#but finding an english copy in my country might be hard

[snowsays]

when I think I might be exagerating my stance of reading mainly in english and avoiding spanish translations, I find stuff like the spanish Inheritance translation completely mixing up Saphira and Arya and making a pretty straight-forward scene, confusing af

how do you go from

"A breath of wind tugged at his hair as Arya sped past him. She ran up a pile of barrels and jumped, and her leap carried her high into the air, higher than any elf could jump without assistance. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of Thorn’s tail and hung dangling from it like an ornament."

to (and im going to translate it back to english so yall actually understand)

"When Saphira passed over his head, a gust of wind tugged at his hair. The dragon climbed up a bunch of barrels and jumped, rising in the air higher than an elf could. She reached out with her paw and got hold of Thorn's tail, hanging from it like she was an ornament."

so of course imagine my confusion when I get to the end of the next paragraph, where the narration is talking about Eragon only wanting to "catch Thorn before something terrible happened to Nasuada or Arya". I was like "why Arya tho? When did she get on the dragon too? Did I miss that bc I have been distracted?" but no! I actually had the english version open in my computer bc I wanted to check something, so I looked for the scene there and of course it makes sense there!

It just makes me so frustrated

this is your job!! Be ffr!!

[redrage71890]

HEY NANBAKA FANS!!! Has anyone ever thought about the linguistic skills everyone has? Concerning the fact that the cast is largely international with the inmates primarily besides the guards since majority of them are Japanese (except for Building 5 that's mainly Chinese).

Big Note: I'm not fully caught up in the manga and just basically started it, so this is all coming from an anime watcher. If its somehow explained in the manga then someone tell me please...

Though staying with the primary cast of Building 13, 3/4 of cell 13 are foreigners from specifically English speaking countries being America and Britain. So are the three of them fluent in Japanese? I guess they would because Nanba Prison is in Japanese waters with majority of everyone being Japanese. I understand that the foreign guards would have to know Japanese for obvious reasons.

So here are my personal headcanons/thoughts for the each of the primary characters in the anime (because I haven't finished the manga):

Inmates

I think it depends on the pasts and learning abilities of the inmates for them to have a better understandings of learning another language and retaining that.

Jyugo: I find it hard to believe he would be able to learn another language easily or even moderately. He probably tries to copy how someone pronounces something but he struggles with reading and writing. From all the prisons he's been to internationally, he probably has basic English that was kind of refined from Uno helping.

Uno: Out of everyone in cell 13, Uno would most likely be bilingual with English and Japanese. I don't think he would be completely fluent however, he might struggle with more complex sentences or words he's unfamiliar with. (Also who doesn't think Uno might slip into some angry British English or something...)

Nico: I think Nico would be able to speak more Japanese than English because of watching anime. He can't read so he's going off hearing, so he might have picked up on words from how they're used in phrases and puts them in his everyday. Along with all the guards and Jyugo probably teaching him in some way.

Rock: Honestly, I see Rock using more English than the other three. Using it more emotively especially when he's angry or frustrated, mainly to himself. His Japanese I'd say is decent but not as fluent.

Tsukumo: Definitely bilingual and possibly trilingual. Japanese and English and I'll say Chinese that his 'mum' encouraged him to learn because of possible roles. Probably maintains them by trying them with English and Chinese speaking inmates.

Liang: Japanese and Chinese straight up. Doesn't know English well at all because of the environment and situation he grew up in, but he probably doesn't care about learning another language and just keeps Japanese and Chinese. Too busy training anyway.

Upa: Same thing with Liang. Don't really care and too busy training. English? I think he'd be really competitive against like Liang to see who's better at English.

Qi: Trilingual. Qi is pretty smart so I'm not surprised he would know three languages or so. He might've had foreign clients before he went to prison so he'd have to know English at least. Its Japanese, Chinese and English he knows to spell it out.

Musashi: Most likely the most knowledgeable out of the inmates, considering Musashi went to college so I'm saying trilingual. For all I know he might not be fluent in Japanese but he’s certainly fluent in German and English for obvious reasons (he’s German if anyone forgot).

Honey: Bilingual. He’s half Japanese and American but we don’t know anything about his family so who knows if he was actually taught Japanese at a young age. But Honey is quite smart with his bullets and the thread so I’d say he knows English and Japanese well to near fluency.

Trois: Most likely also bilingual but possibly trilingual. Trois is very intelligent considering his somewhat sadistic self with machinery, in my mind he probably has enough brain space for two at least languages. French is one and the other is Japanese, I said trilingual because I'm not sure if he would know English somehow.

Guards

They gotta be smart in a way and physically strong enough to keep these inmates from escaping. Not to mention the foreign guards having to learn another language to work at Nanba.

Hajime: Strikes me as a man that at least knows decent English but not fluent. I think he's very knowledgeable in other languages but he's too busy to study them or learn them.

Yamato: I don't think Yamato knows a lot of English or any other language besides Japanese. I'm not sure how he met his wife since she's Russian but I think she's bilingual while he isn't really.

Seitarou: Shy English speaker and isn't that confident in his skills, but he knows it decently. Though he doesn't give a vibe that he knows anything other than Japanese or English.

Samon: For obvious reasons he's bilingual with Japanese and Chinese. I like to think that the Chinese inmates and guards talk to each other in Chinese as a way of retaining the language. I see Samon helping some inmates retain their Chinese if some happen to forget like writing.

Inori: Again, bilingual. Highly doubt he would try to learn another language. Would he speak it at Nanba with anyone else? Honestly, he might but probably not often at all yet he somehow still remembers his Chinese.

Kenshirou: I'll be honest here, Kenshirou most likely knows the basics for a bunch of languages from his years in the police and he might of had to pick up basics for other languages for situations or so. Currently, I see his linguistics being a bit broken from not using it and or he forgets because of his work.

Hitoshi: Probably really knowledgeable on linguistics and other cultures but might have trouble speaking. Is very curious about other cultures and actually wouldn't mind learning from the people and feeling a great amount of appreciation for them. Considering the fact that he remembers that Hajime told him that Germans like beer a lot so I think Hitoshi wouldn't mind learning about other languages.

Kiji: This is hard. But I don't think Kiji would be extremely good with learning another language but I think he would know a few words. Like random words he can use and say in the correct times, though he probably would be too busy with his duties

Mitsuru: Ironically, probably knows many languages and surprisingly doesn't butcher any of them. Most likely favours English the most and is most likely fluent. Reason I'd say is from music he listens to or just saying shit for the jokes and memes.

Momoko: Relatively knowledgeable on other languages but isn't fluent in those languages. I'd say as the warden she'd have to encounter many foreigners so she'd know other languages for conversation and what's necessary.

[girls--complex]

I just came upon your blog and it's given me Lots of Thoughts, even though I don't particularly believe in any God (that is to say, I think there might be something more out there, though I don't think it's God as it's portrayed by any religion and I need some sort of tangible evidence before I can confirm or deny that something like that exists. All that to say I'm agnostic lol), but I do think you have some very good points about a lot of things.

I find it kinda hard to understand some of the things you write since you use a lot of long and complicated words that aren't in my vocabulary since English isn't my first language and I've never left my home country, but I'm doing my best! (With the help of an online dictionary)

Either way, I really love your art and I'm taking some inspiration from your style to practice, if that's okay with you! I just really like how flowy, creative and loose it is and I really need to loosen up a bit about making things instead of constantly adding more detail and perfecting it until I lose interest because it becomes stressful instead of enjoyable to create something.

I also wanted to ask, since according to your comics you've done shrooms before, how would you recommend going about shrooms to someone who's not used to doing much of any substance? (I barely drink alcohol and I smoke weed so rarely every time I do it I end up extremely disoriented until I manage to calm down no matter how little I smoke).

I'm asking cause a friend of mine whom I've known for years recently told me they have some, and that he'd be willing to share them with me, and I'm curious about trying them out and seeing if I can learn something from that experience, but I wanna stay safe while making the most of it :3

Hi thank you for a long & thoughtful message

YOU ARE ALWAYS ALLOWED TO COPY OR "STEAL" OR WHAT EVER FROM MY DRAWINGS seriously this is so normal and allowed. I do this with other cartoonists and all the cartoonists I know also do this. We do it to each other. "I like how she draws eyes" or whatever and we absorb it into our own style. Or just copying drawings/ paintings/pages. This is good. Do it.

Thank you for taking the time to decipher my words. I know I use lots of large/obscure words N trying to get better at making me language accessible (& maybe use my beloved obscure words in enough context that a reader can figure out the meaning).

I think using psychedelics is something better to talk about with people who know U in person and can respond to your needs and goals. Maybe your friend can give some guidance or knows someone who has a shamanic streak that can. Or you can always go on erowid or reddit whatever kids are using now to do a lil research.

I don't really feel comfortable giving specific advice or even general advice that might color the experience in a certain way, hope u understand...

Thank u for saying Hi

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

In two minds as to whether to post this because I HOPE I'm going to do a comic arc of it.

But since I'm currently incredibly slow to do comics and also because I spent the last three days solid on it... Here it is.

But I guess if you'd rather see it in comic form and care about spoilers then don't read it?

EDIT: I wrote a follow up scene and then I wrote a follow up scene to the follow up scene and... Long story short, or rather, short story long, it's a book manuscript now. I've got 18k words so far

No book spoilers though! (The current book is coming along very well but isn't quite ready). << EDIT: this refers to a different book that is close to a final draft

----

“Um... I d-don’t have a l-lot, but...” Victor held out the canvas bag. The three of them had agreed to do a book swap, or rather, a manga swap. Lucinda had been bringing books to Fairyland for Will, as books were somewhat hard to come by, and she had offered to bring him books too. Victor, having no idea what books he wanted, not being savvy on the selection of Earth books available, and not daring to do such a bold, daring thing as taking a friend up on an offer, hadn’t asked for any yet. Hettie was positively itching to get her hands on Lucinda’s manga – “As the Otherworlds’ first magical girl, it is positively my duty!” – and Victor had some manga too. Only a few volumes... The yokai peddlers only had a small selection that passed inspection by his mother.

Lucinda sat cross-legged on the floor after taking the bag, and had plonked two of her own on the rug. They were in one of the guest parlours, little drawing rooms that were previously for nobles to sit and relax in, but were in the process of being turned into bedrooms and common rooms for the expected magical school students. This one needed very little doing at it, and had become their hangout area. There were comfy couches and a little table and trolley for drinks and snacks. Victor had brought them some tea – books weren’t the only thing he’d picked up from his brief visit home – and it was rapidly cooling as the girls were far too excited by the manga to worry about little things like staying hydrated.

“Oooh this is really rare!” Lucinda picked up one of the more battered copies with a pair of girls on the cover; one with bright pink hair, the other with an equally striking shade of purple. “It never came out in the UK at all, and in the US it was this limited run tied in to the anime they decided to air at like, 5am on a Saturday morning, so it never got a big following and never got reprinted in English. I swear sometimes they WANT shows to fail.”

“I... didn’t understand most of what you said. Sorry, it’s what?” Hettie looked up from where she was already a good chunk into volume 1 of something called Sailor Moon. “I understood ‘rare’ and then you might as well have said ‘and the hoop-de-doo sqoodled the squaddle’.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Lucinda stayed quiet for a minute before rephrasing. “They only printed a small number of these in English because the television show version of it wasn’t popular. And it was never printed in my country at all.”

“Ah.” Hettie sighed wistfully. “Oh to have print runs available. We just get whatever the yokai peddlers have with them. It’s pretty erratic. You’re lucky if you can get more than four or five volumes of a set. Sometimes they have really big sets of one thing, but they’re so expensive.”

“I guess I am pretty lucky to be able to find as much as I can,” Lucinda reflected. “They even have manga in the library.”

“You have to stop, you’re making me far too jealous!” Hettie held a hand out dramatically.

“Um,” Victor interjected. “They have m-manga in the library here, too.”

“They do?!” both girls chorused.

“A lot of it is um... e-embarrassing...” Victor had a very low tolerance for what Hettie had informed him was called ‘fanservice’ but some of the stuff he’d seen must be the sort of service where someone takes a bullet for you and then takes your would-be assassin out with them while apologising that they won’t be able to get your supper ready on time for once as they are unfortunately dying, rather inconsiderately, without two weeks’ notice.

Hettie and Lucinda looked at each other.

“I’m not about to be put off by a bit of embarrassment, are you?” Hettie asked.

“Not a chance.” Lucinda hesitated. “Well, okay. Some chance. But.” They both turned to Victor.

“Lead the way?” Hettie suggested. “Or you can just give us rough directions if you prefer.”

“I’ll c-come with you.” Victor was not about to lose out on time with Lucinda over a few drawings, no matter how embarrassing they were.

“H-here it is...” Victor waved vaguely at the two aisles.

After a few minutes of pulling out volumes at random – and hastily putting some of them back – the girls were a little deflated.

“Are they all in Japanese?” Lucinda asked. “I’m trying to learn but I can just about say what my name is, greet people and count to one hundred. I can read maybe five kanji and some katakana.”

Victor frowned. “Yes? I think. B-but...”

Hettie sighed. “That’s really too bad. Perhaps we could ask your snow woman friend to translate?”

“I don’t want to ask her to do her job for free...” Lucinda replied.

“Um.” Victor pulled the nearest volume out a little, checked it, and pulled it all the way out. He flipped to what in a Western comic would be the back. “Did you check the front? There’s a lot of translation notes and things.”

Lucinda held up a finger. “I did not.” She pulled out another manga and instead of turning to the middle she checked front and back. “Oh. It’s not the type of translation I’m used to, but this’ll work.” She put the random volume back and started searching for the first one of the series.

“It’s silly, really. I should have realised the large yokai population here would have donated something to the library,” Hettie chided herself. “I can’t believe I never looked before. There must be several doors to Japan here.”

Lucinda looked up suddenly. “I. Wow. I never thought of that. Do you think so?”

“It stands to reason?” Hettie theorised. “The queen must know a door, at least.”

“I can’t believe all this time and I never... Do you want to go to Japan?”

“What, now?” Hettie asked. “Right now?”

“It should be possible, right?” Lucinda said, eyes shining. “Although...” Her face fell. She bit the end of her thumb as she thought. “I guess it will take a long time to get into the map room, and I’m kinda broke still...” She glanced over at Victor making him jump. “It’s kinda crowded in the cities, from what I know... That wouldn’t be good... But I don’t know if it would be harder in a small place, we’d be too conspicuous...” She slouched. “I guess we can’t after all... I got myself worked up for nothing.”

“You should go to Okazaki!” came a voice from the other side of the bookcase. There were footsteps, and Will leaned into view around the end of the aisle. “It’s a city, so it’s got all the stuff you’re probably looking for, but it’s really quiet. As long as you don’t go during commuter times, you’ll practically have the pavements to yourself.”

“Okazaki?” Lucinda repeated. “Where’s that?”

“It’s near Nagoya. Aichi Prefecture.”

“I’m sorry to say that doesn't mean anything to me,” Lucinda admitted, rubbing the back of her head. “We’d still need a door map though, and, well, a bunch of stuff. I don’t have any yen, for a start.”

Will waved a hand . “You don’t need to worry about any of that,” he said. “Wait here.”

The three of them exchanged a look. Lucinda and Hettie browsed the manga while they waited, pulling out the odd volume and looking back and forth between the translations and the pages. It was pretty difficult. They weren’t intended to be read in the aisle. Victor had borrowed a few of them and you needed a desk to spread them out on.

It wasn’t long before Will returned, holding an envelope and a piece of white paper, with a much folded look about it. Paper, not parchment.

“Here you go!” He beamed. “Just make sure you go when it’s not right before or after school, and you should be fine.” Lucinda unfolded the paper and all three of them peered at it.

“Door locations?” Hettie asked.

“I came via Okazaki to Fairyland,” Will explained. “I needed to make sure I had an escape route if something went wrong, but the doors you want are this one and this one.” He pointed at the one in the top right and the middle bottom. “Oh, and here.” He presented Lucinda with the envelope, holding the shortest end with a thumb on each corner.

Lucinda opened it. She gasped. “Does that say... ten thousand? Ten thousand yen?! And what’s this?” A large feather slid out with the bank note.

“It’s a feather. You’ll need it to get back here, so don’t lose it.” He pulled out a pencil from a pocket. “I’ll just make you some notes. You need to write the kanji for ‘gate’ in the air to open the return door.” He wrote the kanji next to the door. “It’s pretty easy. Oh and if you do lose the feather or something, THIS door here leads back to Stratford-upon-Avon. It’s quite a walk, to the door and from the door, like, maybe a full day of walking, but if you can’t get back here it’s the best option. I’ll give you my parents’ address. My mom is an Otherworlder, she can help you get home.” He scribbled the address on the back. “Oh and if things are bad in Okazaki for some reason... You can’t get the door to work or any other trouble, you go here.” He drew a star on the map. “Ask for Asakura Miho. She's the local Otherworlder concierge.”

“This... This is a lot of money isn’t it?” Lucinda asked.

“Not loads.” Will shook his head. “Only about £40.”

“Only?” Lucinda spluttered. “I can’t take this!”

“Sure you can!” Will grinned. “Look, you’ve brought me at least that amount in retail value of books, if not in second hand value. I was wondering how best to repay you for it.”

“But... ... I mean...” Lucinda hesitated. She stared long and hard at the note. Finally she said, “If it’s really okay... You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Positive.”

“Okay... Uh...” She looked round at the other two. “Who’s ready to go to Japan, I guess?”

The three of them made their way to the entry door. It was in the Northern Quarter of the capital; a gathering place for yokai.

“It should be... here!” Lucinda pushed on a patch of air and a slit appeared; a slice of blue sky and a rice paddy hung in the air, contrasting heavily with the brown walls of the tavern behind it. Lucinda let it close. Then she checked her phone. “It’s... about 9:10 in the morning. Will said avoid commuter times.” She bit her lip. “I think we should wait a bit longer to be safe.” She drummed her fingers on her arm. “I feel like I’ve forgotten something...”

“You waiting for the Okazaki door, kids?” a voice addressed them from above.

They looked up to see a yokai woman leaning out of the second story window. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pouting.

“Yes?” Lucinda replied. “We were told to wait until the morning commute was over. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. It’s just... You’re going... like that?”

The parental tone and question was familiar to Victor as of late - his mother did not appreciate his change in wardrobe from the expected vampire evening dress to the everyday fairy tunics. The three of them looked down at themselves then at each other.

“Oh. Oh, I see what you mean,” Lucinda admitted. “We look like we’re going to a convention.” Lucinda had come straight from work and was in her prince outfit, Hettie was wearing one of her tea gowns and Victor was in a blue tunic and pants, tied at the ankle. “Not good for blending in.”

“L-let’s go change?” Victor suggested. “There’s p-plenty of time.”

“I’m not sure I have anything suitable...” Hettie said.

“D-don’t worry, Molly showed me where the clothes a-are for the f-fools, w-we can find something in there.”

“I think I still have some stuff from when I stayed here before,” Lucinda said. “I’ll check my old room while you do that.”

There were a few trunks of spare clothes in the servants’ quarters, mainly intended for fools but really for anyone who wanted them. Fairyland worked on a bartering system, so labour in the palace was exchanged for food, accommodation or occasionally other goods.

“Does this suit me? I think it’s a little big but beggars can’t be choosers...” She had found a wine red jumper; it was a solid colour with long sleeves that hung over the edge of her fingers. She pulled them back over her wrists, using a ribbon on the edges to tighten them.

Victor nodded. “I-it looks very nice. W-will these trousers fit you, d-do you think?” Hettie had also found a blue skirt, but it was a glaring mismatch, in both style and colour.

“Trousers?” Hettie took them uncertainly. “I, I really don’t know, I’ve never worn any before.”

“M-Miss Lucinda is often wearing them, e-even when she isn’t dressed for work,” Victor pointed out.

“Yes, must be nice not to have to worry about changing to come here,” Hettie observed. “Then again, I didn’t have to change when I visited her house. We pretended I worked for Rent-A-Legend too, which come to think of it, I actually did.”

“I’m a l-little jealous that y-you got to see Miss Lucinda’s house,” Victor admitted. He stopped short of asking what her room was like. That felt like spying, somehow.

“It was fun, Earth technology is incredible, a magic of its own... though it was incredibly nerve wracking... I had to keep Lucinda’s identity secret from her parents.” Hettie took the trousers and he turned away so she could change. “I doubt it will be as difficult out and about in a town setting.”

“W-were her parents nice?” Victor asked.

“I only spoke briefly to her mother to introduce myself, but she seemed nice,” Hettie replied. “You can turn around now. How do I look?”

“L-like you’re from Earth,” Victor replied. There were less options for him. Most of the clothing was dresses, or way too big for him. Maybe he would have to make do with his old clothes. He understood they were very old fashioned on Earth, but without his cravat and cape, he would at least look like an Earthling, if a slightly overdressed one.

“Any luck?” Hettie asked.

“No. I’ll h-have to wear my old clothes.” Victor pouted. “I sh-should get some Earth clothes s-sometime. B-but I d-don’t know how I’m going to. They’re s-so expensive a-and the peddlers never h-have anything my size.”

“Perhaps you can ask Lucinda for help?” Hettie suggested.

Victor shook his head. “I c-couldn’t do that.”

Hettie tilted her head to one side. “Whyever not?”

“I j-just... H-help how?”

“So you just automatically answered ‘I can’t’ without even thinking about it?”

“W-well, it j-just seems too imposing t-to ask for help,” Victor tried. “... What do you mean?”

“She literally lives there?” Hettie pointed out. “She offered to bring you books? It shouldn’t be that big a step up to help find some clothes. Maybe she knows some place you can get some cheap? Or she can ask Sara? You really won’t know unless you ask her.”

“B-but clothes are s-so c-complicated!” he protested.

“I don’t think they’re as complicated on Earth,” Hettie said. “Like I say, you won’t know if you don’t ask. Besides, Lucinda is your friend. I wish I could prove it to you that asking her for help isn’t a big deal.”

“N-no, i-it seems like t-too much...” He shook his head.

“Victor...” Her brow furrowed slightly, and Victor steeled himself for a lecture. She stared at him for a long moment before giving a short sigh. “Well, I for one plan to ask Sara where she gets her Earth clothes, so if find out anything useful I shall pass it along. I’m ready, so shall I wait for you here or at the gate?”

“Th-the gate,” Victor answered, relieved. “Please apologise t-to Miss Lucinda for me.”

When he had changed into his old things, he found one of the glassless windows that lined the upper corridors and launched himself out of it, becoming a bat in mid-air. He didn’t much like being a bat, but it would be faster than walking down and he didn’t want to make Lucinda wait any longer than he already had. He made a mental note to learn a new animal transformation spell as soon as possible. He had learned how to become a bat at about age seven, normally a little early for even a vampire to start learning magic, but the death of his father at the hands of a mob when he was six had made his mother keen to get him learning escape spells as soon as possible. He could also turn into mist. That wasn’t much fun either. The only real upside was that you were pretty much impossible to kill. Stay that way too long though, and you’d find your mind starting to dissipate too. It was like being in a dream. You had to force yourself awake again.

“H-here I am!” Victor said, turning back a little way above the ground and landing on his feet. “S-sorry for making you w-wait.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Lucinda reassured him. “And it’s definitely not commuting time now.”

“I was just telling Lucinda how difficult it was finding Earthling clothes for you,” Hettie said. “She says you can probably have a look in Okazaki.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what second-hand clothes they have in Japan,” Lucinda remarked, smiling at him. “I’m not expecting to find a shop full of kimonos or anything but there’s got to be some cool stuff, right?”

“O-oh. Um, r-right. Yes.” Victor shot his cousin A Look, but she just made a half shrug and a smirk that said ‘See?’.

It was impossible to be mad that she was correct about just asking, or as it seemed, just mentioning, and he spent the walk back to the Northern Quarter wondering what sort of clothes they would have and how they fit without a tailor. He was aware that they didn’t usually have tailors any more. They bought things ‘off the rack’. Maybe they bought everything a size too big and sewed it to fit themselves?

When they got to the door, they found the yokai woman from the tavern waiting there. She had it open the tiniest possible amount, sticking a fingernail in it to keep it from closing. She looked round as they approached.

“Much better.” She nodded approvingly. “I’m just waiting for my partner Mitsuki to get back with supplies. You go ahead... if you’re ready?”

“I think we are.” Lucinda hesitated. “Um. Do you have any other advice?” she asked as she tentatively put a hand on the door. “It’s our first time in Japan.”

“Don’t talk loudly in public, the doors SLIDE, do NOT cross the street when it’s red, you’re expected to pack your own shopping bags at the supermarket AWAY from the cashier, get a little hand towel each for public bathrooms - I recommend Daiso for that – don’t hand money to anyone directly, it’s bad luck, that’s what the little trays are for, oh and I hope you kids like mayonnaise because we put mayonnaise on everything.” The woman thought for a moment longer. “You know a return door, right? From your lack of luggage, I assume this is a day trip?”

Lucinda nodded. “We have a few options.”

“You got a feather?”

“Yes, we have a feather,” Lucinda reassured her.

“And you know the rules for going to and from Earth? It’s not like the other Otherworlds, you know that, right?”

“I’m from Earth, yes,” Lucinda replied.

“Oh. You’re more prepared than you looked.”

“I was just a bit overexcited and I tend to forget what I’m wearing,” Lucinda admitted.

“Off you go then,” the woman said. “Have fun. Try some dango.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Lucinda had just put her hand flat on the door when Hettie piped up suddenly;

“I completely forgot! I have a thing with Lolotte today!”

“You do?”

“Yes, I shall have to go immediately,” she announced. “Don’t want to be late.”

“Oh.” Lucinda took her hand off the door and turned round. “Oh, that’s too bad. We can go another day, then? Lolotte can always come with us?”

“No, no, I won’t hear of it!” Hettie protested, bodily turning Lucinda back to the door. “You and Victor go ahead! You went to the trouble of getting changed and everything. You can go and find all the fun places and show me next time. You’ll have more money between you, too.”

“I guess but... are you really sure? I do want to go but-“

“Then go.” She gave them both a bright smile. “You’ll be more inconspicuous without me, anyway. Much better for a first visit. Can’t be too careful.”

“But-“

“Must dash! See you later!” She gave them a little wave before turning into a panther and bounding away.

“Well... I guess we’re going then.” Lucinda scratched her head before smiling apologetically at the yokai woman. “If that’s okay? With just me?” She addressed this to Victor. Who almost didn’t hear her over the internal screaming.

“Th-that’s fine,” he replied, a little shocked to find he meant it.

Yes, he reassured himself. Fine. He was alone with Lucinda. Not a problem. It had ended horribly the last time, but fine. So it was his first visit to Earth. And not a ‘Western’ culture like he was used to at home. So he didn’t speak the local language. So what if he couldn’t use magic there. So what if there were humans all over the place?

“Okay. Just stick close to me and if it’s too busy we’ll turn back, all right?” Lucinda offered. “Will said it would be quiet, so I guess we’ll just see. I’m... a little bit scared, but at least I won’t be alone. I mean, I’ll still go alone, if you change your mind. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve been doing this for two years. I’ve been to scarier places than Japan, that’s for sure. The crime rate’s supposed to be really low. And there’s zero dragons.”

Victor considered this. They were stood in what was a foreign country to both of them right now. In Fairyland it was allowed to eat people who didn’t have a resident’s permit and there were at least two species of flower that killed you if you looked at them funny. And while he’d managed to shake off most of what he’d realised were his mother’s prejudices about humans, he was still nervous around strangers. To be fair, he was also nervous around any type of people, most animals, quite a lot of plants and the occasional rock. But objectively Japan was not scary.

“I-I’ll tell you i-if it’s too much,” he said. Oddly, it helped to know Lucinda was also a little scared. And that he was helping. He’d never helped someone else to not be scared before.

“Let’s go then.”

The yokai woman opened the door, looked around quickly, and tilted her head to indicate that they should indeed go. As they stepped through, a tanuki slipped past them the other way. They turned in surprise to see the tanuki take a human form, peering at them curiously as the door closed.

“Just some otaku kids-” they heard before the sound was cut off.

Victor looked around. He’d thought they were in the countryside but the rice paddy they’d seen through the door was next to a building... A few buildings. There was a row of houses behind them. A narrow, concrete road was painted with white stripes to serve as the pavement edge and some letters he couldn’t read.

“Oh. Uh. Wow. We’re actually really here.” Lucinda looked around at the scenery, shading her eyes from the sun. Though, the sun was nothing compared to her smile. She beamed at the scenery like it was a long lost treasure. She bounced on her heels with her hands clenched. “What should we do first? Oof, it is warm.” It really was very warm, much like Fairyland. His shirt probably wasn’t the most appropriate for the heat, but at least it would protect his skin from the sun. “Glad I put on sun cream already for Fairyland.” Lucinda fanned herself with a hand. “Do you need sun cream?”

“Sun cream?” Victor asked.

“To protect you from sunburn? Do fairies have a potion for that instead, maybe?”

“I d-did... b-but this morning.” It was late afternoon in Fairyland.

“We’d better get some then.” She tutted to herself. “I am not, in fact, well prepared at all.” He expected her to be annoyed, but she laughed. Still with a smile a mile wide she continued, “We need to break this note anyway. What did she say... Mini hand towel...for bathrooms... Ah, where did she say would be good for that?”

“D-Daiso,” Victor said.

“Great. Thanks!” Lucinda pulled out her phone. She’d brought a small bag. It was a croqueted tote; pale green with a white flower. It went well with her outfit; a pink frilly top and long white skirt. “Let’s see... Daiso...” She tapped her foot for a minute while she waited for something. Her smile finally turned to a frown. “Data is HOW MUCH per megabyte?! Someone’s having a laugh. All the way to the bank.” She shrugged and her smile returned. “Ah well. Not like I use my data for much since I’ve no signal half the time. Ooh, there’s a Daiso really close! Basically straight up this road! This way.”

“A m-map on your phone?” Victor queried.

“Yeah, it connects to a thingy in space or something,” Lucinda explained. “Oh, if you need to translate something, it can do that too. Not WELL, but enough that we should get by.”

“H-how is your phone N-NOT magic, again?” Victor asked, staring at it. It could show pictures, moving images, play music, he’d seen her use it to do maths and he knew there was a library in there too. Multiple libraries, from what he could gather. And yet Earthlings would be amazed he could turn into a bat.

“Honestly can’t argue,” Lucinda admitted.

As they walked, he thought again about the bat thing. “Um, M-Miss Lucinda, if you could turn into a-any animal, what w-would you choose?”

“Good question.” Lucinda stopped as she thought. Someone on a bike rode past them. Victor didn’t have time to react. They were already long gone even as he registered the intrusion. As he looked behind him to see where they went, he realised the jester had been right; the street was deserted. It was a tiny side road, that he could see, but this was much better than he had hoped. “I don’t know.” Lucinda’s reply startled him out of his observations.

“You don’t?”

“I’m not sure I’d want to turn into an animal at all,” she said. As he drew breath to question her further, she gasped, “Oh look, it’s right there! Right across the road!”

“O-oh. Th-that’s what she meant by ‘d-don’t cross when it’s red’,” Victor observed.

“Yeah. We call that the ‘green man’ in the UK. Interesting cultural difference,”-she held up a finger-“here they say ‘it’s blue’ instead of green.”

“The G-Green Man?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “L-like the forest spirit?”

“Oh. Oh yeah. I... think I’ve heard of that. Not the same guy, from what I know. Incidentally... It’s blue.” As they crossed she added, “And where I’d say ‘your face has gone white’ they say ‘your face is dark blue’.”

“Interesting... Wh-where did you l-learn that?”

“I’m not sure.” Lucinda cupped her chin. “Probably from manga translation notes or possibly from a research rabbit hole on the internet.”

They stopped at the edge of a large concrete area in front of the store. It had a few cars on it, with lines indicating where they should stop. He’d never seen a car before, but was vaguely aware they could kill you or explode. Luckily there were only two, and both were on the same side of the car area. They could see quite well into the store via the glass panelling all along the front. It wasn’t busy. There were four or five people in there he could see, all spread out.

“Do you want to come in with me or wait here?” Lucinda asked.

“I’ll... I’ll c-come in,” he decided, steeling himself. Even though they were at a BIG crossroads, bigger than any he’d ever seen, it was still almost devoid of people. Despite the size, it was still quieter than the Dark Capital’s streets. Logically, it was silly not to go in.

“Okay.” Lucinda led the way. He froze momentarily when the doors opened BY THEMSELVES at which Lucinda didn’t so much as blink. More Earthling ‘science’. “Oh no,” she almost whispered. He stopped again. “Everything. Is so. CUTE.”

“I-is that bad?” Victor’s voice quavered. Cute was not a quality he had hitherto associated with the phrase “oh no”.

“It is bad,” Lucinda replied solemnly, “because I want to buy it all.”

He relaxed somewhat. “What were we l-looking for again? H-hand towels?”

“Oh. Yes.” Lucinda snapped her fingers. “And sun cream. I’ll look up the word for sun cream while I remember.”

Heart pounding, Victor followed her along the shelves. He barely noticed the goods at first, instead keeping a surreptitious eye on the other customers and the shopkeepers. But he gradually came to the realisation... they weren’t paying him any attention at all. The shopkeepers would glance in his direction, smile and say a greeting. But then carry on with their work. He was completely unremarkable, apparently. It was liberating.

After a little while of browsing around the shelves which contained the wildest assortment of goods Victor could never have imagined existed, Lucinda stopped and took a very deliberate breath.

“Okay I have to make a rule for myself here,” she said. “This is the first shop we’ve been in and there is already so much cool stuff. I have to wait until we’ve had a proper look around. Comic Con rules.” She thought for a moment. “Um. Not that I’ll stop you from buying stuff you want.” She paused again. “I know Hettie said to spend the money on ourselves but I think we should save her some of it anyway. Let’s say... 2000 yen each? And we’ll try to save the rest. I know Will said we can just spend it but... I just wouldn’t feel right.”

“Y-you really d-don’t need to worry about me,” Victor protested.

“Don’t be silly,” she chided. “At the very least you need some food and drink. Speaking of, I know I said I’d wait to buy things but I have spotted some sweets I DEFINITELY want. They’re technically food. And is that an ice cream freezer I can see?”

“Ice cream w-would be nice,” he admitted. It was far too hot to say no to something as nice, luxurious and above all cold, as ice cream.

“Lemme just...” Lucinda checked something on her phone again and made a low whistle. “Wow, okay that is cheap. Is this a Japanese pound store??” They couldn’t read everything but the flavours were obvious enough and some were also written in English.

“I-I’ll have the earl g-grey one,” he said. “I-if you’re really sure.”

“Good choice. I’m super tempted by that one too but I think I’ll try the ice cream mochi.” She took one of each out of the cold box and looked around. “Oh. Self-checkout. I have never been so glad to see one before. I was working myself up about having to talk to the cashier for nothing.” She approached some boxes with words displayed on a screen. It was almost like a big version of her phone, he noticed. “Oh and there’s an English option, even.”

“Wh-what does ‘w-working yourself up’ mean?” he asked.

“That I was making myself really stressed,” Lucinda replied.

“You w-were stressed??” He hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, to be honest I was dawdling a bit because I was stressing about having to talk to the cashier,” she admitted. “Sorry. I’ll try not to. I’m going to have to talk to at least one cashier today I’m sure.”

“D-don’t apologise...”

They took their ice creams just outside and ate them right away. There were a couple of big boxes out here too, that also looked like the cold boxes he’d seen inside. They had rows and rows of... something?

“Oh right, I forgot to get a drink.” Lucinda eyed the nearest one. “Is that... tea? COLD milk tea? That’s ... different. Though I suppose you get iced tea without milk AND iced coffee however. I’m gonna try it. We have change now.” She selected an option. Something clanged in a compartment below the rows of drinks and she reached through a flap and took out a can. “Hey, this is hot?! What the heck??” She studied the rows again. “Oh. OH. This one with the red must be hot and... the blue ones are cold? How the heck do they do that??” So there WAS some Earthling science she was baffled by. She turned from the machine and wiggled the can at him. “Want one? They’re pretty cheap.”

“Y-yes please.” While he still felt he was imposing, she was right that he couldn’t go all day without anything to eat or drink. Technically he had had lunch... back in Fairyland, some hours ago. And he was thirsty.

“This is very sweet,” Lucinda remarked, after taking a swig. “I think I like it.”

Victor tried his. “Y-yes, very.” He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. Sweet things were a luxury at home, and carefully rationed, as he mustn’t damage his teeth. Come to think of it... she had said drinks were okay, and it WAS important. “C-can I also um, g-get some water?”

“Sure.” She double-checked something on her phone before making a selection. “Yep. Should be water.”

“Th-thank you.” Once he’d finished the tea and ice cream, he took a good few mouthfuls of water, swishing it around a bit. Seeing Lucinda looking at him curiously he said. “U-um. For-” He opened his mouth a little and pointed to his fangs.

“Oh. Yeah. Too much sugar would really mess you up, huh?” She tapped her own teeth thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. Want me to carry that?” She indicated the water bottle.

“Um. Please. Th-thank you.” Was Hettie right? Was it really this easy?

“We should look for where we can buy clothes next, I guess. Oh and sun cream. Here’s the sun cream.” She handed over a small bottle. “Uh-”-she lunged forward and grabbed his arm-“-you don’t drink it. You rub it on your skin. Just where the skin is showing.”

He lowered the bottle, feeling his face colour and wordlessly opened the top, looking down to avoid her gaze. He squeezed some out and rubbed it on his face.

“You need a mirror?” Lucinda tapped her phone and turned it to face him. He jumped, seeing his face on the screen. “There’s a camera on it,” she explained. “Two cameras, actually.”

“Is there anything it doesn’t do?” he said, mystified, forgetting his embarrassment.

“Lots of things but admittedly none I can think of right now,” Lucinda replied. “Right. Clothes,” she said when he’d finished. “There’s a place right up the street. Book-Off? Sounds like a weird name to pick if you sell clothes.”

It was a straight walk up the very big street. It was so big there were trees and sculpted bushes between the pavement and the road, as well as a line specifically for the bicycles. Yet there were still hardly any pedestrians. The occasional bike whizzed past. They still made him jump, but he was finding himself less bothered about any of the humans around. It helped that this place was like nothing he’d ever seen. Some of the buildings were huge. Not just big, like his grandmother’s mansion, but wide AND tall. Incredibly tall. Fairyland trees tall. Maybe taller.

“This is... a supermarket?” Lucinda frowned. “Where is the clothing place?”

“I-is it up there?” Victor pointed to a strange, moving metal stairway.

“Well spotted.” She moved towards it and looked up. “Looks like there’s more floors too. Shall we go up?”

Victor nodded. He watched her as she stepped onto the moving stairs, then copied her. There was a handrail to hold; it moved at the same rate as the stairs. Earthlings had thought of everything. His fingers stiffened on the rail as they neared the top – how did you get off? What if he didn’t do it right? Lucinda merely stepped off at the top. He wobbled a little and half-jumped off, as his toe bumped the metal barrier at the top. He straightened up immediately and spun around, backing away. When they didn’t explode, stop or otherwise herald disaster, he turned away and looked around. The floor below had been filled with food from what little he saw, but this one was full of clothes, tableware and a lot of stuff he could only categorise as ‘Earth things’. There was a floor above them that seemed to be full of books. Lucinda noticed it too.

“First we’ll look on this floor, then we’ll go up and look at the manga and DVDs and stuff then we’ll go get some dinner from the supermarket,” Lucinda suggested. “Sound good?”

Victor gave a nod. “I d-don’t r-really mind what we do.” He really didn’t. This was a good place for his first ever Earth visit, he realised; everything was as fascinating to Lucinda as it was to him.

“Wow, there really are kimonos here!” she pointed to a section full of robes and wraps. “Or maybe they’re yukata. I’m not confident I can tell. Ooh and are those bowls and things? I am definitely getting a bowl or a cup or something.”

They browsed for a while. Victor tried to keep Lucinda in his eye line, but it was difficult as the clothes were organised by type. He didn’t want to bother her, but became quickly apparent that he needed some help.

“U-um... H-how do I know i-if the clothes will fit?” he asked.

She put a finger to her lips for a minute. “I never thought of that. Clothing sizes are different in different countries, so I guess I’m not sure what size fits me, either. Um... If I can figure out what size you are in UK sizes, I can probably convert it to a Japanese size.” She got out her phone again. “You’re roughly my size, and I’m a size twelve, sometimes a ten, probably need to go with a twelve or maybe even a fourteen to be safe. It’s easier to make a garment smaller than it is to make it bigger.” She tapped on her phone for another minute, her face a mask of concentration. “We’re looking for size 11 or 13, or just M for medium. You find it on the clothing tag, here.” She pulled up a little white label on the neckline of a nearby shirt. “Do you want me to help you look, or...?”

“N-no,” he said quickly. “I-I should be able t-to look by myself now.” He didn’t want to take up more of Lucinda’s time than necessary.

“Okay.” She gave him a thumbs up. “You want me to give you your share of the money or you want us to go to the counter together when you’re done on this floor? I wouldn’t say I speak Japanese, but I can at least count and I have my phone if it gets more complicated.”

“T-together, please,” he said, cursing inwardly that he’d be holding her up after all.

He browsed the clothing as quickly as he could manage. He had no idea what he was looking for, exactly. He stiffened up every time someone else appeared in the aisle, far more on edge now Lucinda wasn’t with him. He tried to focus. Think. What did he actually need. The plain, black trousers he was wearing were fine apparently, but his white shirt was too formal. A shirt, then. He should try to find a casual shirt.

He was absorbed in the task when he noticed a boy a little further down the aisle, about his own age. He hadn’t seen him approach.

‘Don’t panic,’ he thought to himself. ‘He won’t even look at you.’

The boy looked at him. And Victor had been looking at the boy. He’d seen him looking! Victor seized up. The boy’s eyes flicked to Victor’s hair. He’d forgotten about his hair. It was short and black, but with a thick, white streak in his fringe and around the nape of his neck up to his ears. In the Otherworlds, it was now a known sign of vampirism.

The boy gave him a smile. “It’s very cool!” he said in a thick accent, fingers brushing his own bangs.

“Th-thank you?” Victor replied.

The boy smiled a little wider. Then he looked away, and continued browsing.

Victor hurriedly looked away too, feeling his face redden. It would probably look bad to run away. He fought his every instinct, forcing each and every nerve to stay rooted to the spot. After a few heart pounding minutes that felt like hours, the boy left the aisle. Victor sagged in relief before nearly launching himself into the air when he felt someone come up behind him.

“I found this super cute dress, but there’s no way it’ll fit me,” Lucinda lamented. “It’s so unfair. I think I’ll get it for Erlina, though. Think Hettie would like this cup?”

Getting his breathing back under control, Victor nodded mutely. It was a pretty cup. It was pale blue with pink flowers. Lucinda was also carrying a bowl with a similar design, a spoon shaped like a mermaid and two pieces of clothing. One was the aforementioned dress, the other was a mauve and beige shirt with some writing on it.

“I'm shamelessly breaking my 'look around first' rule. How's it going?" She lowered her voice. “Hey, did you see that guy who was just here? He looked so cool!”

Victor tried hard to remember what the boy had actually looked like. Black, short hair, but with blond tips, and he was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and ripped jeans. He’d been wearing studded bracelets, a mixture of black and bright neon colours. “H-he spoke to me,” Victor said. “H-he said my hair w-was cool.”

“I just realised that in an Earth context, your hair looks like a fashion statement,” Lucinda observed. “I bet it would dye bright colours really easily, too.”

“Y-you can dye h-hair bright colours?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. Or pastel. Blonde. Whatever, really.” Lucinda took in his empty hands. “No luck?”

“N-not really,” he admitted.

“Do you want some help?” she asked. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can look too.”

“I’d l-like a shirt,” he said. “D-do you think m-maybe... s-something like that boy was wearing? But, n-not black. A-and with sleeves?”

“Gotcha.”

In the end they left with a n orangey-brown hoody-like shirt with colourful gashes in the sleeves, and some soundtrack CDs from the third floor, which Lucinda nearly fainted at, and which she’d talked about at length in a squeaky, high pitched voice that he’d probably have been able to hear better as a bat. Then they’d walked around the huge food market on the ground floor, picked out some dinner – technically supper – and now they were sat on some benches a street or two away eating some dango. It was sweet rice paste formed into balls, covered in a sweet, brown syrup. He had opted for a colourful version with no syrup; the balls were white, pink and green.

“These are so good,” Lucinda waved an empty skewer in the air. “Why don’t they make these in England? I wonder if I can make them myself...”

“These a-are also very nice,” Victor said. He yawned. It was getting pretty late in Fairyland.

“You know, I realised I only gave you half an answer before, and then I never heard your answer,” she said suddenly. “You asked me what animal I’d want to be,” she clarified, seeing his confusion.

“I-I asked because I d-don’t know,” he said.

Now it was her turn to look baffled. “What do you mean?”

“I d-don’t like being a bat,” he admitted, wrinkling his nose. “I w-want to learn a d-different spell, but I d-don’t have any ideas.”

“I imagine it is kind of a pain,” she sympathised. “Especially in the day. But I don’t know that much about bats. They’re cute and misunderstood, they have echo location, and that’s it, that’s all I know.”

“I l-like bats,” he pointed out, “I j-just don’t want to b-be one.”

“An owl, maybe?” Lucinda suggested. “Wait, no, same problem, nocturnal... Umm... Flying squirrel? Though, I guess you’d prefer something that can actually fly, not just glide... Hmm.”

“Wh-what about you, though?”

“Me? I’m happy staying the shape I am.” She leaned a hand on her cheek. “I wish I was a bit prettier... I guess who doesn’t...”

“Y-you’re pretty!” he protested.

“O-oh? Thanks.” She hunched her shoulders and smiled awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not like I think I’m ugly it’s just...” She dropped her shoulders again and looked away. “I don’t get to feel pretty a lot? I’m a prince for my job and my school uniform isn’t exactly flattering... So that’s at least 90% of the time I’m not dressed how I want. I suppose I’m done with high school really soon so that’s goodbye to the uniform at least.”

“D-do you not l-like working as a prince?” Victor asked.

“It’s not that,” Lucinda replied. “It’s just... tiring to pretend you’re a gender you’re not? I mean I don’t have to do a lot - Otherworlders just see the outfit and think ‘That’s a boy’. It’s both really useful and incredibly irritating at the same time. I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”

“I th-think I understand,” Victor replied. “I-I w-want new c-clothes because I d-don’t want people to l-look at me and just s-see ‘vampire’.”

“Do you... is it hard on you, being a vampire?” she asked.

“I d-don’t know, i-it’s inconvenient,” he replied, “b-but i-it’s n-not that I’m a vampire, i-it’s that I didn’t kn-know I was allowed to be a-anything else.”

“Yeah, it’s ... a whole thing, finding out something like that.” She flung a hand out in front of her. “It’s like, ‘You mean THIS was an option this whole time?!’ and it’s both annoying and great.” She laughed. “It’s better late than never though, right?”

He smiled to himself. “Y-yes...”

Lucinda rubbed her eyes. “Speaking of late... it’s something like 4am back home, and it's pretty late in Fairyland too.” She yawned. “I know we’ve only really been to two shops and a supermarket, but maybe we should head back? It’s up to you though. I can easily stay up longer.”

“W-we should head back,” Victor agreed. He was tired, and he was starting to suspect it wasn’t just the time since he’d last slept.

They got up, put their rubbish in the correct bin – there were several – and starting walking back. They’d been walking for just a few minutes when they were blindsided by a car. Lucinda jumped back. She hadn’t seen the crossing light - which was red - or the vehicle. There was a tiny side road with a wall blocking the view of anything but the main street. You couldn’t see the side street until you were practically on it.

“G-gomen nasai!” she said, bowing an apology. The driver didn’t look impressed; they were frowning hard. Lucinda shuffled back a good way from the road edge.

Victor, who had taken off as a bat in his panic, clung to the wall. It took Lucinda a minute to understand what had happened and spot him. She held a hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” she asked. They were now on opposite sides of the little road, but she didn’t try to cross.

“I-I think so,” he replied. “Th-that w-was close.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that road AT ALL.” Lucinda made a face at the crossing light. She looked all around them and down the offending side street again. “It’s clear. No-one’s looking.”

“R-right.” He climbed around the corner anyway, just in case. And then...

“Do you want me to help block you from view?” she offered.

“Um.” He hung there for a minute. “Um... M-Miss Lucinda...”

“Yeah?”

“I c-can’t change back.” His voice sounded as small as he was.

She frowned and finally crossed the road, standing on the corner of the main street. “What was that?”

“I... I c-can’t change back.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“N-no. N-not... to me.”

Her expression changed to match his own growing horror. “Lamprey...” Eyes wide, she bit her knuckles while she thought. “Did they ever... Couldn’t the fairies fix it? Or a witch?”

“It d-doesn’t w-work,” he answered, struggling to keep a grip on the stone as his whole body was trembling. “Th-they t-tried, b-but you end up w-with a regular h-human who still n-needs blood. B-but with a body th-that c-can’t handle it. I-it w-was worse a-and he w-would have died f-from n-no blood.” His grip slipped and he slid a few inches down the wall.

“Um. Do you want to...?” Lucinda held out a hand. He hesitated, before climbing on. She held her arms together a little away from her torso. “You know, one of the reasons I couldn’t answer you before about the animal thing... When I was turned into a raven that one time, it was really freaky how everyone else was suddenly a giant. So um, let me know if I’m being scary.”

“I-I’m u-used to it...” He glanced up at her before looking quickly back down. Her face was a mask of concentration.

“Didn’t Lamprey fall asleep as a bat or stay too long as a bat or something?” she asked. “I don’t remember the details but I know that he couldn’t turn back because he didn’t have enough magic. And he couldn’t drink enough blood to get enough magic to ever turn back because bats are too small.”

“Y-yes, that’s wh-what happened,” Victor confirmed.

“So... Um, so...” she began hesitantly, “since you only just turned into a bat, wouldn’t it work if you... drank blood, like, right now?”

“M-maybe, b-but... I c-can’t j-just... Who would...” Realisation dawned and he glanced up again.

“You could... drink... mine?” her voice cracked. “Wow, those words really just came out of my mouth. But there’s not a lot of options.”

“B-but-” Oh good. Now he had two different kinds of nightmare scenario to deal with at once, AND memories of The Incident were flooding back. His claws reflexively tensed, and he remembered that was flesh he was gripping, and forced himself to just flop. “B-but-” he tried again.

“I don’t think we’ve got time to argue,” Lucinda pointed out. “It’s at least thirty minutes walk to the return door, then a few hours from the return door to the palace.” She made sure no-one was looking, then ducked into the narrow side road, heading uphill. “Just need to find somewhere less exposed...”

“B-but-” He had absolutely no arguments to counter with.

“Look,” she continued as she powerwalked up the street, “I know I said don’t ask me for blood, and you didn’t, I offered. And, yeah, I’m uncomfortable and slightly terrified but you were literally just talking about how you don’t like being a bat and if I don’t do something you might be stuck as a bat forever and I’m a prince and rescuing people is my job and it doesn’t matter if I’m on Earth or I’m not getting paid, because you don’t get to choose who needs rescuing-”

“I d-don’t-”

“-so we’re both just going to have to speedrun facing our demons. Here should do.” She stopped in another side street, and leaned against a wall breathing hard. “Look, it’s not like that time with the potion. Just. Just go ahead? I promise it’s fine.” She hesitated. “Well all right, not fine, but as fine as I’m going to get. And we might have taken too long already.”

Unable to answer with any suitable words, Victor turned his attention to Lucinda’s arm. This was going to be a lot harder as a bat. And it was going to hurt. Human skin offered zero resistance to vampire fangs, but bat teeth weren’t anywhere near as sharp. He wasn’t even a vampire bat. Still, they weren’t herbivore teeth. He tentatively nipped near a vein. He felt Lucinda wince; she didn’t say anything, but she gave him a thumbs up with her other hand. He tried again, hearing a hiss from Lucinda, but he’d drawn blood. And still the inconvenience of being a bat wasn’t over, because he couldn’t cover the wound and suck. Bats lapped. He tried to avoid the actual cut, merely licking at the trickle of blood. He’d have to try and drink as much as he could stand; constantly stopping and failing to transform would only drain even more magic and draw this ordeal out. Determined not to look at Lucinda until he was done and frankly, possibly never again, ever, he focused on the blood. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t drink any more – he was a pretty small bat – and without thinking, tried to transform. The two of them toppled over, the sudden weight of a human on the girl’s arms not being conducive to good balance, and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

“It worked!” Lucinda beamed at him before extracting her arms from under him and pushing herself away.

Victor’s body was screaming at him. He was bruised and aching from the fall, he’d been up for nearly twenty four hours now and above all, he was thirsty. “C-can I-” He bit the question back.

Lucinda rubbed her wrist near the cut. “Do you... n-need more...?”

He gave a single nod.

Lucinda held out the still dripping arm shakily. “Well, I’m... already bleeding s-so...”

Victor shook his head furiously.

Lucinda started laughing.

He looked up in alarm.

She pushed herself up off her knees and into a sitting position, still laughing. “We are the worst two people for this activity.”

“Wh-why are you laughing?”

“I dunno, just, there couldn’t be any two worse people to have been put into this situation,” she remarked. “Well... maybe Sara,” she admitted after a moment’s thought. “Probably, no, definitely Sara.”

“A-are you okay...?”

“Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Erlina fainted from not having enough magic in Bad Schwartz and that’s an area that actually has magic. Earth has barely any. I wouldn’t be able to carry you back to the door if you collapse, and if we tried and failed, you’d collapse in public, in a country where I don’t speak the language, and neither of us has a passport. Pretty sure that’s illegal, now that I think about it. So.” She held out her arm again, steadily this time.

“I c-can’t argue...” he whined, slumping back against the wall. Eventually he dragged himself back up and to where she was sat. He gingerly took her arm and put his mouth to the cut. It was inadequate, so he used his fangs. At least this way wasn’t painful.

“You know, this isn’t anything like any of the nightmare scenarios I had in my head,” she said. “I thought it would hurt, for one thing.” She rifled in her bag one handed and pulled out her phone. “Still okay for time.”

Despite what she said, he could feel she was tense through her arm. She held it rigid, while she kept a lookout for people and cars.

Eventually he let go and just let himself breathe.

“I should probably get a plaster or a bandage for this,” she began, looking at her arm. “Oh... It’s actually not bleeding that much. It’s stopped already?”

“Vampire bites h-heal v-very fast.”

“I’m gonna get some cute plasters anyway,” she said, standing up a little shakily and dusting herself off. “I’m always getting scrapes from my prince work and um, I... don’t want people to see the bite mark. But mainly I want to buy cute stuff. Is that okay? It’s on the way back. That Daiso place.”

“Y-you could tell me y-you want t-to tour the whole city by foot a-and I’d agree.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“I w-want to s-sleep for s-seven hundred y-years,” he replied. “A-and some more of th-that tea.”

They returned to the store and got more sweets and drinks, and a few interesting gizmos. It was now the wee hours of the morning in Fairyland, and it was disheartening to know that they had a few hours to walk before they got to the palace and more importantly, their bedrooms.

When they stepped through the door to Fairyland, they found a carriage waiting there.

“There you are!” Tyrian exclaimed with relief. “I thought something might have happened, so I came to wait for you. Will told me this was the return door he gave you.”

“We weren’t gone that long, were we?” Lucinda asked.

“I... suppose not, but it was getting dark and you weren’t back, and I know its not dark there yet, but I don’t know, it’s Victor’s first trip to Earth and everything,” he rambled. “Not that I don’t trust you Lucy!” he backpedalled. “So ah, was everything all right? No emergencies?”

“N-none at all,” replied Victor.

“Completely uneventful,” Lucinda reported.

“Very good then,” Tyrian said, opening the carriage door. “Get in.”

“You have no idea how glad we are that we don’t have to walk back,” Lucinda told him as she climbed inside. She settled herself into the opposite corner, on the same side as Tyrian.

Victor lay full length on the other seat, facing the ceiling.

“So, what did you get up to?” Tyrian asked brightly.

“N-no questions, please,” Victor protested.

“Agreed. No questions, only sleep,” Lucinda added, closing her eyes and getting as comfortable as possible.

“Hmm.” He peered at them both in turn before settling back himself. “Very well, as you wish,” he acquiesced.

They were asleep before they even reached the edge of the forest.

----

I have so much stuff to do right now but this INSISTED on being written.

Oh and... Lucinda is wrong about there being zero dragons. Just fyi.

[britneyshakespeare]

So yesterday I read "Slimed with Gravy, Ringed by Drink" by Camille Ralphs, an article from the Poetry Foundation on the publication of the First Folio in 1623, a major work without which most of Shakespeare's plays might very well have been lost today, possibly the most influential secular work of literature in the world, you know.

It's a good article overall on the history and mysteries of the Folio. Lots of interesting stuff in there including how Shakespeare has been adapted, the state of many surviving Folios, theories of its accuracy to the text, a really interesting identification of John Milton's own copy currently in the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the fascinating annotations that may have influenced Milton's own poetry!!! Do read it. It's not an atrociously long article but there's a lot of thought-provoking information in there.

There's one paragraph in particular I keep coming back to though, so I'm just gonna quote it down here:

...[T]he Play on Shakespeare series, published by ACMRS Press, the publications division of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University... grew out of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s plan to “translate” Shakespeare for the current century, bills itself “a new First Folio for a new era.” The 39 newly-commissioned versions of Shakespeare’s plays were written primarily by contemporary dramatists, who were asked to follow the reasonable principle laid out by series editor Lue Douthit: tamper in the name of clarification but submit to “do no harm.” The project was inspired by something the linguist John McWhorter wrote in 1998: “[the] irony today is that the Russians, the French, and other people in foreign countries possess Shakespeare to a much greater extent than we do … [because] they get to enjoy Shakespeare in the language they speak.”

Mainly it's the John McWhorter thing I keep coming back to. Side note: any of my non-native-English-speaking mutuals who have read Shakespeare, I would love to know your experiences. If you have read him in translation, or in the original English, or a mix of both. It's something I do wonder about! Even as an Anglophone reader, I find my experience varies so much just based on which edition of the text I'm reading and how it's presented. There's just so much variety in how to read literature and I would love to know what forces have shaped your own relationships to the stories. But anyway...

The article then goes on to talk about how the anachronistic language in Shakespeare will only fall more and more out of intelligibility for everyone because of how language evolves and yadda yadda yadda. I'm not going to say that that's wrong but I think it massively overlooks the history of the English language and how modern standard English became modern standard English.

First of all, is Shakespeare's language completely unintelligible to native English speakers today? No. Certain words and grammatical tenses have fallen out of use. Many words have shifted in meaning. But with context aiding a contemporary reader, there are very few lines in Shakespeare where the meaning can be said to be "unknown," and abundant lines that are perfectly comprehensible today. On the other hand, it's worth mentioning how many double entendres are well preserved in modern understanding. And additionally, things like archaic grammar and vocabulary are simply hurdles to get over. Once you get familiarized with your thees and thous, they're no longer likely to trip you up so much.

But it's also doubtful that 400 years from now, as the article suggests, our everyday language will be as hard to understand for twenty-fifth century English speakers to comprehend. The English language has significantly stabilized due to colonialism and the international adoption of English as a lingua franca. There are countless dialects within English, but what we consider to be standard international "correct" English will probably not change so radically, since it is so well and far established. The development and proliferation of modern English took a lot of blood and money from the rest of the world, the legacy of which can never be fully restored.

And this was just barely in sight by the time that Shakespeare died. This is why the language of the Elizabethans and Jacobeans is early-modern English. It forms the foundations of modern English, hence why it's mostly intelligible to speakers today, but there are still many antiquated figures within it. Early-modern English was more fluid and liberal. Spelling had not been standardized. Many regions of England still had slight variations in preferences for things like pronouns and verb conjugation. We see this even in works Shakespeare cowrote with the likes of Fletcher and Middleton, as the article points out. Shakespeare's vocabulary may not just reflect style and sentiment, but his Stratford background. His preferences could be deemed more "rustic" than many of his peers reared in London.

Features that make English more consistent now were not formalized yet. That's why Shakespeare sounds so "old." It's not just him being fancy. And there's also the fact that blank verse plays are an entirely neglected art nowadays. Regardless of the comprehensibility of the English, it's still strange for modern audiences uninitiated to Elizabethan literature to sit there and watch a King drop mad poetry about his feelings on stage by himself. The form and style of the entire genre is off.

But that, to me, is why we should read Shakespeare. We SHOULD be challenged. It very much IS within the grasp of a literate adult fluent in English to read one of his plays, in a modern edition with proper assistance and context. It is GOOD to be acquainted with something unfamiliar to us, but within our reach. I'm serious. I do not think I'm so much smarter than everyone else because I read Shakespeare. I don't just read the plain text as it was printed in the First Folio! The scholarship exists which has made Shakespeare accessible to me, and I take advantage of that access for my own pleasure.

This is to say that I disagree with the notion that Shakespeare is better suited to be enjoyed in foreign tongues. I think that's quite a complacent, modern American take. Not to say that the sentiment of McWhorter is wrong; I get what he's saying. And it's quite a beautiful thing that Shakespeare's plays are still so commonly staged, although arguably that comes from a false notion in our culture that Shakespeare is high literature worth preserving, at the expense of the rest of time and history. It is true that his body of work has such a high level of privilege in the so-called Western literary canon that either numerous other writers equally deserve, or no writer ever could possibly deserve.

The effort that goes into making Shakespeare's twenty-first century legacy, though, is a half-assed one. So much illustrious praise and deification of the individual and his works, and yet not as much to understanding the context of his time and place, of his influences, forms, and impacts on the eras which proceeded him. Shakespeare seems to exist in a vacuum with his archaic language, and we read it once or twice in high school when we're forced to, with prosaic translations on the adjoining page. This does not inspire a true appreciation in a culture for Shakespeare but it does reinforce a stereotype that he must be somehow important. It's this shallow stereotype that makes it seem in many minds today that it would be worth it to rip the precise language out of the text of a poet, and spit back out an equivalent "modern translation."

[destinedarts]

🙈 Need Mandarin translations/confirmations for the messages the lmk creators left ASAP 🙈

Long story short, we tried to spread the animation studio switch letter Sarah posted. I speedran to Xiaohongshu (LittleRedBook/RedBook/RED); Instagram equal for China cause thought no one else would do it. This was before we found out the rest of the crew would send their regards as well.

Idk Mandarin at all so would appreciate any help. Literally just dumped everything into Google Translate.

Priority is everything in the 1st image. 2nd pic is just explanations I wrote for them in case they don't know, which idk how much they know about Flying Bark besides the fact that they thought their animation was awesome. Sometimes they share the storyboards on Bilibili/Weibo but that's about it.

Put them as images cause I was gonna post on Twitter, but coming here first, which also might be better instead.

The RedBook Post

Might need to go through some verification check, basically sliding things across the screen. No sign in should be required to view, though it could vary between countries.

Short Link: http://xhslink.com/kkPC3I

Link: www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/663ee802000000001e01c1bb

Reasons

If I don't get any sort of translation confirmations, I'm gonna have to update the post anyways. Right now, it's also full of ugly edits cause first time ever posting and I actually ran off to make this like the minute we were asked to do so in mk central discord. Gonna make it look nicer now that I realize it's gained traction. >_>

There's a lot of upset/angry/sad/mad fans on RedBook, Douyin, and Bilibili. Much like how we had the wildfire and death threats on Twitter except I think not as extreme to the point of sending death threats... thankfully. They didn't know about the studio change. Honestly, just trying to give them facts and reminding them they have part of the power to get the show cancelled or not; but also not telling them what to like or not like/stop grieving/etc.

Literally one of the RedBook comments on the S5 trailer LEGO China uploaded contains the picture from my post (cause I added disclaimer that it's not lego official translated). So I definitely would like to have the other translations down if they're just sharing around pictures like that. 😬 And note that they're all sharing the Mandarin ones; not the English even though I did provide them. I don't have Douyin and I dunno if I can upload on Bilibili. Weibo has been covered. Idk if there's other Chinese soc med I'm missing.

Notes for translation

Exact Mandarin/English text used in the ALTs of the pictures and "Keep Reading" section cause I realize ALT can’t copy and paste if needed

Uh please write down exactly what phrase to change, cause I do not understand any of the characters except the show title heh

1000 character limit for post, including tags and characters

Tags used: #lego乐高 #lego #悟空小侠 #乐高中国 #乐高悟空小侠 #乐高悟空小侠5年庆 #第五季 #齐小天 #孫悟空 @LEGO乐高 #乐高 If there's more that's helpful, please let me know lol been riding on these tags. If I can, I'll put English hashtags, but depends on character limit; Chinese is a priority

20 character limit for title, which I've chosen: 悟空小侠电视剧的未来🐒导演和编剧的笔记 (basically "future of LMK, directors & writers' statements/notes")

Crew member names and titles were written in the Mandarin dub credits, shown in 2nd pic. Not changing those in translations.

"Harbinger of Chaos" doesn't exist in the Mandarin version... I think? based on the s4 e7 subtitles we had way long ago. Changed Breen's tweet so it said to "find out more about MK." I guess I could've put "demon monkeys" but left that out in case they actually don't address it in the season. And idk the mandarin phrase they used for that

WildBrain Studios doesn't have a proper mandarin translation according to all the Mandarin dubbed Ninjago episodes so just kept it English

Idk if I forgot something, been having hard time keeping track of stuff oop I'll add more if there is more

Needed

From Christian: 谢谢悟空小侠粉丝们！

经过三季的动画导演后，我很荣幸能够执导旋风狗制片的悟空小侠的第四季，也是最后一季。

这是一个非常贴近我们旋风狗制片所有人的心的系列。 我为我们的团队感到无比自豪，他们在这些美好的岁月里一起工作，成为了一家人。

对于所有悟空小侠粉丝的热爱和奉献，我们感到非常幸运。 你们是我们长期努力的原因，我们将永远感激不已。

这场演出由 Wild Brain 出色的团队负责，我希望他们和我们一样享受这次旅程。

这张照片是我在悟空小侠中的最后一场演出。 我已经非常想念这些猴子了，但我对未来感到兴奋，迫不及待地想分享我们接下来要做的事情。<3

From David:

悟空小侠第五季要来了！ Wildbrain 将接替旋风狗制片留下的巨大足迹。 团队中充满了才华横溢、充满激情的艺术家，我们迫不及待地想让大家了解更多关于齐小天的信息！

From Deirdre:

乐高悟空小侠第五季即将到来，猜猜谁写了三集？ 我🤭

Sorta Needed

Please note that I did use a translator (and friends) to write this article. I'm a western fan but I have access to the app. And please spread the word too. I don’t have much contact with Chinese social media.

请注意，我确实使用了翻译来写这篇文章。 [Could swap to saying friends instead of translator.] 我是西方粉丝，但我可以访问应用程序。也请广而告之。 我与中国社交媒体没有太多联系。

Former series directors and writers from Flying Bark Productions, as well as current writers, have all issued statements regarding the handling of the series.

旋风狗制片（Flying Bark Productions）的前系列导演和编剧以及现任编剧都就该系列的处理发表了声明。

Sarah Harper served as series director from S1 -3 before fully becoming a writer for several episodes in S4. Some of her series credits include "The Jade Emperor" and "Rip and Tear."

莎拉·哈珀（Sarah Harper）在第一季到第三季中担任系列导演，之后在第四季的几集中完全成为编剧。她的一些剧集包括《天庭大对决》和《青毛狮之怒》。

Christian Barkel served as animation director for the first three seasons and was promoted to series director in the fourth season.

克里斯蒂安·巴克尔（Christian Barkel）在前三季担任动画导演，第四季晋升为系列导演。

David Breen is currently a writer on the show's fifth season. He served as script supervisor for S1-3 before being promoted as one of the show's writers. Some of the episodes he has written are "The Brotherhood" and “A Lifetime of Mistakes."

大卫·布林 (David Breen) 现任该剧第五季的编剧。 在晋升为该剧的编剧之一之前，他担任第一季到第三季的剧本总监。 他编写的一些剧集有《青毛狮之谜》和《寻找美猴王》。

Deirdre Devlin is also a writer on season five. She was brought on as a writer in the fourth season. Her three episodes are "The Great Tang Man", "Court of the Yellow Robed Demon", and "Pitiful Creatures".

迪尔德丽·戴夫林（Deirdre Devlin）也是第五季的编剧之一。她在第四季中担任编剧。她的三集是《小天遇三藏》 、《神秘的“朋友”》、《受困保护咒》。

Not Needed but would be nice

Flying Bark Productions has withdrawn from the animation production of "Monkie Kid". Since 2020, they have been continuously invited to participate in new projects, such as "Disney's" "Moon Girl and the Demon Dinosaur" and "Avatar Studio"'s upcoming "Avatar" film in 2026.

旋风狗制片已退出《悟空小侠》的动画制作。 自2020年以来，他们不断受邀参与新项目，例如“Disney”的《月亮女孩與惡魔恐龍》以及2026年“Avatar Studio”即将上映的《降世神通》影片。

From now on, WildBrain Studios will animate the series. They were also responsible for the Ninjago TV series, although that was in 3D rather than a 2D TV series like Monkie Kid. The writers and voice actors remain the same, but new people could join the team.

从现在开始，WildBrain Studios 将制作该系列动画。 他们还负责《幻影忍者》电视剧，尽管该剧是 3D 的，而不是像《悟空小侠》那样的 2D 电视连续剧。 编剧和配音演员保持不变，但可能会有新人加入团队。

Some artists work as freelancers for the team. I don't know how WildBrain Studios' 2D department hires their artists. If they were invited back to the show, some of their work might be similar to their work from previous seasons. But that consistency may not hold true under new directors. We'll have to wait until the end of the season to see the TV show's credits.

一些艺术家作为团队的自由职业者。 我不知道WildBrain Studios的2D部门是如何聘请他们的艺术家的。 如果他们再次受邀参与节目，他们的一些作品可能会与前几季的作品相似。 但在新董事的领导下，这种一致性可能不会成立。 我们必须等到本季结束才能看到电��节目的制作人员名单。

Previous seasons used "frame-by-frame" animation, all drawn by hand. Based on the trailer, the new season appears to include the use of "rig animation," which is the use of technology to move characters and objects.

前几季使用“逐帧”动画，全部由手工绘制。根据预告片，新一季似乎包括使用“装备动画”，即使用技术来移动角色和物体。

All of these changes will impact Season 5 and beyond. I don't know how fan support affects entertainment distribution in China, but over here, if a show doesn't get enough views upon release, it may be abandoned by the distributor and have a hard time continuing. We will give as much support as possible in the West, although the success of the Monkie Kid LEGO sets and TV show has always and will always depend on its performance in China.

所有这些变化都将影响第五季及以后的内容。 我不知道粉丝的支持如何影响中国的娱乐发行，但在这里，如果一个节目在发行时没有获得足够的观看次数，它可能会被发行商放弃，很难继续下去。 我们将在西方给予尽可能多的支持，尽管悟空小侠乐高套装和电视节目的成功将始终取决于其在中国的表现。

Change can be difficult, and it's okay if you feel disappointed or upset. While waiting over the past year, we’ve been teased by the writers and voice actors that this story will be emotional and heartbreaking, and we trust the writers who have carried the story of Monkie Kid, so I hope you will consider watching season 5.

整个变化可能会令人震惊，如果您感到失望或不安也没关系。 在过去一年的等待中，我们被编剧和配音演员取笑，说这个故事将是感人且令人心碎的，我们相信那些承载了悟空小侠故事的编剧，所以我希望你能考虑观看这一季 5.

[spectaculardistractions]

To José Rubia Barcia Mexico City, 6 July 1948 Dear Barcia, Your latest letter arrived, to my great joy as always although it has taken me this long to reply, because I’ve been beset with preoccupations recently. Still, better late than never, and I shall now absolve my sins with these lines. I always thought finding work at the university was the right thing to do. It may not have been your goal, but until something better comes along, it’s the most respectable and least tiresome thing you could do. You may not believe me, but I would swap places if I could. I see you are also still chasing the wicked world of cinema doing things for Godoy and Company. Don’t think, as you imply in your letter, that I mock you for doing so: if it brings in a few dollars, I think it’s wonderful. Anyway, if things work out well for me here and your migration issues permit, I am convinced we will work together again. You can count on it. My affairs in this ‘beautiful’ city are not going well. You wouldn’t believe how hard I have to struggle not to fall back on Gran Casino-style films. The current crisis, mediocre producers and viewers, and prevailing bad taste are all pushing me towards the heap of run-of-the-mill film-makers. Whenever I come up with an interesting film project, I fall flat on my face. Whereas I’ve turned down three idiotic films already. So financially speaking, times have been extremely tough. I only get by with help from my family in Spain. But where on earth would I go at this stage? Succeed or fail, I plan to stay around here. Here is a list of my failures: Six months with Pancho Cabrera on Doña Perfecta and Nazarín, I sold him the rights… Failure due to lack of funds. Noriega is keen to buy our script for The Threshold and wants me to make it… Another failure: Ramex ceases production. I come to an agreement with Rechi to direct La malquerida…. He leaves me high and dry and heads off to Los Angeles for two months. When he gets back, he takes on Gavaldón. Dancigers, with Philip Morris of New York, looks willing to produce a supremely avant-garde story Larrea and I wrote. Not for Mexico, but in English for civilized countries. But when the New York mister reads our story, his jaw drops so far, he dislocates it and withdraws the offer to fund. I think these four are enough to give you an idea. Three days ago, on the other hand, a producer came to my house with Pituka de Foronda, whom I’d never met, to propose I immediately begin filming the Insúa novel La mujer, el toro y el torero with Luis Procuna as leading man. It’s crazy! Things are bad, bad, bad! Later on this week, I’ll send you two copies of Illegible, Son of a Flute, which is the title of a script Juan Larrea and I wrote based on an old book of Juan’s that he lost years ago and never published. I’d be really grateful if you could register it at the Screen Writers on Cherokee, and send me the receipt. I’m doing this because the script is now wandering the streets of New York with Charles Ford, Iris Barry, etc., and someone (not Iris, of course) might plagiarize it. As you’ll see if you read it, it’s really unusual, prophetic even… and full of original images. New Directions Yearbook wanted to publish it but we turned them down, because that would have made it literature rather than film. I’m sorry for any bother this favour may cause. And I’d be grateful if you could let me know whether registration costs $5 or $10 so I can send you the money. If you see Kenneth Macgowan, pass on my very warmest wishes. I genuinely admire him; he’s one of the most decent people in Hollywood. In my desperation, I nearly wrote to ask him for a place on one of his courses and I almost sent him Illegible, Son of a Flute in case, if he liked it, he might be able to do something to help out. But I came to my senses in time. I often think of you and Evita and of our confabulations, gustation and collaborations with great nostalgia. But this Turkish galley refuses to steer me in your direction. My very fondest regards, Luis Buñuel PS I’ve insisted Larrea write back to you and he has promised to do it today

Jo Evans & Breixo Viejo, Luis Buñuel: A Life in Letters

[lunaamatista]

Hello, @pointedterrors! I may not be Neil Gaiman or a well-established author at all, but I happen to have majored in literature and gone on to work in journalism and publishing, so I thought I might share some of my experiences. Please do keep in mind that I am not from an English-speaking country at all, but I figured some general aspects could still be of interest. I'll touch on some of your points in the order that makes sense to me.

First: a major in journalism was also not an option for me. However, while working in journalism, just about none of my peers had majored in it either, and I worked for the biggest printed publication in the country.

If I had to estimate, the largest portion had degrees in communications, then some sort of humanities (whereas the general liberal arts or the specific literature, philosophy), then political sciences and social studies. These were the people who had some leeway to move between sections of interest. Some particularly specific degrees--fashion, cinema, visual arts, law, economics--would've been allocated to very specific sections.

Courses in media studies are a great start. Where I worked, there was an annual workshop that they made their interns take, and that was free for anybody else who could pass the strict vetting. Seeking workshops or internships will probably teach you a lot, even if you can't formally study journalism.

Second: unless you're already fairly involved in publishing or have specific authors whose releases you look forward to, it's hard to keep track of new books unless they have already generated some buzz. Books published in 2023 will have had fewer than nine months to do so! It's quite the tall demand for them.

Books are by no means dying. The industry had seen its record year in 2018, then a decrease in revenue in 2019 and, naturally, 2020. However, it has since recovered, and 2023 is already ahead of aforementioned record year. Keeping up with the Publishers Association is a good way to know about what's going on in the anglophone side of the industry.

Third: the notion that we've passed the point where we can create new scenarios is--rather amusingly--very, very old.

The wonderful Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges opened the 1947 short story "The Immortal" with this real quote:

Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, That all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, That all novelty is but oblivion.

We've got the fairly popular The Hero with a Thousand Faces is possibly how we got Star Wars. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations in 1895. The Basic Patterns of Plot in 1959. The Seven Basic Plots, which the author began working on around 1970, but that did not get published until 2004, which is also fairly popular. 20 Master Plots from 1993. And yet, we’ve kept creating.

All of the above are worth a read to learn something about the history of literature. Mostly, they teach us that humans will always be humans. Isn't that just wonderful? My own belief is that new knowledge born into our world will eventually find its way into our ever-familiar structures, and the stories born out of this union will always find a place in our ever-changing world.

Fourth: how do you find newer books to read? BookTok in particular is keen on new releases, and a good place to look if you want to find out what to look forward to. Be careful about how you guide the algorithm (watch videos you care for in full, like them and at least copy the share link, comment if it was particularly useful--avoid doing this for content you do not care for, and make sure to also hit "not interested" when that's the case), and soon enough you'll have recommendations that are more tailored to your interests.

Find the pages for your favorite authors, whether that's a Wikipedia page, a Facebook profile, a WordPress blog, or a profile written on some cultural association's page. See if they ever won or were nominees for any literary awards. Find the shortlist for the running edition. There you have it--a vetted list of the best that will also be fairly recent. This is also a great way to learn about any particular genre or local literary trend.

If there are book fairs around you, try to find their program and see if there are book presentations beyond what's advertised on posters and social media posts. Go to any that interest you. The smaller ones, in particular, are where authors will be able to interact the most with their audience, and where you might meet the people publishing locally who will be very attuned to what goes on in that world at that moment. Yes, you hate to hear it: this is networking, which brings me to my following point.

College is a great time to find reading and writing circles. Find these people. Let yourself be encouraged to participate in the contests that your college, your library, or your state hosts. You'll get invaluable experience by reading, workshopping, and analyzing the trends you can see in the results of these contests. Sometimes, you might even get published for it, whether that's in a compilation of winners that will only ever get a single run or a magazine that will be dead three years down the line or an independent publisher that has a cult following. All of these experiences matter. In my experience, the people who stuck for the points I've made in this and the previous paragraph are the ones who've kept getting published along the line.

Hi Neil,

I am a college-aged person who has been into writing and other creative based careers/hobbies since I was a child. For a while it was theatre, then journalism, and now I am interested in writing my own fiction stories.

Of course, I still have passion for all of my former endeavors, but a key reason my focus has shifted aside from aging is fear for the future. “Everyone wants to preform, unless you are one in a million you will never get the chance.” or “Journalism is a dying career.” Applying for schools, so few colleges even offered journalism as a major option, which surprised me.

Now that I am looking into writing fiction, I am once again in that same boat. My media studies professor was discussing literature, and he asked the class a very thought provoking question:

“Have any of you guys read a book that came out in the year 2023?”

Nobody raised their hands. Thinking back on books I’ve read within the past few years, I can only remember reading one that came out while I was in high school. Everything else had been older than that.

It made me take a major pause. Are books dying? Have we surpassed the age where it’s possible to create entirely new worlds and scenarios and have other people read them? How do we keep reading alive?

Of course, one man alone cannot hold all the answers, but I’m curious- What is your opinion on this as a well established author?

Thank you for your time!

I think the majority of the books published in 2023 are still in hardcover and that college age students will mostly be waiting for the paperbacks to come out. And that the vast majority of books were published before 2023.

[klondiketales]

This is W.E, in principle I expected that Freckle would forgive Rocky, he cannot live without him, and to answer your question, I am from Russia, if you are wondering why I am in the English fandom, it is because in my country Lackadaisy is not very popular, accordingly there is not much content on it, that's why I came here, something like this, so before moving on to my 2 idea, I will say my opinion about chapter 4, I liked it, but I was confused by the names, when the character speaks, for me it made it a little difficult to immerse myself in the atmosphere, and it felt unnecessary, but as they say, this is my opinion, you still wrote everything well, despite this, so now, let's move on to my 2 idea, here

This idea came from another idea, it's Rapist!Rocky x Rapist!Freckle, so I decided to do a reverse version, yeah, Victim!Rocky x Victim!Freckle, I'll explain everything now, the idea turned out a little fantastic, so I understand if you won't add it in the chapters, so I looked at the comments under chapter 3, and I decided to take the idea where Freckle, after being raped by Rocky, decided to kill himself with a gun, after which, he dies, but he ends up in another alternative reality, where he is Rocky's rapist, as a result, he wakes up in the Rapist!Freckle body, and the first thing he sees is Rocky's face, naturally the Victim!Freckle panics until he realizes what he sees, Freckle sees a very thin and Rocky's beaten body, and he realizes that he is in some kind of basement, a dialogue occurs in which it becomes clear that Freckle is not the same Freckle, and that he is from another alternative reality, Freckle realizes with horror and disgust what his terrible copy has done with Rocky, and yes, Freckle feels guilty, even though it's not his fault, after which, Freckle helps Rocky leave the basement outside, it will be a long process of getting over it, and it's hard for them to look at each other, although they realize that they didn't do those terrible things things with each other like their cousins, although maybe they'll get used to each other and have a family relationship, and yeah, it'll be hard to explain to Ivy that Freckle isn't really the same Freckle

Like I said, the idea is too bigoted, so I'll understand if you don't add it in the chapters, and also, if you're wondering what happened to Rapist!Freckle, he ended up in the body of Victim!Freckle, yes, Rapist!Freckle is dead, and lastly, I’m interested in Rocky’s reaction to all this, I think that at the beginning it’s very hard for him to believe that the person in front of him is not exactly his cousin, and he thinks that his cousin has completely gone crazy, until he believed the words Freckle, because Freckle can't lie, we all know that, thanks in advance for the answers

Hi, W.E. You have really good ideas! I can just imagine the way this would play out. Poor Victim!Freckle would be so scared and confused, finding himself alone with his abuser in a dark, unknown location. Then he would realize Victim!Rocky is chained up, and that he (Freckle) shot himself in the head but isn’t dead…they would both be scared, but they would talk it out. Freckle would find they key in Rapist!Freckle’s duffel bag, and he would set Rocky free, and they would talk things out more, and begin their healing journey together. Rocky would be so happy to see sunlight again, when he was so sure he was going to die in that pit. And Freckle would be so relieved to have his nice, loving, non-evil cousin back :”D and Rocky would feel the same.

Like you said, Rocky might not believe it right away, but he would eventually. He believes a lot of crazy things (like in my other fic when he kept seriously speculating that Mordecai is secretly a vampire). He’s kind of a silly, “addle-brained” boy (as Mitzi put it). So this wouldn’t be totally far beyond his suspension of disbelief. And with time, and hearing the details of Freckle’s explanation, and knowing Freckle isn’t imaginative enough or smart enough to create such an elaborate, unbelievable tale, and seeing the bruises on Freckle from the times Rapist!Rocky hurt him, he would believe him. And Freckle would believe Rocky because he saw the chains, and the starvation-level thinness, and the baby stuff, and Zib’s grave…wow. I really want to make this au.

Just wondering, when you said Victim!Rocky x Victim!Freckle, do you want them to be in a romantic relationship, or just as brothers again? I hope I can do this idea soon, but I might not have time until after final exams in April ;u; I’m taking history of modern greece this semester.

Thanks again for the ideas! They’re so good!!!

EDIT: DAMMIT i forgot to say, you’re right about the new chapter, the format is no good. I was basically just experimenting new ways to save time, definitely won’t be doing it again. I just don’t like it. It’s not effective at communicating the emotions of the scene. It sure was shorter than it would have been otherwise, though.

[grendelsmom]

10-12!

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

I actually only read one book that was released this year - Yellowface from R.F. Kuang. My friend read it for her English lit reading group and lend it to me. I actually really enjoyed. In part because I had the added bonus of my friend's annotations and I also really enjoyed discussing it with her. I think Kuang managed to write the narrator in way that you almost don't notice her development, because you get sucked into her view of the world and her story and then it just suddenly hits you. I think the book falls a bit short in it's critic and analysis of the publishing industry when it comes to class and social capital, but it was still a very enjoyable read.

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

I loved, loved, loved Altes Land (lit. Old Country) by Dörte Hansen. It interweaves the story of Vera, who came to the Northern German region called Altes Land in the late 40s as a child fleeing from the Eastern Prussian area, and Anne, her half-sister's daughter who leaves the big city with her son after she finds out her husband is cheating on her. Not only did it hit very close to home (my own family history is very similiar to that of Vera), but inbetween critically analysing the romantisation of "country living", the dying out of local cultural traditions and languages (the low German language has been slowly fading out since before I was born), she somehow also manages to write really compellingly about trauma and how it is passed on between generations. It was really beautiful.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

It doesn't feel entirely fair to call it a disapointment, but my roommate loved Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and lend me her copy and I just couldn't get myself to enjoy it. I think it was mostly because I didn't manage to warm up to the writing style. It felt rather simplyfied to me - the feeling is very hard to describe - it was very minimalistic and simple and not in a way I personally enjoy.

It might also be the fact that I've been getting a bit more into German literature again this year and gotten used to German grammar and sentence structure - so to my "German-fied" ears Kawaguchi's style sounds very unsual.

[gracefuldave]

Sometimes you need a place to share some text with a bunch of different people on different apps...

Paulo Freire is the most cited person in modern pedagogy. Even by his Wiki page he is a neo-Marxist, and considering the body count for fascist countries is in the millions and the body count for communist countries is in the hundred millions, think about what being a "neo-fascist" would mean, and to wear that proudly. His term "critical consciousness" is, in my translation, a theory for changing the world. In his own words, it is "the ability to intervene in reality in order to change it." This is the tie to critical theory, the view that the world is governed by power dynamics at the most fundamental level. This is evinced by the statement "Ask not what is true, but to whom defining true serves" (this is metaphysical non-starter in ways an undergrad should be able to see.) To put it another way, "might makes right." The insistence that power is primary, that truth is only an expression of power, justifies using power to fight back against the way things are, as seen in the culture of deplatforming, that words or ideas cause "hurt" or "trauma" or deny someone their right to "safety." If words are violence, then violence can be used justly against words. Still, change the world, sounds great. But we are speaking about education, the training of young minds. The job of a teacher is to teach students how to understand the world, not to know what *I* think the world is, but to give them the tools to come to their own conclusions, to maintain their diversity of perspective: the whole reason why diversity is valuable. After all, I might actually be wrong! An activist, however, is one who teaches them to change the world. The change is primary to them. To change without understanding is damaging - it is infinitely easier to break than to build, so what are the odds you'll make an improvement when you haven't understood what you are changing? Or, I know, it's crazy, but maybe the thing you want to change doesn't need changing! Or it's changing quite well on its own, thanks. Notice the slogans aren't "improve the world." It's always "change." Change when you're an adult and have agency over your life, so you can show you can make changes in your own life for the better before you start making them to the world as a child.

So let's then look at Brazil's education system first. This guy was exiled by the government for his subversive teaching; apparently he taught 300 adults how to read and write in 45 days. What does "read and write" mean in this context? How was it assessed? Where are they now? Even the Wiki doesn't have a link, which you think it should, as extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence. I can't find any actual source of that. I'm trying to find English copies of Brazilian documentaries currently, to see if there is any primary footage or interviews or something. I’m not saying it’s not out there, but I don’t usually have to work this hard to find something like this. So how about data on the countries that implemented his policies? Because when he was let back into the country after the government changed and they infused their education system with his teachings, what happened to Brazil? Should we be trying to emulate theirs? Their adult literacy rate, to look at the best example to see his method in action, in 2010 was 92%, after steadily rising since the 60s. Wow, that's good news! Guess what? So did all the other Latin American countries! Brazil's not even at the top for percentage or rate of learning. 92% isn't that impressive when you look at the 99%s of Canada or even that of Uruguay!

The chapter in the book I was assigned today has a quote from Nicol, Archibald, and Baker (2012) that says culturally responsive education is "an approach to teaching and learning that facilitates critical consciousness, engenders respect for diversity, and acknowledges the importance of relationship, while honouring, building upon, and drawing from the culture, knowledge and language of the students, teachers, and local community." Leaving aside the observation that the citation is from 2012 and what that means (basically humanities courses aren't like science where the newest data is the most accurate or useful), this sounds great, unless you know Freire's term "critical consciousness." Without that bit, it actually sounds amazing, and I am actually convinced that most of that sentence is good and powerful thinking that will actually make the world better. Making learning meaningful is a powerful and important idea. It also makes your job easier, and besides, you should be able to justify to a student why you are forcing them to learn what you are teaching them - if it's not meaningful to you it won't be them. One way to do that is to engage with the student's identity, and through that, culture. It's fundamental to teaching effectively on any metric.

But, to then agitate them so they see what they, as young people, deem is unjust and empowering them to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy (their terms) that which oppresses (you're either with us or against us) is not the role of education, nor should it be, for teachers are, in fact, agents of the state. Even worse than children breaking things without first understanding them is the teacher that has accepted they cannot be neutral, cannot be a bystander, so they push forward their slightly more sophisticated worldview to make things "better," a place of authority that, in my experience, the average teacher really isn't qualified to take. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, we know this. A worldview that puts a moral imperative onto its followers, that doesn't require an appeal to truth but only power, that splits the world into good guys and bad guys so that a universal revolution for the good of the lower classes occurs and what comes will definitely be better than before we totally promise, is a story the 20th century was supposed to have taught us to recognize and avoid, for everyone's sake.

[szczekaczz]

thinking about the internet today. i'm aware i sometimes might sound like a boomer but whatever...

i think personally that the internet is one of the most important human inventions of all time. it's hard for me to get my head around the fact that i'm living in a time when so so much of human knowledge is stored in one single place that you can access if you just have an internet connection and some knowledge on english language and piracy. like. it's groundbreaking. i'm so grateful for it everyday. especially that my field of interest is very narrow and specific (talking about dogs rn) and for example none of the books or scientific papers i find interesting enough are available as a physical copy in my country. none. if not for the internet i would never have the opportunity to study it.

but also how it affects the ability to focus... evolution of our nervous system doesn't keep up with technological development. i think my focus is tragically weak due to the constant contact with screens, internet ect. and it frustrates me greatly, because there are so SO many things i find interesting, and i want to study them, but i do it at such a slow and frustrating pace... i'm always afraid i won't have enough time to learn everything i want to learn and study. and personal studying and growth and knowledge is just the most important thing to me in the life... I really wish to learn how to cope with it all sooner than later

[potato-jem]

i tried to reply to this this morning, but it didn’t save once i went into another app for something else 😭😭😭 nerophobic, i say! i am drinking an english breakfast out of my spidey mug, and i’m going to answer this now before i start watching tasm again because i am so exhausted and all i have wanted to do all day was reply 😭😭😭

the fact that you like listening to my stories makes me so happy, and i hope you know it goes both ways! <3

i am almost done with catching up! i might finish the rest on the way to or off uni, who knows (when it will get done)

it was so nice! i love how dedicated sydney is to mardi gras/world pride, it made me feel so welcome, even if i didn’t travel to see it. apparently drag queens were walking around later in the week, and i am so jealous of the locals who got to see that :’(

right?! i feel like i would still be so amazed by the trains everyday if i was a local. they even have single seats so you don’t have to live in fear that someone will sit next to you!! brilliant!

i ended up being really productive and i already take a while to wind down from work. i’m actually surprised i was so productive, because normally after work, i rot on the couch for a few hours. (and i agreed with your advice, so it must be a little good at least, right?)

i could have potentially slept better because of the minor heatstroke that i had from the merch line, but worth it! i normally can’t nap, unless i am super sick, so my body must have needed it. (and i really loved your bday message this morning, thank you for making a hard day a little easier <3)

i could probably qualify for merch just from the amount of streaming i do, but oh well. it almost costs the same as a ticket by the time you get everything you want 😭😭😭 but yes, i love seeing people in concert merch and seeing a little bit into their character and their music tastes. i have had a few people ask me about rina because of how cool her merch for the hold the girl tour was, but then they walked away much informed and with much regret (i could talk about rina for hours)

i love you too <333 but yeah, tell me whenever you do!

i don’t know what lychee-ade is either, all i know is that it tasted good and i need to find a recipe asap. i knew you would like my way of thinking 

at least i have a place to get my rare books now! and if i go to sydney again in the future, it will be added to the itinerary everytime! i always like to see the bookstores in other cities/countries, bookstores always tell more stories than the city seems to. and the pile on the floor has started, uni has been cruel with their required readings this semester

thank you so much 😭😭😭 it makes me so happy! and then i have a month until the 1975 and i’m so excited! (and my friends want me to go to sydney AGAIN for ANOTHER concert in MAY, my bank account hates me guts i swear it)

you would get a signed copy hehe

of course! i was laughing at my concert videos with my friend today, but it just reminded me of how much fun i had. i am singing so horribly at the top of my lungs and my camera is shaky, but i had so much fun that i didn’t care then and i don’t care now. the concert vids are just a place to hold the memory and i agree with everything you said :)

i hate those people so much!!!! but at least you have simba! and of course i would support you buying it, i am your no.1 supporter always

i love patting animals and talking to animals and looking at animals and i just love animals <3333

cece i’m so happy you decided to give her a go!! i love your age and this hell too! your age live is INCREDIBLE and this hell was such a fun way to end the night! but forgiveness is me in a song and i can’t deny the eternal love i have for it. and her debut album sawayama is also a brilliant work too!! if you would like, i can make a list of my favs for you to listen to?? so far my fav songs from my taylored playlist are cardigan (broke me), treacherous, exile, this is me trying and tolerate it (i have a lot to go and i have a whole page in my notes app with my thoughts that don’t make sense HAHAHA)

i am giving you a tight hug and a little teddy bear to keep you company <33333

hello cece my beautiful wonderful beloved soulmate <3

i hope you have been well and looking after yourself! i don’t want you overworking yourself 😭 but it has been two days since i have come back from my trip (i have been exhausted plus i had work and uni to catch up on) so now i am going to sit down and tell you about my trip!! please grab a cup of tea and a snack while you read :)

so i went to sydney again, and i had a much more enjoyable experience this time around. i think it was because i knew what i was getting into, and i stayed in the exact same place, so it was all familiar to me.

although i did try to use the public transport this time, instead of ubering everywhere, and the buses were so bad, but the trains were INCREDIBLE! they were double decker and the back support moved so you could have a single row or two rows of seats face each other??? SO COOL

anyways, me and my friend caught the train to the airport at 4am in the morning 😭😭😭 (and i finished work at 12am!!!!) to get our flight. once we landed in sydney, my friend wanted to get merch from the early presale stand outside the arena and we were outside in 30 degree heat FOR TWO HOURS, with our luggage. good news, my birthday is coming up and my friend didn’t know what to get me, so he bought half my merch 🤭 bad news, i’m ginger and i get sunburnt in two minutes, so think about two hours… the worst thing is we had an umbrella for sun protection, but my right arm and the back of my neck was out so they were FRIED. i’m currently peeling like a reptile but worth it

we got some food from maccas because we were dehydrated and getting heat stroke, and then checked into our room after we managed to get our stuff. we both ended up napping in the afternoon, which we were both surprised about, because i had my phone in my hand still attached to the charger next to my bed and he still had his genshin impact loaded up onto his ipad 😭😭😭

unfortunately the place i wanted to take him to for dinner, the really good japanese place from last time, was under renovation, so we had dinner elsewhere but we had such a good time the rest of our trip

because we went to see stray kids, a kpop group, we had a lot of activities we could indulge in. they had this thing called a cupsleeve event, where someone in the fandom designs a cupsleeve to represent a kpop idol’s birthday, group anniversary or in our case, coming to the city. and i got so many freebies! we went to this kpop store that doubled as a cafe and the drinks were so good! i bought way too much but i have to remind myself that i can’t get it at home 😔

we also went to the biggest bookstore i have ever seen in my life! it took up a whole floor of the shopping centre and it was brilliant. it had books upon books, categories after categories. they even had an entire chinese and japanese section! i also spent a lot of money there BUT my best find was the entire completed infernal devices manga trilogy!! it’s so beautiful and such a rare find, i grabbed it immediately. i couldn’t find the tmi graphic novels though, but they have them on their website, so i might order them in :)

alright, the main event! the concerts! so i went and saw the kpop group, stray kids, two nights in a row! it was amazing. i was and still am a huge fan of their work, but especially because they got me through a really hard time in my life and really were my serotonin while i was at school 😔 i wasn’t allowed to see them when they first came here four years ago (parents: maybe next year, they’ll come! *next year being 2020.*) so i feel like i finally made up for it.

me and my friend also matches outfits! we did black and green (the concert colours) on the first night, and red and white on the second (to match the stray kids colours). i wish i could send you photos, we looked so slay 🤩

i do not have one concert video without me screaming the lyrics (yeah the korean ones too!) in the back. but i don’t care, it was so fun, i had a blast. and it was even better because two of the members of stray kids were from sydney and they just made it feel more homely :) do not regret how much money i spent on them or the sleep i lost at all! i’m so glad i can slowly start to give myself the experiences i missed out on as a kid/teenager :’)

anyways, enough about me! how have you been? what have you been up to? how is simba? 🥺 i adore you so much and i am enclosing this letter with a warm hug <3333

hello nero my amazing perfect beloved soulmate <3

yay i’m so happy to finally hear about this trip!!! i just made myself a cup of tea and brought out some biscoff cream!!

how was the catching up part?? did you manage to catch up without exhausting yourself too much??

nero that’s so great!! i think that having a familiar surrounding is always helpful, and staying in the same place makes it all less scary somehow. i’m really happy it went much better!!

NO WAY THEY HAVE THOSE TRAINS THERE??? they look so cool!!! i’ve seen them on instagram once and i was so jealous of every city who had those trains!! you can literally choose if you want to sit alone or have company and that’s so cool!!! it’s basically a buildable environment!!! i’m getting way too excited about this lol

so you only had like three hours of sleep?? 😭😭😭😭 and you even had to stand in the heat for hours 😭😭😭 but yay!!! merch!!! that’s a really great birthday gift!!! (also when is your birthday??? only if you want to share of course <3)

anyway merch is so amazing and so expensive. this has got to be one of the best presents ever!!! even if it means you’re skinning like a reptile now lol at least it’s just two small spots instead of your whole self 😂 but i get the struggle. i’m not ginger but my skin is so light i always get sunburnt in 0.5 seconds too. definitely not fun, but worth it for some merch :D

that was probably a really fun situation to wake up to, but you both deserved a nap for catching a bus at 4am!!! especially since you had only a few hours of sleep after work!! at least you were rested enough to really enjoy the trip!!

oh no 😭😭 i’m still dreaming about that place!! i went to a my favorite japanese restaurant in my city a few days ago and i really wanted to try that beverage you told me about but i was driving so i couldn’t 😭 i hope this other restaurant was really good too though!!

no way!!! nero this is all way too cool!!! i’m so happy it was so fun and there were so many things to do!!! also this cupsleeves event sounds so cool!! i’m so happy nero, you’re making my day just by telling me about all these freebies and amazing drinks!! and you know i’m always gonna be the little devil on your shoulder telling you that spending money is good and you deserve all that amazing stuff :))

the tid manga trilogy??? how is that even possible omg you can’t find that anywhere!!!! i’m so jealous, i wanna live in this bookstore now 🥺 it’s got to be so amazing!! (you always find the best bookstores, i had no doubt there would be one in this letter too and i was so excited to read about it!!) and let me know if you do order the tmi graphic novels!! i’ve been trying to collect those too hehe

the fact that *next year* was 2020 is so painful. but you saw them two nights in a row!!! that’s amazing!! and it must have been so good to see them after so long, after they’d been by your side in a really tough time 🥹 i’m so happy you got to finally see them live!!

also, the matching outfits?? I LOVE THAT!!! i bet you looked so slay!!! that’s literally the best idea for what to wear to a concert!!!

nero i’m so so happy for you!!! you’ve made my whole day, i’m not even joking!! i’m so happy you’re finally getting to enjoy trips and concerts you couldn’t before!! and this one really sounded so perfect!!! also the videos with you screaming at the top of your lungs to every song are literally the best. i love it when i rewatch a video from a concert and i can hear myself screaming and crying and dying more than i can hear the band or the singer. it just makes me live all those memories and those amazing feelings again!!!

the money spent on this is totally worth it!!! and you can sleep now, uni can wait lol really nero i’m so happy this trip was so good!!! i’m so happy for you!!!

i’m good!! i got three days off from work this week so that was great, and i started to reread chain of iron so that i can reread chain of thorns right after :) i miss them so much already 🥲

anyway i just booked a trip for may, because a friend is coming to visit me and i’m gonna be off work for two weeks so i’m really looking forward to it and now i just wanna skip work and plan the itinerary 😂 and i want to book more trips too. which isn’t great because my bank account is already crying and begging me to stop buying stuff. did i tell you i got the illumicrate edition of chain of thorns with the alternative dust jackets? yeah so my bank account still hasn’t forgiven me for it :,)

simba is also doing really good, he’s eating a lot and sleeping a lot as usual 😌

also, ever since you told me about the rina sawayama concert, and because you always talked so much about her, i kinda started listening to her music a lot more and i’m obsessed with some songs now!!! i adore her style so thank you for this new obsession :>

i’m enclosing a warm hug for you too and a little bouquet of flowers <3

[therealvinelle]

Ok I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm just now copying your Norwegian Bella AU into a text translator, and if you don't already have 50 people in your inbox demanding a translation then shame on ALL OF US because this is glorious! And while Google Translate does have a certain charm (it translated "piper hun ut" as "she beeps") I'm curious to see how you'd put it in English.

Troquantary is referring to this post. In which Bella doesn't speak English.

Fun fact, you're the only one who's gone into my inbox to request this. I was so sad, had the translation half-written and everything, but I was too proud to beg. So thank you, Troquantary, for popping this ask.

As for the dictionary fuckups, sounds about right. I made a few typos, too, that made Google Translate suffer even more. (Such as managing to mix up "henne" (her) and "hendene" (hands), resulting in Aro patting Bella instead of clapping his hands. Poor Google.)

Also, there are a few cultural references and language things that would be lost in the translation, in an attempt to keep them I included notes clarifying things.

Some things, like Aro and Carlisle's very old man way of speaking, are easier said than done to translate, you'll have to bear with me there.

Additional notes are that I added a few things to this version, many of them because translating is hard, but a few because while translating I thought "oh you know what would be much funnier-" and then wrote that.

Alright, without further ado:

When Renée left Charlie she did not go to Florida, she went to Oslo. And she went all in to make her daughter a true Norwegian, hiring Norwegian nannies and making sure never to speak English around the child. Since transatlantic flights are expensive, little Bella Swan rarely got to visit her father, and as such she never did learn what should have been her native language.

She quickly forgot what English she did have in favor of Norwegian, with the exception of words like “Yes”, “No”, and “I’m Bella”.

The few trips she took to visit her father were all the more awkward than in canon since she couldn’t play with the Black kids. Let not the blame fall upon Charlie: he took Norwegian classes and speaks conversational Norwegian. He can’t speak to Renée, because her Norwenglish is incomprehensible even to Norwegians, but he can communicate with Bella.

Not that he’s had a lot of chances to do so.

Bella makes it to seventeen years old, she’s in second grade at Handels* and is a major outsider among the preps there, and then Renée marries a handsome skier**. Together they shall travel the continent all winter to participate in as many skiing races as they can, and in the summer they’ll take gigs at Hurtigruta to see the coast.

*“Handels” is the nickname for an Oslo high school infamous for its pupils being rich and beautiful blonds who are going to be CEOs when they grow up.

**Skiing as a sport is huge in Norway

***Hurtigruta is a famous ferry that travels across the Norwegian West coast

Bella, who sucks at skiing and is too young to work at Hurtigruten, takes the hint.

With dread in her stomach and dictionary in hand she goes to her father in America.

Where she doesn’t speak the language.

Faen.

Charlie gives her a car, and I wish this meta was set in the present because I could have joked about electric cars and the automat only driver’s license*, but Twilight is set in 2005 so I can’t. The car part proceeds without drama.

*An increasing number of Norwegian youth take the driver’s license for automatic cars only, and we’re the country in the world with the highest percentage of electric car purchases.

School is worse than in canon, because she is now a thousand times more sensational than if she was merely the new student. She is from another country! All of Forks keels over with excitement.

To make matters even worse, our girl doesn’t understand a word of what people are saying.

She is too awkward to let them know she doesn’t know English. It’d become a thing, and they might think she’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not good that she’s been through primary, secondary, and now a year and a half of high school and still sucks at English.

So she nods, smiles, mumbles “Hi, I’m Bella” to the new faces, and blushes heavily when anybody says anything.

People assume she’s shy. That’s a bit boring, but oh well.

She has her biology class with the redhead hottie she noticed during lunch. She watched him and his family, they were fascinatingly pretty, but she doesn’t know anything more about them. Sure would have been great if she could have asked the tiny girl (was it Jess?) about them.

Biology proceeds as in canon - Edward badly wants to eat the delicious girl, but fortunately doesn’t.

She runs into him in the office when he tries to switch to another biology lesson, but she has no idea what he’s saying so she only has the suspicion that this somehow concerns her. Which is still uncomfortable, but Bella is probably the problem here. The hottie surely can’t be.

He’s missing from school for a week, Bella finds that weird.

He returns, and to her great horror he starts talking to her.

“Hello”, he says.

Bella dies inside. He’s too handsome!

"I'm Edward Cullen," he continues, and ok, she got that. The hottie is called Edward, that’s good to know. She’s not sure she caught that last name, though, Köln?

He says something else, it’s gibberish to Bella even though she’s concentrating, and at the end there he says “Bella Swan”.

She gulps.

"I'm Bella Swan," she confirms and nods. That should be correct. God, she hopes it’s correct.

He smiles a crooked, boyish smile. She’s awed. She didn’t think it was possible to be so beautiful.

He says something else.

Bella didn’t catch it.

She blushes even harder, she hasn’t been more embarrassed in her life. Here he is, the most handsome guy in all the world, and she has nothing to say to him. Literally, they don’t speak the same language.

She should tell him.

It’s one thing to chicken out of telling the town she doesn’t speak English, but there’s something different about Edward Cullen. He deserves the truth.

But...

He’s the most beautiful person she has seen in her life. He is American, too, so the odds of him knowing Norwegian are microscopical. If he finds out she doesn’t understand a word he says he’ll stop talking to her, and selfish as she is she doesn’t want that.

So with a slightly guilty conscience (but not enough to fess up) she contributes to the conversation with enough words and smiles to pull through. "Yes", "No", "Thank you", and "That's nice".

He is surprised by several of these answers, but instead of giving her odd looks and losing interest he grows more invested in the conversation.

Class ends.

The next day the near accident happens, and he saves her. She is stunned - dear god, did he just pick up a whole car? After teleporting across the parking lot..?

Soon she’s in the ER, and more than a little bit stressed about that fact since she knows the Americans have a terrible healthcare system.

She hopes Charlie has an insurance.

An insanely beautiful man walks into the ER, and Bella is shocked. He is just as handsome as Edward and Edward’s lunch friends!

He introduces himself as Carlisle Cullen, and Bella can only assume this is someone’s older brother. Possibly related to the blonde girl.

He smiles at her, says something, and she answers, "I'm Bella Swan."

He frowns.

That must have been the wrong answer, then.

His hands return to investigating her scalp, and to her great surprise he switches to perfect Norwegian, "kjenner De* noe ubehag når jeg holder her?" Do you feel any discomfort when I touch here?

*De is the Norwegian polite pronoun for “you”. Du = thou = the French tu, and De = you = the French vous. These polite pronouns went out of use in the 1980’s, save for when addressing royal persons, and would be considered antiquated in 2005.

He hurries to add, "Norsk lærte jeg i... fjor sommer. Det var et nettkurs." I learned Norwegian… last year. Online class.

"Hvilket da?" Which one? Bella asks, because Charlie needs to hear about this. The doctor has beautiful, if slightly outdated, pronunciation.

The doctor’s smile turns uncertain. She gets the feeling there’s something he doesn’t want to say. "Husker ikke," I don’t remember, sier han etter en litt vel lang pause.

That’s a shame. And weird.

"De hadde hellet med Dem i dag, som ikke ble truffet av den bilen." You were lucky today, not getting hit by that car. he then says, noticeably changing the subject.

"Det var ikke hell, det var Edward," It wasn’t luck, it was Edward, she replies sharply.

The doctor definitely looks uncomfortable.

She continues, "Han krysset skolegården på et blunk, og plukket opp hele bilen. Jeg så det," He crossed the schoolyard in a moment, and picked up the whole car. I saw it,

The doctor laughs. "Om han kunne det hadde nok gymkarakteren hans vært meget bedre. Nei, frøken Swan*, jeg beklager å si at det høres ut som at De er litt omtåket. Det er helt normalt ved hjernerystelse." If he could do that, his PE grade would be a lot better. No, Miss Swan, I’m sorry to say you seem confused. That’s normal with concussions.

*Addressing a young woman as “frøken” is even more outdated than using polite pronouns.

Why does Bella get the feeling he’s lying?

She’s discharged.

We’ll jump ahead to her trip to La Push - that trip uneventful, since Jacob knows she doesn’t speak English. They stick their hands in their pockets and stare at the sea.

The next day she’s shanghaied to Port Angeles, because apparently she said “Yes” at the wrong time when talking to Jessica (Turns out Jess’s name was Jessica!) and accidentally said yes to a day trip to Port Angeles.

Like in canon she wanders away from the others, and as in canon she is nearly gang raped. And again as in canon she is saved at the last moment by Edward.

He buys her dinner, and she can’t believe her own luck- and misfortune. A date with the most handsome guy on the planet (hence the luck) and she can’t say a word to him (hence the misfortune)!

He says things to her, lends her his jacket, and really this is it for Bella, she’s peaked, life can’t get better than this.

(That’s a lie, it would be better if she spoke English.)

He’s so amazing.

She’s gotten pretty good at navigating conversations with him, so she nods and aha’s her way through.

In his car on the way home the tone takes a more serious turn.

He asks her about something, and it’s a serious question, that much she’s gathered. She answers in the confirmative.

He is silent.

Did she say anything wrong?

(Edward, on his end, just asked if she knows what he is. She said yes, so calmly, not even a trace of fear in her.)

A few days later he takes her out on a walk in the woods.

He shows her a meadow in the woods, and when he steps into it he lights up in the sunlight.

Bella is in shock.

She knew there was something different about him, but- holy cow. This guy isn’t human.

Is she dating a god?

She stumbles into the clearing after him, and they spend a day together where he says things, and she can barely hear any of it (nevermind understand it) because she’s so distracted by how pretty he is.

The next day he takes her to a house in the middle of nowhere. She doesn’t want to guess that this can be where he lives. Surely gods don’t live in houses?

He shows her inside the house, and introduces her for Dr. Cullen and a lady with a name she doesn’t catch.

Bit weird that these two are acting like a couple of parents, they’re far too young and divine for that.

Edward shows her around in an old-fashioned office, and she doesn’t know what to make of i when she sees a painting of Carlisle. Edward launches into a long story when he sees her watching it, unfortunately she doesn’t catch any dates or artist names. At one point she heard the word “suicide”, though, and that’s not good.

She doesn’t get much out of the story.

The baseball game doesn’t happen because Bella didn’t pick up on what Edward wanted and didn’t realize she was being invited to a thing. They spend the afternoon watching a movie instead.

The relationship continues, impeded slightly by communication problems, but she’s mostly able to cover those up.

Until her birthday comes around.

She gets a papercut.

Jasper lunges at her. Edward throws her into a glass table, and then everyone is leaving.

Carlisle is kind enough to switch to Norwegian when he’s stitching up her arm, perhaps remembering the last time she was his patient. "Jasper har ikke vært på dietten vår så veldig lenge." Jasper hasn’t been on our diet for very long.

"Diett?"she asks. She’s never seen Edward eat anything. She wasn’t clear on what the Cullens ate, honestly she thought they were above such things. She was thinking maybe photosynthesis. The knowledge that they apparently eat food astounds her, but diets?

"Dyreblod istedenfor menneskeblod," Animal blood in stead of human blood, Carlisle clarifies.

Whachasay?

Carlisle gives a slight smile. “Jaspers liv som vampyr fikk en brutal start." Jasper’s life as a vampire got off to a brutal start.

...

Vampire?!

Bella’s missed something here.

Oh dear lord, oh fy faen, she has missed something.

“Åja”, uh huh, is all she can say, and suddenly she’s very aware of the fact that she’s sitting there with a bleeding arm.

And Carlisle.

Who is a vampire.

Over the course of the following conversation Bella makes a host of discoveries.

Edward has been a vampire this whole time, and he’s a telepathic vampire. Whether Bella should be a vampire too or not has been a matter of hot debate, but due to religious reasons Edward doesn’t want that.

Carlisle also brings up how Edward died of the Spanish flu.

"Jeg var under den oppfatning at Edward fortalte deg bakhistorien min?" I was under the impression Edward told you my back story? Carlisle asks at one point, and Bella just has to ask very nicely if he’d be so kind as to repeat it.

Turns out the guy is nearly four hundred years old.

Jaha.

Jahahaha jaa ha.

That’s… a lot.

She wanders out of the house in shock, and hardly notices Edward’s strange behavior over the next couple of days.

One day he picks her up at school, and takes her behind the house.

That works out.

He’s a vampire, but he never hurt her. He is endlessly beautiful, perhaps easier to love now that she knows he’s not a god. He’s her Edward, and that’s suddenly easier now that she knows.

They can still be together.

But now that she knows this about him, it’s about time he knows something about her as well.

It’s time to finally be honest with him.

So when he opens his mouth, she opens her mouth as well, but she doesn’t get any further than to “Edward-” before he launches into a monologue.

She’ll have to wait until he’s done before saying her piece. It’s a bit embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem like he intends to stop talking anyway.

And what he’s saying seems to be serious, so it’s probably best to let him finish.

Edward concludes his monologue by kissing her forehead. Then he disappears.

Where did he go?

A big unsure, Bella goes back to the house. She’ll just have to wait until he gets back.

She doesn’t know what to think when Charlie returns from work and tells her the Cullens have all left.

Oh, god.

Edward must have found out she doesn’t speak English.

She made a mockery of him.

He has every right to leave.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Bella sinks into a depression.

The hallucinations begin, as in canon, though Hallusinward speaks Norwegian. Thank god for small mercies.

The friendship with Jacob (dictionary in hand) blooms, as someone has to help her see those hallucinations.

The cliff diving happens, and Alice shows up. Bella’s not sure what this is about, but she has gotten good enough at English to know that something bad happened, and Alice wants them to do something.

She’s a bit surprised to find herself on a plane to Italy, though.

Alice tells her to “Run to Edward” and ok, she got that, actually.

So she saves Edward.

After that she’s taken into the sewer, which turns out to house dozens of vampires.

Bella, Edward, and Alice are received in some kind of hall, where an unusual vampire has quite a bit to say. She understands some of what he’s saying, at least the part about “la tua cantante”. She knows a bit about Italian, see, so she knows that he’s talking about a song now.

She wishes she knew the context.

At one point he takes her hand, and appears fascinated by it. She wonders if he’s a palmreader. Not very vampirey, but what does she know.

He asks her a question.

"Yes," she says.

Saying yes has gotten her this far, after all.

But when he lights up and claps his hands together, and Edward and Alice stare at her in shock and betrayal, she knows she must have said the wrong thing.

The two are dismissed from the room before Bella can do or say anything, she’s just listening to Edward make a racket outside in the hallway.

Not good.

The unusual vampire brings her further down in his sewer palace to a basement, and she is given comfortable clothes to wear.

This is getting terrifying.

The vampire leans towards her - and she chickens out.

"Jeg snakker ikke engelsk!" she squeaks. "Non habla ingles!" I don’t speak English.

Han stanser, og ser forvirret ut. "Que- Hva behager*?" I beg your pardon? spør han etter et øyeblikk.

*A very formal, and slightly outdated (you can use it, but people will think you’re putting on airs. And they will be right) way of saying “excuse me?”

Sobbing, Bella tells him the whole story, from how she didn’t want to be the weird kid in school to how she’s now somehow in Italy without knowing why nor what she just agreed to.

When she’s done the vampire starts laughing.

"Dette forklarer jo en hel del," This explains quite a bit, ler han. "Men, kjære Bella, jeg er redd det ikke endrer noe." But, my dear Bella, I’m afraid it changes nothing.

He tells her that she has agreed to serve him and his army of undead warriors into eternity.

Well fuck.

"Du skal få slippe det, når du ikke visste hva du samtykket til - men skjebnen din forblir den samme. Loven er loven." You’re released from that promise, as you didn’t know what you agreed to - but your fate remains the same. The law is the law.

After a moment of silence, during which she looks terrified, he hurries to add, "Vi har en lov. Du må bli en av oss." We have a law. You must become one of us.

A law that Bella Swan has to become a vampire?

People are finally speaking Norwegian, and Bella is still lost. And it’s too embarrassing to keep pestering this poor, polite man with questions.

So she nods.

He gives her a glittering smile, and bites her.

When she wakes, Aro offers her an English course. A language course that, naturally, leads to her staying in Volterra. Why not learn a few more languages while we’re at it, dearest Bella?

Some time later Edward breaks into Volterra to save his Rapunzel, only to barely recognize her now that she’s a vampire who says things. Lots of things, she talks all the time now. WHAT DID ARO DO TO HER.

Too mortified to admit that she never spoke English, Bella claims she’s been brainwashed.

Aro is having too much fun to correct her, and the whole sad affair sets off a regrettable flood of rumors.

[literaticat]

When you receive a contract for representation from a big agency, do you need to show it to a lawyer? Would the whole agency use the same contract? What's the likelihood of something nefarious being slipped in and what kind of terms can you negotiate realistically?

Personally, I use the term "Agency Agreement" rather than "contract" for the agreement between an agency and an author. This is... a LOT simpler than a contract between, say, an author and a publisher (which can run 15, 20, 25+ pages of dense legalese), or a film contract (which might be much longer than that!).

You probably won't need to show it to a lawyer. Yes, all agents at the agency should use the same contract. There is a very low likelihood of anything nefarious being "slipped in" -- and you usually can't negotiate it much, because the things that are in there are, well, standard -- just facts, not really open to interpretation.

(That doesn't mean that the agency will be 100% guaranteed to be amazing for you -- just that IF they are going to do MALFEASANCE or something, they aren't gonna write it down in their agency agreement!)

An agency agreement should be, like, a page or two - written in pretty plain English - clearly outlining basic terms. It should be, honestly, pretty self-explanatory, and the agent should be quite willing to walk you through it. If you find that the agency has given you something MUCH more lengthy and complicated than that, that you really can't understand, and they won't walk you through it... ummmm well I'd be freaked out, personally, because any agent should be able to walk you through a contract or agreement, but uh -- I guess if that's really the case, sure, show it to a lawyer? Just make sure it is a lawyer that knows about book publishing specifically -- your real estate lawyer dad or your Prosecuting Attorney spouse will not likely be familiar with the details of this type of agreement.

Here's the basics of what it should contain:

* Scope of representation* THIS CLAUSE SPECIFIES WHAT WE ARE REPPING FOR YOU. This might vary -- maybe we are going to be the agent for your children's books only. Maybe we are going to be the agent for ALL books. Maybe we are going to be the agent for just one book or series. This should be something you have already discussed with the agent - there should not be any surprises here.

At my agency, this says (basically), we represent your children's books (or all books, or whatever it is that we have agreed to). Anything you sold before the date of the agreement has nothing to do with us. We will bear all ordinary expenses associated with our work. Should there be extraordinary expenses, they are the author's responsibility.

[This is very normal. I have only had to actually invoke this, by the way, when we have had to send hard-copy books to foreign countries for translation purposes, and if that's the case we ship them the least expensive possible way and you know about it in advance. And is less likely to happen these days! The only other reason I can think of that there be a charge to the author is if THE AUTHOR insists we do something bizarre - -like the AUTHOR insists we hire a courier when regular post or email would be fine. In which case -- you'd know, because you'd be the one insisting on it!]

* Commission* THIS CLAUSE IS ABOUT HOW MUCH % WE CHARGE AND HOW WE EACH GET PAID. We receive a commission on anything we sell for you. That commission is usually 15% for domestic sales, and 20-25% for sales that involve co-agents. (It might vary slightly from that agency to agency, but not much. Artists reps do charge more but I'm not sure the standard there.)

If we are receiving the monies from sales or royalties, we have to turn them around and pay you within 14 days. (We are usually much faster than that actually, but we have 14 days in there just in case a check comes in over a holiday or something!)

* Term & Termination * THIS CLAUSE DETAILS WHEN THE AGREEMENT STOPS, HOW AND WHEN AND WHAT THAT MEANS. I've heard of agencies that have a contract that lasts a year, or some other set amount of time. If that's the case, you probably have already discussed it with the agent. Most agencies, though, consider themselves your agents until one party decides to stop the relationship.

There should be something in there about how to break up ("either party may terminate at any time by notifying the other in writing" or similar) and there may be something in there about a period of time before the termination takes effect (30-60 days, perhaps) -- this is because, let's say you are out on submission with something, or the foreign rights for your book are being shopped by the agency right now - they need time to wrap up all those pending items. If nothing is happening, they will be fine with "effective immediately" but if there IS current business in progress, they might need time to sort it out.

We will continue to be the agent of record and receive a commission on things that we sold during the term of the agreement, even after the agreement is terminated. (That's so that if, say, I sell a book for you, and you fire me the next day because you don't want to pay a commish.... no. We did the work, we get paid for it, the end.)

* Construction * THIS CLAUSE MEANS, "THAT'S IT, BABE, SIMPLE, RIGHT?" Something like, "This constitutes the entirety of the agreement, and cannot be added to or modified except in writing signed by both parties. "

* Arbitration * THIS CLAUSE MEANS IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION. Something like, "Any controversy arising from or related to this agreement will be settled by confidential arbitration according to Commercial Arbitration Rules, and each party will assume responsibility for their own legal fees associated with the arbitration."

There MAY be some other stuff -- but again, it shouldn't be particularly surprising. If there's something that seems WAY off from what I've put here - ask the agent to explain it. If they won't, or can't, or the explanation gives you chill-bumps... well.

[rillianeriver]

After 12 years, Vampire Knight DS finally has a patch (fan-made english patch). I am very excited to play it on my 3DS (sadly, I have yet to get a DS).

I hope I could find a nice DS soon. It's so hard to find a pink one in my country these days and if I did they are too over-priced. I might end up importing from Japan. 💕

Although I can play DS games on 3DS, I much prefer playing them on an actual DS.

This game was my favorite anime when I was still studying.

I really really wanted to play this game so badly when I first learned about its existence but due to the fact that it was a Japanese game and I don't understand Japanese, I didn't really play it much and I kept on looking for fan translated copies. I am very happy to find out that they finally released an english patch for this game today. 💕

Thanks so much to the translation team who made this possible for fans like us.

Read more here:

You can also download the english patched version here:

I figured some might want to skip the process of patching it themselves or has no access to the original Japanese rom so I uploaded it here. You can also find them online.

This is a dream come true for my 16 year old self (when I first learned about Vampire Knight). I remember the days when I was franctically trying my best to find a way to play this game in english. 💕