#but i feel like it's going to depend on if we get an english version of the fma game idk

[rivilu]

One side effect of the autistic sense of justice for me is going insane over justice and vengeance as concepts in themselves whenever applicable in media.

Which unfortunately means that thinking about justice dragon age for too long (especially with the post inq takes on spirits) makes me want to rip my hair out.

[intheholler]

the appalachian murder ballad <3 one of the most interesting elements of americana and american folk, imo!

my wife recently gave me A Look when i had one playing in the car and she was like, "why do all of these old folk songs talk about killing people lmao" and i realized i wanted to Talk About It at length.

nerd shit under the cut, and it's long. y'all been warned

so, as y'all probably know, a lot of appalachian folk music grew its roots in scottish folk (and then was heavily influenced by Black folks once it arrived here, but that's a post for another time).

they existed, as most folk music does, to deliver a narrative--to pass on a story orally, especially in communities where literacy was not widespread. their whole purpose was to get the news out there about current events, and everyone loves a good murder mystery!

as an aside, i saw someone liken the murder ballad to a ye olde true crime podcast and tbh, yeah lol.

the "original" murder ballads started back across the pond as news stories printed on broadsheets and penned in such a way that it was easy to put to melody.

they were meant to be passed on and keep the people informed about the goings-on in town. i imagine that because these songs were left up to their original orators to get them going, this would be why we have sooo many variations of old folk songs.

naturally then, almost always, they were based on real events, either sung from an outside perspective, from the killer's perspective and in some cases, from the victim's. of course, like most things from days of yore, they reek of social dogshit. the particular flavor of dogshit of the OG murder ballad was misogyny.

so, the murder ballad came over when the english and scots-irish settlers did. in fact, a lot of the current murder ballads are still telling stories from centuries ago, and, as is the way of folk, getting rewritten and given new names and melodies and evolving into the modern recordings we hear today.

305 such scottish and english ballads were noted and collected into what is famously known as the Child Ballads collected by a professor named francis james child in the 19th century. they have been reshaped and covered and recorded a million and one times, as is the folk way.

while newer ones continued to largely fit the formula of retelling real events and murder trials (such as one of my favorite ones, little sadie, about a murderer getting chased through the carolinas to have justice handed down), they also evolved into sometimes fictional, (often unfortunately misogynistic) cautionary tales.

perhaps the most famous examples of these are omie wise and pretty polly where the woman's death almost feels justified as if it's her fault (big shocker).

but i digress. in this way, the evolution of the murder ballad came to serve a similar purpose as the spooky legends of appalachia did/do now.

(why do we have those urban legends and oral traditions warning yall out of the woods? to keep babies from gettin lost n dying in them. i know it's a fun tiktok trend rn to tell tale of spooky scary woods like there's really more haints out here than there are anywhere else, but that's a rant for another time too ain't it)

so, the aforementioned little sadie (also known as "bad lee brown" in some cases) was first recorded in the 1920s. i'm also plugging my favorite female-vocaist cover of it there because it's superior when a woman does it, sorry.

it is a pretty straightforward murder ballad in its content--in the original version, the guy kills a woman, a stranger or his girlfriend sometimes depending on who is covering it.

but instead of it being a cautionary 'be careful and don't get pregnant or it's your fault' tale like omie wise and pretty polly, the guy doesn't get away with it, and he's not portrayed as sympathetic like the murderer is in so many ballads.

a few decades after, women started saying fuck you and writing their own murder ballads.

in the 40s, the femme fatale trope was in full swing with women flipping the script and killing their male lovers for slights against them instead.

men began to enter the "find out" phase in these songs and paid up for being abusive partners. women regained their agency and humanity by actually giving themselves an active voice instead of just being essentially 'fridged in the ballads of old.

her majesty dolly parton even covered plenty of old ballads herself but then went on to write the bridge, telling the pregnant-woman-in-the-murder-ballad's side of things for once. love her.

as a listener, i realized that i personally prefer these modern covers of appalachian murder ballads sung by women-led acts like dolly and gillian welch and even the super-recent crooked still especially, because there is a sense of reclamation, subverting its roots by giving it a woman's voice instead.

meaning that, like a lot else from the problematic past, the appalachian murder ballad is something to be enjoyed with critical ears. violence against women is an evergreen issue, of course, and you're going to encounter a lot of that in this branch of historical music.

but with folk songs, and especially the murder ballad, being such a foundational element of appalachian history and culture and fitting squarely into the appalachian gothic, i still find them important and so, so interesting

i do feel it's worth mentioning that there are "tamer" ones. with traditional and modern murder ballads alike, some of them are just for "fun," like a murder mystery novel is enjoyable to read; not all have a message or retell a historical trial.

(for instance, i'd even argue ultra-modern, popular americana songs like hell's comin' with me is a contemporary americana murder ballad--being sung by a male vocalist and having evolved from being at the expense of a woman to instead being directed at a harmful and corrupt church. that kind of thing)

in short: it continues to evolve, and i continue to eat that shit up.

anyway, to leave off, lemme share with yall my personal favorite murder ballad which fits squarely into murder mystery/horror novel territory imo.

it's the 10th child ballad and was originally known as "the twa sisters." it's been covered to hell n back and named and renamed.

but! if you listen to any flavor of americana, chances are high you already know it; popular names are "the dreadful wind and rain" and sometimes just "wind and rain."

in it, a jealous older sister pushes her other sister into a river (or stream, or sea, depending on who's covering it) over a dumbass man. the little sister's body floats away and a fiddle maker come upon her and took parts of her body to make a fiddle of his own. the only song the new fiddle plays is the tale about how it came to be, and it is the same song you have been listening to until then.

how's that for genuinely spooky-scary appalachia, y'all?

[astrofons-highderich]

Hibernates until the FMA x Sinoalice Collab comes to global and I can stare at the art all day

[nrdmssgs]

Tips to write for König (language)

Masterlist Let's go! But first important disclaimer

I know well, that Konig is from Austria and German language is a bit different from Austrian. The only reason, I'm doing this list for German language instead of Austrian: I know German well enough to personally check every phrase on my list. I live in southern Germany since 2019 and understand written Austrian, but would not venture to make a similar list for phrases in Austrian.

These phrases are not headcanons - just useful helpers for my fellow ficwriters!

I`ve tried to keep this list SFW, so there is no really kinky stuff or any swear words. But if you guys are interested - I can try to bring such a naughty list together as well.

Neither English nor German are my first languages, so there's a possibility of a mistake always.

Thank you to absolutely beautiful soul @konigsblog for encouraging me doing this.

So, you want König to speak German in your story, but don't know how to get him to? There is nothing easier.

(very) Ground rules

All nouns, names (and nicknames) are always capitalized.

Here are a few useful letters, so that you don't search for them on your keyboard: ä, ö, ü, Ä, Ö, Ü.

"my/your + masculine noun" = mein/dein + noun or name (e.g. Mein Horangi)

"my/your + feminine noun" = meine/deine + noun or name (e.g. Meine Josephine)

"chen" is a diminutive suffix (We'll need that with pet names).

A few German pet names

Keywords to google: Kosename (+ für Männer/für Frauen (for men and women))

Genderless (can be used, referring to both men and women, depending on relationship dynamic):

Schatz / Schatzi - the ultimate killer and number one pet name out there. "Treasure". Is very often used in public.

Liebling / Liebe - "Lover, love"

Herz / Herzchen - "Heart"

Süßi - "Sweet one"

Baby / Babe - yep, it's not in German, but it's very popular here among people younger than 50.

Engel / Engelchen - "Angel/angel + diminutive suffix"

Mein Ein und Alles - "My everything" a rather pompous expression, but it can be used when speaking directly to a lover.

Herzblatt - "Darling"

Goldstück - "Jewel. Piece of gold" a bit like treasure.

Sonne / Sonnenschein - "Sun / sunshine"

Himmel - "Heaven"

Stern / Sternchen - "Star"

Kätzchen - "Kitten"

Schneckchen - "Snail". I know, this one sounds strange, but I've heard it here a lot. And this is not even referring to someone slow

Tiger / Babytiger / Tigerchen - "Tiger / tiger cub"

Babylöwe - "Lion cub"

Zimtschnecke - "Cinnamon bun"

Also you all know and use Maus (which is great!!!!!), bit there are also options of Mausi, Babymaus and Mäuschen!

Feminine and masculine versions of pet names

Süße / Süßer - "Sweet one"

Schöne / Schöner - "Beautiful one"

Liebste / Liebster / Angebetete / Angebeteter / Geliebte / Geliebter - "Beloved"

Kleine - "Little one"

Großer - "Big one"

Heldin / Held - "Hero/ heroine"

Hübsche / Hübscher - "Beauty"

Ok, here is the part, where we get him to talk dirty to us.

Before

Ich brauche dich jetzt wirklich - "I really need you right now"

Es macht mich so an, auch nur an dich zu denken - "It turns me on just thinking about you"

Ich kann es nicht erwarten, dich in mir zu spüren/in dir zu sein - "I can't wait to feel you inside me/be inside you"

Ich will dir so einen blasen/dich so lecken, wie du es noch nie erlebt hast - "I want to give you a blowjob/lick you like you've never experienced before"

Ich möchte dich küssen, überall... - "I want to kiss you everywhere"

Du kannst heute Abend mit mir machen, was du willst - "Today you can do anything you want to me."

Ich kann es kaum erwarten, bis wir beide allein sind, damit ich dich ausziehen kann. - "I can't wait until we're both alone so I can undress you."

Ich stelle mir uns gerade nackt zusammen vor - "I'm thinking of us naked right now."

Ich hatte gerade einen eindrucksvollen Flashback von letzter Nacht - "I just had an amazing flashback from last night"

Wollen wir heute früh ins Bett gehen? - "Shall we go to bed early tonight?"

During

Das/du fühlst dich super an - "This/you feel great"

Ich liebe es, wie groß/feucht/weich du dich anfühlst - "I love how big/wet/soft you feel"

Bitte hör nie wieder damit auf - "Please don't stop doing this"

Das ist das beste Gefühl überhaupt - "That's the best feeling ever"

Du machst mich so an - "you turn me on (so hard on)"

Ich will, dass du mich nimmst - "I want you to take me"

Ich will dich schmecken - "I want to taste you"

Ich will, dass du kommst - "I want you to cum"

Ich habe deinen Körper so sehr vermisst - "I've missed your body so badly"

Ich will, dass du mich hier/da leckst/küsst - "I want you to lick/kiss me here/there"

Gutes/Böses Mädchen - "Good/bad girl"

If you want him to be more soft, here are some romantic phrases in German.

The (very) basics

Ich liebe dich - "I love you"

Willst du mein Freund/meine Freundin sein? - "Do you want to be my boyfriend/girlfriend?"

Ich bin bis über beide Ohren verliebt - "I’m head over heels in love"

Ich steh’ auf dich - "I’m into you"

Du bist die Liebe meines Lebens - "You’re the love of my life"

Du hast wunderschöne/schöne Augen - "You have beautiful eyes"

Küss mich - "Kiss me"

If you want something more advanced

Ich vermisse dich noch mehr, als ich jemals gedacht habe. - "I miss you even more than I ever thought it was possible"

Es gibt Freunde, es gibt Feinde und es gibt Menschen wie dich, die man vor lauter Liebe nie vergisst. Ich vermisse dich! - "There are friends, there are enemies and there are people like you who you never forget out of sheer love. I miss you!"

Ich zähle die Tage, Stunden und Minuten bis du wieder bei mir bist. - "I count the days, hours and minutes until you are with me again."

Unsere Sehnsucht wird immer größer, je weniger wir sie befriedigen können. - "Our longing grows ever greater, the less we can satisfy it."

Für mich ist jeder Morgen ein guter Morgen, weil ich weiß, dass ich dich an meiner Seite habe. - "For me every morning is a good morning because I know that I have you by my side."

Ich zähle die Stunden, bis du wieder bei mir bist. - "I'm counting the hours until you're with me again."

Ich weiß, das mit uns beiden ist mehr als nur Freundschaft. - "I know there's more to the two of us than just friendship."

Das nächste Mädchen, das ich lieben werde, wird unsere Tochter sein. - "The next girl I will love will be our daughter."

Ich wünschte, ich wäre der Wind, der sanft durch deine Haare streicht, die Sonne, die dich zärtlich berührt und der Mond, der deinen Schlaf bewacht. - "I wish I were the wind that gently caresses your hair, the sun that caresses you and the moon that watches over your sleep."

Jeden Tag wünsche ich mir, dass das zwischen uns niemals endet. - "Every day I wish that this never ends between us."

Mit dir an meiner Seite kann ich mich der ganzen Welt stellen. - "With you by my side I can face (fight) the whole world."

[yurislotusgarden]

Relationship hc's

ʚїɞ Nakahara Chuuya x Gn!Reader

ʚїɞ Keep in mind English is not my first language, so you may find mistakes!

ʚїɞ Dazai's version

ʚїɞ word count: 1425

ʚїɞ Tw’s: None! Just pure fluff, pet names are used, reader’s gender is not specified in any way

ཐིཋྀ I love this man

ཐིཋྀ Anyway

ཐིཋྀ We all know he would be a gentleman to you <3

ཐིཋྀ Whether you live together or not, there's always a bouquet of your favorite flowers in a vase somewhere. Once they show even a small sign of dying he replaces them

ཐིཋྀ You still aren't sure how he knows about the flowers starting to wilt even when he's in another part of Japan or even another fucking country

ཐིཋྀ This man does both fancy and casual types of dates. Prefers fancy ones tho

ཐིཋྀ "Why have so much money and not use it to spoil the shit out of the love of my life?" <--- Chuuya wanting to spoil the fuck out of you all the time

ཐིཋྀ You probably live together after quite a short amount of time, like less than 8 months kind of short

ཐིཋྀ He's just so worried about your safety :(

ཐིཋྀ Both generally and because of his position as an executive

ཐིཋྀ You don't mind tho, don't lie to yourself

ཐིཋྀ Protective. Not overprotective but it's definitely up there on the scale. Kinda justified though

ཐིཋྀ Possessive mf

ཐིཋྀ Again, you don't mind as it's not to the point of being controlling and shit

ཐིཋྀ If you're in the PM, he still worries, just a little less since he knows you can take care of yourself

ཐིཋྀ If you're not an executive, you work under him for sure. Chuuya requested a change (if you weren't under him from the start) as soon as he realized this funny feeling he gets around you is love <3

ཐིཋྀ You know Dazai. No questions asked or doubt

ཐིཋྀ I saw around some time ago that someone wrote that Dazai breaks into wherever Chuuya lives. I’m sure it ain’t canon so just saying I very much hc him doing that

ཐིཋྀ You can see what I’m getting at, you probably met because of Dazai breaking into your guys' place😭

ཐིཋྀ Imagine you're cooking or something and hear someone in the house (Dazai doesn't try to hide he's there since he thinks Chuuya's home because of the light in the kitchen), thinking it's Chuuya you go to greet him before realizing  it's not him but someone else-

ཐིཋྀ "Who are you and why are you here?"

ཐིཋྀ "Those should be my questions asshole!"

ཐིཋྀ "The fuck you mean?"

ཐིཋྀ "I live here? You literally broke into my house!"

ཐིཋྀ "You live here? But it's the slugs house isn't it? Did I break into the wrong place???" He knows he didn't

ཐིཋྀ "Wait 'slugs'-"

ཐིཋྀ You totally didn't realize who Dazai is because of that nickname, nope. Chuuya didn't complain about a mackerel at all no-

ཐིཋྀ That was literally yall's first convo

ཐིཋྀ Dazai standing like he should be there, and you standing there with a gun pointed at him (that you have from Chuuya because he has weapons all over the house just in case anyway. That one was in the kitchen)

ཐིཋྀ You guys proceeded to talk like you guys knew each other for years until the ginger came home and flipped the fuck out at the sight

ཐིཋྀ He thought you would have a peaceful life by not knowing the stack of bandages

ཐིཋྀ And to the gingers' chagrin, you and the brunette ended up being good friends

ཐིཋྀAs to who knows about yall depends on who you are

ཐིཋྀ If you're in the PM, most if not all will know at some point

ཐིཋྀ Mori would probably not do anything about it as long as it doesn't affect your guys' performance on missions

ཐིཋྀ If you're a civilian, the people who know about you are the people he's the closest to and Mori somehow finds out

ཐིཋྀ Kouyou adores you if you share at least some interests and you don't mind being friends with mafiosos (basically not judging them just because of their work)

ཐིཋྀ You guys drink tea together. Even if you don't like tea, she managed to find one that you like

ཐིཋྀ Even if you don't share interests, she will have nothing against you as long as you ain't hurting Chuuya

ཐིཋྀ Akutagawa siblings know for sure, you basically adopted them LMAO

ཐིཋྀ You and Gin go shopping together, sometimes tugging Ryu around against his will with yall

ཐིཋྀ I mentioned Mori, he at first didn't care if the relationship didn't change anything and Chuuya was as efficient as normally

ཐིཋྀ But Elise met you in the city by accident and decided she likes you and deemed you her friend, so Moto “asked” you to play with her from time to time

ཐིཋྀ Goodluck if you're a low-energy person

ཐིཋྀ If you're in the PM and Elise wants to Play with you, you are for sure a little bit safer around Mori

ཐིཋྀ He doesn't want to deal with her whining and throwing a tantrum if he doesn't have to, so if you not being killed will make Elise happy, he won't do it

ཐིཋྀ Going back to the topic

ཐིཋྀ Rides on his motorcycle with you holding him tightly from behind right?

ཐིཋྀ Mf rides faster than necessary just because he likes it when you squeeze his waist because you think you will fall off

ཐིཋྀ He won't let you but oh well

ཐིཋྀ Similar to Dazai, man has got a grip of steel, so good luck getting up from his lap, cuddling, or in the morning if he won't want you to. We all know he ain’t weak, not in the slightest

ཐིཋྀ Would teach you self-defense if you don't already know it. He for sure doesn’t complain at having to do that, the view he gets is quite pretty y’know? You can say the same about your view :)

ཐིཋྀ This is purely a hc of mine but he would teach you French if you will ask him!!!

ཐིཋྀ Yes I'm one of those who hc that Chuuya either generally knows French due to Kouyou teaching him and Dazai, or he has some French genetics and wanted to just learn it either way taught by Kouyou LMAO

ཐིཋྀ Hope you aren’t weak to French because he can and will flirt with you in it <3

ཐིཋྀ If you are tho, knees? Weak. Nonexistent. Goodbye.

ཐིཋྀ Mister here will use it to his advantage. He knows what he’s doing and he ain’t stopping

ཐིཋྀ If you know a language he doesn't, he will gladly learn it just to speak in it with you. Especially if you're a foreigner, he certainly will learn your native tongue at one point. But, if you know a language he doesn't just because you wanted to know it, he learns it anyway

ཐིཋྀ Another way to shit-talk people without their knowledge <33

“I'm so lucky to be dating your pretty ass”

“I don't understand, doll. Say it in a language I can understand.”

“No, I don't think so, pretty boy”

“Are you cussing me out or something?”

ཐིཋྀ ^You talking to Chuuya in your language before he knew it to confuse him

ཐིཋྀ He was indeed confused

ཐིཋྀ Speaking of hc’s, heterochromia Chuuya <3

ཐིཋྀ You love his eyes, one blue and one brown. You fluster him because of just staring at his eyes and at him generally

ཐིཋྀ He lets you play with his hair, style, and all

ཐིཋྀ It's so soft you considered stealing his hair stuff when you first run your hands through it

ཐིཋྀ He wouldn't mind, wouldn't even try to stop you. Would probably encourage it actually

ཐིཋྀ It's playing into his possessiveness 

ཐིཋྀ This man has style, we know that. He also happens to have a big closet with his clothes :)

ཐིཋྀ Want a Chuuya-looking puddle on the floor? Wear. His. Clothes.

ཐིཋྀ The ginger will literally die if he comes home to you wearing his clothes. Anything. Wear anything and you will spot a wild Chuuya puddle in its natural habitat the floor

ཐིཋྀ AND IF YOU ASK HIM IF YOU CAN WEAR HIS STUFF WHILE EMBARRASSED???

ཐིཋྀ You make him want to sob :(

ཐིཋྀ Happily of course

ཐིཋྀ Use his shower stuff like shampoo and walk around in his clothes

ཐིཋྀ It does things to him

ཐིཋྀ Both fluffy and unholy thoughts are in this man's head if you’re just wearing his stuff

“Doll, you can’t do this to me.”

“Huh?”

ཐིཋྀ You’re either genuinely confused by his words or playing with him

ཐིཋྀ It ends the same anyways :) 

ཐིཋྀ “Take my card and go crazy, love.”

ཐིཋྀ ^Chuuya on any occasion

ཐིཋྀ If he could he would spend his money on you, he would but you always stop him

ཐིཋྀ Therefore that’s Chuuya on any occasion because he has an excuse for it

ཐིཋྀ Price tag? What’s that?

ཐིཋྀ It doesn’t exist in his eyes, you are worth every single penny in his wallet <3

ཐིཋྀ You guys have spa days at home

ཐིཋྀ Share skin care routines if you can

Notes, comments, reblogs and anything else is greatly appreciated

[maniculum]

Do you have any books or sources for learning Olde English? I want to write a medieval-based story but I don't know how to write the characters speak the language.

That depends -- when you say "Olde English" do you mean Old English, like pre-1066 English? That's pretty far from modern English and it's unlikely that readers will be able to understand it easily. If that's what you're looking for, the texts I was taught with are:

Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader

Quirk's Old English Grammar

Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader

They're all from a while back -- and, as you can see, some use the now-deprecated term "Anglo-Saxon" -- so you can find older editions free in the public domain. More recent revised editions can generally be found in cheap paperback form. I believe there are some more modern textbooks that are quite good, but I haven't looked at them, and I don't know how affordable they are.

I have also consulted with Zoe (@meanderingmedievalist) on this, and she recommends Baker's Introduction to Old English, as well as the related resource Old English Aerobics:

The reason there are textbooks for this, though, is because you genuinely have to treat it as a foreign language. It's very different from modern English. As a sample, here's the beginning of Beowulf:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas      ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing      sceaþena þreatum monegum maegþum      meodosetla ofteah egsode eorle syððan aerest wearð feasceaft funden he þæs frofre gebad weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah oð þæt him aeghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade      hyran scolde, gomban gyldan      þæt wæs god cyning.

So if you put a lot of it into a story for a modern audience, most of them will be a bit lost.

If when you say "Olde English" you mean "English that sounds archaic and medieval, but is comprehensible to a modern audience", you're probably looking for Middle English.

I don't have any direct references for learning the language there, as I was mostly taught through immersion (i.e., here's a Middle English text, read and translate it, now do another until you get a feel for it), but Zoe recommends Fulk's Introduction to Middle English, so that's a good bet if you don't want to go through that process.

However, I do think the "just read the texts" method also works fine -- especially since, if you're writing a medieval story, you'll want to read some of the literature anyway for inspiration. Here's what you can do to use that method outside of a classroom setting:

Step One: Get a Middle English text with a facing-page translation. Armitage's edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is good for this. Read the Middle English text, referring to the Modern English translation on the facing page whenever you don't understand it. Do this with a pencil in hand, so you can annotate the text with definitions, translations, and notes about how the sentences work.

Step Two: Get a Middle English text for which modern translations exist. Don't get the modern translation. The Canterbury Tales works for this: it's a classic and you should be able to pick up a copy anywhere. The version on my shelves is Baugh's Chaucer's Major Poetry -- which is heavily footnoted with definitions, potentially saving some time with the dictionary -- but it doesn't really matter as long as it's in the original. Read it. Every time you don't know a word, look it up in the Middle English Dictionary (available free online, in searchable form, here) and write it down. Again, best to annotate directly on the page with a pencil. Trust me, it helps to do it that way. Once you're done, get a modern translation and check your work.

At this point, you'll probably have picked up enough of the language that you should be able to write in it to some degree, though you'll want to continue making reference to the Middle English Dictionary to make sure you're employing period-appropriate usage and spelling. If you have access to the Oxford English Dictionary (if you're at a university, you almost certainly do, otherwise check with your local library), use that to check when the words you're using originated -- the OED has that listed, and that'll keep you from accidentally dropping an 18th-century term into medieval dialogue. You can also use their Historical Thesaurus to find period-appropriate equivalents for terminology.

Optional Step Three: Keep reading more Middle English literature with the dictionary open, annotating as you go, to get additional practice. If you can get through Le Morte Darthur in the original (get the P.J.C. Field edition), I think you'll be set in terms of "writing convincing medieval prose". Not because it's particularly difficult -- it's late medieval, so the language is actually more modern than either of the texts mentioned in steps one and two -- but just because it's long, so you'll get a lot of practice working through it. As a bonus, reading Malory will familiarize you with lots of good knightly vocabulary in case that's the kind of story you want to write.

Optional Step Four: Read scholarly articles on Middle English language and literature to get a more in-depth understanding. Again, check with your local library, or if you're at a university, a university library will have a vast amount of resources on this subject you can browse through.

[noxiatoxia]

Ok, so with all my SDR2 translation talk, I thought about a line of dialogue that's always struck me as odd in the English game. Hinata doesn't feel comfortable showering.

(Sorry for the photo quality, this is taken from my phone on my Vita)

It just sounds odd. I'm a fan of the Hinata being a trans man headcanon - I think it fits with many themes of his character - but headcanons aside, from an actual canonical standpoint, it just seems out of place.

I never checked the shower in the JP version for some reason, so I did so now. (Same bad quality, sorry).

The problem is, I can see where the confusion comes up in the Japanese version, and I'm going to ramble a bit here.

この向こうはシャワールームだ。結構広くて使いやすいけど…気持ちよく汗を流せた試しはない。この状況だもんな…

If you handed me this, I would give one of two translations:

On the other side is the shower room. They're pretty spacious and easy to use, but...there's literally never been a point where I've felt comfortable showering. Ugh, this is so annoying...

Or:

On the other side is the shower room. They're pretty spacious and easy to use, but...there's no way I could feel comfortable showering in this situation...

I'm gonna do my best to explain why both are plausible. I'll pitch it to the room and see what you guys think.

First line can be ignored. It's very simple. On the other side is the shower room.

Second line is where things start getting tricky. Firstly, Hinata in the official translation says it's pretty large and it looks easy to use but "looks easy to use" is not in the sentence at all. It says it is easy to use. But seeing how Hinata has never used this shower before, I have to conclude he is speaking of shower rooms in general, not just this shower room.

Because of context carrying over, that makes the next line - if we go with option 1 - sound like he is speaking on this same broad topic: of shower rooms in general.

He specifically uses 試しはない which is extremely emphatic. Well, the extreme emphatic version is 試しがない, but for the purpose of this they're interchangeable. It means that something has never, ever happened. There is no precedent for it. This makes Hinata's claim that he has "literally never, ever felt comfortable showering" sound...extreme. It's part of what throws me off. That is, I'm unsure why the writers would put that in there. There's also the last part - この状況だもんな. If going with version 1, この (this) here would be used derogatorily, as in "this bastard" or "this guy!" and such. 状況 means state of affairs, and もんな would be used to express annoyance. Basically going, "Ugh, this situation...what a pain..."

Now in option 2...it is predicated on if the last sentence is meant to re-contextualize the first. It's very much an odd way grammatically to write it at least in my opinion, but people do that in real life all the time. "I lost it. My keys, that is." - for example. In this case, Hinata's words about never feeling comfortable showering would be completely dependent on the last sentence. "I can't ever imagine feeling comfortable showering. In this situation, that is."

もんな can be used also to give an explanation. Think of it like "because". Hence the janky official translation - they're trying to word "because it's this situation." and obviously, Hinata would be using この neutrally here and not as a derogatory prefix.

The reason I'm flipping back and forth is because of the following reasons:

Objectively, it makes more sense of Hinata to say he would not be comfortable showering in this situation than to say he's not comfortable showering at all. Like, ever.

The sudden break of context - that being all shower rooms - can be explained by the last sentence: him rewriting perspective retroactively by saying "in this situation, I mean."

However, in my limited experience with 試しがない, I don't think I've ever heard it about hypotheticals, only actual things. That is to say, Hinata saying he wouldn't feel comfortable is a hypothetical. My brain automatically wants to assume he's talking about an actual event. It's along the same lines of "My son never drinks responsibly" or "she never gets along with new people" - these are statements that imply past events that prove the rule. That's the only way I've seen 試しがない used. This is in part because, again with the would usage, I don't see it being used for future events. Hinata has not bathed in this shower yet. Using 試しがない makes way more sense if he's talking about his past experiences about showering, "I have never (before)..." but again, since he's not used this shower, he cannot be referring to a past experience.

I hope you can see my confusion...I'll be honest, my contact with 試しがない as a phrase has been limited. I feel like if I can find evidence for it being used for hypothetical future events, then I will confidently conclude it's number 2. Until then, it literally goes either way for me.

If you have insight I'd be more than willing to hear it out.

Edit: I want to add a more clear TL;DR.

I feel option 2 makes the most sense from the perspective of being stuck in a killing games. However, the past tense and literal usage of 試しはない makes it impossible for Hinata to be talking about a future hypothetical. Gramatically, with 試しがない meaning that something has never once occured - placing it in the past by default - I find it hard to then fit that with something that Hinata has no past frame of reference to.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi, I really like your posts, thank you so much for deciding to share them with us! 1. What do you think about fem! Harry? What changes do you think would have occurred in his character if he had been born a girl? how would he have grown up and changed after the war? 2. What do you think, what changes in character and worldview could happen to Canon! Harry after the war?Sorry for my language, English is not my native language.

Thank you so much! 🥰

I mean, the first thing that is likely to change is the Dursleys treatment. Keeping in mind the story's context, and that it takes place in the 90s we can expect this hypothetical female Harry would have different experiences growing up.

For example, Dudley is probably not going to be encouraged as much to pick on girl!Harry and his friends probably won't be that interested in bothering her either. Because little boys think girls are icky and they won't punch a girl. Girl!Harry is also likely to look more like Lily, which could make Petunia's treatment worse or better (depends on your outlook. I think Petunia would rather not see this miniature Lily at all, so girl!Harry probably would be left alone and ignored more often than put to work on chorse becouse Petunia won't be able to stand the sight of her sister).

People in Private Drive would also treat her differently. Girls tend to be thought of as gentler, but she still won't be liked. Like, Petunia would definitely tell everyone this Harry is just lying for attention and lives in her little imaginary world (they still tell Aunt Marge she goes to St. Agnes School for Misbehaving Girls or something). Also, as the Dursleys want their household to be as normal as can be, I doubt they'd let a little girl walk around in Dudley's old clothes. She'd probably instead wear Petunia's old clothes, which would still not look her size, but she'd look less like a punk and more like someone shopping for vintage clothes.

I still think she'd have a miserable, lonely time at the Dursleys with her only friends being the spiders in the cupboard, but she'd probably suffer fewer injuries growing up. The periods of starvation would still be there, and while Dudley and his gang are less likely to chase after a female version of Harry, Vernon would likely still handle her roughly, so she'd still learn how to duck.

Upon arriving at school, assuming Hagrid still takes her to Diagon Alley on the same day, girl!Harry would still ask not to be in Slytherin and get sorted into Gryffindor.

Since Harry mirrors people around him to appear as normal as possible in the books, he takes Ron as his main behavioral template. As a girl, this female version of Harry would likely pick Lavender or Praviti (Hermione is being ridiculed, so I don't think she'd pick someone ostracized).

But she'd still likely sit with Ron on the train, so, there are multiple avenues open here. I think female Harry would still be friends with Ron and Hermione, eventually. Girl!Harry would probably befriend Hermione earlier actually, since she'd feel sorry for her and see more of Hermione's loneliness. Because she'd be just as kind as canon Harry.

But I see this Harry getting along more with Lavender and Praviti, especially in the beginning of first year.

As this Harry still befriends Ron and the Weasleys, she'd probably eventually date Ron (is she actually attracted to him, or is she a lesbian and is projecting would depend on the writer's choice). But I think Rarry is where this is going.

Also, her name would be different. I mean, Harry James Potter is named after Henry Potter (his great grandpa) and his own father James. (I like the headcanon that Lily's father was also named Harry or another name that could be shortened to Harry), so a female Harry would likely not be named Harriet or something like that but a feminine family name. So, She will probably be Euphemia Lily Potter or something like that.

(Personally, I'm not very interested in female Harry stories, but go and write whatever you want and have fun!)

[madschiavelique]

Hello! May I request a drabble or headcanons for a poly romance with Astarion x Fem!Reader x Shadowheart? Perhaps taking place post-game or late Act 3? I’d love to see them trying to navigate their new lives together. It can be fluff or hurt/comfort, whatever fits best to you. Thank you! :)

hey there sweet anon !! okay so it wasn’t specified if Astarion was ascended in this or not so i’ll go the route where he is not ascended !

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ pairing : astarion x fem!reader x shadowheart

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ content warning : some hurt/comfort, mostly fluff (i am so soft for them), fem!reader (although i think it could be read as a gn!reader), no use of y/n

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ words : 1.5k + bonus 400 words (around 1,9k)

( not proofread, english is not my first language ☆)

Shadowheart, depending on if her parents are still alive or not by the end of Act 3, would definitely want to visit them more with you and Astarion by her side. Not only because she wants them to meet you both, but definitely because she is frightened.

Frightened ? yes, because she has lost so many of her memories, and she fears that she might never recover them no matter how hard she tries. Yet somehow, you and astarion being by her side reminds her that the best memories are the ones to come, the one she will create with the both of you.

As for Astarion, he has never been much out of Baldur’s Gate during his life, being tied to Cazador and trying to escape wouldn’t have made it possible for him to get his freedom in any case. 

He had tried to escape, failed several attempts, and never managed to let his mind fully take in that he could taste freedom someday. He has probably dreamed about it though, this need for liberty, for a change of scenery, which he got from travelling all this time with you and defeating his master.

So one word would reunite you three on the matter : travelling.

Now that you had the title of heroes of the nation, or actually, heroes for saving the entire world, you had no worries for anything. You couldn’t wait to travel, just the three of you and see all the places you had only seen on maps, but you had to stick with a few activities in Baldur’s Gate.

Posing for hours on end for painters to make sure your heroicness would live through history, inaugurating monuments to your memory, and all sorts of reunions with bards and writers with each and everyone of you reciting your versions of your adventures.

Some receptions took place in Cazador’s now empty manor, Astarion having inherited the place, and some rings that would allow him to be constantly exposed to the sun if he wished. 

You were not accustomed much to big events like these. The last months had been made of exploring in various armours and dirty clothes, fighting and eating whatever you could find or steal along the way. 

And here you now were, all three of you in expensive clothing, a corset tightening your waist till you felt like breathing was the hardest fight of your life, buffet so full you thought the tables would crack under so much food at any moment, a flute of golden champagne in your hand as you had to boringly listen to whatever aristocrat lady was rambling about before you.

“I’m starting to feel like I miss wearing armour,” you huffed as you tried battling with the laces of your corset, struggling to untie them.

The evening was over, you had all retired to your quarters, undressing for the night.

Astarion’s cold hands came to stop your fingers from any more tie wars, taking the reins to undo them.

“I thought that woman would never stop talking, she could make Gale look like a debutant in the art of monologuing.” laughed the vampire, softly unlacing your cage and allowing you to breathe again, placing a soft kiss to the back of your neck as his fingers came to massage your soft skin.

No matter how many times he did that, you always shivered. Your head fell back on his shoulder, sighing with contempt in his embrace. 

“When will we finally be off of here?” 

“Soon enough,” smiled Shadowheart with her hair down, wavy from her braid. “Pity you have to remove that dress though, I could get used to seeing you wearing more of those.”

Her smile was contagious, and you allowed it to place itself on your own lips. She came to help with your hair, removing the assortment of pins, pearls and other ribbons in them, kissing your temple and face from time to time as you giggled.

She was right, soon enough you three had gathered everything proper for a good trip. You didn’t have many belongings, moving from one region to the other during your adventures had taught you to not get too materialistic. 

This hero's-pass was however useful in many aspects. You were given goods for your travel, scrolls, alchemy necessities, and big fancy tents with comfortable futons. But the most interesting and probably useful gift were the three horses and the donkey given to you, the latter given to carry your belongings.

“Tell me this isn’t some sort of bad joke made by Halsin,” asked Astarion as he arched a brow, eyeing the dapple grey stallion that was about to be his new road companion.

“Scared of a different ride than us ?” you chuckled as you lifted yourself on the stirrup and pushed yourself on your mount.

“You’re hilarious,” sighed the rogue, biting the inside of his cheek as he seemed unsure as to the way he was supposed to handle this thing.

“Have you never been on horseback, Astarion ?” Shadowheart ended up asking.

“I think your clarity of judgement must’ve understood by now that during the last couple of centuries, I didn’t have the best scenery to ride those kinds of things.”

After convincing him numerous times that the horse would not stomp on him or do a rodeo as soon as he went on top of it, he finally accepted to get on it.

Thus, your trip began. It had no end in sight, just the beginning of something new with your two loves, and that was all you needed to know.

As you were about to take a path leading you to another region, Astarion stopped, turning towards the silhouette of the city for just a moment before following you and Shadowheart. 

“Is everything alright ?” you asked after a few minutes, Astarion lost in thought.

“Hmm ?” he asked as he raised his eyes to yours. “Oh yes, I’m fine it’s just… Odd.”

“Odd ? What do you mean ?” asked the Shadowheart.

“Well,” Astarion started, “I thought that some sort of magical invisible rope would tie me back again to the city and forsake me to leave. But the further we are from it, the more this feels… normal ?”

“I feel the same way,” she seconded, “my purpose was pulling me to it, and now I don’t feel anything.”

“Exactly, but it doesn’t make me feel empty, more like…”

“Liberated ?” she smiled.

“Yes, liberated...” he hummed as he repeated the word with a satisfaction.

The journey went smoothly, the familiar sensation of resuming the adventure in a certain way taking hold of your heart, but the firmness of your saddle leather reminding you of the discomfort it could cause. 

It took Astarion barely an hour to start complaining, two before he finally decided to get off his mount and walk, and three to convince you to take your first break.

It was a pattern ready to be repeated for all the days to come. There were no itineraries, only discovery.

Passing through new areas meant that a few villagers and other locals would recognise you. You were offered food, asked to touch the heads of new-born babies as if you were saints, and children crowned you with daisy tiaras.

Some of the smells of the food revived in Shadowheart the ghosts of a past that was gradually revealing itself to her. You stayed overnight in villages, and she always listened to the stories told to children before going to sleep, hoping to recognise a character from one of the stories, or the feeling of the petals she pressed tenderly between her fingers, reminding her of such distant fragments of fields coloured by all sorts of flowers. 

You could see it in her eyes, every time the past pressed its fingertips to her temple and squeezed its hands across her throat when her voice broke, that glimmer of hope glistening in her eyes.

You took her hand every time, encouraging her to go back to her memories as far as she possibly could. She looked at you with such tenderness, each time.

Every morning, without missing a beat, Astarion would wake to see the sun rise from its slumber. The feel of it on his skin was an embrace he loved and cherished every single moment.

When the three of you shared the same bed, and he didn't want to wake you up by moving around, he'd just sit there, upright, waiting for the rays to pass through the curtains.

The first joy of the day was a ribbon of sunlight that wrapped itself around your hand and caressed your shoulder, and Astarion traced it with his fingertips without waking you up. He would never dare disturb your peace.

It was after visiting everything there was to see that you finally decided to settle in a pretty, dilapidated stone house that you renovated with your own resources. To this day, you receive your friends when they would be able to afford to come and see you, and you bask in your freedoms.

Bonus content for this : 

Several months into your travels, you had already received Gale's invitation to meet him in Waterdeep, so that he could find out more about your new life and see you all again.

You set off, and soon enough the realisation that you would have to take the boat to shorten the journey seemed to displease your two companions. 

‘Are you sure we can't make some better use of the horses ?’ interrogated Astarion.

‘We have mostly made them walk and trot a bit, we could surely make them galop just a little?’ Shadowheart rejoined.

But they finally gave in when the entire length of the journey by horse was compared to that by boat.

The two of them tried as best they could to stuff themselves with anti-seasickness potions, but as the effects of the latter were short-lived, they remained cloistered in the holds of the boat for the duration of the journey.

Back on dry land, you took the horses that had travelled with you for the last little stretch of the journey. Having finally reached Waterdeep, you asked the first passer-by where Gale Dekarios was staying.

You almost expected someone to look at you with round eyes of incomprehension as to whom you were searching for, but with a broad smile the passer-by gave you a precise indication of where he was staying.

Gale welcomed you with open arms, his new mage robes modest yet exuding nobility. 

‘I wish I could say otherwise but sincerely, the beauty of a cloth doesn't equal the kind of comfortability I had when we were in the middle of the Absolute's schemes. I sometimes grieve for these times, I never thought I would admit to it one day but I have got to say that ending the day with mud and whatever creature's blood we'd encountered on my robes sounds more thrilling than some of the books I now own.’

When Gale started a sentence, it was hard to stop him in his flow of words, and although it may have made you huff and puff at times, you had missed it.

It was while discussing Shadowheart's memory that Gale suggested a spell that he had been trying to master recently, allowing you to reopen memories buried deep in your brain.

During your stay in Waterdeep, Gale helped you to piece together Shadowheart's memory and restore as much of her past as possible.

[notfreetoday]

MPW: Segasaki & Yoh - Language Analysis Part 1

Subtitle Corrections: EP 1 || EP 2 || EP 3

My Personal Weatherman is a story about the relationship between Segasaki and Yoh, so rather than being introduced to the characters, we the audience are dropped right into the middle of their relationship, and the only way we learn about the characters as individuals is through the way they interact with each other, and how that contrasts with how they interact with the people around them.

The show does an incredible job of keeping the portrayal of their relationship consistent across the use of character design, wardrobe, lighting, cinematography, acting choice, directorial choices and of course language use. But not everyone who watches has equal access to that last one, so I try to be as detailed as possible in my subtitle corrections posts. I'm also a bit of a language nerd. Now, I want to get into their actual relationship, because I think there is a lot of information about how they feel towards each other that's just getting missed. Also I love them and this is how I spazz.

This post is the first of four in which I hope to show how the dynamic between Segasaki and Yoh is reflected in the way they speak - specifically, in the way they address each other, and the style shifting, or speech level shifts that they both demonstrate with each other, using scenes from Ep 1 - 3. I'll be using my own translations for this, some of which differ from the Eng subs. (Please bear with the nerdiness - I don't want to assume how much people know about Japanese)

Prefacing this by saying that this language analysis is made specifically in the context of Segasaki and Yoh's relationship. There is a power imbalance here both in terms of social hierarchy (senpai/kouhai, age gap, successful/non-successful) as well as self-image (self-confident/self-conscious). Now, most of the time we see this manifested linguistically as the party with more social power using casual language forms, whilst the one with less power remains polite or formal. However, there is much more to human interaction than that, as we see in MPW where both Segasaki and Yoh shift in and out of Speech Styles often, depending on what they want to say and accomplish, as well as their emotional state.

1) Quick & Dirty Guide To Speech Styles/Formality Levels

Formality/Politeness is a spectrum and is expressed mostly through grammar and tone (sorry for the shitty word doc screencap):

1) desu/masu = formal/polite. Standard go to with the anyone you meet. 2) Generally speaking, the longer the sentence/the more syllables you hear, the more polite the sentence 3) The less direct you can be, the more polite you will sound 4) Word contractions (tsuzukereba -> tsuzukerya) = informal + impolite (but not always rude) 5) Slurred end vowels (iranai -> iranee) = informal + mostly rude, but not always (you just sound uncouth) 6) Most words have "formal", "informal" or even "rude" variations 7) CONTEXT DETERMINES EVERYTHING Btw when I say "speaks roughly" or uses "rough speech", I mostly mean (4) + (5)

2) Speech Styles and Shifting Between Them

tl;dr Japanese Speech Styles function like the verbal equivalent of personal space - the more formal/polite the level, the bigger the circle of personal space you maintain. Shifts in speech styles indicate: 1) perceived changes in vertical and/or horizontal distance 2) the assumption of a position/role of the speaker in relation to the listener 3) changes in emotional state/the desire to convey emotion 4) the consideration of "polite company" In this post we will look at examples of the first one - Vertical and Horizontal Distance.

Speech Styles: The Long Version (English Speaker POV)

Consider the way you speak if you were to say, give an important presentation in front of potential clients, versus the way you'd speak to an acquaintance you ran into on the street vs the way you'd speak to your closest friends. Different situations call for different ways of speaking - you're more likely to speak in full sentences and pronounce your words clearly for the first situation, and say "yes" instead of "yep" or "uh huh". You're also more likely to be blunt/direct with your friends than you are with clients - "You know ILU but do not under any circumstances buy that ugly ass shirt".

These context-dependent changes in speech patterns are similar to the changes in speech styles/formality levels in Japanese. Think of speech styles as the verbal equivalent of personal space. The more formal/polite the level, the bigger the circle of personal space you maintain. Dropping a level when you shouldn't is the verbal equivalent of invading someone's personal space and can make people uncomfortable and sometimes even angry. In Japan, the baseline "distance" with the average person is the way you would speak as if you were giving a presentation. Dropping to casual/informal speech might be tolerated (just like how you can tolerate someone sitting close to you and asking some questions, but it's uncomfortable), especially if you guys are around the same age, but dropping to "what's up bitcheees" when you should be at "hey how're you doing" basically tells the other person "I don't have even the basic level of respect for you".

In the same vein, the closer you are to someone, the more welcome you are in their personal space, and thus the lower the level of formality/politeness you'll keep with them. You trust that even if you speak bluntly, they'll understand you aren't trying to insult them. When and to what extent you drop a level is usually negotiated between individuals (either directly or indirectly). Once a level of casualness is established, your friends are going to look at you funny if you suddenly get all formal with them. They might even come ask if anything's wrong, or if you're angry at them or why you sound "cold". These shifts in speech levels therefore mark more than just the vertical distance between two people (ie, differences in social hierachy), they mark the horizontal distance (ie, how close people of the same "in-group" are to each other) too.

Having said that, there are times when you will shift to a more formal tone even with your friends or family - for example, when you're hosting a game at a large party and want to explain the game rules to everyone, you might enunciate your words better or keep the jokes to the minimum in order to convey the information is clearly and efficiently as possible. Similarly, if you've been appointed the leader in a group project and need people to pay attention and listen, you might change your tone of voice to command attention. In other words, when you assume a particular position, the way you speak changes too.

Finally, the way you speak to your friends/family in the presence of others (or "polite company", as they used to say) might also change - you might have no qualms cursing up a storm with your best buddy at the bar, but you might do your best to avoid being too vulgar when you're in front of their parents or your boss/university professor.

3) Segasaki and Yoh: Vertical & Horizontal Distance

Segasaki and Yoh are part of the same "in-group" in that they are in a relationship, so the horizontal distance between them is very small and before sunny days it's a negative distance - this is shown in how both Segasaki and Yoh use informal speech with each other (they generally omit the desu/masu forms aka use plain forms, and both use the informal pronoun "俺/ore" for "I" with each other).

That said, there is also a hierarchy within that relationship (though their individual perceptions of that vertical distance differs) which stems not only from the nature of their living agreement, but also is likely to have carried over from their university days, when they shared a senior/junior relationship. Thus, generally speaking, Segasaki speaks quite roughly with Yoh whilst Yoh tends to use polite forms more often. Keep in mind however, that Japanese is a gendered language, and "rough speech" tends to be seen as a masculine speech pattern and can sometimes be normal between close male friends/family (otherwise, it is the verbal equivalent of getting up in someone's face and pushing them). The key here is that Yoh sticks to an informal, but more polite level than Segasaki does, and it is that difference that shows the power differential.

Horizontal Distance aka "We're Very Close"

Despite Yoh's very valid complaint that Segasaki takes "man-of-few-words" to the next level (itself a liberty you'd only take with someone close to you), Segasaki only drops to rude forms in Ep 1 once:

晩飯いらねぇ(banmeshi iranee) - slurred vowel [literally - "dinner, not needed"] Banmeshi is a more informal way of saying dinner (normal = yuu gohan). Despite the slurred vowel, this sentence is not dismissive nor rude - it's what you'd expect between close friends/family.

In Ep 2 we hear Segasaki speak a lot more roughly to Yoh, as below, and of course during the almost-argument. But though his words are rough his intonation is often soft and he's quite tender with his touch. So, we can see that Segasaki isn't being disrespectful per se - he's not speaking roughly because he sees Yoh as beneath him in the social hierarchy - rather, he's demonstrating intimacy, familiarity and possessiveness, all at once. In fact, the more possessive he feels of Yoh, the more he drops his levels. As mentioned earlier, you only do this with people in your "in-group", with whom you know will understand you aren't insulting them.

遅くなるからいらねぇっつっただろう (osokunaru kara iranee ttsutta darou) - slurred vowel, word contraction, informal end particle [I told you I wouldn't need it cause I'd be late right?] Though somewhat in keeping with Segaski's curtness, this is still a pretty harsh sounding line - but note how Yoh doesn't seem offended or intimidated in the slightest - he understands that Segasaki is tired after a long day, and in return Segasaki softens his tone when he next asks "What did you make?"

Vertical Distance

It's easy to focus on Segasaki's use of rough, assertive langauge as an indicator of vertical distance, and I pointed out quite a few scenes in Ep 3 where he ends off what is essentially an order with assertive sentence-final particles. But focusing on this alone gives the mistaken impression that relationships with vertical distance go one way only - down - when in fact they are bidirectional. There is a mutual dependency between both parties, as we see clearly in MPW. Linguistically, this is portrayed through Yoh's choices to shift up a speech level.

Just like how Segasaki is introduced to the audience through his proposal direct, informal and very forceful speech style, the first interaction we see Yoh have with Segasaki is a proper, standard greeting:

おかえりなさい (okaerinasai) [Welcome back] Okaerinasai is the full, proper way to say this, but a more casual and common way to say this would simply be "okaeri". See Ep 3 for discussion on standard greetings.

When Yoh thinks about Segasaki in his head, he often uses rough speech the same way Segasaki does, including the rude pronouns "aitsu/koitsu (that guy/this guy)", and yet when he speaks directly to Segasaki, he maintains an informal but still polite/neutral speech style. He rarely shifts down to rude forms, barely coming close even when drunk and emotional, but he does often switch up to a more polite level. In the above example, Yoh uses the full standard greeting in response to Segasaki's unspoken request:

俺、帰ってるんだけど (ore, kaetterun dakedo) [I've already come back, you know] Ending with "dakedo" implies that speaker is going to follow up with something, usually a request or a question. In Japanese, this request/question is often left out, because the context given prior to "dakedo" is usually enough for the listener to fill in the gaps themselves. In this case, Segasaki might want a greeting or dinner, but at the very least, it's clear he wants Yoh's attention.

We know the standard greeting earlier was a style shift upwards because later in the episode, when Yoh says good night, he uses the casual version "oyasumi" instead of the full "oyasuminasai".

Even outside of standard phrases, Yoh's baseline is informal but not rude:

あ、いま準備する (Ah, ima junbi suru) - plain form [Ah, I'll prepare it now]

Probably the most telling is in Ep 3, when he's caught off guard whilst folding laundry.

あ、なに？ (Ah, nani?) - plain form [Oh! What?] He answers Segasaki naturally, with just a word, as opposed to a proper “Hai/Yes?”, which he’s done sometimes when he’s unsure of himself, or if he's addressed directly.

So, we've established that Yoh’s baseline with Segasaki is informal but not rude - he feels comfortable enough with Segasaki to default to casual speech, but he acknowledges the power differential between them by simultaneously accepting Segasaki's rough speech as well as not dropping to it himself. This also tells us that the shifts up to formal/polite speech are deliberate and mean something. In EP 2, the shift demonstrated his insecurity surrounding his jealousy and their lack of physical affection, whereas in EP 3, he does it as a way to convey his gratitude.

In the next part, we'll look at how both Segasaki and Yoh use speech style shifts to convey emotion as well as to assume a particular position. Hope you enjoyed this!

[trancetales]

On naming and language in creative writing

I've been thinking recently about writing and specifically, coming up with names and terms within the setting. It can be easy to think to yourself about your own, or indeed of someone else's, choices of terms and names when you're creating a world and setting. "This name is so uninspired", or "This term sounds stupid." You might think it stands out like a sore thumb because it isn't an overly flowery term. That is fine.

Have you ever thought that about real world things? If, like myself, you've found yourself thinking that way about such things, maybe looking at some real world examples with a little more scrutiny can help put some of those thoughts at ease.

Lets start by looking at a few real world terms, first of all. Lets say you have a magic system, and it depends on something that you've called "manapools". Its a simple name, and its to the point. Its not the most out there name, but why should it be?

Have you ever thought about that time at the end of the week? You know, when the week ends, and it becomes the "weekend"? Its what we really called it in English. Its not very creative, but its what we call it, and nobody bats an eyelid. Why should they? That's what its called. Nobody thinks "the weekend should be called something more imaginative.

Another example is the word "waterfall". It couldn't possibly be more straightforward. It is where water falls. Water is falling, so, waterfall. Simple enough, and even someone who doesn't know what a waterfall is could probably piece together that a waterfall is that bit where the water is falling.

This is especially the case when you're talking about a fantasy or scifi term that will be completely new to someone. You actually want someone to recognise the term at a glance and have an idea what's going on. Not just because it makes it easier for the reader to recognise it easily, but because its more convincing from a storytelling perspective - even if there's a more scientific word in the world, are people really going to be using it? Have you ever heard anyone talk about Trochilidae? Probably not. Because when people see a bird that's making a humming sound, they're going to call it as they see it. A hummingbird.

Next, I'm going to touch on place names. Maybe your big city is called "King's Court". Maybe you're thinking that its not very inspired, in a world of Arendelles and Coruscants. If so, you might want to think about two things - real world place names, and the origin of the place names in media.

So we'll start with those two examples. Firstly, Arendelle, the setting for the film Frozen. Yes, it sounds like a fanciful name, but in actuality, its just a regular name but in the language. One source suggests that Aren would translate as eagle, and Delle is derived from the word for Valley. So if it were a name in English, it would just be Eagle Valley. The other example, Coruscant, is a planet from Star Wars. It sounds fancy, sure. But its actually just, a word. An unusual one, yes, but its just a word. Star War also features a city called Cloud City.

It's actually even less creative in real life. Here in the UK for instance, we have 25 places named "Kingston". This is literally just a contracted version of "King's Town", and when they had to distinguish them, they just stuck a bit on. Kingston upon Thames and Kingston upon Hull just put the river they were next to. And then there's Kingston near Lewes. The town is literally just called, "King's Town. The one near that other town." And don't get me started on how many places were just named after Alexander the Great.

The final thing I want to touch on is days and months of the calendar. If you choose to deviate away from the real world calendar, it can feel tricky to get a month that sounds like a month, and days can be even harder. That is, like before, less glaring if you think hard about the real ones.

Starting with days of the week, the simplest point I can make is this. In German, the word for Wednesday is Mittwoch, which literally just means, midweek. They didn't even bother giving it an actual name.

For months, again, its easy to overlook it because of how used to it we are, but not only are half of them really unimaginative, but they're also wrong. Everything up to June is based on parts of the pantheon and such, but when we hit July and August, these are literally just because Julius and Augustus wanted months named after them. So these two are just slight alterations of their names. After those two, we have September, October, November, and December. These ones are just names after the number of the month. Dec, meaning 10, is famously the 10th month, of course... So, not only is it basically just called "month number 10", about as unimaginative as it gets, it is also wrong.

On thinking these points over, I've personally found myself thinking less critically of my naming in all areas. If the UK can have 25 King's Towns, why can you not have a King's Court. If we have Hummingbirds, why the heck wouldn't your people call that fire-breathing dragon a Fire Dragon? And nothing could be worse than the months we have in our real calendar. So don't sell your naming prowess short, because you can't do much worse than the Romans did.

[supper-ansuta-broth]

Time for a post about something I've been personally researching for a while!

In most cases, there are three ways to exit a live. In the first (and most common) case, the song is completed, the player is taken to the live results screen, and depending on their performance, is either granted credit and rewards for completing the song, or is taken back to the song selection screen.

The second way to exit a live is a little more common among players who are frustrated with their current performance in the live: simply hitting the pause button mid-song and exiting out of the live, losing whatever BP they may have used and forfeiting the chance to get any rewards at all.

But there’s a third, less known-about way to exit a live, and that’s achieved through closing out of the app entirely. If a player starts a live then, at any point during the live, exits out of the app and allows it to close completely or refresh, upon opening the app again the player is greeted with the normal splash screens and startup loading sequence. And when all of it is over, the player is given a text box asking them if they’d like to forfeit the live, much like option 2, or if they’d like to continue the live where they last left off.

This function, as it turns out, has some strange impacts on gameplay. For one thing, if you had the 3D MV turned on for this live, the MV will be disabled, instead being replaced by the card CG of whatever card you had in your Performer spot.

But this function also has another, lesser known consequence that, although it doesn’t seriously impact gameplay in most cases, can make for some strange or interesting occurrences that wouldn’t otherwise happen during a normal live.

So, let’s talk about it. In this post, I’m going to be discussing a phenomenon I like to call the “Re-Entered Live Start Timestamp”, or the RLST for short.

(Disclaimer: This post focuses on the Japanese version of Ensemble Stars!! Music, and not everything here may apply to other versions of the game (most relevant here being the English Ensemble Stars!! version). Thus, I cannot confirm if anything mentioned in this post will work for any other version of Ensemble Stars!! Music. Additionally, everything in this post is completely irrelevant to Ensemble Stars!! Basic. If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask and I’ll answer whatever I can.)

So, let’s break down this term piece by piece.

The “Re-Entered Live” part is easy enough to understand. Like I talked about in the intro, a re-entered live is a state of live gameplay in which the player has exited out of the app, allowed the app to refresh, or through some other means, has been booted back to the startup screens and has chosen to continue a live. Easy enough.

But, what about that “Start Timestamp” part? This is where we have to discuss some theoretical ways the game itself functions, specifically as it relates to handling how far a player has progressed into a live. So, keep in mind that I don’t know exactly how the game works in regards to this subject, or why they work this way. These are simply my observations about the game, and my assumptions as to why these decisions were made.

In very basic terms, each song that can be played in a live has a certain duration attached to it. The game keeps track of how far a player is into the song by keeping track of this time. In a perfect system, if a player were to exit out of the app and re-enter the live they were in, the game would take them to the exact timestamp where they left off, and they would be able to continue playing as normal.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, this is the case. However, there are certain things the player can do, and certain songs the player can select, that will make this system behave a little strangely.

Recall that, upon re-entering a live after closing and reopening the app, 3D MVs are disabled for the remainder of the live and replaced with a still card CG. In most cases, this changes very little about the song in question, and the live can be played as normal with little impact to the player.

However, there are certain songs with certain attributes about them that would make this transition inconvenient for the player. Specifically, there are several songs in the game with long opening cutscenes preceding the actual music, and there are several songs in the game with alternate versions depending on the presentation mode selected, especially ones that show up in the YouTube 3D anime selections, like Crossroad or Checkmate.

These songs, and actually every song in the game, has a specific point which tells the game “if a player exits out of the app and re-opens the live before this point, skip them ahead to this point, usually just before the song starts”. This timestamp is the one I like to call the RLST. Essentially, if you enter a live, and then immediately quit out of the app before the song even has a chance to start, the game will put you forward in time to the RLST and allow you to continue the live from there.

There are a few guidelines that the RLST must follow:

It cannot be negative. (Obviously.)

It must start at some point before the earliest possible note in any given difficulty (that is to say, the RLST cannot skip notes). And,

A player must not be able to backwarp (i.e. skip backwards) to the RLST, only forwards.

For most songs, the RLST is so close to the timestamp 0:00 that it would be almost undetectable unless you were literally counting frames between start times. However, there are a few examples of songs with very noticeable RLSTs, and some that are more convenient and even comical than others. I’ll go through a few examples here.

1. Noir Neige

The song Noir Neige, the second of the Christmas shuffle unit songs, is pretty well-known for having a 20 second long intro cutscene at the beginning of the song, with no dialogue or even music to accompany it, one of the longest in the game. Although nowhere near the top spot for taking the longest amount of time to, for lack of a better term, “get on with it”, it does take the top spot (as far as I’m aware) for the longest intro in a live with absolutely no inputs, including its Special difficulty version. However, by using the RLST to one’s advantage, one can skip this cutscene altogether, as the RLST for this specific song is placed directly between the cutscene’s end and the song’s beginning, thus bypassing the need to sit through Ritsu handing his brother a pomegranate twenty-seven times.

Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t appear to save any time when grinding lives, unless your device is prone to lag with 3D MVs enabled. In fact, it takes significantly longer to start up the app again after closing it than it would to simply wait out the cutscene. However, if you happen to be playing during an event and need a quick song to use 10 BP on and come back to later, this may be a good option for you, considering that if you let the app close after starting the live, upon your return you won’t need to sit through that long cutscene, making this otherwise lengthy song a bit more manageable at just over 2 minutes.

I should also mention here that Hamtaro tottoko uta, although also having a ridiculously long opening cutscene at just over forty seconds, has its RLST set at just before the opening clock chime at the beginning of the cutscene, considering for the higher difficulties, this opening cutscene is charted. Therefore, this same trick cannot be applied there, despite its cutscene being double the length of Noir Neige’s.

2. Nekketsu☆Ryusei Ninpouchou

Nekketsu☆Ryusei Ninpouchou is another event song with an opening cutscene, although this one is significantly shorter. Since this is pretty much the same case as Noir Neige’s opening cutscene, I won’t go as in-depth here, but the RLST for this song is placed after the point with the beeping, AR Mode screen. Again, it would take significantly longer to reload the app than it would to simply sit through the cutscene, and it wouldn’t save that much time during event grinding like Noir Neige would, but it’s still a nice oddity to note.

Additionally, other songs with opening cutscenes may have them skipped via their RLST placements, so unless there’s anything notable like in the next few examples, they probably won’t get called out by name. So, consider this an acknowledgement of all of them.

3. Ryou Kataomoi no Kousaten de, Kimi ni Mata Aitakute

Along with having a comically long title, the song for the Koisuru♡Scramble April Fools 2024 event has a comically placed RLST as well. Upon closing out of the app after entering this song, players may be horrified to find that the song has placed them directly on top of a double note, meaning if you aren’t quick enough, or if your timing is off, you may miss it altogether. As far as I’m aware, this is the only song with RLST placement like this, although some other songs’ RLSTs may be placed in such a way that the first notes of a song are visible. Although slightly cruel, the rest of the song is forgiving enough that you can rapidly tap your screen as the unpause timer counts down and be fine for the most part.

4. ROCK ROAR

This song is a good showcase of the second purpose of having an RLST: normalizing the restarting of every version of the same song. Some songs, like ROCK ROAR, have several versions that can be played: in this case, one with a 3D MV like the rest of the songs in the game, and one with a “Movie” MV, which here is a clip of the Crossroad Selection series in which this song plays. The clip used also has a short introduction that plays before the song starts. Unlike the previous few examples, however, the RLST doesn’t necessarily skip ahead of this cutscene. Instead, it seems to play a version of the song that’s been cleaned of any excess sound effects and dialogue from the Crossroad episode in which it was featured, sounds that are heard if you let the movie version of the MV play normally. This effect is present in several other songs, including We’ll be “Knights”, one that doesn’t have an opening cutscene, but a closing one, that is silenced entirely upon closing the app and re-entering a live.

These aren’t every example by far, but they’re some of my favourites.

There are a few other consequences of re-entering a live after exiting the app, but none I’ve seen so far have been as in-depth and scarcely documented as this. It’s also unclear whether or not this is actually an intentional feature by the developers, an unwelcome necessity in programming, or if it’s simply an oversight (especially in the case of example 3 discussed earlier).

Regardless of the reason why the RLST exists, it’s a fascinating quirk about a game full of little quirks that pique my interest. I hope that, in discussing how the RLST functions, I’ve sparked some interest in this niche mechanic of Ensemble Stars!! Music. If I have, feel free to tell me about it through an ask, or if you have any questions, I’d love to hear those, too.

Thank you all so much for reading, and happy playing!

(Here's a clip of #3 in action, too:)

[linkemon]

Boy with luv (Shinomiya Kojirou x Reader)

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you’re interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

[ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ] ᴛʀɪᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ʙʀɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ʙᴏꜱꜱ, ꜱʜɪɴᴏᴍɪʏᴀ ᴋᴏᴊɪʀᴏᴜ, ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛ ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ʜɪꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴛᴀᴜʀᴀɴᴛ ꜰᴀɪʟꜱ…

ᴀᴅᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴅᴇᴀɢᴇᴅ ᴀᴜ. ɪᴛ ɪɴᴠᴏʟᴠᴇꜱ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴏʀᴀʀɪʟʏ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ᴠᴀʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ʀᴇᴀꜱᴏɴꜱ.

— Voilà! — [Reader] proudly placed the plate in front of Shinomiya. — Spring composition. Complete rejuvenation!

She sincerely hoped that the opinion about the dish would be positive. Many of her future plans depended on it. Fortunately, the hungry glances of her coworkers, who were waiting for their turn to taste, gave her encouragement. The woman tightly clenched her thumbs behind her back as she watched her boss take the first bite. To her surprise, he froze for a moment and, before he could say anything, disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

A child sat in his place.

Everyone approached the little one uncertainly. Someone took the fork out of his hand.

— [Reader]-san, what did you put in there? — Abel asked with fear.

— Lime leaves. I wanted it to be... rejuvenating? — she said uncertainly.

In front of her sat a mini version of the boss. He had the exact same short pink hair and amber eyes. He looked quite happy as he played with the rest of the food on his plate.

His expression was definitely not his usual one.

— I like it. He's less grumpy. — Lucie lifted the little one into her arms. — Who's the cutest little thing? Who? — She lifted him up, tickling him with her nose. — I wonder when he'll turn back.

— Maybe we should call an ambulance — Gao suggested.

She was sensible and responsible. After all, that was what was expected of a restaurant manager. [Reader] rarely disagreed with her but this time she couldn't agree with her.

The sanitary inspector would certainly raid the place and closing Shino's would cause huge losses. In her mind's eye, she could already see Shinomiya suing her. And there would be no way to pay off the debts...

— Now we have to get ready to open because the guests will be disappointed. Let's wait until he digests what he ate. I'll take care of him and if it doesn't go away, I'll take him to the ER.

She wanted to strongly believe that the visit would not be necessary.

— We'll manage without you. Take him for a walk so he won't be a nuisance. We'll keep in touch — Lucie said, seeing the rest of the crew wanting to protest.

The woman then took the child from her, took her purse and left the restaurant.

She headed towards the housing estate with a playground.

It seemed to her that all the old ladies in the area had gathered to check her out. They were expressing their admiration for Kojirō-chan. They were congratulating her on her adorable son. [Reader] didn't feel like correcting them. Especially after he had publicly called her "mom". So she nodded with a goofy smile, trying to say a polite goodbye and leave.

The boy kept pulling her hair. Once, he even managed to dig up her lipstick and started using it eagerly. When she tried to wipe his face, she was surprised to find that he was standing without her help. He had also grown heavier. That boded well.

Before she knew it, little boss was running around the sandbox bringing her dishes made of leaves and sand. She tipped them out behind her when he wasn't looking.

It wasn't the time to think about it but she figured Shinomiya must have been a really cute kid once. She felt sad that his adult self wasn't anything like his current self.

Suddenly she heard a soft sob and then a preschooler appeared before her with tears in his eyes. She wanted to say that children grow up too fast but at the last moment she stopped herself.

— He ruined my restaurant. — The boy’s lower lip trembled. —And I was just about to cook you Flan Aux Champignon.

It was enough to glance at a peer playing in a newly acquired sandbox to understand what he was talking about. The fight was paid for with a grazed knee.

— Kojirō-chan, you'll cook me something better next time. — She hugged the little one. — Let's go to the store, I'll buy you some colourful slices and something sweet. — She winked.

Like most school children, he was taken in by the promise of a reward. A taped knee, a juice box and a candy bar effectively did the trick. The woman also sent a text message to her co-workers, assuring them that hospitals would not be needed.

Unfortunately, the problem began when the boss hit his teenage years. He suddenly wanted to taste rebellion. Before she knew it, he ran away at a pedestrian crossing.

She was seriously nervous because Tokyo's neighbourhoods were easy to get lost in. Not to mention the shady characters who sometimes lurked in the alleys after dark.

She often returned home late at night, so she knew the consequences.

She asked passersby and wandered around the area but to no avail.

When she returned to the street where Shino's was located, however, a surprise awaited her. To her immense relief, a grown man was sitting on a bench in front of the restaurant.

— Shinomiya-san, what a luck! — She threw her arms around his neck.

She was glad he was back to normal and in one piece.

The man gently but firmly pushed her away from him.

This was nothing new. Even when he was hugged on his birthday while being congratulated, he felt uneasy. He kept physical contact to a minimum.

— What was in that dish? — he drawled.

[Reader] could feel the cold gaze of amber eyes on her. The tone of his voice was cold and unpleasant. She was starting to miss Kojirō-chan, who would probably jump for joy at the sight of her.

Her legs and head ached from running around the neighbourhoods looking for her boss. Fatigue was making itself known, bringing tears to the corners of her eyes. She blinked as hard as she could but her vision was getting a little blurry.

— The ingredients don’t matter if it wasn’t good! — she sobbed, searching her purse for tissues.

The man noticed the sudden change and his facial expression softened slightly.

— Did I say I didn't like it?

— But...

—Why did you care so much about my opinion? You never cared about it before unless the dishes were for Shino's.

The woman wiped her eyes, trying to calm her breathing.

— This was supposed to be a test of my skills. I want to open my own restaurant in [Country Name]. I feel like I'm suffocating in Tokyo.

— Because who would want to put up with me as their boss? — he snarled.

— Shinomiya-san, you know it's not like that. I just... have to try something new. Go somewhere. Do something more. Remember how after the shokugeki you said you didn't want to stand still...?

— I know what you're talking about.

He knew this feeling all too well.

Ever since he faced Yukihira in a duel, it had been with him all along. Since then, he had wanted more from life. He had set high standards and distant goals for himself and he had stubbornly pursued them. He had been working on his cooking style, hoping that one day he would achieve more than he already had.

But now that the woman wanted what he wanted, he had a problem.

The idea of ​​a restaurant without her stupid jokes, without her dishes and without her seemed downright treacherous to him.

As if she wanted to run away from him and didn't need him anymore.

— You want my opinion? — He pinched the bridge of his nose. — Change that lime note and everyone will be eating out of your hand. If they don't turn into a child first... Just invite me to the opening. — He looked directly at her.

The woman had the impression that there was some hope lurking within him.

— Of course, yes. Besides... I'll visit you. We're not parting forever. There are phones and the Internet. Although after these few years I have to admit that I'll miss you.

Maybe it was time to set new goals, unrelated to cooking.

Kojirō gently brushed a few strands of hair away from the woman's face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She hadn't expected that at all, so he wanted to laugh at the sight of her flushed face before him.

— If you don't invite me, I'll just get on the first plane I see. And when I find you, you'll be in big trouble. Let's go — he added, seeing her froze in place.

The woman reluctantly moved toward the restaurant, catching up with Shinomiya.

— You know you offered me a sand cake to eat? — She smiled, looking out at the setting sun.

— I hope it was as good as all my dishes.

— Imagine that I didn't eat it...

She reached out her hand timidly, lacing her fingers with his. The man smiled to himself.

— Don't worry, you haven't lost anything because I'll cook you something better.

He's gained a new and quite pleasant, goal — [Reader] will become his girlfriend.

[project-sekai-facts]

Asking this because I genuinely need an explanation, not as a counterargument.

I'm 100% aware of the queer erasure going on in JP → EN translations. The shameless hiding of LGBTQ+ subtext is ridiculous. However, some examples have been bothering me lately ("bothering" as in, I've been thinking about them a lot), these examples being the lack of usage of the word "love", especially in one of Minori's.

In one of Minori's dialogues, she states that she loves Haruka (originally using "daisuki", if I recall correctly). The expression "love" in this case gets translated to "have feelings for", which is considered to be erasure. That's what bugs me: why would it be queer erasure?

In my first language, Spanish, we have the expression "te quiero" (literally "I want you", though it has no possessive connotations and it's a more toned version of loving), and the stronger "te amo" ("I love you"). The latter is generally used romantically, though it can be used in other contexts (I tell my deepest and closest friends both "te quiero" and "te amo", for example). From my understanding, English doesn't have an equivalent to "te quiero", so "I love you" can apply in any context.

However, and again, to my understanding, "having feelings for someone" is only ever used romantically. Maybe it's weaker than loving someone in a sense, but still, you wouldn't say you have feelings for someone who you wish to have/maintain a platonic relationship with (correct me if I'm wrong).

So, to my understanding:

"daisuki" → [strong] loving someone, with vague connotations (generally interpreted as romantic)

"I love you" → [strong] certainly used romantically, yet it can be platonic or familial too

"I have feelings for you" → [weaker] used romantically.

Does that make sense or am I being ignorant?

Ah sorry if I confused you with that example from the MMJ main story. I don't think it's erasure because the EN translation keeps the pretty much the same meaning, I pointed it out because of EN's refusal to translate the words suki/daisuki as love in certain instances.

EN seems to be willing to translate suki/daisuki directly when it's being used to talk about things or aspects of a person, like in these instances:

However, when it's used directly about a person, the translators always find some way around it, like in these instances:

(An/Kohane are an exception and iirc siblings are too?)

(Also in the Asahi example he uses a conjugated form of horeru but it means pretty much the same thing)

Whilst most of these convey the original meaning to some degree and don't really count for erasure, it's still odd that EN will not let the characters say they love each other. It's not even like it has to be interpreted romantically. Like it's firmly established that Leo/need are childhood best friends from the start, I don't think a lot of readers are going to jump straight to romance if the girls said they love each other. It's like they're removing it as a "just in case" so that no one can view it as romantic at all.

Yeah, you're right that "having feelings for someone" is by far more commonly used in a romantic sense. Whilst some people irl probably use it platonically (most likely aspec ppl), in media you're really only going to hear it used romanitcally. It's not weaker than "I love you" imo, but it depends on who you ask because to other people it might be weaker/stronger.

[hatredmadeofgold]

Revenge with a vengeance — The tragedy of Sam and Raiden’s canon relationship dynamic

Alternate title: SamuRaiden is THAT deep, actually.

Side note by author: This essay will get an update eventually since I wrote it before playing the Japanese version of the game.

Although MGR does not have as complex or well researched character lore as the main series, Samuraiden as a relationship is a lot more complex than common fandom tropes and interpretations of their relationship suggest. I don’t mind it when people make funny/meme content about these two, since MGS/R does come with its own flair of humour, it’s very exhausting for me as well as a few others I know who enjoy this ship for it to be reduced to just that — a joke. MGR being perceived as ‘goofy’ is mainly due to how poorly some of the character lines translate from Japanese to English, as well as it being more or less evident that either budget, time or both ran out over the course of development, hence the second half of the game feels rushed and underdeveloped. In fact, the great majority of MGR fans do not understand how serious, dark, hopeless and dystopian its message really is and that is saddening.

The world isn’t black and white, neither is it in MGS/R. Sam isn’t the just the villain (never has been, by the way), Raiden isn’t the just the hero (never has been either, by the way), I’d say it’s rather “depends on who you ask”. They are on opposite sides due to the circumstances of how they meet and not because they wouldn’t get along. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, if they would have met before 2016, they might have become friends based on the fact of how much they can actually relate to each other in many different aspects of their personalities, interests and experiences.

Before we get to fight Armstrong as well as during the Sam DLC (also through very subtle hints during their first fight on the train) we learn that Sam is just like Raiden and that Desperado forced him to become a shadow of who he once was, going against his own morals and values and only Raiden reminding him of who he truly was before Armstrong defeated him 2 years prior, ultimately crushing his spirit — he had no other choice, either die there as a failure or continue to live and become Desperado’s/Armstrong’s puppet [until someone would eventually defeat Armstrong and free Sam from his never ending nightmare — Did I already mention that Sam is a really fucking tragic character?]. Sam joining Armstrong’s laughter at the end of DLC is a reaction of fear, not agreement with him or enjoyment. And if there’s one thing that both MGS and MGR are really good at, it’s the accurate and very realistic portrayal of the human psyche under stressful and traumatic situations.

On the other side we can tell from Raiden’s reaction when holding Murasama after killing Sam that he, for once in the entire damn series, questions if that was the right choice he made. We know that Raiden enjoys inflicting pain and suffering onto others, he enjoys murder — but he did not feel that way when he killed Sam. It’s quite the opposite. It’s very subtle and if you’re not very observant like me, easy to miss. But the way his voice turns a bit softer, how his eyes look listless, almost sad; he regrets it. When Blade Wolf asks Raiden if that outcome was really necessary, he does not answer him, because he knows that Wolf is right, it wasn’t. And Raiden pretty much hates himself for it. To his team he confidently says that Sam isn’t a problem anymore since he killed him, but that’s not the same Raiden that he’s that moment in the badlands (which is another implication to me that Raiden doesn’t fully trust his teammates, although they are friends; he has major trust issues and the only emotions he shares with them is either anger or amusement but nothing outside of that). The way he sheathes Murasama is a way to honour him, and as far as I remember this is a ritual to honour a samurai’s defeat or death.

I believe that there has been a silent understanding between the two swordsmen that they respect each other from the very beginning, but they do not say it out loud. This is a case of “show, don’t tell” but also something I suspect has something to do with the game being written by Japanese authors, and Japanese is a high context language, meaning, very little words are needed to get the meaning across, and I think this may also translate into the words these two exchange with each other compared to how they truly feel about the other. Besides, they probably couldn’t truly speak honestly with each other in the first place because of the unfortunate conditions of how they met and were (more or less) forced to fight each other until one of them would eventually succumb to the other’s blade. Codecs and conversations were most likely recorded by their respective employers, and I highly suspect that in Sam’s case, he was even monitored 24/7 by Desperado since he never was an official member of the Winds of Destruction in the first place, and they didn’t fully trust him either.

At the very end of the game during the fight with Armstrong, Sam’s message plays, and we can hear how Sam also speaks with a different voice to Blade Wolf compared to everyone else (and technically, indirectly to Raiden but I cannot confirm or deny that Sam was aware that Raiden would ever hear this playback), it’s a note softer; Raiden learns the truth, which confirms to him that he was right about Sam after all, that they are alike, that they respect each other, and that there was more to Sam’s story than him being a part of Desperado, he doesn’t know what exactly, but he knows now for sure that Sam was not the person he originally believed he was (and lets his team still believe he thinks that way).

Would Raiden truly say Sam’s catchphrase “Let’s dance” before fighting and ultimately killing Armstrong, if he wouldn’t have been going through a gradual process between originally hating Sam to respecting and liking him but unable to ever express that to him or anyone else?

Would he ever admit to anyone what kind of emotional impact Sam had on him, besides the anger and hatred he openly expressed towards him?

Doubt so. Highly fucking doubt so.

Because sharing his true feelings is a liability to him, and Raiden learnt as a very young child that vulnerable feelings such as sadness or guilt would be used against him, so his psyche is conditioned to discard them immediately. But Sam made him feel those things in their full extent and Raiden is fully aware of that, but he would never share with anybody that he ever felt that way about Sam.

He may or may not take those feelings to his grave.

From Sam’s side, we can only guess how he truly felt about Raiden, but we can only guess by the way he hesitated to finish him off on the train during the prologue, the way he smiled at Blade Wolf before his death (which might be likely another case of a silent understanding between Sam and Wolf that the latter would share with Raiden what he knows about Sam or the playback of their conversation itself, if not both) as well as everything he says with giving Murasama to Raiden. Of course, Sam couldn’t even say out loud to Blade Wolf or Raiden that he planned to give Raiden his sword to take down Armstrong, and he had to be as vague as possible with the information that he shared with the robot dog. Not by choice, no. Most likely because he was being watched 24/7, he knew that Desperado nor Armstrong didn’t fully trust him and if they knew about his plans, they’d make sure to finish him off before Raiden had the chance to do so. Sam knew he would die, and that it would be the only way he would ever be free from Armstrong’s grasp. So he chose suicide through Raiden’s blade, and gave him his sword to finish what he could not back then.

The game’s title is REVENGEANCE — Revenge with a vengeance.

They both translate to the same thing in my native language German, but there’s a subtle yet important difference between these two nouns.

“Revenge means when you get back at your enemy who is responsible for hurting you and vengeance is the punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.”

But it was never Armstrong who hurt or wronged Raiden in the first place, and we know he’s an essentially selfish person who does not really care all that much about politics, religion or anything like that and he only fights for himself (I wrote in my essay about Raiden’s ASPD that his motivation to save these children from becoming cyborg child soldiers is a trauma response first and his rather lose and grey morality second) and the few people he cares about, so Armstrong being the one one who ordered to get N’mani killed is not the reason Raiden went after him or was that passionate about getting revenge or retribution on him either.

It was Sam who hurt him — wounded both his body and soul during the prologue — but when Raiden got his revenge, he realised that revenge is empty, that he didn’t feel better, and that he regrets killing him, then we get to the vengeance part. From the moment Raiden held Sam’s Murasama in the badlands, he felt no more hatred towards him and the emotional impact his death had on him made Sam transition from a person he hated to one of the few people Raiden truly cares about.

Armstrong may be the villain of the story, but the person who wanted revenge on him never had been Raiden. It was Sam. Always had been Sam, because it was Sam who got hurt by Armstrong, it was Sam who wanted to get revenge on Armstrong for defeating him and crushing his spirit, it was Sam who wanted to punish Armstrong for making him into a shadow of who he once was, making Sam speak about ideals he didn’t truly believe in (like, who the FUCK even thinks that Sam truly believed a single fucking word of that, because I for sure as hell can tell he never did, he either gaslit himself into believing that for 2 years until he met Raiden or only parroted whatever the fuck Armstrong wanted him to say so he would not get killed on the spot).

Revenge and vengeance are very deep feelings and actions of hatred, feelings that are too deep and complex to be associated with morality, hence why I highly doubt that the title of the game is directed at Armstrong from Raiden’s side at all. That between Raiden and Armstrong is not nearly as personal as it has been between Sam and Armstrong. Raiden eradicating Desperado and Armstrong had been about justice [for the kids being killed and their organs sold], not revenge.

"I said my sword was a tool of justice. Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now… Now I'm not so sure. And besides, this isn't my sword."

But when he says this, followed by “Let’s dance”, it became deeply personal for Raiden as well. Because he could confirm that his feelings about Sam had been right, and that Sam wanted to get revenge on Armstrong.

Raiden decides to avenge him, because Sam couldn’t get revenge himself.

Although Sam never told him directly, Raiden understood him from his actions alone, those subtle hints, reading between the lines what the other truly felt and wanted the whole time, eventually passing the “torch” — his sword — to Raiden, to finish what he could not. So while Raiden’s own reasons to finish off Armstrong were (mostly) justice for the innocent lives he destroyed and planned to continue to destroy, they also became feelings of hatred and anger — Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong.

In the end — revenge with a vengeance — is what Sam could get on Armstrong only through Raiden, after Raiden enacted his onto Sam.

Now the question is — if Raiden would’ve never killed Sam, by the chance of him recognising earlier than in canon that revenge is empty and that he won’t feel better after killing him, would Sam go by his example and abandon his revenge plans on Armstrong as well? Or would they fight Armstrong together and get justice?

We unfortunately can only speculate (or write stories about it).

What we can tell from canon though, is that Raiden’s (= Sam’s) passionate feelings of hatred towards Armstrong quickly vanish the moment he finished him off, and he looks into the camera with an empty expression, covered in blood and a crushed cybernetic heart in his hand.

And I think that is exactly what he feels — empty.

Because again, he got revenge and avenged Sam, led by what Sam felt, Sam’s feelings became Raiden’s feelings during that fight with Armstrong. But once that was gone, there’s nothing left. In the case of killing Armstrong, he doesn’t feel remorse or guilt. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Because revenge is empty.

Raiden defeated his enemies — but at what cost?

By killing Sam, he realised what he had actually lost — a potential friend (or more), someone who understood him in a way that no one else did. Perhaps he thought or felt that, if he avenges Sam, making Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong into his own, he might be able to deal with that loss better, but to no avail.

Because, and I can speak from experience as a person with the same mental health issues as Raiden, that emptiness is worse than regret.

MGR’s ending also implies that Raiden abandons his family and friends to fight his own war; essentially taking the same path that Sam once took in his past, ending up in a personal war and revenge act that knows no end, making one bad choice after the next. If Raiden hasn’t already become the villain of his own story by the end of MGR, then it’s just a matter of time until he becomes that.

And the cycle of violence continues, until the story repeats itself, over and over and over and over and over.

Did I mention already that there is a myth around Murasama being a cursed sword, that will drive its user either slowly insane or make them commit suicide if it doesn’t get a regular ‘blood sacrifice’?

—

“I really enjoy murder, but that one, that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

[goldstarknight]

Today I want to talk about Duel Masters. Specifically: The Duel Masters anime from the early 2000s.

For those who don't know: Duel Masters is kind of the little brother of Magic: The Gathering. It was also made by Hasbro and there is a lot of fascinating history between the games. You can listen to Maro talk about it here.

The thing about the anime is that it is a parody dub that gets more unhinged as it goes on. Feels like watching an abridged series on YouTube.

For some reason the official localization team was allowed to do a parody dub instead of a faithful adaptation that takes itself way too seriously for its own good. As a result the official version of the English Duel Masters dub (which was shown on childrens' TV programs in the early 2000s!) is closer to Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged than Yu-Gi-Oh! (which would be the most obvious comparison).

I mean it: they didn't just go for some light dialogue changes. No, they cut tedious, tropey dialogue, inserted pop-culture references, added some 4th-wall breaking jokes about common tropes in shows like this and sometimes even heavily edited the footage for comedic effect. There is a scene where they put a bad disco filter over the video and make a character sing karaoke. Seriously, I can't convey how weird this gets at times. The only thing separating it from an abridged series you'd find on YouTube in the 2010s is probably the lack of swearwords. And that's not really the kind of thing you'd miss anyway.

It gets even more unhinged in the final season. I assume they knew the English version wouldn't be continued since the TCG failed to catch on in the west, so they just went all out. There is a scene pretty late into the series where two characters are dueling and one of them summons a creature, but the wrong summoning animation plays. The characters then complain about the editor they hired on Craigslist. Again: this was meant for children's television. Not the internet.

A lot of jokes went way over my head as a child and I took it super seriously, but rewatching it with a friend last year had me howling with laughter at times. Maybe it's not your sense of humor, but if you like silly anime parodies, I urge you to check it out.

Also, if you speak German, I recommend you watch that version. The localization team did a great job of adapting the jokes and the voice actors really leaned into it. Can't speak for other European versions, but maybe there is something there too. :D

Here is a random assortment of my favourite characters to pay tribute and hopefully whet your appetite:

First we have best girl Mimi, Kokujo, an edgelord and Matrix-aficionado and Jimmy Three-Horns from Iowa.

Yumama, who had her name changed from Yu Fua just so the dub could make "yo momma" jokes and EXTREME BUCKETMAN.

Knight, one of the most pathetic mentor figures I have seen in all of anime (I love him for it) and Dr. Root with his weird crow-mouth (peak or rather "beak" character design).

And finally Tom & Stu (might be the same guy, depending on the localization).

Alright, got that off my chest. Hope this was interesting to you. :)

I usually stick to posting (pixel) art, but I really wanted to share this with the world.