#dishonorable mentions

[tabbyrp]

Day 22

@ a lot of people. a few streams crossing here.

In the corner of the Riley sibling’s apartment, Cory and Tabby stood, stirring straws through their cocktails in near perfect sync while staring across the room. A few other party attendees kept crossing their line of sight, causing the two women to shift and adjust around them.

“Do you think it’s a costume?” Tabby tilted her head, as if a new angle would answer her question.

Corinne maintained a little more dignity, touching Beth on the shoulder as she passed to get her attention. “To avoid offending any of your guests, is that…”

“Dat Groot. ‘Ae, he da kine from another planet.” Beth shifted the tray of hors d’oeuvres she was carrying – golden puff pastry bites topped with melted brie and cranberry sauce – to allow a wave towards the Flora Colossus currently examining a pumpkin ornament. With an almost slow, careful measure, he waved back. “See, he don’ bite.”

Tabby, naturally, needed to test this out for herself. She did ensure first that Corinne was left in good company. The time spent getting Cory’s hair into the perfect updo for her Breakfast at Tiffany’s costume was well worth it when a certain Andrew Riley got the full view of the pearls and silk gloves ensemble.

Weaving her way through the party, Tabby found the tree-esque guest now turning over a ceramic ghost in his spindly hands and introduced herself with a standard lack of formality. “Hi, I’m Tabby.”

“I am Groot,” Groot said in reply, returning the delicate ghost to the shelf and offering her his full attention. “I am Groot.”

“Nice to meet you too. And thanks. It’s not my usual Halloween look.” Giving a small twirl demonstrated the full extent of her regency era dress. “But when else am I going to get my Bridgerton aesthetic on.”

“I am Groot.” A pause, then a very serious, “I am Groot.”

“Huh. I never thought of the willow tree as a main character…” The wrinkle of her nose indicated Tabby’s suspicion before she voiced it. “… you’re pulling my leg, right?”

Groot’s chuckle was deep and scratchy, making her giggle along with it.

It was when another guest, drawn over by the laughter, came to join in that Tabby realized not everyone could understand what Groot was saying. She started to translate, picking up on the tonal shifts and cues, the same way she did when stopping by the local bodega and the owner’s mother was serving behind the counter. Or when her Sudanese neighbor had been scolding her child for stealing his brother’s candy from the plastic buckets earlier that afternoon.

Admittedly, the discussion about whether the cranberry sauce on the hors d’oeuvres really did look like blood was a challenge, but only because Tabby kept eating them before Groot was done demonstrating the stickiness of the syrup. She made up for it by retrieving two neon orange drinks, tapping the glasses together in a toast.

“I am Groot.”

“Happy Halloween back at you.”

[cosmicqueen10]

Dishonorable Mentions of 2022

This is just MY OPINION.

Please take this all with a grain of salt.

⬇️

⬇️

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Platinum End

Death Note successor my ass. 💀

Requiem of the Rose King

Depressing, morbid and tragic as fuck. 💔🖤

Tomodachi Game

Started off good but then everything feels disjointed and off and dragging out too much... I'm gonna stop now. 😵‍💫

Odd Taxi Into the Woods

The last 5 to 7 mins of new content at the PRACTICAL END of the movie should have been put in the end of the final episode of the anime. This movie was unnecessary! 😑

The Devil is a Part Timer Season 2

Art style, fight choreography, quality — It's all downgraded. I rewatched S1 to prepare for S2 and the change is too obvious. It's been a decade, new people working on it, so yeah it'll be different. But honestly it's a miss. 😮‍💨

Again JUST MY OPINION.

PLEASE DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY!

If anyone even reads this that is.

😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

[martyfive]

may i offer you some of the dishonored/cyberpunk’77 stuff that still isn’t leaving me in peace? i’m not sure where this is all going but at least it feels nice to daydream about

(please use the # martyfive dhc77 to see the other post about them if you’re interested thankss)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for an incredible 500 days of love and support. I offer you: answers to questions that no one has asked.

(As always, more can be found in the tags <3)

[stealingpotatoes]

Happy Birthday! Love your comics, both Star Wars- and Dishonored-related. Also love your style, it's awesome!

*Gives a heavy plazma cannon* Now go, do a crime 👀

hear me out, what if i hand you an unposted doodle of some criminals (dishonored characters) from last month instead of doing a crime

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Who’s your most favorite characters to draw?

hmmmm i dont really have THE most favorite, it kinda depends on what im currently into, i guess? But so far in last few years, my favorite to draw has been First. There is something very satisfying, personally to me, to draw his dumb square face lol

And i dont draw him that often, but Clockwork is probably another fav of mine, if only because i love his stupid assasin creed hood so much. xD Over the years I often doodled him just for funsies for myself.

[salteytakesonmanga]

BIG DISHONORABLE MENTION FOR THIS WORD CHOICE. Zoro does not call Nami a “scheming woman.” What is with the translators making Zoro into a complete hater towards Nami?? Vivi says she can’t understand what Miss All Sunday is thinking, and Zoro replies “we’ve already got that type of person on this ship.” He never said anything about women at all! If you think of someone on the ship whose thought process is completely incomprehensible…

…HE’S TALKING ABOUT LUFFY.

[afraidparade]

Hang on I'm lost with the au stuff. How many Pazu's are there lol

nothing confusing about this at all /j

[pikahlua]

MHA Chapter 410 spoilers translations

This week’s initial tentative super rough/literal translations under the cut.

1 あと少し進むだけだ あとすこしすすむだけだ ato sukoshi susumu dake da Just advance a little farther.

2 僕の"個性"を弔に譲渡するんだ ぼくの"こせい"をとむらにじょうとするんだ boku no "kosei" wo Tomura ni jouto surunda I will transfer my quirk to Tomura.

3 呑まれたであろう"向こうの僕"を強化しあの最凶の心と体を再び支配する のまれたであろう"むこうのぼく"をきょうかしあのさいきょうのこころとからだをふたたびしはいする nomareta de arou "mukou no boku" wo kyouka shi ano saikyou no kokoro to karada wo futatabi shihai suru Strengthen the me on the other side who would have been swallowed up and again take control of that heart and body of ultimate evil.

4 弔の様子からして"向こうの僕"はあの切札を切る事なくやられたに違いない とむらのようすからして"むこうのぼく"はあのカードをきることなくやられたにちがいない Tomura no yousu kara shite "mukou no boku" wa ano KAADO (kanji: kirifuda) wo kiru koto naku yarareta ni chigainai From Tomura's appearance, the me on the other side must have been defeated without playing that trump card.

5 まだ勝機はある まだしょうきはある mada shouki wa aru There's still a chance to win.

6 弔の支配できればOFAを"奪える" とむらのしはいできればワン・フォー・オールを"うばえる" Tomura no shihai dekireba WAN FOO OORU wo "ubaeru" If I can take control of Tomura, I can steal One For All.

7 お前がいなきゃだめなんだよ おまえがいなきゃだめなんだよ omae ga inakya dame nanda yo I need you.

8 嫌な事のほうがずうっと覚えているだろう？ いやなことのほうがずうっとおぼえているだろう？ iya na koto no hou ga zuutoo oboete iru darou? The things you hate you always remember better, right?

9 だから人の未来を阻むんだ だからひとのみらいをはばむんだ dakara hito no mirai wo habamunda That's why I obstructed people's futures.

10 与一 よいち Yoichi Yoichi,

11 僕は ぼくは boku wa I

12 皆に みんなに minna ni [want] everyone

13 ずうっと zuutto to keep

14 見ていてほしいんだ みていてほしいんだ mite ite hoshiinda watching [me].

tagline AFOその目的の為に… オール・フォー・ワンそのもくてきのために… OORU FOO WAN sono mokuteki no tame ni... All For One, for that purpose...

1 あと少しー… あとすこしー… ato sukoshi-... Just a little farther-...

tagline No.410　さらば！オール・フィー・ワン　堀越耕平 ナンバー410　さらば！オール・フィー・ワン　ほりこしこうへい NANBAA 410  saraba! OORU FOO WAN   Horikoshi Kouhei No. 410 Farewell! All For One  Kouhei Horikoshi

2 まだ… mada... "You still..."

3 消えねーのかよ… きえねーのかよ… kienee no ka yo... "haven't disappeared yet, huh..."

1 ガボッ GABO "Bwagh!"

2 寒ィ…！ さみィ…！ samiI...! It's cold...!

3 力が入ンねぇ…！ ちからがはいンねぇ…！ chikara ga haiNnee...! I don't have any strength...!

4-5 立ってらんねえ たってらんねえ tatterannee I can't stand.

6 どけ‼︎ doke!! Out of the way!!

7 あアアアア!!! aAAAA!!! "Aaaaah!!!"

8 もう言葉すら失ってる もうことばすらうしなってる mou kotoba sura ushinatteru You've already lost words even.

9 生まれたてだ 死にかけだ shi ni kake da (kanji: umaretate) da You're about to die (read as: You're newly born).

10 大丈夫だ… だいじょうぶだ… daijoubu da... It's all right...

11 放っておいても消える ほうっておいてもきえる houtte oitemo kieru Even if I leave you alone, you'll disappear.

1 倒れねーってのはクソ強ェだろ たおれねーってのはクソつえェだろ taorenee tte no wa KUSO tsueE daro Those who don't fall over are damn strong.

2 っぶねぇ……！ bbunee......! "Close one......!"

3 完全に勝たねーと かんぜんにかたねーと kanzen ni katanee to "Must have a complete victory,"

4 なァ⁉︎ naA!? "right!?"

1 ホギャア（来るな‼︎） ホギャア（くるな‼︎） HOGYAA (kuruna!!) "Uwagh (Stay back!!)"

2 オネンネの時間だAFO オネンネのじかんだオール・フォー・ワン ONENNE no jikan da OORU FOO WAN "It's time for beddy-bye, All For One."

3 嫌だ いやだ iya da No.

4 感情に支配されていたんだ かんじょうにしはいされていたんだ kanjou ni shihai sarete itanda I was controlled by my emotions.

5 こんなの僕じゃない…‼︎ こんなのぼくじゃない…‼︎ konna no boku ja nai...!! This isn't like me...!!

6 嫌だ いやだ iya da No.

1 嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ嫌だ いやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだいやだ iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da iya da NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

2 憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い憎い にくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくいにくい nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui nikui HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE

3 奪われた因子が うばわれたいんしが ubawareta inshi ga The stolen factors

4 持ち主の元へ戻るーー… もちぬしのもとへもどるーー… mochinushi no moto e modoru--... return to their owners--...

1 ーーなんてサービス --nante SAABISU --that would be nice. (Note: The word "SAABISU (service)" here is a generic word for an extra service done for a customer. For example: a free dessert on the house at a restaurant.)

2 あるわけないか aru wake nai ka That isn't possible though.

1 ああ aa Ah.

2 くっそ kusso Crap.

3-4 オールマイトのスタンディングしたかったのに OORU MAITO no SUTANDINGU shitakatta noni [And here] I wanted to do All Might's standing [pose].

5 出久 いずく Izuku Izuku,

6 頑張れよ がんばれよ ganbare yo do your best. (Note: This can also mean "good luck," but I went with "do your best" because of what Izuku says to Katsuki about how his "Deku" means "ganbare" in Deku vs Kacchan, Part 1.)

1 開戦数日前 かいせんすうじつまえ kaisen suujitsumae A few days before the start of the battle...

2 死柄木は必ず雄英敷地内で討つ しがらきはかならずゆうえいしきちないでうつ Shigaraki wa kanarazu yuuei shikichinai de utsu "We must defeat Shigaraki within the UA grounds."

3 決して���上にダテ落ちさせてはならん けっしてちじょうにダテおちさせてはならん kesshite chijou ni DATEochi sasete wa naran "We must never let him fall from grace* to the ground." (*Note: Jeanist is using a word that means something to the effect of "elegant fall" for which I cannot think of an English word.)

4 地上だと蛇腔戦のように我々が圧倒的不利だからですよね… ちじょうだとじゃくうせんのようにわれわれがあっとうてきふりだからですよね… chijou da to jakuu sen no you ni wareware ga attouteki furi dakara desu yo ne... "Because if we're on the ground, we'll be at a huge disadvantage like at the Jakuu battle, right..."

small text in bubble 何回も聞きました なんかいもききました nankai mo kikimashita "I heard that many times."

small text out of bubble ぜってージーパン言葉だろ「ダテ落ち」 ぜってージーパンことばだろ「ダテおち」 zettee JIIPAN kotoba daro 「DATEochi」 "That's definitely a Denim Face* word, 'fall from grace.'" (*Note: Literally the nickname Katsuki uses here is "Jii-Pan" for "jeans-pants." "Denim Face" is one of the official translations of this nickname.)

5 いや意思統一の話だ いやいしとういつのはなしだ iya ishi touitsu no hanashi da "No, this conversation is about our unity of will,"

6 "何を守るか"という事 "なにをまもるか"ということ "nani wo mamoru ka" to iu koto "about what we will protect."

7 一帯の避難は徹底してるよ建物を守ろうってこと？ いったいのひなんはてっていしてるよたてものをまもろうってこと？ ittai no hinan wa tettei shiteru yo tatemono wo mamorou tte koto? "The whole area is thoroughly evacuated, so is this about protecting the buildings?"

8 建造物の損壊は最早考慮している余裕はない けんぞうぶつのそんかいはもはやこうりょしているよゆうはない kenzoubutsu no sonkai wa mohaya kouryo shite iru yoyuu wa nai "We no longer can afford to consider damage to the buildings."

9 神野区を荼毘戦に設定した時点で度外視していると言っていい カミノくをだびせんにせっていしたじてんでどがいししているといっていい KAMINO-ku wo Dabi sen ni settei shita jiten de dogaishi shite iru to itte ii "At the moment they set the Dabi battle at Kamino Ward, one could say to disregard [such concerns]."

10 我々は人命を未来を第一に行動する われわれはじんめいをみらいをだいいちにこうどうする wareware wa jinmen wo mirai wo daiichi ni koudou suru "We will act with human life and the future put first."

1 前置きいいから！ まえおきいいから！ maeoki ii kara! "We get it! [So then what?]"

2 死柄木の人格的混乱が問題だ…AFO寄りならまだ良い しがらきのじんかくてきこんらんがもんだいだ…オール・フォー・ワンよりならまだいい Shigaraki no jinkakuteki konran ga mondai da...OORU FOO WAN yori nara mada ii "Shigaraki's confused personality is the problem... It would still be better if [his personality] was closer to All For One's,"

3 支配は被支配者あってのものだからな しはいはひしはいしゃあってのものだからな shihai wa hishihaisha atte no mono dakara na "because control is a thing that only exists if there is a controlled person."

4 だから死柄木寄りの場合…それだけに留まらないのではないか だからしがらきよりのばあい…それだけにとどまらないのではないか dakara Shigaraki yori no baai...sore dake ni todomaranai node wa nai ka "So in the case where [his personality] is close to Shigaraki's...it might not stay as just that."

5-6 力と憎悪が醸成された今奴の破壊願望が土地そのものに向かう可能性がある ちからとぞうおがじょうせいされたいまやつのはかいがんぼうがとちそのものにむかうかのうせいがある chikara to zouo ga jousei sareta ima yatsu no hakai ganbou ga tochi sono mono ni mukau kanousei ga aru "Now that his power and hatred have been cultivated, there's a possibility that his desire for destruction will turn towards the land itself."

7 勝った先の話 かったさきのはなし katta saki no hanashi "This is a conversation about after we've won."

8 踏ん張るにも ふんばるにも funbaru ni mo "No matter how we persist,

9 這い上がるにも はいあがるにも haiagaru ni mo "no matter what we overcome,"

10 土台なくして成り立たない どだいなくしてなりたたない dodai naku shite naritatanai "we cannot stand without a foundation."

11 我々が守るものはーーー われわれがまもるものはーーー wareware ga mamoru mono wa--- "What we will protect is---"

1 避難所 ひなんじょ hinan-jo Evacuation shelter

2 ああ…家が ああ…いえが aa...ie ga "Ah...our house,"

3 ジィさんの代から継いできた畑が… ジィさんのだいからついできたはたけが… JII-san no dai kara tsuide kita hatake ga... "the farmland we came to inherit since Grandfather's generation..."

4 出久… いずく… Izuku... "Izuku..."

5 「崩壊」を"面"じゃなく 「ほうかい」を"めん"じゃなく 「houkai wo」 "men" ja naku "I'll [direct] Decay not to the 'surface'"

6 "深さ"に向かわせる "ふかさ"にむかわせる "fukasa" ni mukawaseru "but to the 'depths.'"

7 すると静岡の一部が一瞬でなくなっちまうワケだ するとしずおかのいちぶがいっしゅんでなくなっちまうワケだ suru to Shizuoka no ichibu ga isshun de nakunacchimau WAKE da "Then part of Shizuoka will disappear in an instant."

1 国土約37万8000km² こくどやく37まん8000km² kokudo yaku 37man 8000km² "The territory is approximately 378,000 km²."

2 今の俺なら一週間もありゃ水平線に変えられる いまのおれならいっしゅうかんもありゃすいへいせんにかえられる ima no ore nara isshuukan mo arya suiheisen ni kaerareru "If it were me as of now, I could turn it into a watery horizon in a week's time."

3 再興の芽も残さない さいこうのめものこさない saikou no me mo nokosanai "I wouldn't leave behind even a bud for revival."

4 「全ての崩壊」ってのァ…そういうことさ 「すべてのほうかい」ってのァ…そういうことさ 「subete no houkai」 tte noA...sou iu koto sa "The decay of everything... That's what it would mean."

1 「変速」と「発勁」「危機感知」を併用すればさっきまでと違って攻勢に出られる…！早く止める糸口を… 「２nd」と「３rd」「４th」をへいようすればさっきまでとちがって��うせいにでられる…！はやくとめるいとぐちを… 「2nd (kanji: hensoku)」 to 「3rd (kanji: hakkei)」 「4th (kanji: kiki kanchi)」 wo heiyou sureba sakki made to chigatte kousei ni derareru...! hayaku tomeru itoguchi wo... If I use the 2nd (read as: Gear Shift), 3rd (read as: Fa Jin), and 4th (read as: Danger Sense) together, I can go on the offensive unlike before...! [Find] a clue to stop him quickly...

2 ……先生が死んだな ……せんせいがしんだな ......sensei ga shinda na "......Master died, huh."

3 …ちゃんと壊さなかったからだよ全く… …ちゃんとこわさなかったからだよまったく… ...chanto kowasanakatta kara da yo mattaku... "...Indeed, it's because I didn't destroy him* properly..." (*Note: "Him" refers to Katsuki.)

4 でも…なんだかんだ感謝はしてるな でも…なんだかんだかんしゃはしてるな demo...nandakanda kansha wa shiteru na "But...for some reason I'm grateful."

5 俺を強くしてくれた おれをつよくしてくれた ore wo tsuyoku shite kureta "He did make me stronger."

1 こいつのスピードにも慣れるぐらいには こいつのスピードにもなれるぐらいには koitsu no SUPIIDO ni mo nareru gurai ni wa I'm just getting used to this guy's speed.

2 タッチの差で指をなぎ払うか タッチのさでゆびをなぎはらうか TACCHI no sa de yubi wo nagiharau ka "You'll slash away my fingers in the gap before my touch, huh?"

3 けどーーー kedo--- "But---"

1 小僧‼︎ こぞう‼︎ kozou!! "Boy!!"

2 4代目が…！ 四ノ森さんが…！ Shinomori-san (kanji: yondaime) ga...! "Mr. Shinomori (read as: The Fourth) is...!"

3 "危機感知"が "４th"が "4th (kanji: kiki kanchi)" ga The 4th (read as: Danger Sense) [was]...

4 いつまで itsumade "How long"

5 もつのかね motsu no ka ne "will you last, I wonder."

tagline 万死一生‼︎しかし奪われた"危機感知"‼︎ ばんしいっせい‼︎しかしうばわれた"４th"‼︎ banshi issei!! shikashi ubawareta "4th (kanji: kiki kanchi)"!! A narrow escape from death!! However, the 4th (read as: Danger Sense) was stolen!!

[no-light-left-on]

smoke break

[nevesmose]

Nostraman Nature Sucks: An Attempted Lore Post

Ave dominus nox Night Lords fans. I thought I'd take some time to go through the various NL stories I have to hand and see what I could find out about the animals that lived on Nostramo. Might come in useful for something, who knows?

Sharks and Whales

As a child, on several coastal journeys with his father, he had witnessed the eyeless barrasal sharks that would group together to hunt the great whales of the open ocean. (Night Lords Trilogy)

His voice filters into something savage and predatory, as hungry as the eyeless white sharks of Nostramo’s blackest depths. (The Long Night)

Not a big surprise since they talk about them fairly often and have the Space Sharks as a successor chapter but Nostramo does have sharks. Pretty gnarly-sounding sharks if I'm honest.

I didn't know what "barrasal" meant, so I looked it up and only found one thread on r/40klore that had the same quote in it as above. Hmm.

Assuming it's not a typo or a more straightforward reference to something I'm just not getting, I'd venture a guess that barrasal, understood here to mean of or relating to "barras" like with "abyssal" could be connected to the French Revolutionary leader Paul Barras who is mostly remembered for supporting Napoleon's rise to power before being overthrown by him.

So maybe the older barrasal sharks will make use of younger ones as temporary hunting partners only to be inevitably betrayed and consumed by them. Sounds about right I think.

As for the whales, where do I even begin? I would imagine they're "whales" in name only like in Dishonored:

This does imply the possible existence of a whaling industry at some stage in Nostramo's history, though.

Crows

Jago reached into his pockets, offering a handful of breadcrumbs. Come, he said to the crows. Food for tonight. Flesh, flesh, flesh, they called back. He laughed as several of the black birds landed on his shoulders and outstretched arm. (Prince Of Crows)

‘Yes. I’ve seen them in books. Is a crow a type of bird?’ ‘Black of feather and dark of eye. It feeds on the bodies of the dead, and sings in a raw, croaking caw.’ (TLN)

Breaking news - legion that keeps referring to crows in shocking has crows on its homeworld scandal. "This is outrageous," said local Nostraman cutpurse and skin disease enthusiast Verxaglryn Quickstabber, "here we are trying to make a good name for Nostramo as a respectable hellhole, a place you'd be proud to exile your worst enemy to, and yet we're surrounded by some of the most intelligent and curious birds in existence. I was shanking someone in a back alley the other night and suddenly I saw a crow learning how to use rudimentary tools! Not on my watch, I said to the rapidly cooling body, and I threw my shiv at it. But it just flew away." At this point Mr Quickstabber was obliged to end the interview due to having been eviscerated by the Night Haunter.

I know their communication with Sevatar is happening in a dream but I really like the idea of the crows adapting to Nostramo by developing some kind of psychic hive mind that's also able to be understood by human psykers.

Crag Cougars

A beast of my home world. When next you see one of the Atramentar, look to their shoulder guards. The roaring lions on their pauldrons are what we called crag cougars on Nostramo. It was considered a mark of wealth for gang bosses to be able to leave the cities and hunt such creatures. (NLT)

Every single one of them is Scar from the Lion King, isn't it? An interesting hint about Nostramo's geography though, of which more later.

Rats

Groundcars whisked by, headlights brighter than deep-hive rats’ eyes, the occupants snug and safe behind armoured glass. (Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter)

No surprises here either. Where there's people there's rats after all.

Something with tusks?

The older Astartes grinned, wolf-like and keen, as the Atramentar either side of the Exalted’s throne growled through their tusked helms. (NLT)

This isn't that conclusive because a lot of Chaos Terminators have tusks no matter what legion they are, but Nostramo being Nostramo they probably belonged to a species of giant carnivorous mammoth that ate babies and sprayed acid from its trunk.

Cows? On My Sunless World?

‘They are still of standard human stock, and not to be mourned. What does it matter if the cattle fear the herdsman?’ hissed Krukesh the Pale. (KC:TNH)

This one's a real reach on my part as it's very likely just a turn of phrase, but I noticed it because wouldn't it be slightly more typical to use a sheep metaphor here? Plus it supports the existence of Nostraman cowboys/ranchers/vaqueros which is fun.

No bats?

His helmet bore a new, spread batwing crest in blatant imitation of Sevatar’s own. (A Safe and Shadowed Place)

A sole space was neat: a circle around an iron lectern fashioned in the form of a bat’s outflung wings, which carried a heavy book bound in human skin. (KC:TNH)

Although they appear a lot in the VIII legion's iconography and artwork, oddly enough I wasn't actually able to find a direct reference to Nostramo itself having bats. Let's cover my ass by saying this aspect might therefore have been brought in by the legion's Terran component instead.

Some Nostraman geography

The Hill Folk lived away from the cities, eking out an existence in the mountains. (NLT)

What's worse than living in a Nostraman city? Living on a Nostraman hill, apparently. This seems to just be an idea of ADB's that doesn't come up again but I've always found it quite interesting. Were the Hill Folk as scummy as the City Folk, just with more of a down-home Dukes of Hazzard vibe? Seems likely.

This also supports the idea of Nostramo not being completely urbanised like some Hive Worlds are. In my view its continents might have had a geographical layout a bit like Italy or Scotland where the cities are mainly on the flatter coasts with a more sparsely populated hilly/mountainous interior.

What else? (This part is just me making stuff up so feel free to ignore it. I'm not ADB, I'm not even ADB's hat.)

If the rest of Nostramo's marine life is anything like the sharks and whales then it's fucking terrifying. I would imagine, because it's funny, that a lot of Nostraman food features disgusting industrially-processed fish in some way or another. Like the food in Dishonored but even worse.

Is something wrong, dearest offworld husband? You haven't touched your stale bread, whalemeat and jellied eels.

Since all life on Nostramo seems to be comically carnivorous and aggressive, it would make sense in a 40K kind of way for there to be giant predatory penguins living at one or both of its poles. A bit like the monstrous blind albino penguins HP Lovecraft wrote about.

Last known infrared pict-capture of an early Nostraman settler attempting communication with a juvenile specimen of the native penguin species. There were no survivors.

[vole-mon-amour]

I LOVE when a character is at least 200-300 hundreds old and they TALK like one, too. Thinking of Astarion, Halsin, Dracula (in all media, but I am especially fond of Castlevania and Penny Dreadful ones), Alucard, The Outsider (yes, hi, he's 1500 years old God). My fav pals.

All of them coming up with such exquisite compliments, insults, and general comments. L O V E that.

[pearl-crystals]

Cute sketches of the party. I went ahead and set aside a smaller book for Isat doodles. Hope you enjoy!

Also under the cut is a act 6 spoiler sketch. I just thought it looked nice.

[bandbabe]

I was so sure we would get Oscar fighting for a podium today, I hope the triple header treats him well, and we can see him sprayed with champagne soon, god knows he’s earned it.

[charles-leclerc-official]

Mid Season Review

Top 5 races for Ferrari 1. Monaco - Charles win on this historic track with a flawless qualifying lap. Also we had Carlos coming in P3 so both cars were on the podium. It was a career highlight for Charles, and a strong showing from the whole team. Good to see both drivers put in strong quali laps compared to the rest of the field. 2. Australia - A Ferrari 1-2, Carlos did a solid drive after recovering from surgery. Charles did excellent managing his tyres in the heat holding back both Mclarens. 3. Jeddah - Charles did a great race, but the highlight was his tyre management and his fastest lap on 40 lap old hards. And of course Ollie putting in a strong debut performance, really showing some of the strengths of the SF-24 as well. 4. Suzuka - one of Charles' strongest performances all year, his tyre management with the one stop was not only a brilliant show of skill but he messed up other team strategies with this move. Carlos also pulled in a strong result with the P3. 5. Imola/Belgium - These two are tied. Both had Ferrari struggling. At Imola the SF-24 upgrades were not showing the results on track that were expected. However Charles still put in a great qualifying lap, and had Ferrari's first Imola podium since 2006, which was special. Belgium again is after the SF-24 has been through it. Charles qualified P2 behind Max, when much faster cars were in the mix, he finished on the podium as well battling much faster cars. Both these races really demonstrated Charles ability to fight with the SF-24 even when the car was not the fastest.

Top 5 Races overall

This takes into account other drivers on other teams, overall quality of racing over the course of a race. Trying to remove a little of the Ferrari bias, because there were some great races going on while Ferrari were struggling. Now I will also take Ferrari into account, but not as heavily as above.

Jeddah - Jeddah I already noted Ferrari's performances, but also this was one of Max's strongest races of the season. He was flawless and set an amazing qualifying lap on top of the race itself. Oscar's battle with Lewis was also entertaining to watch and in hindsight was foreshadowing things to come. Canada - Canada really had a lot of the feild competing at a high level. First we had the insane qualifying session that saw Max and George set the exact same time for P1. THe the race itself with mixed conditions really let a lot of top drivers show off their skill. This was probably Lando's best drive as his race start in mixed conditions was good. This was also one of Max's top drives this season, with him defending the front in mixed conditions the entire race, and this was after the RB-20 was struggling and no longer clearly the fastest car. Then we also saw Lewis really showing his skill in the wet, as well as one of George's faster performances. Also Oscar was showing he's actually very strong in mixed conditions and he carried a lot of Mclaren strategy this race. On top of that we also saw what I would still say is the best overtake of the season with Alex's double overtake, in a tight corner, leaving the dry track to do so. This was a great race for competitive quality racing from a lot of drivers. Suzuka - On top of the strong race from Charles with his tyre management, Max and Checo also put together a dominant performance. On top of that Yuki was very competitive pulling some impressive overtakes and bringing home his first home race points. Monaco - I have already covered Charles' race. But this was also one of Oscar's strongest performances. His tyre management was competitive. And that was a very strong qualifying lap from him as well. This race we really got to see a lot of the field show off their skills in qualifying and while Charles was the best, others also put together excellent laps. Austria - This was a good race simply for the wheel to wheel action. We don't always want to see squeaky clean wheel to wheel. We want to see things get messy. Max showed his skill in actually battling at the front. Not only that his ability to recover some of his race was impressive. Then this was another strong showing from Oscar. Not only that Nico was having one of the best races of his career in that Haas. Overall a very entertaining race for action and the mess at the end with George coming out on top was memorable.

Honorable mentions: Silverstone, Bahrain (Max scored his 4th career grand slam), Hungary(for Oscar's performance)

[salteytakesonmanga]

And so begins Zoro’s obsession with “strength.”

This marks an interesting shift in his character. Before this his focus was on becoming stronger for the sake of his goal. The strength itself, enough to become the greatest swordsman, was the goal. Now, though, he’s thinking about everyone else. It’s not like the goal is different exactly, but now it encompasses a need to protect his crewmates.

Before when he talked about strength it was in relation to testing himself against other swordsmen like Mihawk and Hachi. Here he frames it as “cutting steel” or “destroying the candle,” but the reason he set those as the benchmark is because what he really wanted was to protect the others.

Just like this adventure gave Luffy a glimpse of just how huge the world is, it also showed Zoro just how much stronger he has to be if he wants to protect everyone. And as the story goes on, even as his strength increases, Zoro keeps seeing how much further yet he has to go, which feeds his obsession with becoming even stronger.

And wouldn’t you know it, dishonorable mention for getting this crucial line wrong. Though the word he uses can definitely mean “delayed,” here the meaning is more “bothered” or “inconvenienced.” He’s saying, “If I had been able to break that candle, nobody would have been held back.”