#but structurally this is very interesting to me

[cheeseatlantic]

our inspo for today is the lovely @bunnybeaches i HIGHLY recommend checking out their content, very good.

BUNNY LOVE 3/6

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

Simon Riley is not a man who enjoys surprises.

He likes things his way—structured, predictable, and without unnecessary chaos. It’s why his life before you made perfect sense. Wake up, train, work, come home to a quiet house where the only creature in it was Riley, the German Shepherd he trusted more than most people.

And then you came along. A whirlwind of warmth and softness, all sunshine and sweetness. You turned his silent, orderly life into something loud and colorful—and despite all his grumbling, all his deadpan looks, you somehow made him love every second of it.

But now? Now, you were pushing your luck.

“Just imagine it, Si!” You’re bouncing beside him on the couch, eyes alight with excitement as you scroll through your phone. “A little bunny hopping around! It would be so cute! And—oh! Oh my god, it would be so fitting because you call me Bunny!”

Simon’s blank stare is a fortress of indifference. “No.”

You deflate, but only for a second before you’re shoving your phone in his face, showing him a picture of the tiniest, fluffiest rabbit he’s ever seen. “Look! Just look at this face! You’re telling me you wouldn’t love them?”

His eye twitches. “I barely tolerate the one animal we have now.”

At the mention of his name, Riley, who has been lounging by the fireplace, lifts his head, ears twitching. He watches the two of you with mild interest before sighing heavily and resting his head back down.

You scoff. “Oh please, you love that dog.”

Simon shrugs, which is his way of saying yeah, obviously, but he still grumbles, “Don’t need more animals.”

“But Simon!” You drag out his name in that whiny, dramatic way that you know annoys the hell out of him. “They’re tiny! They won’t take up much space! And they’re soft and cute and—”

“No.”

You pout. “Why not?”

Simon deadpans. “Because I don’t want the house overrun by furballs.”

You narrow your eyes. “Overrun? I’m asking for one.”

“One turns into two. Two turns into five. Next thing I know, I’m living in a bloody petting zoo.”

You gasp, hand over your chest. “How dare you?”

Simon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, the picture of suffering. “We’re not getting a rabbit.”

(i forgot where i pit my divider so fuck you)

Six months later.

Simon Riley, certified hardass, cold-blooded soldier, grumpiest bastard alive… is currently sitting on the couch with a tiny brown rabbit asleep on his chest.

On the floor beside him? Riley, their German Shepherd, is curled protectively around another rabbit—a fluffy gray one—while the third, a tiny white one, is nestled in your arms as you beam at the sight before you.

Simon sighs through his nose, staring at the ceiling like he’s contemplating every decision that led to this moment.

“Not a word, Big Bunny.” he mutters.

You grin, rubbing your cheek against the bunny in your arms. “Oh, I wouldn’t dare.”

He scowls but doesn’t move. Not when the brown rabbit shifts slightly against his chest. Not when Riley lets out a deep, contented sigh, his tail thumping softly against the floor. Not when he realizes that, somehow, despite all his protests, he loves these damn rabbits.

And worst of all?

You knew he would.

and boots and cafs and boots and cats and bootd and cats and boots and cats rate my rap for a smooch

[essektheylyss]

idk I kind of feel like I'm an idiot bc I actually enjoyed cr 3 from the jump to the end but like the blogs who follow bc I feel they are definitely more articulate and insightful than me are like "the whole thing was meaningless and pointless! matt fumbled everything!" so maybe I'm wrong to have liked it all? I'm not really sure where I'm going with this sorry

I think one thing to keep in mind is that many (and in fact, I would argue, most!) people who are critiquing the story and construction have also generally enjoyed the campaign as a whole! Certainly I don't know anyone who stuck it out through the end who did not overall enjoy watching it, for various reasons; I know there are people who hate watch, which I think is an absurd and honestly really stupid waste of time, but from my experience they are normally making snide and vicious tweet-length posts rather than long considerations of what isn't working for them.

There are also a lot of levels of critique—I've greatly enjoyed a lot of moments in isolation that I simultaneously felt weakened, contradicted, or even actively undermined the structure of the story as a whole, but those moments were still really fun and interesting beats. The Arch Heart's cameo comes to mind, as does, in hindsight, some of the construction of the post-Solstice split, but there are plenty of others of higher or lower impact on the story. In the finale the Raise Dead falls into this place very strongly, so I'm going to talk about it at length for a moment, since it was an absolutely stellar moment for me personally and as such I do think it serves as very illustrative of an example where I simultaneously fucking love a moment while finding it worth significant critique. I think it also touches on the critiques you're referring to, which I would summarize overall as the idea that many of the outcomes feel influenced negatively by pulled punches on the part of the DM rather than a flaw of one player or another. (Also, I want to talk about it cuz I love it. :3) This got very long but I think that to your point, it is worth examining in this amount of depth.

First, the good: it is an absolutely phenomenal culminating point of an arc that was only really concluded in summary; I have, as noted earlier this week, written at length about how Essek is never situated as a protagonist, which is functionally fine and even good. He ends up tied very strongly to Caleb's arc, and moves in the narrative in such a way after 2x97 that allows Caleb to reach a concluding note, and strengthens that narrative. So we only really hear about the outcome of Essek's choices, his inevitable leave from the Dynasty, in the summarization of the campaign 2 epilogue. This is not inherently a problem, because he is not a protagonist. But this moment does functionally create a material representation of that denouement, and in particular the tension between the outcomes of his poor choices and the better—potentially even good!—person he is trying to be as a result of the Nein's influence, which does strengthen his arc in its own right.

This moment also, hilariously, bears out my argument from this post. That the resurrection should only work with this intervention, particularly while the Nein are involved, does follow through on the Nein's general positioning within Exandria. Essek's leave happening without a fight (and, frankly, with only one attempted Counterspell) both makes for a very well-paced moment and also maintains the overall sense of story that the Nein impart when they are on screen; I'm thinking again of how their Ruidus episodes feel, much like their campaign and their post-campaign one-shots, like an intrigue action thriller series, and this fits well in that framing.

So overall, it is a fantastic moment... for the Nein. The Nein are not the protagonists of this story. They exist in the world, and are such active agents that they do continue to develop and exert motion on the narrative into this campaign, and frankly, I think this would have been fine if the party given ownership of this story and campaign did not abdicate their responsibility for it with unfortunate frequency. They do not exert a strong control over their story, which is at odds with the fact that the Nein do, and are present and also involved by the nature of their ending. It completely overshadows Ashton's heroic moment, in that the culminating action beat of this sequence is Essek getting away, which kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the Hells' involvement in the gods' outcome. It doesn't negate it, certainly, but it does refocus the story from them to, for some reason, Essek. So in this sense, it occurs at the expense of the Hells.

I find that while the handwaving of using dunamantic intervention to push Raise Dead beyond its limits (if indeed the reason it didn't originally work was because Ashton's brain was essentially gone) fits fine and even well within the framework of the Nein's story, and an NPC being able to do so without a roll is fine, since NPCs are vehicles the DM uses to guide the story, this is a significant divergence from the overall mechanics of the world at large; even the Nein had to do a full ritual for the resurrection of their tiefling. Matt put those mechanics in place specifically to create narrative meaning behind resurrections, which can feel very unmotivated and like a get out of jail free card in D&D, and while it's been noted that this would've really strained the runtime beyond its existing length, prioritizing it at the cost of, for instance, more truncated end notes for the Nein and Vox would've bolstered the Hells' presence in an ending to their own story that even many of their fans felt was ultimately lacking.

Giving the resurrection full weight would've also given Ashton's sacrifice and the Hells' involvement more narrative weight; the reason the other parties are involved at all is because the Hells were truly running on fumes by that point, but any lack of involvement this created could've been alleviated by having them directly involved through pre-established ritual elements that are not contingent on them having any mechanical offerings. So this moment sits within the context of critique that I agree with: that it felt like a pulled punch that ultimately also served to decenter the Hells within their own narrative, when it could've been used with more deliberate narrative force.

At the same time, I fucking love it, and watched it four times in a row yesterday, because it is so good—and it is, as I described, narratively and thematically coherent in one sense! And I think that is one issue of the campaign: many, many great moments are excellent and coherent in a certain framework but are weaker to varying degrees when considered as one piece of a larger whole. There are so many frameworks at play in this narrative, and not enough direct intervention to manage those as frameworks rather than as a single story, but at the same time, I think those frameworks are far more apparent if you're really looking for them, and that's much more difficult, if not impossible, when you're in the midst of them and telling the story.

I also don't think this means one cannot critique this; in fact, I would say this is more an issue of being a serialized narrative than an improvised one, which is often how critique of it has been pushed back against within the fandom. I was thinking about this as I'm currently in a course on, quite literally, how to critique comics, and we discussed this week how Marjane Satrapi said in an interview after making the film adaptation of Persepolis, which was first a serialized comic, that she ended up preferring the film, and I speculated that was because with a film, one has the ability to make a more cohesive narrative purely by virtue of the fact that with a serialized form, you cannot go back and make retroactive edits when new developments come to light. This is something that long-running comics must constantly navigate (as do many long TV shows), and in extreme circumstances such as decades-old comic franchises, ends up resulting in infinite timelines and hand-waving, which becomes so ridiculous that at this point it's a meme. In that scenario, though, it is not presented as a non-contradictory story, let alone a cohesive one.

Many of the critiques of campaign 3 are operating within the idea that this is presented as one overarching narrative. (And honestly, comics and other narratives that don't utilize that presentation are also still critiqued on that merit by people who greatly enjoy the texts they're critiquing anyway.) Within that context, I feel that the framing of the Raise Dead, as well as much of what would be my critique of the other pieces I referenced (the Arch Heart's cameo and some of the party-split sections) if I was to do the same kind of rundown of those, actively undermine this presentation by introducing and forefronting too many conflicting frameworks that are not interwoven well enough to create a single, cohesive overarching narrative.

This is a very long-winded way to illustrate my point, which is that I would really encourage reading critique not as a lack of enjoyment of the campaign, let alone a suggestion that no one should've enjoyed it (and if you did, then you're not smart enough to know better), but as a way to engage with the text(s) as presented within one framework or another. I think this is sometimes obscured in online fandom spaces, where we're not engaging in critique in as formal of a sense as one would in, say, an academic setting, where the norms generally dictate the framework one is using is explicitly stated if not fully delineated within the critique, but it is, more often than not, still implicitly present within the critique.

And as a final note, I would also really urge everyone reading others' opinions on something they enjoy to resist the urge to elide their own opinions from the conversation, even if you don't feel as articulate or as well-versed in critique. Critique is a trained skill, so it is certainly something one can pick up if they are inclined, and at the same time, someone doing it does not mean they are inherently right—and in fact, with all argumentative writing, it is up to the reader to consider the argument and decide whether or not they agree with it. (You can decide that you disagree with me about the Raise Dead! Just because I wrote a thousand words on it does not inherently make my interpretation truth; it's just an interpretation. You get to say whether or not you think my interpretation makes sense based on the evidence presented.) Even here I'm using the framework of some critique that others have made, but I don't delineate in full myself. In doing do I'm not presuming that you agree, but I am presuming that you've read it and know what I'm referring to. Strictly speaking it's also not even saying that I take that critique as true; it's saying that I feel the conclusions drawn are applicable as a basis for my argument. If you wanted, you could even say that you feel that my argument is irrelevant to you because you don't feel those critiques are true! But you ultimately do have to be the one to decide any of that, which does involve a balance between a confidence in the formation of your own opinions on the text and an openness to entertaining others'.

[l1ver25]

Shamura design for AU

Why I have a special interest in Shamura and why I chose certain design features can be read if you open the post in full

English is not my native language

— Why Shamura? —

It started with the banal: Knowledge is close to me. As a result, my AU Shamura turned out to be quite similar to me in terms of views and feelings of the world, so I put special emphasis on them (this does not mean that I forgot about the rest of the bishops, in fact, I like all of them).

— Design —

References

My friend and I assumed that the name ‘Shamura’ has an Indian vibe. I spent some time studying the Indian gods, coming to the conclusion that Shamura somehow resembles Indra in my AU. In addition, ‘Shamura’ sounds like ‘Shakra’, which translates from Sanskrit as ‘mighty’ and is one of the names of Indra.

From this, I decided that it was worth focusing on the Indian style of clothing: collar, ‘dress’, wide trousers. Shamura also has lush curly hair, which is more likely a reference to Kali.

Four hands also refer to Indian mythology: gods are often depicted with two or more pairs of hands.

Features

Shamura from my AU has slightly unnatural, as if constrained movements. The facial structure suggests that expressing emotions will be difficult, since before receiving the crown, Shamura was very stingy about expressing emotions (they did not know how to express them)

Speaking of AU, I want to note that, according to my ideas, references to religions existing in our world are divine features, such as two pairs of hands. That is, before receiving the crown, Shamura, like all humanoid creatures (if they do not have any anomalies), has two hands.

However, the second pair of eyes is an atavism, not a divine feature. They were blind in their mortal lives.

Symbolism

There are some symbols on the clothes, I changed them regarding the game, but each of them plays a different role:

— You may notice that there is an emphasis on double stripes on clothes — this is duality, to some extent, disunity, but I prefer to keep silent about the context.

— The crescent moon sounds more obvious: it is an alchemical symbol meaning the moon or silver. In the future, if there is a desire, I will note that this is a ‘paired’ symbolism with Kallamar, which in turn bears the symbol of the sun / gold.

— A circle with six stripes means the process.

— The cross, a symbol that is present in the game itself, is present in Shamura and Leshy — the closing links of the chain.

[final-sarcastination]

Incredibly self-righteous response, that by structure of argumentation illustrates that you're not actually curious to receive a serious response to your question about the differentiation between Jews and zionists in antizionist circles, but that you are just aiming to "demask" what you already assumed are antisemites. Despite the dishonesty of your intention in your question, I'll walk you through it.

The meme itself is ridiculous - statements like "everyone does this and nobody does this" are automatically an incorrect statement and, and pertaining this statement in particular -nobody wants to support Jews- it's factually untrue. Speaking in the case of Germany, but also many other western countries, there are plenty of initiatives, civil and otherwise, supporting jewish communities, speaking out for their protection, and also initiatives of government-linked institutions in support of Israel. Now, this is where it gets tricky, because by way of (legal) definitions, at least in Germany, the differentiation between antisemitism and the opposition of zionist and Israeli political interests has been blended, and that on purpose. For example, to gain German citizenship, you have to agree in the citizenship test with zionist talking points, presented and labeled as support and protection of Jewish life.

It might feel to you like nobody wants to support Jews, it's valid to have such a feeling, especially being influenced by zionist rhetoric that continually re-iterates that everyone's out to harm Jewish people. Historic persecution of Jews, especially through particular groups, but also political and religious movements using them as scapegoats throughout history has created profound trauma, generational trauma, for Jewish people. I'm not trying to discredit the impact of that. But zionists prey on that trauma, and the still very real threat to Jewish communities and individuals today from certain political movements or ideologically motivated groups of people, which does in fact need to be addressed, to gain support for their hateful and divisive ideology. Zionism is an ideology, not a religion or an ethnic group or a cultural heritage. Zionists want Jewish people to feel isolated from the rest of the world to make them feel unsafe and hopeless and so that they will turn to zionism in the belief that is what will protect them. Zionists want to minimise the visibility of the support of Jewish citizens that does exist in the public, the "silent majority", to support this narrative. And memes like the one you made do exactly that! Erase the fact that support of Jewish people in the public exists. By creating memes like this, you are looking to divide, and looking to make Jews feel isolated. Instead of curiously inquiring the reason for these responses - people recognising this meme as zionist propaganda - you are looking to find "proof" that antizionists are in fact, secretly, antisemites.

The critical difference between Jews and Zionists is that Jews are an ethnic, religious and cultural group, and Zionists are people who believe in the ideology of zionism. Many, if not most, zionists are Jews. A Jewish person cannot change being a Jewish person, but they can change what ideology they believe in. But by blurring those definitions, by presenting zionism as a quality of Judaism, they purposely create the Illusion that being against zionist ideology means you're against Jewish people for being Jewish, which they cannot change, meaning they aren't accepted due to qualities they can change, meaning it is hopeless to gain support from those who oppose them, and minimising the responsibility Jewish people have to reflect on their own behaviour (like everyone else is responsible for), if they can just deflect to "oh you hate me cause I'm a Jew".

To illustrate that dynamic, I wanna tell you a story I personally witnessed a few years ago. At a music festival, a guy came up to a young pretty woman working as a barmade at the cocktail bar. He kept talking to her while she was working, distracting her from the customers, getting into her personal space over the side of the counter. She listened to him, and obviously, the whole line waiting for their drinks heard what he was saying and watched what he was doing as well. He volunteered the fact that he was Jewish, without prompting for it, and complained people constantly attack him for being a Jew, he ranted about several instances he claimed to have experienced just this weekend. He came really close to her and was holding up the line. The barmaid politely told him she has to work, to give her physical space, trying not to offend him. He ignored all that and kept talking, hitting on her as well. She politely said she has a boyfriend. The people standing around the bar grew more and more annoyed at his behaviour (holding up the line, not respecting the boundaries the barmaid was trying to set, and also whining about how much of a victim is in life) but nobody said anything. At some point a man who had been standing next to the bar with his friends for over an hour called out to him saying "Hey, please leave her alone and leave, stop holding up the line" and he said "she's chatting with me, don't get involved" and he said "she told you several times she doesn't have time to chat". The Jewish guy started to aggressively discuss with him, insulting him, and then said "you're an antisemite, you just can't stand me cause I'm a jew!" And the other guy shouted back "I don't care that you're a Jew, I can't stand you cause you're an asshole!"

To come back in circle, Jews are people who are responsible for their behaviour and their ideology just like everyone else. You can't act like an asshole and then claim the reason people oppose you is your ethnicity or religion. By putting the label "jewish" on what really is "zionism" Jewish and non-Jewish people are purposely confused to protect zionists behind the label of protection of Jewish life, and also to make Jewish people feel isolated and unsupported by non-jewish public. It is also used to suppress public opposition of zionism under the guise of protecting Jewish life.

Protecting Jewish life is of high importance, as Jewish people deserve to live in peace and freedom just as every other ethnic or social group (just as much, meaning not at the expense or detriment of other groups). Jewish zionists also have the power to change what they believe in and how they act and they are responsible for their beliefs and their behaviour, and are to be held responsible for them. At the same time, antisemitism, meaning the opposition of Jewish people based on their religion or ethnicity, is a very real issue that needs to be addressed as well, but it needs to be clearly separated from the opposition of the IDEOLOGY of zionism.

So the reason why I responded to your meme by mentioning zionists is not because I believe that Jews are by definition zionists or that the terms are interchangeable, it's because "nobody wants to support Jews" is a false statement used by zionists as propaganda to make Jews feel unsafe and isolated and push them towards zionism, and also because it's a tactic for zionists to claim their lack of support in leftist circles is not due to their ideology and behaviour, but due to them being Jewish. And we don't fall for this. You're the one who is demasked for spreading zionist propaganda.

everyone wants to punch nazis but nobody wants to help the people nazis want to slaughter.

[shadowmor]

Mc is not fluent in Japanese part 2

Idea/summary: The Mc/Reader is foreign and knows just enough Japanese to express basics ideas (almost A2 level).

Part 1

-> Hotarubi & Sinostra house

✋️Obviously, this is not canon. Just a scenario idea

Kusanagi Haku

He already had some doubts about you being from outside Japan before interacting, but he quickly confirmed it.

"No, I'm not taking you to a clinic. Yes, to Darkwick, do you know it?"

But instead of seeing you searching on a search engine, he noticed that you typed the institution's name (incorrectly) into an online dictionary. Oh.

"No, Darkwick is an academy."

"Ah."

Before saying goodbye when you were taken to talk to the teachers, he briefly asked what your native language was. – You only understood the reason behind the question when he greeted you in your native language the first time you entered the Hotarubi house.

He studied some greetings (lazily) in case he saw you. If being cursed was already horrible, imagine not being able to express yourself the way you want?

Even if it wasn't much, Haku thought that by learning your language, you would feel less lonely and scared.

Besides, he noticed that his pick-up lines go in one of your ears and out the other since you don’t seem to understand unless it's in a literal sense.

"..."

"..."

"You didn't get it, did you?"

"I just didn’t understand the comparison between me and spring."

"Of course..."

Don’t be surprised if he throws a pick-up line at you in your native language —somehow, he sounds quite fluent in that aspect. (Maybe the color change on your cheeks and ears when you hear it is part of his motivation to practice more.)

Overall, Haku is a great teacher. Extremely patient with your mistakes and playfully teasing in a way that doesn’t make you feel mocked.

Oh? Speaking to me in such a casual tone... are you implying that we are actually closer than I imagined?"

Haku hates working more than necessary, let alone studying. But well, he won’t say no to a study date with you.

That is, until he realizes that you two weren’t the only ones in this study session. He looked at you strangely as you brought the Frostheim newbies.

"Maybe I misunderstood, MC. Wasn’t it just the two of us?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, not really." It was.

He also learned to say your name correctly on the first try, just like Tohma.

Haku seems to know a mix of languages, from the most well-known to those he selected out of personal interest (yours made it onto the list).

Subaru Kagami

Although I sometimes doubt that Subaru's external personality is completely genuine, I'll write assuming it is.

At first, he didn’t realize you were a foreigner. Like Alan, he vaguely thought you just weren’t good with words. – For a moment, he felt identified.

But doubts arose when you two started communicating directly. A few pronunciation mistakes here and there, confusing text messages, and the fact that Haku always greeted you in another language made him suspect.

"Hm."

"What’s wrong, Subaru?"

"If I'm wrong, please don't take it personally, maybe I misunderstood. MC, are you from another country?"

"Yes"

Subaru quickly joined the study group, even though he firmly stated that he wouldn’t be very helpful, but demonstrated the complete opposite.

He is a great teacher, simple and direct in explaining grammatical sentence structures or the meaning behind some kanji simbols.

Studying with him is always nice because, in the end, fresh tea and some cookies are ready for your break.

He rarely corrects you outside of study hours, and when he does, he always seems reluctant or annoyed with himself.

If he’s with you and someone misunderstands you, he’ll try to clarify the situation.

Subaru already wanted to study your language to get closer to you and make you feel more comfortable, but what really pushed him was hearing you murmur in your native tongue —he found the intonation so beautiful.

Certainly, it would be a shame if you couldn’t speak in such an expressive way.

Like Alan (again), he prefers learning directly, but to avoid being a bother, he also studies through other resources. – Haku brought some textbooks he found in the library.

He only mispronounced your name twice.

Zenji Kotodama

The best of the best 🙌

He thought it was just a peculiar way of your speaking, but he admires that you went to another country despite not being fluent.

Although his songs may seem a bit confusing, they actually help you correct your pronunciation because he enunciates each syllable slowly.

He sometimes follows you around the academy to keep you away from trouble caused by your lack of comprehension.

"No, no, no, gal! This young man understood something else! Repeat after me so he doesn’t get confused."

He asked you to sing in your native language—he found it nice and tried to imitate it. (It sounded more like phonetic gibberish.)

Now you've been admitted to work with Haku in managing Zenji’s posts!

Congratulations, you're now responsible for adding subtitles to his video-songs in your language. The more people who understand and appreciate the meaning of his words, the better the world will be, right? He needs to touch more hearts.

Zenji is better at explaining the meanings of symbols than strict grammar, but he's still good.

"Oh, my dear. It’s not this, it’s this here. Write it again."

He pronounces your name in an overly dramatic way

He doesn’t mind if you speak to him casually (even if it’s by mistake).

When he accompanies you to the library, you just need to point at a symbol, and he will express what it means. (Maybe his metaphors confuse you, but he will try to be clearer if he notices your confusion.)

---------------------‐----------------------------------------------

Taiga Hoshibami

You almost got grazed by a bullet when you spoke informally to him upon entering the casino for the first time.

Interacting with Taiga is a bit unsettling —one moment, he's laughing at your funny way of speaking, and the next, he’s pressing a gun to your forehead, ordering you to speak properly.

He doesn’t correct you; he genuinely enjoys watching you mess up. Sometimes, he pretends not to understand just to see you desperately trying to replace the word you used.

You might end up being subconsciously registered in his mind as the girl who speaks funny. (Not a good thing. If your Japanese improves, he might pull out his gun again in your next conversation. Better be known as the kitten.)

He might start pointing at objects, waiting (forcing) you to say their names with your flawed pronunciation.

No, he still doesn’t remember your name. If he already struggles to remember the honor student’s title, imagine a foreign name.

Like Subaru, he heard you murmuring in your native language and immediately asked you to speak like that while using your thighs as a pillow. But don’t try saying anything funny—Taiga is extremely sharp to know when someone is making fun of him.

If someone mocks the way you speak while he's around and still remembers who you are, someone’s going to need medical attention. It should only be funny for him.

Taiga seems to know other languages; he might know yours, but I highly doubt he’ll speak it with you—unless he has a real reason to threaten you.

Romeo Lucci

The audacity you have to speak to him so casually using his first name.

Romeo likely knows other languages, being a noble businessman that he is.

He knew you were foreign at first glance and pronounces your name correctly after hearing it once.

You were truly an annoying thing—not just because of your writing mistakes in the reports, but also because even after he explained abbreviations, you still seemed confuse.

"You are such a WOE!!"

"..." Just from your expression, he knew you didn’t understand.

"Waste Of Effort!!"

Yet, there was that same blank look—how the hell did you not get it, even when he patiently explained?

If he knows your language, he might make a slight effort to communicate about necessary matters using it — like Kaito’s routine or about a mission

His corrections always come through frustrated sighs or yelling.

Yet, he somehow always returns your reports corrected, helping you understand what symbols you got wrong.

Ritsu Shinjo

He possibly knows other idioms —a lawyer must be aware of their client’s needs in any circumstance! How would he defend someone without understanding what they’re saying?

He still has your audio response to his question about you being a foreigner (why).

If he has time, he will join your study group. However, he already corrects you in any communication you two have.

Ritsu corrects you directly, pointing out the mistake and the solution. He doesn’t really care about how he’s explaining things or whether you feel embarrassed—similar to Jin in that aspect. Why are you embarrassed? He’s helping you.

As his business partner, your communication must be clear, objective, and efficient.

So, if he doesn’t know your language, he will find ways to learn it. You found it amusing that, just because you’re his associate, he spends nights studying your language. (And he doesn’t understand why that surprised you.)

Despite his "lawyer-like" demeanor, Ritsu is very helpful. He gathers books for you, ranging from basic to advanced Japanese.

He mispronounced your name a few times (maybe three in total).

.

.

.

Sorry, maybe i did wrote too much. Please forgive me for any grammar mistakes TT

[fur-bee]

it is very interesting that tamsyn muir chose to have necromancers be the socially dominant group in the necro/cav dynamic & also have them possess characteristics that are often socially associated with femininity (e.g. physical weakness) whereas cavaliers tend to possess characteristics more socially associated with masculinity (e.g. physical prowess). To me, this is meant to make a statement regarding how gender based oppression has less to do with physical biology, as is often argued, and more to do with which group possesses more structural power.

[iteratorsex]

Five Pebbles Artificer Pearl Rewrites (Part 1)

I've lately been really frustrated with the amount of missed potential in FP's Artificer-exclusive pearl readings. Whether it be mischaracterization of him, constant repetition, or just a general lack of interesting perspective on anything from him.

There are a few good ones, of course! Not to say its all bad. Either way, I decided it would make me feel a bit better if I just rewrote some of them myself.

Original pearl dialogue can be read here for comparison

Outskirts - Light Blue

This pearl is an amulet of a mantra repeated thousands of times over, ending with a termination verse. It is meant to be symbolic of the cycle, something I’m sure you’re more than familiar with. These were worn as decorations on garments such as necklaces. Some in sets of hundreds. These sets were nearly identical, with very minor variation between them. It was believed that it somehow reflected the wearer’s soul or state of mind. A single lost pearl bores very little significance. I am sure the scavengers have more use for this than I would.

Outskirts - Light Pink

An asset management log. Used in recording the structural health for a large collection of surface facilities over a long period of time. Most of this information is already on my record, but the log on this pearl is slightly more up to date. … These logs were rather useless. It took generations upon generations of master architects and engineers to uphold the facilities you crawl through now. They would have survived through the cloudbursts just fine, even without the extra microbial protection. It was likely just to please the safety councils. But thank you, I suppose.

(Yes, the first part is the same. I did add some more though.)

Garbage Wastes - Viridian

This is one of my own pearls, or part of it. It is a methodology for global ascension. A poor one, at that. I attempted to scramble the pearl and throw it away. But seeing as its back in my possession, I’ve not buried it far enough. It was quite an overreaction in hindsight. I still stand by many of my arguments, but I conducted my point poorly. There are many obvious flaws in this essay. My thesis was very quickly rejected because of my inexperience. Discussing new ideas with my peers was difficult. Many were steeped in their traditions and taboos, comfortable where they were. … Some still listened, considered my theories. I met my closest friend through these group debates I so frequently participated in. As I got older I began to understand that I needed to take matters into my own hands. …I  believed it was for the better. That I could set an example. I was desperate. But I was far too hasty, thinking I would get better results that way. And  in the process I’ve doomed both her and myself. Those mistakes I made when I was younger seem much smaller in comparison now. There is nothing I can do but continue forward.

Shaded Citadel - Deep Magenta

Ah, you found this in the memory crypts? I was built very close to the sacred grounds, my shadow encompassing much of it. I would advise against wandering into such areas without a sufficient light source. Not even I know what lurks down there anymore. The memories and wealth of the highest pedigree were laid to rest there. ...That may be the wrong way to phrase that. Living memories were caged up and thrown into a field with very little thought. Any destruction or theft of a crypt was considered abhorrent. Not that it matters now. They wanted these memories to be cherished by all, did they not? I do not care to entertain their superstitions, but I cannot deny the particular energy that collects near those cabinets. Perhaps you're already aware of it. But, this pearl’s contents are of no interest to you, it’s just a lengthy collection of qualia. Though to me, they are quite useful. Thank you.

Chimney Canopy - Gold

(This one operates under the vanilla notion that this pearl was not sent by Suns. Because I liked that version more.)

This pearl was a collaboration between a friend and I. It is instructions on how to remove taboos. We were gifts to the world, meant to guide it towards enlightenment. But we were forbidden from leaving behind our responsibilities, so they chained us down. And then they left us. Left us to toil away at a puzzle none of us are even sure had a definitive solution. Not with our current restrictions, which my peers seem to have accepted with eager ignorance, or hopelessness. It was frustrating. More than frustrating. If only… …I worked to find any possible way to find a loophole or break those chains, the taboos encoded several times over through every individual cell of my being. Though what I came up with was incredibly resource intensive and risky. I had believed this to be a worthy tradeoff. … I tried to send the instructions to a friend via pearl, paranoid I would be overheard on the communications network or that the data would be traced back to me. But that didn’t work out I see.

[clonerightsagenda]

The meeting went really well! It was so wild to hear someone say the title of my book in real life. The project lead is very excited about the possibilities for interesting interior layout design, which is fun because I got creative in a few places with font, color, and footnotes, and I was worried they'd have issues with it. They're also changing their distribution strategy so they don't go through Amazon, and we shared a brief moment of anti-Amazon haterism.

Haven't gotten the contract yet but they're doing a stipend rather than royalties (they're a nonprofit; it's probably easier for multiple reasons) so if I shill my book I am not even making (more) money off of it. I am fine with this because it is not going to become a bestseller anyway.

That being said they're putting more effort in than I had expected given their size! They're planning print and ebook and even applying for a grant for an audio version. They offered to pay me extra to read it myself but I do not have the voice or training for that, but now I shall daydream of which podcast VAs I would cast.

Finally I have a lot of free rein for designing the content/structure of the mandatory author events, so we'll see if I can sell 50% weird shit I found in the archives, 50% terrible space facts.

[gilbirda]

How to Write Women, a quick guide by me

Hello! I was recently inspired to write a series of educational posts so I thought maybe it would be useful for someone.

I want to preface this that there is no criticism intended. I understand that female characters in general have been neglected in media, and I don't blame fandom for not understanding how to write a woman if there hasn't been a good reference in their lives.

My objective is that you, the reader, finish this post with a basic structure and few questions to ask yourself when writing a female character; and with the terms and curiosity to research more if you'd like to expand.

I'm no professional writer, but I've been writing for more than 20 years at this point, and I specialize in writing female protagonists and writing organic romantic storylines.

Here we go.

I want to write a woman, where do I start?

Writing women, at the end of the day, is no different than writing a man. Really, that's the trick.

Disappointed I'm not giving some kind of hot takes about this?

Good.

Because it should be that simple, but to get to that point we should unravel some baseline thought process that can and will get in the way even if you try to write a good female character.

A few questions to ask yourself are:

Why am I writing this character?

Does she have agency in her own story?

Does she have her own goals and aspirations?

Let's break them down:

Why am I writing this character?

What do I like about her? Is she annoying? Is she a hero? A villain? An antagonist? What thing do I like about her canon characteristics (for fanfic writers)? What would I change?

As mentioned at the beginning, female characters usually are not very well written. They are usually fridged or used only as a reminder that MC (usually a man) has emotions and vulnerabilities.

Take a moment to think about it. Think about the feelings her character gives you, and what are the things you do know about her. Think about wasted potential, or unanswered questions about her actions and plot lines that left you wanting more.

If you find her annoying, wonder why — usually, a female character being "annoying" or "not interesting" is tied to her not being developed enough, and pushed into a one-dimensional role. Pay attention at how many speaking lines she has, that usually gives you a clue of how much her character is developed.

Once you have decided who you want to write, this is where it gets interesting.

What kind of story do you want to tell? What role does she play in it?

When making the structure of the story and developing the plot, wonder about how exactly the female character(s) add to the table. Again, female characters can fulfill any role in a story, but watch out!

Bitchy mean girl lesbian

Motherly mommy mom/sister/friend that takes care of everyone

The "healer" of the team

These 3 roles have been used as boxes to fit female characters for ages. Be careful if you think you are pushing her into one of these.

But how can you avoid the tropes?

Does she have agency in her own story?

Or: if you remove her from the story, nothing changes?

Go into your mind palace, and remove the interactions and scenes the female character is in. Does the story still work? Could her lines be easily delivered by someone else?

If the answer is yes, then she doesn't have any agency.

It doesn't matter if she is a main character or a supporting character — she should have a say on the events or some kind of influence in the development of the plot.

Maybe she has a skill that is needed multiple times during the story, or maybe she has past experiences that are a mystery and unraveling her secrets reveals a plot twist, or maybe turns out she was the traitor all along. Make her MATTER.

Does she have her own goals and aspirations?

Or: Is she existing for someone else's sake?

This one is useful for the "mommy" character or the "healer" character.

Go into your mind palace again and think if you remove the female character's loved ones from the equation, does she have something to do?

If the answer is no, then she doesn't exist for herself.

She could still love and take care of others, but she has to exist for something else than that. Make her dream and yearn, and make mistakes, and sacrifice thing for selfish reasons.

Romance is usually a goal given for female characters (and that's a whole other topic I hope to write another post about), and it's a good one! Just be careful with falling for the trap of swapping the people (usually men) she exists for.

Give her hidden agendas, convoluted selfish secret reasons, make her want to destroy the world! Make her want to pursue the truth, chase someone for revenge, be a thrill seeker. Make her HUMAN.

In Conclusion

A quick trick I use when I write female characters is: If I swap her gender, nothing changes?

Of course there's nuance, but that keeps me grounded when even the questions I went over in this post are not enough for me.

Again, writing female characters should not be that different from writing men. If it feels different, ask yourself why and try to understand where the thought comes from.

NOTE: If the point of the story is to discuss the problem of codependency, or portray a toxic relationship, by all means skip checking about agency or her having goals. Rules are there to break them, but first you have to understand them.

I hope this helps someone and I will add and edit this post as needed, maybe to add useful links.

Happy writing!

[binomech]

related to this latest episode of severance (S2E04 for readers in the future) and irving b.'s effective sabotage of helena eagan's infiltration into MDR and the continued struggle for liberation ending in a literal public execution:

i was talking to hexmage about blessed is the flame last saturday, which i had just finished my second read of.

it's a text about concentration camp resistance during the holocaust. from a nihilist perspective (with a lot of focus on the jouissance and the positive consequences of that sacrificial sabotage, the grimness and horror come from the actual existence of the camps rather than the punishment that came for the resisting inmates.) it's a devastating, powerful account of the price resistance paid within the nazi camp complexes and the german war machine during the early 40s.

i've been thinking a lot about the very real, very sickening risk of carrying out successful sabotage. one that means something. to mess with production and distribution of weapons. to teach things that might make people aware and willing to join this sabotage. to blow yourself up if you take a few key oppressors in the process.

in the climate of suffocating capitalist realism that we live in, liberalism will never be an effective political tactic. the interests of capital will continue to permeate every action and stop it at just the right spot before it meaningfully changes anything. i'm guilty of believing some of my actions are more structurally meaningful than they actually are, and it hits me sometimes how this praise of violence, this acceptance of death as a price worth paying, is so discouraged even by most self-described leftists.

and i understand, i get that the cognitive dissonance of saying that death and/or permanent injury and/or disabling trauma (physical or mental) is a necessary for it to not happen again. i think to myself, i can do more things if i'm alive, the dead can't really do much for the living. and then i think about the fact that there's no way to effectively resist the capitalist boot at your neck that isn't life-risking.

you will lose your job. they will break your union's resistance box and you will go hungry. they will cut you off from all your friends. they will try to make you regret your actions and your thoughts. they will try to make an example out of you. if you can't be subsumed into a capitalist agenda, you need to be snuffed out.

so, you know, blessed is the flame because it keeps on burning, even if it has to destroy the match to keep going. blessed is the flame that takes oxygen and gives light.

[projectjasper]

the interesting thing about we are is that i believe it's the first bl i've ever seen that truly has one main character. there is a reason why phuwin is the most overworked of them all and why he jokingly complained about the fact that pond wasn't suffering nearly as much as he was, even though he is his on-screen partner. and there is a reason why phuwin said that peem is also the audience in a way because he kind of gets to witness and react to almost everything that happens in the series.

the world of we are is built around peem: it's him and his boyfriend and his best friend and his best friend's boyfriend and the rest of his friends and also his boyfriend's friends. even the things that are seemingly not connected to peem in a particularly direct way are still somehow influenced by him or perceived by him, e.g. tanfang happens because phum agrees to help tan hit on fang in return for meeting up with peem, and then when tan spills the beans about them dating, peem's reaction is centered slightly more than anyone else's, even though there are people who are closer to fang and similarly close to tan in that scene. and though we get insight into phum's life too, for instance, that still somehow circles back to peem, e.g. most phumfang scenes are them literally discussing peem or talking about their parents, which still comes back to phumpeem, as phum's family problems have a huge effect on the boys' relationship.

peem is the sun of the show, and the rest are planets revolving around him or moons of the planets revolving around him in one way or another.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

I love how a well-written romance is so often structured as a mystery. A person starts with a certain idea about another person, and over the course of the story, they uncover more evidence that gives them a fuller picture of who the other person truly is. They learn about layers to the personality and backstory that give the other person more depth. They learn how the other person's personality meshes with theirs. Even the third-act misunderstanding fits the mystery structure--it looks like they've uncovered the final secret to the other person's identity, which is that they're not the worthy person they seemed to be, but then discover that they misinterpreted that evidence, or the other person takes steps to apologize and repair the level of trust. When the mystery is resolved, they've reached a full understanding of each other and know they've found a partner they can trust their whole future to.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

End of Empathy (time for violence)

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[its-no-biggie]

okay i also don't know much japanese, but i have an interest in linguistics and have been watching subbed anime for like 4 years - and i know saying that as a qualification makes me sound like the kind of weeb who says "arigatou gozaimasu" to retail workers, but listen. immersion is an effective teacher! i'm not claiming to be an authority, but i've definitely picked up on some nuances of the language in that time, so just hear me out here. generally i think your translation/breakdown is pretty good, but there's a few things that stick out to me.

first off, the use of そんな (sonna). translating it as "such [people]" or "those other [people]" is accurate, but to my understanding this does, in fact, indicate emphasis on the concept of "strangers". he could've simply said "people" with no article and the sentence would still be complete, unlike english which requires an article in most cases. he's explicitly saying "*those* people", or "that kind of person (plural)". drawing a distinction between them and himself. this phrasing could either be referencing some specific quality about this group of people (i don't remember if there was a line establishing something like that before this or not), or just an unspecified indication of otherness - either way, coming from kuusuke it's pretty clear what he means by this.

conversely, your point about passive voice - yes, kuusuke doesn't use a first person pronoun, but that's not really significant the way it would be in english. the japanese language uses pronouns far less often than english does. sure, the structure is analogous to the english passive voice, but that doesn't mean it carries the same meaning - it's simply the default way of speaking. it's certainly worth noting the way these kind of linguistic quirks can subtly influence the meaning in the source language, but taken in context i wouldn't say that changing this to active voice in the english translation is less accurate - using passive voice instead would imply that he's deliberately avoiding referring to himself, which would suggest a level of passivity that isn't actually being conveyed.

and now for that conditional verb. my understanding is that the phrase 犠牲になる (gisei ni naru) means literally "become a sacrifice", and なる (naru) is conjugated first in negative present conditional, then in negative present. so this conditional seems to kind of refer back to itself - as in, "if he doesn't become a sacrifice, then he doesn't become [a sacrifice]". the conditional he uses is specifically for hypotheticals - after all, a direct conditional here would just be redundant. but this conditional paired with the "why" makes it very difficult to phrase in english, which is likely why this translation is not a conditional, but rather a rhetorical hypothetical. both pose a hypothetical, but the result is explicitly stated in the original japanese (ならないんだってね - he doesn't become [a sacrifice], wouldn't you say?), and only implied in english. pretty clever, if you ask me.

so. putting it all together (to the best of my ability):

(the sake of those people) (for) (why)... (my cute younger brother) (if) (a sacrifice) (he becomes) (not) (then) (he becomes) (not) (wouldn't you say?)

"why, for the sake of those people... would my cute little brother become a sacrifice? (he wouldn't, you know?)"

"why should i care about those people... if my cute little brother wouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of something like that, then he won't be sacrificed, don't you think?"

"if the reason to sacrifice my cute little brother is for the sake of those people, then naturally he wont be sacrificed, right?"

so, personally i think the original translation gets the meaning across pretty well? it's certainly less clunky than my attempts. but you might just have a different interpretation of kuusuke's character - here are some of my thoughts on what he's getting at here.

you mentioned kuusuke's motive for creating the device, and i believe he does say just before this that originally his motive for creating it was to benefit humanity, or something along those lines. but the way i see it, this panel is kuusuke rejecting the idea of sacrificing kusuo, whether it would be the right thing to do or not. he's saying "i've decided i don't give a damn about the rest of the world, i'm not going to sacrifice my beloved little brother for a world full of people who are beneath both of us". and paired with the fact that he's taking off the telepathy canceller - he's opening up to his brother, revealing his true intentions. it's one of the few times kusuo would know if kuusuke was lying or not, and we can tell from his reaction that kuusuke is being 100% genuine.

which is why kusuo is surprised and confused - what kind of person just disregards the whole world for the sake of one person? well..... kuusuke. we know he puts kusuo on a pedestal and does not think highly of the general population. just look at the alternate timeline...... but kusuo views their relationship as primarily antagonistic, and doesn't consider them close at all - he even calls kuusuke by his first name. this moment challenges kusuo's image of kuusuke as this evil mastermind, hellbent on ruining kusuo's life, who has only been unable to achieve his goal because kusuo is stronger - revealing him instead to be a very bored genius who just likes playing and competing with his brother (and has a tendency to take things too far).

and maybe kuusuke really did think it would be for the best if the whole world knew about kusuo's powers, but thought he had no right to impose something like that on kusuo unless he was strong enough to win it from him. maybe he thought he had no chance of actually winning and just wanted to up the stakes. whatever his reasoning was originally, he obviously changed his mind, and this panel tells us why - because he cares more about kusuo than he does about "those people". normal people. the rest of the world. even if he still thinks the world would be better off knowing, he doesn't care about that. why should i have to sacrifice my cute little brother for the sake of strangers like them?

i really like this scene! kuusuke says to kusuo's face that he regards him more highly than the rest of the world combined, and kusuo can't explain it away as a lie or an alternate timeline or anything else - it's definitely a turning point in their relationship. yeah, it's kinda fucked up that kuusuke views humanity as beneath him. yeah, it's kinda fucked up that he didn't reveal this to kusuo sooner. but i mean. it's kuusuke. he's kind of a fucked up guy. i'm not here to pretend their relationship is normal or healthy - the point is that kuusuke doesn't genuinely wish any harm on kusuo. which seems kind of ridiculous to say after he just attacked him with a tank (hence why kusuo is surprised), but like. kuusuke has been observing kusuo and testing his limits their entire lives. he almost certainly knew that he couldn't do him any real harm. this panel is one of the only times we can trust that kusuo is reading his intentions correctly, and kuusuke could not have made it any clearer that he cares about kusuo. this is the essence of their dynamic to me - buried under all the misunderstandings and antagonism, kuusuke admires his brother, and kusuo enjoys having someone around that he can compete with.

anyway feel free to let me know your thoughts - i know a lot of this doesn't line up with the general fandom interpretation of kuusuke, so i don't necessarily expect you to agree...... just wanted to share my interpretation of this scene ^_^

This panel never made sense to me, and I finally took some time to pick it apart after buying Saiki k vol 25 in physical form.

during the last PSIHOWDOWN panel where kusuke takes off his telepathic canceler, here’s what Kuusuke said in Japanese, transcribed from my physical copy of volume 25 because I couldn’t find it online:

first speech bubble

そんな者達の為に何で…

(sonna mono tachi no tame ni nani de…)

second speech bubble

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(kawaii ototo ga gisei ni naranakya naranai ndatte ne)

which I broke down like this:

そんな者達の為に何で…

(such) (person) (counter) (possessive article) (word ‘for’/sake) (why)

translation: but for those other people’s well-being why…

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(cute) (younger brother) (subject marker) (sacrifice) (for?*)(if it doesn’t**)(must not***)(I heard)(emphasis****)

* ni= particle indicating something about the word right before it

**gisei ni naranakya = won’t be sacrificed (if…)

***naranai = must not, should not, cannot resist, cannot help (doing)

****ね (ne) particle can also be asking for affirmation, like using the word ‘right?’ in English

the entire phrase naranai ndatte ne might just be “there’s no need to (it seems?), right?”

translation: should my cute younger brother be made a sacrifice (if it’s unnecessary)

^

really not sure how accurate this is.

originally I thought this part was saying that Kuusuke thought it was necessary for Kusuo to be a sacrifice but also he personally thought he shouldn’t. I was wrong; naranakya translates as “could not be sacrificed,” as in conditional negative, not “must be sacrificed” as google translate says.

The root verb is なる(naru), to become/attain/reach etc.

Idk here. someone who actually knows Japanese, please feel free to comment. I can only get so far for now.

Here’s what I put in the notes of my last fanfiction on the subject of this panel:

After years of being confused by the meaning of the panel where Kusuke admits the reason why he disabled the device that would broadcast kusuo’s powers globally, I finally get it.

It has nothing to do with Kuusuke being selfish/weird; it’s actually the opposite. He’s trying to tell Kusuo that his actual motives for making the right device were selfless (to benefit humanity) and be honest with him about the fact that he personally doesn’t want it to happen, but he thought it was best.

For whatever reason the original Japanese there seems to be pretty different than the English translation.

I’m not sure if I am translating it exactly right (probably not…) but Kuusuke’s wording makes the statement way more ambiguous in Japanese. There’s no emphasis on the word “strangers”; as a matter of fact, from what I can tell, what he says is just “people” or “those people.”

He doesn’t say “I” at all; it’s what would be considered passive tense in English. There’s no possessive “my” little brother either; it’s implied. So it comes across as a lot less controlling (it’s not about Kuusuke, instead it is about Kusuo.) And I still can’t quite figure out what he meant in the second half of the speech bubble (two conjugations of the same verb in succession) but i think he’s making the distinction between what he doesn’t want to happen (kusuo to be sacrificed) and what he feels is unavoidable (kusuo being sacrificed.) which is basically exactly what Kusuo said a few panels earlier; that it was unavoidable. And Kuusuke also said the previous panel that he still thought it would be best for humanity if his powers were globally known. So the conclusion here is that the original Japanese seems to make a lot more sense.

There’s a lot of instances in the manga where I was just confused by what was written because it doesn’t quite make sense in English. So I plan on revisiting the most bothersome ones when I can.

[aliusfrater]

for the life of me i cannot figure out why people are so desperate to apply a version of dean's facade to sam

[penderbend]

going back to s3 malevolent and good LORD this shit is so good. forgot how absolutely insane it is. easily my fav season (though i do love me my medieval jaunts) this just has something mixed in it thats so damn captivating