

Tom: That's right, yes.

Sam: This week, she's in the front row. At this rate, she'll be at the audience next week.

[Laughter from the audience as Tom gestures with both arms.]

Tom: Just mixing things up. Keeping things fresh. A long season.

--------------------

Tom: Where do you fit in?

Katrina: I don't.

[Tom and the audience crack up.]

Katrina: No, I do. I...No.

Tom: Your character is Ange.

Katrina: Ange. I'm her boss.

Ed: It's on Paramount+

Katrina: It's on Paramount+

Ed: Now, how would I subscribe to Paramount+?

Katrina: Why do you hate me?

[The panel crack up along with the audience.]

Ed: I wanna get involved!

Katrina: I'm the worst. I'm so technically---

Ed: It's alright. Anne know. Anne...

Katrina: Anne knows?

Anne: I'm actually on 'Spreadsheet' as well and I...

Katrina: Yes!

Anne: ...still don't know how to get on to Paramount+.

[Laughter from the panel and the audience.]

Tom: What do you mean you're in it?

Ed: You're in 'Spreadsheet'?

Anne: I'm in everything! Don't worry.

Katrina: Yeah, you totally are.

Anne: I'm totally pregnant in it, aren't I?

Katrina: You were fantastic. God, you were funny.

Anne: Oh, thank you.

Katrina: I stayed behind that night.

Tom: Yeah?

Katrina: Just to watch.

Sam: Oh, yeah.

Katrina: As I do.

Sam: Anything not to go home. I understand that.

Katrina: I am dedicated. Unlike you, Sam.

[Katrina turns to Tom.]

Katrina: We worked together.

Tom: On what?

[Sam nods reluctantly but is holding back a smile.]

Katrina: He's actually been a bit of a mentor to me over the years.

Tom: Whare have you and....

Sam: When you say "worked together" I say "carry you".

[Laughter from the audience.]

Katrina: You know what, Sam. I would say the same.

Ed: Where was it?

Katrina: I was not a heavy burden.

Ed: What was it, Katrina?

Anne: Funnily enough, I was in this one too.

[Laughter from the audience.]

Anne: I was!

[Later...]

[Sam buzzes.]

Tom: Sam?

Sam: Walk Of Fame.

Katrina: Yes!

[She's beaming at Sam.]

Tony: Ah!

Katrina: You are correct! I knew it. You're amazing.

[Sam cracks up.]

--------------------

Tom: This audio cassette sold at auction for $58,000. What was in it?

[Emma buzzes.]

Tom: Emma.

Emma: Tony's references?

[Tony and the rest of the panel crack up.]

--------------------

Episode Rating: 6/10

[bxoken-heartss]

@tu-sonrisaaa-te-amooo asked: Could you do the 8 and 17 fluff with Joel? tht would be cute (ik u hate him lol u could do zabdi if u want)

Lmao I don't hate him Bby..he can just be a bit dramatic sometimes...that's all 🙆‍♀️

Prompts: (I did a bit of alterations in it so excuse me)

“I want to dance through an army of fireflies with you.” (Prompt 8)

“My hand was made to fit into yours. That’s all there is to it.” (Prompt 17)

So Y/N is your name

~ ~ ~ means change of scenario.

✓ ✓ ✓ means the end.

So...ahem...this went a bit more than I intended it to go...I swore I would just write drabbles but I guess old habits die hard? So this is it? I hope you like it Dia! 💕😅 (oh new nickname alert)

This song is beautiful and sorta inspired me! 💕

- - -

Y/N and Joel were friends ever since they were little kids...They had met when Joel had gotten lost wandering around in a series of pet shops staring at pets (especially various dog breeds and puppies). When his senses had hit him..he understood he had gotten lost..he began to feel nervous and uneasy and let out childish sobs as he began to run around looking for his mother.

He barely paid attention to anything around him as he only focused in searching for his mother that which eventually ends up with him bumping onto someone.

"Ouch! Why can't you watch where the hell they are going?!" A voice speaks

Joel falls down as he looks at the person speaking...a little girl who held a husky in her arms on the floor angrily glaring at him

"I'm so sorry...I didn't..." He begins as he stares at the husky...

"It's fine...Just watch where you're going at least the- -" She begins

"Is that the Siberian Husky?" Joel asks interrupting her as he stands up

"I'm kind of offended that you interrupted me...But yes...yes it is.." She replies as she possessively holds her husky

"Can...Can I pet it?" He asks as he looks at the husky eagerly

"Well sure I guess..." She says as Joel begins petting the husky.

A few minutes later, the duo had already begun talking about...dogs things in general..

"Y/N! There you are!!" I was looking all over for you!" A voice speaks, tone concerned

"Oh..Mumma..I was just on my way back but then this boy bumped into me and apparently loves Zachary a bit too much.." She says as she points at Joel

And that's when our oblivious little Joel realizes that he was lost and was supposedly supposed to find his mother..not stand here fanboying over a husky.

His eyes widen as he looks around, searching for his mother a.k.a his official/ main intention...Panic strikes his system as he realizes he was obviously potentially lost..

"Are you okay Joel?" Y/N asks

"I'm LOST!" Joel replies as he looks at her letting out childish sobs

"Oh god...Mumma...Help him!" Y/N says

"Listen lil boy...we'll find your mother...do you like know her number or anything.." Y/N mother asks

"Yes..." He replies as he tells her the number letting out soft sobs

The husky jumps onto Joel's arms as it began licking his face. Joel stopped crying slowly as he began smiling a bit.

"Oh my god...He is just so adorable..." Joel says as he pets the husky

"Yeah...he seemingly likes you..strange..he's not pretty comfortable with strangers.." Y/N comments

Soon Joel's mother comes in, her eyes scanning around, her eyes instantly gleaming with happiness as she finds Joel.

"Joel!!!" She says as she runs over and hugs him, Zachary jumping out of Joel's arms onto the ground.

"Mumma!!" Joel yells as he hugs her, sobbing quietly

Y/N stepped away a bit letting them have their moment.

"Thank you for finding him! He's always roaming around..pet stores...or just everywhere in general...I'm so sorry for his careless actions...and all the inconveniences he has caused you..." Joel's mother apologizes

"Oh not at all...He wasn't a bother at all.." Y/N's mother reassures

"Joel...at least next time don't go around without telling your mum! If you want a pet come over to my place...We can play with Zachary together..." Y/N says as she smiles at him, holding her mother's hand

"Okay..I will." Joel says smiling at her as he pets Zachary one last time...

"Bye Joel! See you...well...soon?" She says as she walks off..

That was how it all began...After that, one day he had turned up at her place surprisingly...They were next door neighbours...And eventually they spent a lot of time together..which lead to their everlasting friendship which began at the age of 6..

~ ~ ~

"Joel...when am I going to see you again?" Y/N asks as she lazily sat on his bed whilst she helped him with her luggage.

"Around 9 months...I'll be back soon.." Joel says as he puts in another shirt

"Oh come on...that's technically the entire year!" Y/N comments as she rolls her eyes

"I swear I would have taken you if it wasn't for your Fashion Designing Course..If that had been completed..then you could have joined.." Joel says as he stuffs in something else

"Yeah yeah..it's important right...I'm going to miss you Jo..." She says as she looks at him

"Me too..I wish there was something I could do.." Joel says as he walks over towards her.

"Just promise that you'll facetime me before all your performances..and just text me once at least every day...send me those lame audios of yours...I don't care.." Y/N says as she holds his hand...

He was still here...not gone..why did he have to leave?

"Hey...I'll text you and call you everyday.. You're my best friend...If I wouldn't call you.. who else would I?" He asks as he holds her hand and hugs her

~ ~ ~

"Wow! That was a spectacular show right boys?" Joel asks obviously excited as he walked behind the stage...

"Yes..exhausted but overwhelming..." Richard replies as they walk into the room backstage

Zabdiel immediately falls onto the couch, Erick cools off, Chris begins to fix his hair

"God..Why hasn't Y/N even seen my message! She didn't even facetime me today or even call me! Isn't that just mean?!?" Joel comments as he slumps onto the couch

"Yes...call her mean and every other negative word you could think of Ho-eL! She brought her arse from miles away, sat on a 13 hour flight just so she could surprise her best friend and yet you call her that?" A voice speaks from behind him

"Wait...a minute..." Joel trails as he instantly turns behind and sees Y/N

"Y/N- - !!!!" His tone surprised and shocked as he leaps off the couch and hugs her, a few years falling through his cheeks in the rush of excitement.

"Curls!!" She yells as she hugs him.

They hug on forever none of them every wanting to let go...Until an intentional cough from the guys pulls them away

"Ah...err...Guys! Meet my bestie Y/N!" Joel says as he grabs her hand heading towards the boys

"We talked Curls...I talked to everyone and they all helped me hide...You guys were amazing...The performance was just fantastic!" She comments as the boys yell out a chorus of thanks

"Okay so everyone except me knew that you were here?" Joel asks

"Duh curls...I couldn't sneak into backstage without their help..." Y/N says referring to the boys.

Joel grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty room and pulls her into a hug again

"I'm so glad to have you here...Thank you for the support.." Joel says

"Wow wow...I never knew I'd see a sweet side of you Joel..." Y/N remarks

"Shut up and just hug me..." Joel says rolling his eyes

She returns the gesture as they kept hugging, an odd source of comfort filling both their veins.

~ ~ ~

"Joel...this is beautiful..." Y/N comments as she looks around the woods.

It was a small forest sort of place filled with thick green trees and a small river which gleamed with reflections of the littered stars that laid scattered in the skies.

"I know right..." Joel says as he looks at the river and at her..

They spent a lot of time making jokes and just talking about life...he had just returned from tour a few days before and thought he ought to spend some quality time with his best....friend...

He almost sighed at his own thoughts..he had begun to have feelings for her...but he didn't want to let them interplay..he didn't want to lose her...he needed her as a friend at least in his life..his feelings didn't have any part in this...but he couldn't help but wonder everytime she smiled..was she thinking about him? Did she think of him..as something more than a friend?

"Joel..Joel...HOEL!" Y/N yells.

Joel's eyes widen in shock as he falls off the log he sat on because of how loud she yelled and how distracted he was..

"Oh god...you are so clumsy sometimes Curls! Wait..actually all the damn time!" She says as she holds out her hand, Joel gratefully accepting her extended hand as she pulls him up.

"Look at that Y/N..My hand was made to fit into yours..” Joel comments as he sits up

Y/N face floods with a tint of pink as she nervously laughs it off..but never lets go off his hand..

"Of course you dummy...We are besties so god made sure it would work that way.." She replies uneasily

"Y/N I want to tell you something.." He says interrupting her from speaking further

An awkward moment of painful silence fills the air...

"What is it Joel?" She asks nervously

"It's.. it's..." Joel begins but his anxiety kicks in.

"If you don't tell her now...you'll never tell her or know if she felt the same.. you'll probably live in regret but you have to! " His inner voice encourages as he takes a deep breath

"I...I like you..." He breathes out

"I like you too Joel! You are my best fr- -" Y/N begins

"No Y/N...I like you more than a best friend.. you make me feel warm and mushy on the inside..I don't feel anything else around anyone else...You make me feel safe, happy. You understand me...We fight..but that's only because you care..but I like you in a different manner...You make me want to the cringy -est stuffs like taking couple pictures, share smoothies together, go on dates...and make me wanna dance with you in between an army of fireflies under the moonlight and what nots.. and to think that you make these cliché activities look normal...that's weird and definitely not something I feel one fine day.. I knew I always had these feelings..But I realized them...only recently...I understand if you don't feel the same..but just so you know I'll keep loving you..on and on..." He finishes off

"Who said I never had feelings for you Joel?" She asks "Every night... I'm just waiting and wondering if you have found someone that'll make you feel like that..Because why not? There are millions out there..prettier, hotter and just beautiful girls out there waiting for you so why would you choose me over them? Yeah... nothing.."

"Y/N I don't care...for you were..are the only girl I've had my eyes on...from the start.. today and forever..." Joel says as he holds both her palms. (I'm low-key swooning 🤧)

Before she could answer, Joel extends his free hand and pulls her up.

They walk over towards a place where the moonlight reflected brightly and the clear water flowing gently, causing small ripples as if it was singing a song.

"Well...can I have a dance with you?" Joel asks as he extends his hand out in a sorta gentleman style

Y/N nods softly as she takes his hand, his hand instantly softly interlocking with hers as she rests her free hand on his shoulder, his free hand holding a space above her waist securely..

As they began to softly dance in sync, an army of fireflies had encapsulated around them causing her to smile wide.

"Look Joel...True to your 'cliché' wishes..the fireflies are here..." Y/N jokes about it as Joel's face floods with a bright pink colour.

They enjoyed the overall aura, the silence suddenly turning comfortable...as they merely enjoyed each others' presence without any words being exchanged.

"So..Y/N..." Joel begins

"Hmm?" She asks as they continue dancing

"Will..will you be my girlfriend?" He asks nervously

Y/N stops dancing as she tries to catch Joel's gaze..but the boy would look at anyone or anything but her..

Y/N stood on her toes as she holds his face with both hands as she stares at his beautiful dark brown orbs, her eyes filled with nothing but love..that too only for him.

Joel looks at her nervously and before he could speak anything, she softly presses her lips against his. He instinctively bends down a bit to reach upto her height as his hands wrap around an area a bit above her waist.

She pulls away, Joel's arms still firmly fixated above her waist as he looks at her

"Did that answer your question Pimentel?" She asks, her tone filled with sassiness

"For real Y/N?" He asks in disbelief

"Yes Joel..For real...I promise you...I'll be there for you..." Y/N says as Joel smiles

"I love you Y/N.." He says

"I love you only..Joel Pimentel.." Y/N says as Joel pulls her in for another kiss.

✓ ✓ ✓

The Ending kinda sucked tbh...but anyways hehehe... I'll try to improve! 😅🙃