#for when a post that sounds so very general is actually talking about

[thesharktanksdriver]

Okay, hear me out, if Determination!reader goes back to wano, how does king react? Because I kinda get the feeling he is probably one of the most worried about them, and also how would he reach to Reader's being part of the strawhats? Love ya!

(Sorry for not posting a lot lately I’ve been really busy with school. Next week I have two essays due one day after the other with one being 50% if my grade and two days later after the last essay a test worth like 20%. As apology and because I love king I went full analysis mode)

Worried is the understatement of the century, king is in a perpetual state of panic and paranoia from the worry. It’s the type of worry and fear that leaves you on hyper surveillance and makes you sick to your stomach kinda worried. The shot that starts actually affecting your mental and physical health (I know from Experience lol, was not a fun couple of months and I think it gave me trust issues irl oof)

None of the beast pirates are particularly happy about y/n joining a different pirate crew, let alone the strawhats. For a while the Beast pirates have no idea what, who or where y/n went so they were all left in perpetual worrying. Because there’s a possibility they ended up with the marines, vegapunk, or gods forbid in the hands of the world government or Mary geoise (again). But eventually they hear rumours through the grapevine that y/n joined a pirates crew, none of them are sure who but it’s a rumour that only mildly mitigates the stress on most their shoulders except for king.

While kaido stews in a mixture of depression and alcohol, king remains long hours in the night trying to talk with all the contacts that Kaido has into getting more information. What’s the Jolly Roger? What sea could this crew be in? Do they have bounty posters? And most importantly are they competent and a threat?. The number one thing he’s worried about is the world government and by extension marines getting their hands on y/n, so he firstly needs to know if this crew for the time being is competent in protecting them whilst he’s trying to track them down and secondly if they’ll be a hassle in tacking down when the time arrives for retrieval.

He’s coldly calculated in his efforts mostly because fear consumes him down to his very being. It reminds of him being Alber again, not being in control and at the mercy of others and fate.

He so desperately wants to take control of the situation and find y/n because he cares. He cares too much about them and the risk it is with them having their freedom. He will tear their wings and lock them in a birdcage if it means they’ll be safe, and whilst it’s hypocritical he doesn’t really care anymore when he’s been subjected to the hands of the worst of mankind.

You won’t be poked and prodded at like he was, you’ll be safe. Won’t be strapped to a lab table but instead held with care as ash coloured feathers hide you from the world, never mind the smell of burning flesh of those who threaten you.

For a long while his efforts are fruitless (Luffy’s chaotic nature realllly makes it hard for people to track, even highly paid bounty hunters lol) but king starts to get word after one of the Whitebeard commanders is captured by the marines. He wouldn’t take note of it if not for the fact that immediately in response for this reports of something happening on sabaody with doflamingo’s auction house and quote “3 members of the first generation fighting over a child”. What’s more worrying though is the fact that an admiral and pacifista was sent in response.

For a few days tops there’s radio silence and he thinks maybe it’s just a coincidence even if it sounds wayyyy to much like y/n. And then news comes out that some lunatic broke into impel down with a kid and both then proceeded to break out with the help of the now ex-warlords sun of the sea Jimbei and mother fucking crocodile.

At that point king had the unfortunate realization that yep, that’s you and you joined the strawhats of all fucking crews. The crew that quite recklessly went to crocodiles home turf, defeated him and his whole baroque works system, defeated gecko Moria and his island ship, declared war on the world government for Nico Robin and now was headed head on into Marineford to save one of whitebeards commanders. God hates him-

By this point he knows there’s no getting there in time to stop you nor that lunatic you apparently called a captain from getting to Marineford but that doesn’t mean he nor the others would waste this opportunity. But as kaido rallies the other beast pirates king is left to stew in his own thoughts of fear, anger and a bit of envy.

Fear because of how your quite literally sailing straight out of the fire and into the inferno, fear that they make take you and they, no, he wouldn’t be able to save you from the fate of the world government getting their hands on you. Anger at the fact that your apparent captain, Strawhat Luffy, had dragged you through various dangerous situations carelessly. All those stupid decisions could’ve easily ended up with you dead or worse once more and yet this smiling idiot did it anyways knowing you’d follow along, knowing you’d follow him to the ends of the earth because he was your captain. Quite honestly it pisses him off astronomically how careless this kid is, and it makes him deeply envious that you trust him of all people to be your captain. Something that Kaido deserves

Because Kaido unlike this bumbling teen could protect you.

Kaido would raize islands and king would burn cities to ash to prove that

Did you not know that?

Did you not know how much you mean to either of them? To the rest of the upper ranks?

What could this captain do to deserve your kindness in the wake of this cruel desolate world? More than him and Kaido?

It makes him more jealous than he would like to admit, alongside more volatile and easy to anger as the question festers. He wonders if he did anything wrong, if it was all his fault. That maybe if he did something else, if he was faster and didn’t flinch at the moment the hairpin stabbed past the leather and into his flesh that maybe you’d still be here and not with that captain.

What ends up worrying him more though is what happens at Marineford and after. The fact you reveal yourself to the world and so many other questions that can’t be answered on the fact that you escape and disappear for 2 whole years. They couldn’t even make it in time because big mom intercepted them on the way and both crews ended up locked into a battle of sabotaging the other.

But that now leads to wano (sorry for the big build up I like reveling into character analysis lol and I love king)

Within wano due to king, Kaido and Maria’s insistence there are a lotttt of wanted posters for y/n. Considered y/n can’t have photos taken of them due to their devil fruit (they look like a person made of light rather than a person) hand drawn posters are made and distributed. So it’s safe to say y/n is screwed when they show up and the rest of the strawhats are shaking their heads when in their respective new identities they also find these bounty poosters nailed to every board and post in wano lol

( somewhere in wano nami states at the poster of your smiling face painted on the sheet. She can’t help but grumble under her breath and scrunch the picture into a ball that she then kicked away. This batshit plan was already bonkers enough, but of course you had to understate the fact you somehow tamed the god damn beast pirates)

Yeahhhhh so king through Orochi had the posters put up and no matter how small of a tip (typically it was a rumour or some random kid that had maybe the slightest resemblance to you) he showed up regardless of how small of a chance it was.

And eventually it pays out when he found you, someone called in a tip and there you were. Clad in a brown kimono, sticks stuck in your hair and dirt covered hands digging through the trash seemingly looking for food.

Tanuki, you looked like one of those raccoon creatures the people of wano talked about.

Joyful little tricksters and that’s a pretty good description of you right now as he grabbed you by the back of the kimono and lifted you up. Not letting you finish your sentence of trying to talk your way out of this.

He can’t help but frown beneath his mask of the various scratches and bruises littering your arms and face. Not to mention he can already see that the material of the kimono is poor, probably scratchy and irritating. Your scrawny and considering the fact you were elbow deep in the trash behind a small restaurant tells him of why.

He’d fix this though.

Though the tanuki look was fitting he can’t help but think something else is a better look. Maria would fuss over him taking role of caretaker over her but first come first serve. Kaido likely wouldn’t be swayed even with her “affections” towards him because he’d be more than happy with king bringing you back.

There was another myth in wano that he thinks would fit better.

A black winged being of the wind, the tengu.

Yes, perhaps that would also warn others that you were under his protection.

For the first time in years all feels fine at least in the moment, because for as much as you argue with him he can’t help but see that even with the annoyance and slightest bit of fear that internally rips him apart…he also sees that some part of you was happy to see him.

Even with the shit situation and context, within that moment there was still a small silver lining to you seeing that he was ok

He was still alive

Your friend was still alive

“Wait king why is your flame all weird?”

“We’ll talk about that later. For now just…just let me hold you”

There’s a small moment of silence as his star shaped flame created crackles in the alley

“They missed you, I missed you”

“They?”

“The crows”

“Ah”

“….theres still time for you to let me go. To pretend-“

“I won’t do that”

“…I know. Doesn’t hurt to try though, kaido’s orders and all huh?”

His wings extend around from his back to cover you

“You think I’m doing this just because of Kaido? If you truly believe that then I’d suggest you rethink. I’m not letting you go just because of an order, I’m not letting you go because I’m not letting you go back to those who don’t deserve you. Who don’t protect you as they should”

“King…there’s a difference between protection and possession” it leaves you shakily, his wings trapping your further as your fingers dig into the leather of his jacket

“I know. But when you have nothing but pain and suffering but then find something irreplaceable you don’t let go. If a star fell into your hands healing your pain, making you feel less like a husk wouldn��t you not let go?”

“But I’m not a star, I’m a person”

“You’re a lot more than that and you know it…Kaido will be happy. A feast will be thrown and I will be at your side the entire time, your bodyguard”

“My jailer”

“I’m not sorry for that, not when you chose to constantly and deliberately put yourself in harms way. The only thing I’m sorry for is the fact that I may not be able to save you from the sight of Kaido killing your crew”

[putotyras]

bad horrid uika post

trying to put this together more coherently i am very open to correction.

okay so uika/hatsune(from here i'll say hatsune)'s story as told in episode 11 has a lot of weirdness and inconsistencies in my perspective. i know i'm not the first person to talk about it but just putting down some of the things that feel off to me Personally.

i think the thing i've seen spoken about the most is the conversation between kiyotsugu and sadaharu that uika could not have been present for but is shown in detail. i'm not going to post images of this one because the main issue is the scene's existence at all, really. i'll add that i find kiyotsugu's post-kicked out of the household behaviour a bit out of step with this version of events(namely the way his self-loathing gets depicted and his attitude towards sakiko) but it's nothing particularly concrete. we do at least know that the 16.8 billion loss did really happen also.

the first thing that stuck out to me in the episode personally though is when hatsune says this

she immediately recognises kiyotsugu's voice in a crowd. this seems strange because hatsune has had very little contact with sakiko's family, and only played with sakiko at all for one day. we do see her hear his voice, for exactly one line that she overhears from outside their house. this theoretically could explain it but is, to me at least, a pretty big stretch. it was seemingly years later after all.

in general her conversation with kiyotsugu is a bit weird and off to me, but nothing stands out as blatantly false. the part that i do find strange here though is the timeline of the texts she recieved from sakiko, that have come up multiple times throughout ave mujica and mygo.

i haven't included the translation in the image but it's easy to find in the episode if you want to check what it says. she opens up saying to sakiko that it's been a while and her debut has been confirmed. to me this sounds like it hasn't actually happened yet, but this could be a lack of knowledge on idols on my part. regardless, she also says she's been told not to inform non-family members(...) yet, so it's presumably still early stages.

regardless, when she meets kiyotsugu, it's after she's done an opening performance. again i don't know if this is synonymous with 'debut' in the idol world(the word used in the japanese is, i believe, お披露目, which sounds and seems like the same thing to me, but i don't want to say definitively and make myself look like an idiot, so.) but even if it's not a debut, it certainly seems more public than 'only tell your family'. before this first performance is shown, she uses the same language in the japanese she uses in her text to sakiko to tell her her debut has been confirmed.

Edit: a couple of people have clarified this for me, which i very much appreciate. hatsune's performance here was pre-debut. that said, in the below image, she does still mention being set to debut as sumimi, and it's straight before the performance is shown. this feels like it implies the debut was somewhat decided beforehand, but i don't know how likely or realistic that is.

she does also thank kiyotsugu for the family connection making her debut possible, in a conversation straight after the performance, which again implies to me it had been confirmed by this point.

i could just be reaching now of course, but i still find the timeline hard to follow. (end of edit)

then, after an opening performance has taken place, she meets kiyotsugu. and then, she asks him to let her meet saki.

and then, the messages sent between them are shown on the screen

(i've cut out the subtitles for visibility's sake, but again it's probably easy to check. they are(mostly*) the same messages we have seen before.

i'm thinking now if hatsune really just told kiyotsugu 'actually i'm not the friend of your daughter that you know, i'm her half sister who's using her name and my dad is your father in law' and hearing this he just gave over sakiko's number. i mean i'll take it if the show really wants me to but i think it's very funny. but it's still really unclear if kiyotsugu did actually give her sakiko's contact details, or if he allowed them to meet and just...lied to sakiko about who hatsune was? would he have told hatsune to keep lying about being being uika? if he wanted to sort it out with the family, shouldn't he have done that first? it's all very vague and i can't tell if it's for the sake of storytelling or if it really is hiding something. we get the 'i must not go to the villa' which could imply her being put in contact, especially since that's when the messages flash on screen, but they're never actually brought up as being the issue. sadaharu seems not to know she's been in contact with sakiko specifically either, he just says to tell her not to approach the togawa family again. though i suppose kiyotsugu could have been hiding it.

but this seems strange to me. if we assume kiyotsugu did, in fact, get her in contact with sakiko(which is notably never stated and is in my opinion at best lightly implied), why did she tell her she was set to debut, rather than she just had? why would she tell her she can only tell family about it when she's already done a seemingly public performance? she could be lying to sakiko, but why would she? it's not explained or expanded upon, and the next scene is the kiyotsugu and sadaharu conversation. again, had this explained. i do still find the events leading to this exchange strange though, including wrt to the things i put in the footnote.

she does seem to know where sakiko is after this happens as we know she attended crychic's performance and she knows in a fair amount of detail what sakiko was up to in the time after. again, it's not clear if kiyotsugu told her about this, or she found out some other way. but they don't meet up for around a year after this, and they don't seem to have been in contact during this time(when we see hatsune's messages in episode 4 of mygo, there's no new ones past that one conversation, and she's surprised when sakiko calls her.)

most things outside of that are less definitively wrong, but still seem strange to me. we obviously know that uika and hatsune looked identical despite the age gap and different fathers(we don't know how big the gap is but it naturally can't be less than nine or so months.) and this isn't a young sakiko mistaking people who looked similar, we've seen them both. they're identical

even height wise they're absurdly similar.

they could have used sakiko only meeting hatsune in the evening as a way to explain it, but they very explicitly played for the whole day in the middle of summer.

(another thing to note that probably means nothing but i still find interesting is that the part in mygo 8 where their memories conflict about who invited who to go bug hunting, is that hatsune remembers what uika said happened, but sakiko is the one who remembers what happened when it was hatsune there instead.) i'll also point out that it's baby uika who has a moon on her shirt, despite it being hatsune that sakiko describes as being like the moon.

there's more minor details, like no-one at hatsune's agency taking much notice of her claimed parentage, and uika being the only character in episode 11 to always be voiced and acted out by hatsune. the timeline between hatsune and sakiko's last meeting is unclear also, something i think is relevant due to the messages again*.

i don't have a clear theory here or anything, i'm just really curious on people's thoughts on it that aren't mostly just trying to make it Not Incest because that's not really what bothers me. at least not nearly as much as everything in this post (among other details).

anyway thank you if you read this fucking thing please call me a fucking idiot and tell me why i'm wrong because i really do want somebody to.

*okay i'm putting this as a footnote because it's likely for space but the messages we see on hatsune's phone and the ones we see projected behind her are slightly different. specifically, it cuts out the 'it's been a while' at the start of hatsune's opening message and changes sakiko's 'youre really going to debut' to just 'really'. i think the 'ひさしぶり', while obviously normal to say if you haven't spoken in a while, comes off as significantly less extreme than 'it's been literal years' when she jumps straight from it into 'i'm gonna debut'. and sakiko doesn't even say hello or seem surprised at 'uika' suddenly contacting her at all. which i think is notable because if it hasn't been years since they were in contact, when exactly did they start communicating again. i really just don't know, and all i can think of is 'hatsune stole uika's phone', but in that case, why would she be going by uika's name in order for sakiko to find her. i just find it strange.

[hervygervy]

Also since I'm the resident pyrrhon autist I'm curious how his japanese dialogue handles humility with his arrogant personality and all. Particularly I've often wondered if the way he uses those terms switches or not at that bit around the beginning of his bossfight when he's briefly himself and trying to fight them back, like if he shows any "cracks" so to speak. I hope specific kinda translation comparison requests like this are okay

Thank you for your request! Let's talk about Pyrrhon :)

His boss fight has a really interesting difference in the Japanese version! I will talk about it at the end of this post because first I would like to talk about Pyrrhon more generally.

Normally I would like to include English voice files just for the sake of easily accessible comparison, but this website seeks to inhibit me and contain my hyperfixation and I am only able to attach so many voice files. Tragic. So because we have a lot of ground to cover, unfortunately, we'll just be working with Japanese voice files today. I'll try to reference the English version when I can. Once again, we'll be here a while, so read below the cutoff!

Some initial notes that might be of interest to you before we really dive in (it's a bunch of language stuff so bear with me!) Pyrrhon's called ラーズ (Raazu, but I'll render it as "Raaz" in my translations) in the Japanese version. I sincerely wish I could tell you what this is derived from but I honest to goodness have no idea. The English name meanwhile is obviously sourced from "pyro" as in fire and even perhaps figures like King Pyhrrus, which is where the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" comes from (a triumph which takes such a toll on the victor that it eventually leads to defeat).

In the Japanese version he consistently uses informal speech and masculine sentence ending particles. We don't have particles in English so it's difficult to explain, but the best way I can describe it is the way he ends his sentences give off a strong and gruff masculine vibe.

Despite this very apparent manner of speech, he uses 私 (watashi) to refer to himself. I point this out because unlike in English, there are dozens of first-person pronouns in Japanese and what you use, depending on the context, will say a lot about you as a person. 私 is like the "default" pronoun (as in like that's what you'd be taught to use in a class first thing). It's gender neutral and applicable for both casual and formal situations. I'd say it leans ever so slightly formal. In casual conversations, it sounds a little feminine. If a man is using it in a casual situation, it either sounds awkward, or like the speaker is trying to establish some distance between himself and the listener, thus coming across as a little cold and stiff.

Palutena also uses "watashi," but interestingly, in the game's subtitles, hers is always written out in hiragana like わたし while Pyrrhon's is always written in kanji like 私. It's the exact same word at the end of the day so I guess it's just a stylistic choice?

There are also a bunch of second-person pronouns in Japanese because of course there are. They're rarely used in actual conversation, however. It tends to come across as a bit rude, and using the other person's name instead of "you" is generally preferable. I've only ever really seen it in anime and manga or texts that address the "general you" as it's called. Pyrrhon uses キミ (kimi) to refer to others. The way キミ (or 君 as it's usually written) is perceived tends to vary from person to person it seems, it can either sound affectionate or it can sound like you're a bossy man addressing his subordinates since it's apparently historically associated with the masculine first-person pronoun 僕 (boku). Nowadays 僕 is more of the young boy's pronoun, though. Pit actually uses it.

With that out of the way, you know that Pyrrhon is meant to be a comic book superhero parody of sorts, so naturally, in the Japanese version, he uses a lot of English words/phrases in his speech. Here's the Japanese equivalent of his introduction as an example:

He uses a few English words here. The English script adapts this by instead giving him a lot of silly one-liners that you'd expect to hear in some Saturday morning cartoon. You could probably make the argument that this aspect of his character thus more effectively expressed in the English version. This interaction also plays out a little differently here in the Japanese version. Oh, but I guess I should translate:

Pyrrhon: No problem!

Palutena: Are you... the sun god, Raaz?

Pyrrhon: Yes!

Pit: The sun god, Raaz...?

Viridi: The self-proclaimed "emissary of the sun."

Pyrrhon: So you're all together, huh?

Palutena: Raaz, is there something you know about this enemy army?

Pyrrhon: Listen well! This here! Is the floating continental cluster of the Aurum!

Hades: The Aurum, huh?

Pyrrhon: This bit's important so I'll say it again! This is the floating continental cluster of the Aurum!

Viridi: Geez, that's enough.

Pyrrhon: In the book of Revelation of the Realm of Gods, chapter 84, verse 3: "Lured by destruction and heresy, they are born from nothing and appear to return to nothing. Those that swallow the heavens, earth, and sea--they are the Aurum. They travel across the galaxy!"

Viridi: Is there really such a legend?

Pyrrhon: To put it plainly, you could say the Aurum can swallow up the world at this rate! Let's work together! Come now, shoot these invaders from space!

Pit: Is it really alright to put our trust this guy?

Palutena: Well, his explanation matches the current state of affairs.

Viridi: Well, I suppose it's good to call this enemy army "the Aurum."

Pyrrhon pretty much sticks true to this style of speech throughout the rest of this section of the game. It's over the top and gruff and commanding you could say.

A few notes! Pyrrhon is referred to as a 太陽神 (taiyoushin) which means "sun god" I suppose, but if we break down the meanings for the individual kanji, it's "plump sunshine god" and I personally find that amusing. Okay, what's actually more interesting is Viridi states that he's a "self-proclaimed 太陽の使い" (taiyou no tsukai) or "messenger/envoy of the sun." I went with "emissary" for my translation since that's a common phrase in a lot of mythologies and it carries a similar sentiment. But either way, the use of 使い implies more something along the lines of "servant of the sun" which is curious. Personally I'm wondering if the purpose behind this wording is to draw a parallel to Pit who can be described as a 天の使い (ten no tsukai) or "angel," but I'll return to that thought later.

Another minor note is that Pyrrhon states that the Aurum are "破壊と破戒にいざなわれ" (hakai to hakai ni izanaware) and 破戒 (hakai) means like, breaking a religious commandment, so I went to translate it as "heresy" for simplicity's sake.

When Pyrrhon says "those that swallow the heavens, earth, and sea," he uses the word 者 (mono) to describe them. It means "person" which makes the Aurum sound a lot more humanlike. I still opted to use "those" because it still can be used as a determiner.

Lastly, this is just mildly interesting, instead of "the Book of Divine Prophecy," it's a mess of kanji that I attempted to decode as "the Revelation of the Realm of Gods." It's written as 神界黙示録 (shinkai mokushiroku). The last three kanji in this set, 黙示録 (mokushiroku), is actually the title of the book of Revelation. You know, like from the Bible. Neat, huh?

Since we don't have English voice files, I'll just point out the notable dialogue differences:

In English, Pyrrhon elaborates that the floating islands we encounter in chapter 15 are just one of the many bases the Aurum possess. In the Japanese, he doesn't really comment on this and instead just repeats the fact that we are indeed looking at the Aurum islands. Thanks, buddy.

In English, once Pyrrhon finishes explaining the supposed passage, he tells the others to "stow their fear" and that he'll essentially take care of everything on his own, or at least, that's the implication. In Japanese he immediately suggests everyone work together. Everyone seems a bit more receptive in Japanese whereas they're more hesitant in English, especially with Viridi saying "you know things are dire if that's the guy we're listening to."

Also, sometimes what he says is rendered using Roman letters in the subtitles:

His laughter is always rendered in Roman letters. In the Japanese text below, he says "shoot! Shoot!!" as in English "shoot," not Japanese "shoot" (撃つ/utsu). It's not quite the same as kablooey kablammy, huh...

I'm not quite done with chapter 15 yet. There's one curious dialogue difference at the end of the level. Here's the English line:

And the Japanese:

He says "it seems I won't be bored for a while!" Well, I'm glad he's having fun.

Much like how his comic book superhero persona is hammed up in the English version, I'd say his arrogance and haughtiness is intensified. He does a lot more talking down to the others in the English dialogue. Sure, he does speak informally in the Japanese version, but this is also a video game so, that's par for the course. Anime, manga, and video games don't often reflect how actual spoken Japanese goes. You could say it's like, super exaggerated Japanese. And it can often get pretty crude or informal. What I'm trying to say is, Japanese Pyrrhon's speech doesn't strike me as terribly unusual. He talks like any other brash anime character. None of the other characters seemed too unnerved by him compared to the English version, anyway.

As for chapter 16, Pyrrhon only appears for a brief moment to aggravate the boss. The interactions between the two versions are pretty much the same, so there's not much to talk about, but I will note this!

"You seem to be having trouble, Pit!" ...or "Pit-kun" in this case.

Most of the time he addresses Pit as "kun." This is a masculine honorific, usually used by men addressing their male subordinates or used to refer to good male friends (it's not wrong to use it for women, but the typical usage is for men). In English he says "looks like you could use a hand, little angel" which to me sounds kinda condescending but I'm sure the intention was to sound kinda affectionate in the "hey, we're buddies, right?" kinda way that the Japanese seems to convey. Or maybe I'm totally wrong and the English writers did want to make him sound more condescending.

In a previous post, I talked a little bit about how talking about giving things in Japanese is complicated. In particular, Viridi was using やる (yaru) when asking Palutena if she was giving Pit any kind of allowance (the Japanese equivalent of the "floor ice cream" bit). やる is used when talking about giving things to something of lower status, but in the context that the receiver is literally like a plant or an animal. Pyrrhon seems to have a little bit more respect than her!

"I shall lend you a hand!" Or "I shall assist you!" However you want to word it. Here he's using あげよう (ageyou) which the volitional conjugation of あげる (ageru). あげる is used when talking about giving something to someone of equal or lower status, but not in the animal or plant type of lower status. Hopefully that makes sense. Considering that he addresses Pit as "kun" and not in the sarcastic way like Hades does, I'm going to presume that Japanese Pyrrhon sees him on a relatively equal enough playing field. That's the impression I get anyway.

Alright! That was! A whole lot of yapping! And there is more to come because because we are so close to the moment you've been waiting for! We shall talk about chapter 17!! And then the boss fight!!!

When Pyrrhon and Pit encounter the Aurum brain, in the English version, Pyrrhon's lines are delivered in a pretty nonchalant fashion. In Japanese he maintains his energy and pep. Take a listen:

In English he says something like "do your thing, Pit! You know, your... shooting thing." Anyway, a translation for the voice clip!

Pit: This is... the Aurum brain?

Pyrrhon: Shoot at it, Pit! Shoot at it until your sacred treasure burns up!

No more "kun," huh? He's probably too fixated on that brain, anyway.

Oh, uh, any instance of 神器 (jingi) or "sacred treasure" in the Japanese version is replaced with "weapon" in the English version. I wonder if such phrasing is for the sake of keeping in line with franchise terminology, or perhaps directly referencing "weapons" would have run the team into trouble with the ratings board, CERO. If you care, the game has a CERO B rating in Japan, which means it's suitable for ages 12 and up. It's pretty much the equivalent of the ESRB E10+ rating, which is what the game got in the states. Supposedly, the beheading of the Hewdraw is what cemented the game's rating as B in Japan.

That's not relevant. Let's move onto when Pyrrhon assumes control over the Aurum troops!

Level Infinity Epic Super God Plus!! ...nah he didn't say that. It went something like this:

Pit: I-I'm saved! And Raaz?

Pyrrhon: Hahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Well done, Pit!

Pit: Raaz?!

Pyrrhon: Thanks to you, I've become this magnificent! I'm invincible! I'm invincible! I'm invincible! I'm invincible! I've obtained the strongest power!

Pit: What do you mean?

Pyrrhon: This is what I mean...!

"Kun" has returned! Anyway, I pointed out the one line change already.

How irritating that it's split up into two voice files. Continuing the conversation:

I shall continue the translation:

Pit: No way... Raaz?!

Pyrrhon: HAHAHAHAHAHA! The Aurum are now my hands and feet! The Aurum will embark reborn! I'll give you all a show!

Hades: Ho ho! This guy's interesting! What a discovery!

Viridi: I don't think this is a situation to be glad about.

Pit: Raaz, you rat! Tricking an angel! That's not okay!

Pyrrhon: With this vast power, I will challenge the gods!

A few notes: Pyrrhon uses やる (yaru) for "give" here! He's really on his high horse now.

Pit says "ラーズめ" and tacking め onto anything makes it derogatory. People can translate it in a number of ways, like "you scum" or "damn you" or "bastard" or what have you (I'm really not fond of swearing so I hope my friends don't read this and make a big deal about it). Pit's kinda talking in a childish way here so I opted for "rat," especially since that's what's used in the English version, haha. He uses いけない (ikenai) which is something one would use when describing something like socially unacceptable. Basically he's saying "you're not allowed to trick me!"

Lastly, when Pyrrhon says "challenge," he's using 挑戦 (chousen) which carries the implication of a defiant attitude. I felt that was important to mention!

The differences between the English and Japanese here are pretty minor. Pyrrhon emphasizes his newfound power a lot more in the English version, I'd say, with his whole "not even the combined power of the gods can stop me" bit. He also seems a bit more overtly haughty? (seems a bit more subtle in Japanese to me anyway). He blatantly brushes off Pit in English ("What?! I can't hear you over all this awesome!") but just kinda continues his spiel in Japanese.

We all know that Pyrrhon shows off his quirky new powers by blocking Palutena's extraction (or "jamming" it as he says in Japanese) and we're forced to fight on some dinky platforms. Thankfully we have dialogue to ease the pain. We always do, I guess. Such is the way of radio-style storying telling as it's called in gaming. One interaction always stood out to me. In English it goes like this:

Hades: Our little sun buddy must have a thing for you, Pit.

Viridi: Of course he does. Pit's the only one that loon considers an equal.

We can infer a lot from this... Pit and Pyrrhon are comparable in the sense that neither of them are really taken all that seriously by the gods. For Pit, we can easily see this by the way quite literally any other character treats him. Other characters are baffled to see that he can put up a fight or they simply don't want to admit that he's a genuine one man army. Palutena is probably the only character that will give him any credit, but even then, she isn't beyond toying with him or speaking for him. But I already addressed all that in a post replying to a comment.

Pyrrhon is also disregarded immediately, both in English and Japanese. His status as a god is always called into question (we the player never learn his true place in the divine hierarchy), other characters are quick to doubt him, and well, everyone only ends up following along with him because what other choice is there?

You get the point. Pyrrhon seeks the Aurum's power in order to finally get on the gods' level. To finally be taken seriously. That kind of thing. I was really surprised to learn that the interaction plays out a little differently in Japanese:

It goes something like this:

Pit: Alright! We made it out of the giant battleship!

Palutena: Enemies are approaching from all directions! Watch your surroundings well!

Hades: Did Sunny fall in love? You're very popular, eh?

Viridi: Of course he is. Because right now, as it stands, the only one who can oppose Aurum Raaz is Pit.

Quick note: Hades calls Pyrrhon "太陽ちゃん" (taiyou-chan) and ちゃん is an affectionate honorific, one you'd use for close friends or pets. Obviously he's using it sarcastically here. I employed some creative translation. The actual English script writers had to do the same thing, you know.

But yeah, I can't say the Japanese dialogue leaves as much room for character analysis, huh? It's more or less stating the obvious. The Underworld army isn't really participating here, and Viridi was unable to inhibit Pyrrhon with her last reset bomb. So yeah, Pit really is the only one left that can actually challenge Pyrrhon.

Well, I can go back to that point I brought up earlier. Pyrrhon was called the 太陽の使い or "messenger of the sun," and you can draw that kind of parallel to 天の使い or "heavenly messenger," or more simply, "angel." On that basis, I'd say perhaps you can draw a connection between the two. Maybe they were always meant to be compared in both versions. Or maybe I'm looking too deep into it.

Before we get to the boss fight, I just wish to point out that in the Japanese version, a standard centurion gets some speaking lines, whereas the English version only has a strongarm talking:

I guess I'll translate: "Captain! We came because we wanted to be useful to Lady Palutena."

Okay okay okay boss fight time!! In English, Pyrrhon starts talking in a robotic voice. In Japanese, it's a strained voice. Take a listen:

Translation as usual!

Palutena: Raaz is just up ahead!

Pyrrhon: Stooooop... turn baaaaaack...

Pit: Is Raaz like, acting completely strange or what?

Palutena: Perhaps it's because of the overflowing exaltation?

Oh, and the portraits are different! In English we immediately get a glimpse of Aurum Pyrrhon:

In Japanese, he's still using one of his standard portraits:

...the laughing one to be precise. Okay. But his speech is now rendered in katakana. To reiterate from a previous post, Japanese uses three writing systems all at once. Katakana, this angular text you see here, is mainly used to render foreign words into the Japanese sound system, but it can also be used for stylization purposes and whatnot. Here it's clearly meant to indicate that his words aren't fully his own...

After a loading screen we get to fight him! The boss intro in English has Pyrrhon spew out this binary code:

Supposedly it spells "kill" in ASCII binary. In Japanese it's a lot more "normal":

Pyrrhon: You've come... Pit...

Pit: Raaz! What in the world?!

He's still straining like before the loading screen. But where things get interesting is as he continues to try to talk:

Whoa! Pyrrhon! I can't hear you all over that TV static!

Yeah, so in order to understand what he's saying at all, you actually have to read the text. Cool, because that's what I've been doing anyway. My audio processing abilities are atrocious, after all. That and it's easier to look up words I don't know (which is a lot of them) in my dictionary when I can actually see what words they're using. So let's translate:

Pit: Raaz! Are you really controlling the Aurum? Or, are you being controlled by the Aurum?!

Pyrrhon: I... >cannot be controlled.

The top image is the text pertaining to Pyrrhon struggling to say "I" and the bottom image depicts when the static kicks in with "cannot be controlled" by using an > arrow.

The static speech is rendered in katakana. Alien speech is typically written that way in Japanese media to really emphasize their foreign status.

It's a bit eerie to listen to when it's just the audio, huh? Let's hear a bit more:

Pit: W-what was that?!

Palutena: As expected, you could say he succumbed to the power of the Aurum brain.

Pyrrhon: >Do not inhibit our mission. We will consume all.

Hades: They behave just like insects. Considering their strength, it's fine if they're low-grade, huh?

Palutena: Drawn to the torch of battle, they live only to consume everything. Calling them bees or locusts might not entirely be wrong.

Pyrrhon: >We will multiply. We will continue to increase.

Viridi: But every living thing is like this. Their desperate survival connects to their growth, and they influence each other, enabling for the cycle of life. However, these guys are troubling! Their power is too strong!

Palutena: That and they're an alien species, after all.

Pit: Won't they eat everything at this rate?!

Palutena: That's why you have to put an end to this, Pit!

It's pretty similar to the English. Minus the hungry moths. RIP hungry moths. And I guess in English Aurum Pyrrhon says "we will be all" rather than "we will consume all." Something like that.

Also, when the Aurum (static) speak, they use the pronoun ワレワレ (wareware) which is super old-fashioned and means "we." It supposedly has a strong emphasis on one's own existence. Fitting for the Aurum.

I'll share with ya one last static:

Yay, it's easy for me:

Pit: Return to space!

Pyrrhon: >Uuuoooooo

Eventually the static becomes calming to listen to.

Obviously I didn't hit every Pyrrhon moment, but these are all the notable differences I could find and interesting things I could point out! Aurum Pyrrhon is pretty different between both versions, huh? The whole static thing almost makes it seem all the more dire. To me anyway.

Thank you for bearing with me in this long post. I'll probably do more characterization posts next, so they'll probably be just as long as this one...

[arookacrow]

So first off, kudos for being brave enough to post this. Second, I agree, with all of it.

Just to say I really, really tried to like Neve - I just can't vibe with her at all. I don't know if she's a self insert or was the writing room's favourite - in either case I wish they'd spent half the effort on developing her character into something more interesting as they did shoehorning her into every other scene.

Neve and Bellara are supposed to have this fan/creator relationship so I'd kinda expect her to pop up in Bellara's stuff. But it's not just there, finish Emmerich's quest there she is, all the Taash stuff, there's the option to talk about her when you're on a coffee date with Lucanis and oh! she's Assan's favourite person too, DON'TCHAKNOW. (I feel like this would be less egregious if Neve was a better character, but how the hell am I supposed to be invested in your story when the character sounds bored by it 70% of the time? Neve's final quest was one of the coolest in the game but her VA totally pulled me out of it.) All while we, the player, are given no opportunity to get to know the characters better - hell we aren't even invited to the fricking book club.

The Minrathos vs Treviso stuff was just badly done: Save Minrathos and apparently, Lucanis simply becomes dead weight as a companion: no romance no resolving his personal story, he's there to do the stab and that's it. Meanwhile Neve; either let her be angry and then realize we had an impossible choice so they could bury the hatchet, or let Rook fire back. Being a crow that saved your own city, or being an elf or qunari that probably has some very complex feelings about Minrathos - and Rook being forced to silence in front of this Tevinter mage that has benefitted from the city's class system and discrimination of non mages and non humans and this feels REALLY GROSS But Lucanis? Lucanis who argued that Treviso had to be the city they saved? That they would be leaving the city to die slowly of the blight if we go to Minrathos? Oh no, she's flirting with him in the same breath as she bitches at us. Like????????????????

Finally the romance. Dear creators, the romance.

Lucanis is slow burn! He's traumatized! He's demi! YOU just wanted a hot latin lover, YOU'RE the problem! Honestly, I prefer a slow-burn romance. I feel like Rook and Lucanis' story could have been padded out with some more scenes of the two getting to know and trust eachother. For Lucanis to get to care about Rook as this new, important person in his life before he develops any kind of romantic attachment to them. I feel like giving everyone's final romance scene - Lucanis especially since you know, demi sexual, would have benefitted a lot from an option to not have sex and just spend the final night with your LI cuddling, taking comfort from their presence. But then - why does he instantly, consistently, throw himself at Neve? Why is still throwing himself at Neve after backing out of the pantry scene? Why - if you don't romance him, is he screwing Neve so frequently in act 2 that Spite knows the signs of when to get the hell out of dodge so he doesn't have to watch? (poor Spite) Why when he's doing all this - the best the player gets is the dessert scene recycled from neve? Why does everything that causes him to hold back with the player not effect the other option?

Like, maybe if they actually prioritized the player's experience in general, MAYBE the game would have done better. So crazy it could actually be true.

There was a great piece on how someone's take away was that Neve is a short term band aid, something he could throw himself into to feel normal and distract himself from everything that happened while a relationship with Rook was real, and required real work, for him to accept the real him, Spite and all.

My frustrations about Neve/Neve x Lucanis:

She gets along better with the others companions than you, the protag:

Took Neve on the Bellara Companion quest where she sees her brother again. And oooh boy did I regret it. Hard.

Between Bellara complimenting Neve with "Nice work, as always." and Neve calling Bellara "Bel", I felt like a third wheel. I'm not saying I think companions shouldn't get along, but that they shouldn't get along better with each other than with your own fucking character.

A Neve x Lucanis romance that overshadows Rookanis:

Found a Lucanis Romance Guide that straight out advises the player to not bring Lucanis and Neve together on quests because they will flirt. Once again I'm not saying companions shouldn't romance any one else ever, but that they should do it after Rook is locked into a romance (or none). It's what happens with Harding and Taash afaik, so why couldn’t they do the same here?

The Lucanis romance is supposed to be a slow burn, ok, sure, fits the character, I'm fine with that. But how does that fits with Lucanis flirting with Neve but not Rook? It's incoherent.

The way Neve recognizes you were dealt an impossible choice, yet still hates you for Minrathous but still gets along with everyone else, and very well I might say. Pretty fucking unpleasant feeling.

It also gives you whiplash because all the others Companions never resent you for anything ever, no matter what option you choose.

[friskarm]

tired of hearing about countries with population > 10 million

[aethersea]

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

[drchucktingle]

a moment to check the gears and cogs

feel like i want to talk a little on the message of a recent post because i think it is an important point. when i say that you do not need to QUALIFY OR DEFEND your love of tinglers or my work in general, i am pointing out an interesting social anomaly that happens with my art and with queer art.

as an autistic buckaroo i notice patterns, and on social media i see them a lot. little phrases that come up again and again with my art. ‘yes THAT chuck tingle’ ‘its ACTUALLY good’ ’my favorite author i have never read’ ‘so bad its good’. these are always added after a POSITIVE comment about me

they also all have something in common. they are trying to distance the posters SINCERE JOY and give them an out socially. it is very very very subtle, but they are all saying ‘yes i like this but here is a sliver of acknowledgment that it is also weird or bad or ironic. in not REALLY fully in'

essentially these are added because it means the poster can escape their very real joy if needed. try applying these phrases to any other popular author. its much more subtle with the first two: ‘i liked all fours by miranda july, yes THAT miranda july. its ACTUALLY good’. what does this imply?

the other examples are a little more blatant but lets try them with other authors anyway. imagine saying ‘youre my favorite author i have never read’ to stephen king. would you EVER say that to someone? what does that imply? how about 'i love your books theyre so bad theyre good'. horrifyingly rude

lets dive into saying 'CHUCK TINGLE is my favorite author i have never read’ sounds unusual when substituting other authors because theyre usually not queer or autistic or making outsider art. to be blunt, why CHUCK gets it all the time is because it really means 'i like chuck tingle but im not gay’

while we have mostly culturally evolved past the idea that saying ‘no homo’ is some kind of joke, that FEELING is still around. it has just burrowed a little deeper. honestly it might never go away, or at least take centuries. remember these people GENUINELY LIKE MY BOOKS but feel they MUST qualify

should also be pointed out that LEFT and LIBERAL people are the ones who say this stuff to chuck. they do not MEAN to harm, and if you ask them directly how they feel about queer or neurodivergent people they would not express the same opinion as their subliminal comments might imply

the final elephant trotting by is while some of this is homophobia and fear of a neurodivergent other, it is also just plain old IRONY POISONING. its conditioning from being raised on an internet where sincerity was ‘cringe' and loving something was a weakness or joke. these problems work in tandem

so whats the point? what can we do? first of all, just recognizing these patterns is a start. i didnt HAVE to write all of this today but i think its important to be aware and to look inward and think about the gears and cogs that churn behind the things we say. NEXT step is trying to push past it

if you have done these things in the past, i want you to know i am NOT AT ALL UPSET. i am not mad or hurt and i do not think any less of you. you can trot by my side any day and you are trying your best to prove love. we are ALL just tryin our best, just consider this a friendly chat between buds

proving love can happen in BIG WAYS and it can happen in SMALL WAYS that we barely see. just take a moment and think ‘WHY am i saying this? WHY am i in this pattern to distance myself from outsider or queer art?’ a little moment of consideration goes a LONG way buckaroos. LOVE IS REAL

[karlachismylife]

Writing Russian-speaking characters

So I have once again been chuckling at some adorable clumsy Russian in Nikolai and Nikto fics, and thus I decided to make a little list that might be helpful for fellow COD writers here. And yes, please, feel free to reach out to me if you need any proofreading of your Russian phrases, I would be glad to assist since google translator can butcher it in ways non-speakers won't be able to notice.

I would really appreciate if you guys shared this post and helped it reach people that might need it, I put way more effort into it than I expected myself <3 Also, I might make a followup with some more words and/or phrases that can be useful, so please feel free to request some, since here I am mostly focusing on terms of endearment.

I will write down Russian words, their (approximate and wonky, sorry for that) transcription/transliteration and what part of speech they are (keep in mind that adjectives can be used as nouns when used to address someone) and provide according translation and use.

Keep in mind that in Russian the gender of the word is important!!! I'll write down them in following order: he/him (он/его) version/ she/her (она/её) version/ they/them (они/их) version. However! They/them is NOT traditionally used as gender-neutral pronouns, it's plural only. Some queer and younger folks do use they/them (myself included), but it does sound wonky as it's direct copy from English. Unfortunately, Russian is not very suitable for gender-neutral writing, but there are ways to go about it (I'll try to note some of that too).

*however, since Nikto is sometimes using plural they/them to describe himself, that would be okay with him since it's plural. I hope that makes sense, lol.

So if you're putting an adjective with a noun (example: милый котик) you have to use an adjective in the correct gender form FOR THE WORD! If the noun (котик here) is masculine, you use masculine adjective form EVEN if you're referring to a person with she/her pronouns.

What is love?

The main thing I noticed is that y'all use a direct translation of the word "love" - "любовь" [l'ubov'] (n) to refer to a person. As in "how are you doing, love?". However, that's wrong. "Любовь" is either a word to describe the feeling, or a name (short version would be Люба [Lyuba]). If you wanna use an affectionate pet name, consider one of the following!

дорогой/дорогая/дорогие [dorogoy/dorogaya/dorogiye] (adj) - means "darling". Often used between spouses. Mostly used to refer to person directly, sounds a little quirky if you use it to refer to them in third person (as in "my darling went out to buy some strawberries").

любимый/любимая/любимые [l'ubimiy/l'ubimaya/l'ubimiye] (adj) - means "beloved/loved/loved one" and is probably the closest to "love". You can use it to refer to person directly or to talk about them in third person (as in "can't wait to see любимую". Also yes, the endings are changing depending on the case and I'm not entirely sure how to explain this concisely without going deep into grammar lol).

милый/милая/милые [miliy/milaya/miliye] (adj) - the word means "cute/cutie", but is also used as a general terms of endearment, like "sweetheart". Mainly to refer to someone directly, using it in third person is a little old-fashioned I'd say. Also commonly used by people outside romantic partnership, a kind old lady can definitely call you over with this one asking to help her read expiration date on a milk bottle or something.

любовь моя [l'ubov' moya] (n + adj/pronoun) - okay, I kinda tricked you saying you can't use the word "love" to refer to a person. If you say this (means "my love"), you can! It's pretty romantic and I am actually the one person that uses this daily, otherwise it's either very romance-novel/old-fashioned sounding, but there are moments when it's perfectly suitable. Have that fairytale moment! Also please note, that while "моя любовь" [moya l'ubov'] (adj/pronoun + n) is grammatically correct, it sounds kinda weird if you use it to address the person directly (like in a phrase "my love, you shine brighter than the stars"). While Russian doesn't have particularly strict rules about word order, it does matter to some extent, and this is a prime example: people just use one order way more often that the other.

Pocket-sized

I've already told somewhere here my favourite Nikto fic moment: the sweetest, romantic moment, interrupted by him calling reader "детёныш", which means "cub" as in baby animal. And while my parents do use this word affectionately, I can assure you, most people don't, and it was clear that this was a result of a clumsy translation of "baby" or something like that. So here are some variants for words like baby, little one and such!

малыш/малышка [malysh/malyshka] (n) - I'd say this feels more "little one" than "baby" to me, it's a tad less sexually charged if you get what I mean. Also, you call "малыш" a person of any gender/pronouns, while "малышка" is strictly for she/her. Obviously can be used for kids too.

детка [d'etka] (n) - this one is definitely "baby" or "babe" as a term of endearment, calling a real kid this would be WEIRD if you're not a really old granny. I would also say that it's more commonly used to refer to female partners, but that might be just my perception and experience. It's still okay to use both ways. Also this word can be very much used if you need a little bit of sleazy/catcalling/bad pickup line energy, like someone shouting after a girl passing by on the street. Yuck.

маленький/маленькая [mal'en'kiy/mal'en'kaya] (adj) - this just means "little" or "small", I'd say it's used less commonly and usually in this form "маленький мой/маленькая моя" [mal'en'kiy moy/mal'en'kaya moya] (adj + adj/pronoun). I will expand on this a little later here! Can be used to refer to kids too.

All kinds of fauna

While poor детёныш is reserved for furry freaks like yours truly, there are some animal nicknames that are very widely spread! Here are some that I think would be most useful for y'all. Granted, some people think that these are a lil' bit cringey, but I think it really just depends on what you're used to hear around you. So if I think calling someone a cub is cute, and bunny is cringe, that probably says more about me :D

котик [kot'ik] (n) - this is a term of endearment for a cat. NOT same as kitten, mind you! Mostly used to refer to men (since the word is of masculine gender) - in my experience.

котёнок [kot'onok] (second o here is like ö in German) (n) - now THIS is "kitten". I would say this is more gender-neutral than the previous one, but the word is still masculine gender.

зайка [zayka] (n) - I believe this would be an equivalent to "bunny", although it's actually a cute word for a hare, not a rabbit. Definitely used for all genders (also the word can be both masculine and feminine gender), also is okay to use referring to kids (even teachers that are into endearing nicknames can call pupils this and it's not weird. well, in elementary school). You can also say "зайчонок" [zaych'onok] (n) which is a word for baby hare, even cuter.

рыбка [ribka] (n) - a term of endearment for a fish. I think it's viewed as a bit old-fashioned and thus only used jokingly nowadays, but you know what? Nikolai could pull this off 100%. Bonus points if it's "рыбка моя" [ribka moya] (n + adj/pronoun). Only used for women and the word itself is of feminine gender.

медвежонок [medv'ezhonok] (n) - now, I actually have never met someone who would call their partner this, but I myself would (and I definitely saw it in some media, but that's obv not too reliable). It's a word for a bear cub, so I think it's cute to call a huge ass bear of a military man this word. It's of masculine gender, but I would say it's okay to call a she/her person this too. ALTHOUGH there is a grammatically incorrect (but this only adds to cuteness as it often happens) word "медвежонка" [medv'ezhonka] (n) - this would be a female bear cub. My family uses this word, I use it, no, it won't be in a dictionary, but everyone will understand what you mean. Is okay to use for kids too.

щенок [sh'enok] (if it helps, щ is like German "schtsch", like in Borschtsch, like sh but soft) (n) - now, this actually is not used as a term of endearment, it's "puppy" and it's suitable for degradation. The word is of masculine gender, but you can call anyone this to be honest. You can tell Nikto he's "глупый щенок" [glupiy sh'enok] (adj + n) (silly puppy) and that man will either bark for you or gut you. If you say "тупой" [tupoy] (adj) (dumb) instead of "глупый" [glupiy] (adj) (silly), it will be downright offensive. You can say "щеночек" [sh'enochek] (n), which is an endearing term for a puppy, so it's a little bit sweete. OR you can use my personal favourite - "щен" [sh'en] (n), which is actually also incorrect, but if you've ever heard of a great poet and poetry innovator Mayakovskiy, he was called this word by Lilya Brik. I do NOT have the time to unpack that wild relationship (there was a throuple involved. Russian poetry scene of early XX century was WILD and it's my favourite poetry period hands down), but it's pretty famous. The word "щен" consists of the word "puppy" but with the end diminutive suffix cut off. The trick is, that while some words return to their non-diminutive form with such procedure, this one does not - so you're basically inventing a new word that now sounds quite degrading and harsh, but also sexy as hell (personal opinion). I would definitely call Nikto this word.

птичка [ptich'ka] (n) - that's just "birdie", but I actually wouldn't say many people use it to refer to each other. HOWEVER, Nikolai 100% calls his steel bird this. The word is of feminine gender and if you are calling a person this, it's probably more suitable for a woman.

цыпа [tsipa??] (n) or even цыпочка [tsipoch'ka] (n) - that's a chick, like a baby hen, used only to refer to women (feminine gender word). Honestly I only heard this in foreign films dubbed in Russian or like in jokes/sarcastic phrases. It's kinda rude/indecent/vulgar and the only man that can say that and stay attractive is Captain Jack Sparrow (he used this word in Russian dubbed Pirates like once maybe, talking to Elisabeth, and that was funny cuz he be crazy like that). But maybe you want this, idk.

And everything sweet

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone translate the word "honey" as "мёд" directly, that would be another brilliant laugh (cuz it's wrong to refer to a person like that), but there are some "sweet" words to use!

сладкий/сладкая [sladk'iy/sladkaya] (adj) - this just means "sweet", like the taste, and it can be sexy or sleazy or just cute. You can call a kid this word too, BUT for a child would be better сладенький/сладенькая [slad'en'kiy/slad'en'kaya], which is like one step further into diminutive-endearing department.

конфетка [konf'etka] (n) - this is a diminutive word for a candy, a sweet, like a caramel or chocolate or whatever. Not very common, but is cute. Also a way to describe a sexy/good-looking person (more likely a woman, the word is of feminine gender) or just something really good (a bit jokingly). The latter is usually used in a phrase build like "не ..., а просто конфетка", which is roughly translated "that's not ... that's just plain candy". Might have an actual English equivalent that I can't think of right now. Maybe "a total snack"? Probably that one, yeah. Can be said about anything, a car for example.

Shiny

I wanna stick in a few more words of endearment and they all are kinda shiny, lol, so here you go!

солнце [solntse] (n) - this means "sun", like that big glowing thingy in the sky, but it's very welcome as a term of endearment. This word is NEUTER gender (explained in the next section). Viktor Tsoy (a famous rock musician with an unfortunate fate and immortal cultural heritage) had a song ("Cuckoo" - "Кукушка") with the words "солнце моё, взгляни на меня" [solntse moyo, vzgl'yan'i na m'en'ya] (my sun, look at me), so "солнце моё" (n + adj/n) is a good one. You can also use "солнышко" [solnyshko] (n) which is an endearing version of "sun", so it's like "sunshine". Also of neuter gender! Can and should be used to address kids too.

золотце [zolottse] (n) - this literally means like... a little gold? A little golden piece? I don't think there's a proper equivalent in English. It's a word of neuter gender and it's very much used for kids too. Another version would be "золотой мой/золотая моя/золотые мои" [zolotoy moy/zolotaya moya/zolotiye moyi] (adj + adj/pronoun) - this is "my golden", it's a little less common and I feel like it's often used to be condescending, but it's not inherenrly bad, so you can use it for a loved one.

сокровище [sokrov'ish'e] (once again it's щ, look previously) (n) - this is a word of neuter gender and it means "treasure". I personally adore this one and it's pretty common. Can be used for any gender and for kids!

звёздочка [zv'yozdoch'ka] (n) - this is like a little star/starshine. Wouldn't say it's that common, but I use it a lot. The word itself is of feminine gender, but you can call anyone that! Or you can say "звезда моя" [zv'ezda moya] (n + adj/pronoun), which means "my star". Also feminine gender word, but can be used for anyone.

This dog belongs to...

I am not going to go too deep into sexy/sex-related words in this part, because I'll just get overwhelmed with the amount, but I want to go over some words of ownership quickly.

мой/моя/мои/моё [moy/moya/moyi/moyo] (adj/pronoun) - this means my/mine. It goes really well with many words in this list, especially the adjectives, like "мой дорогой" [moy dorogoy] (my darling) or "солнышко моё" [solnyshko moyo] (my sun/sunshine). The last version, "моё" [moyo] is neuter gender, it's NOT gender-neutral! It's the "it/its" I guess (not exactly, but let's just stick with this simplyfied explanation). Previously there were some words of that gender, so here you go. BTW I would say that in speech it's more common to put this word before adjectives and after nouns (like in my examples), just sounds better, but it's not wrong to do otherwsise. You can also just say "ты мой" [ti moy] (you're mine). Also can be used to refer in third person, like when you're discussing your man with your gossip girls, you can just go "а мой вчера..." [a moy vch'era] (and mine yesterday...) and everyone will understand that you mean your man. Unless you wee discussing pets, then they'll probably assume it's your cat.

хозяин/хозяйка [khoz'yain/khoz'yayka] (n) - saw this one too btw. This means "owner" or kiiiinda "master/mistress", and they are gendered, so it's actually wrong to call a woman "хозяин" unless there's some kinky genderfuckery going on (which I'm all for, but like. you get what I mean).

господин/госпожа [gospod'in/gospozha] (n) - okay, THAT is definitely master/mistress, also gendered. Standard BDSM terminology and yada yada.

And that's where I'd like to wrap up for today! However, if needed, I can write more - perhaps with curse words or with sex-related words, or some phrases? I dunno, you tell me! Once again, I kindly ask you to share since I think this will help people (and while I understand the struggle of writing in another language and especially using words from language you don't speak at all, I can't help but be a little thrown off every time I see a wrong use of words in text).

Also remember: while Siberia is bigger than USA or even Canada, there are still other regions in Russia that deserve to be mentioned <3 a lot of places with mindblowing nature, cultural heritage etc.

[dollishmehrayan]

BATBOYS GENERAL HCS DURING DATING ── .✦

a/n: my posts are barely getting engagement so it would be nice to reblog + like + cmmt tysm! Also

I’m so tired because I don’t know what I want to do with myself when like writing because I don’t have much ideas yk, (I do have a lottt of ideas just don’t want to like spam and idk how to like execute it correctly so ya) but I’m so grateful I’m back!

(Tags: batboys general hcs + fem!reader)

DICK GRAYSON ── .✦

Compliments: Dick will compliment you constantly, but they’re the slightly extra kind. “You look like you just walked off the cover of a magazine… Or like you’re about to rob a bank with your style, and I’m here for it.”

Date Nights: Dick is a hopeless romantic mixed a romantic flirty person. He'll plan elaborate date nights that are almost too perfect. You're having a candlelit dinner on a rooftop... until a mosquito swoops by, and you both spend 20 minutes trying to catch it.

Awkwardly Adorable: Dick tries so hard to be smooth, but when it’s just the two of you, he ends up tripping over his words, saying things like “I love you… like… in a non-creepy way… I mean, I know that sounds creepy but—“, “you know dick, you could’ve just told me you loved me no need for all that extra yapping.”

Sharing Food: He can’t resist sharing his food with you but will dramatically defend his fries. “No, you can't have any. This is the last one. You’ll be fine. It’s called 'the sacrifice of love.'”

JASON TODD ── .✦

Grumpy But Cute: Jason might be brooding and grumpy on the outside, but once he gets comfortable with you, he’s a sucker for giving you the best hugs. They’re just not as soft as you expect, because, well, he’s Red Hood and that’s not very 'soft' in his book.

Love Language: He definitely has a love language of throwing sarcastic remarks at you to show affection. “I’m just saying, you look so good, I might actually let you live longer than five minutes without me.”

Meme Sharing: Jason will share the funniest memes with you, and he will laugh harder than anyone else when you send him a reaction meme. You two could spend hours going through meme after meme while ignoring his patrol responsibilities.

Late Night Conversations: He’s always the first to text at 3 am just to say, “I’m not okay. Also, I think I might’ve made pasta in the Batcave, but it’s 80% burnt and half of the 20% is missing on the ground in other words, it’s fully burnt. You in?”

TIM DRAKE ── .✦

Puns & Dad Jokes: Tim is the king of puns. You might be mid-sentence talking about something serious, and he’ll sneak in, “Well, that’s egg-sactly what I was thinking.”

Organizing Everything: Tim will have a notebook just for your relationship. He organizes things like "future plans," "annoying habits to change," and “how we can both pretend to be normal in public.”

Overthinking: Tim might send you long, thoughtful texts about nothing and everything, then panic and delete them. Later, you get a short text that says, “Hey, I like you. It’s cool. Let’s go save Gotham.”

Netflix & Research: On date nights, Tim is all about watching a documentary on some obscure topic. You wanted to watch a rom-com? Nope. Tim says, “Let’s learn about the history of ancient pizza ovens.”

DAMIAN WAYNE ── .✦

Fiercely Protective: Damian will go full boss mode in a relationship. If someone even looks at you wrong, he’s ready to challenge them to a duel. You’ve never seen someone challenge a guy at the coffee shop to a sword fight over a latte until you met him.

Literally Shakespeare: He has this bizarre habit of reciting random Shakespeare quotes when trying to express his feelings. “My love for you is like a tempest, crashing and relentless. Also, I think you forgot to add sugar in my coffee.”

Jealousy: He’ll get jealous of even the smallest things. That random guy who offered to help you with your grocery bags? Damian’s glaring at them from across the parking lot, preparing his “You’re not worthy” speech.

Tenderness: Don’t be fooled by his brooding exterior. Damian will get you flowers (in his own way) — like a very dramatic single red rose that he purchased with the least amount of emotion possible, but you know he spent an hour picking the perfect one.

BRUCE WAYNE ── .✦

Grumpy But Loyal: Bruce is that partner who takes a long time to warm up to things, but once he’s in, he’s in 100%. He’ll still be grumpy, though. If you show up in a bat-themed shirt, you’ll get a raised eyebrow and a grunt that could probably level an entire building.

Affectionate In His Own Way: Bruce will bring you your favorite coffee without asking because he’s been paying attention to your usual order for the past six months. But if you say anything about it, he’ll act like he’s annoyed. “I’m Batman. I don’t do things for people.”

Overprotective: He’ll put the Batcomputer between the two of you if he’s feeling protective, even if it’s completely unnecessary. Someone bumps into you? Bruce is already three steps ahead, tracking their life history and figuring out their deepest secrets, just in case.

Romantic, But Quiet About It: Bruce can’t show his love through words, but the way he gives you his jacket when it’s cold speaks volumes. Of course, he acts like it was an accident. “I didn’t want you to catch a cold, that’s all. I’m not a softy, don’t read into it.”

GENERAL TRAITS FOUND IN THEM ── .✦

Matching Outfits: They’ll all pretend like they’re too cool for matching outfits, but one day they’ll catch themselves accidentally twinning with you, and neither of you can ever act normal again.

In Public: They’ll all act like they don’t care if you hold their hand in public, but if anyone tries to grab your hand instead, they’ll give them a glare that could freeze a person in place.

Batman’s Turtleneck: Every Batboy secretly loves when Bruce wears his iconic black turtleneck and glasses. They all think Bruce looks like a mysterious intellectual, and they might just start commenting on it to mess with him. Bruce is too focused on Gotham to care.

[leveragehunters]

There's a post going around about a specific alleged AI fanfic. The author of the post lists a lot of reasons why they believe the fic is AI. Not linking to the post and not commenting on its conclusion, but.

But.

People.

These???? Are all ABSOLUTELY VALID analogies/expressions???

"her nimble fingers worked with quiet precision"

"his grip firm but tender"

"her gown pooling around her like embers"

But the post says that:

fingers don't make sound, so what does quiet precision mean? as opposed to what? her joints cracking with every movement? how is a grip firm but tender? what does that mean? since when do embers pool? the entire fic is littered with these adjectives that contradict each other or just straight up do not make sense, because all an ai does is generate descriptive language with no understanding of what the words it's spitting out actually mean

Come on, man. These are perfectly serviceable! Quiet precision and firm but tender are bog standard fictional expressions. Granted, I've never seen the simile of a dress pooling like embers, but I like it! It evokes!

They are absolutely something that an actual living breathing person would write! (In fact they're so serviceable that if the fic is AI they're probably plagiarised) (although firm but tender is SO common I'm not sure it can be plagiarised? It's like 'toeing off his shoes').

Like, yeah, AI sucks. I agree it sucks.

But analogies or expressions that aren't a one to one match for truth (reality? observable fact? whatever, you get what I mean) are not bad?? They don't mean a fic was written with AI?? They're what makes writing GOOD. Makes it interesting.

Sure, 'her nimble fingers moved like bones and tendons covered by skin because they were bones and tendons covered in skin, but her movements were so expertly precise that no one noticed just how super precise they were' might be entertaining. briefly.

But the whole POINT of metaphor and simile is to evoke a reaction. An emotion.

There's a post by silentwalrus that I cannot find (thanks tumblr search), and it's pissing me off, because they perfectly talked about this! About metaphor and how to write original and effective ones (something they're VERY good at). The example was something like 'he did a thing like a scorpion hidden under a bush' and pointing out that if you looked at it too close it didn't make sense, but it evoked a reaction.*

A clever or strange or evocative analogy or expression does not mean it was written by AI.

____________________________

*I may be misremembering the details, and if so I apologise; it was a long time ago, but I'm positive it involved a scorpion.

[fangharel]

we need to talk about The Silence and The Song

[PLEASE READ] edit to add: i realise that this post has been reblogged far and wide and that there is not a lot i can do about it now, but this is me trying anyway.

posting examples from the fic about my issues with its repetitive structure was careless of me, and i apologise to those of you who read it and became insecure about your own writing style. as someone who has worked with ai in academic settings, it's incredibly difficult for me to explain to you how the tone and structure of ai-generated fiction works and how, after reading enough of it, you can simply just tell. i do also realise that this is an incredibly weak argument, which is why i didn't include it when i originally wrote this post.

all that to say: there is an enormous difference between "beginner's writing" and ai writing. being repetitive as a new writer (or a seasoned one who just likes using repetition) is so normal. as is flowery/purple language. i've read hundreds of books and fics and the difference between these traits in ai-text and actual works is starkly clear. please don't feel anxious over the examples i've used in this post.

again, i apologise for any distress i have caused.

as per my last post, i have received a lot of encouragement to go public with this, and the more disappointed people i have in my dms, the angrier i get. so i will.

the silence and the song is an ancient arlathan au DA fic on ao3 by luxannaslut, and it is partly, if not entirely, written by an ai. i have no wish to be involved in any kind of fandom drama or witch hunting or bullying, but as a writer myself there are few things that piss me off more than watching people steal the work of others because they can't be fucked to write. it's disrespectful to your fellow writers, it's disrespectful to your readers, and it's disrespectful to the authors of the works the ai is stealing from.

ai is a plague that has no business being in creative spaces and you must do better.

the writing pattern

there was something very odd and monotone about the sentence structure of tsats that i couldn't quite place, so i fed chatgpt a prompt along the lines of "two people in a fantasy novel hate each other, but they secretly desire one another, and they kiss", and the screenshots above are the results. the third one is an excerpt from chapter 40 of tsats. the writing pattern is identical and it doesn't seem like the "writer" has even bothered to pretend they wrote it. if you're going to use ai, at least be sneaky about it. you know, paraphrase a little.

nonsense descriptions

"her nimble fingers worked with quiet precision" (ct. 1), "his grip firm but tender" (ct. 33), "her gown pooling around her like embers" (ct. 1).

fingers don't make sound, so what does quiet precision mean? as opposed to what? her joints cracking with every movement? how is a grip firm but tender? what does that mean? since when do embers pool?

the entire fic is littered with these adjectives that contradict each other or just straight up do not make sense, because all an ai does is generate descriptive language with no understanding of what the words it's spitting out actually mean. i could spend hours picking out examples from the seven billion pages worth of text, but i quite frankly have better things to do and would simply challenge you to try getting through a chapter or two without noticing the pattern.

repetition at structure-level

all the scenes in this fic are described in pretty much the same way. they open with purple prose vomit of the surroundings; solas is standing somewhere looking "unreadable as ever"; ellana's fiery golden molten fire copper ember ginger red hair is flowing this and that way; there's some dialogue with whoever is present and it leaves ellana feeling different variations of "something she couldn't name". this is, once again, a blatantly obvious sign of ai. below is the result of me feeding chatgpt the line "write me a scene from a fantasy novel where a woman with red hair is sitting on the ground in a magical garden at night", and side by side with that is the opening scene of the fic. make your own judgement.

repetition at word-level

this one speaks for itself. we fucking get it. her dress is orange, her hair is red, mythal's presence is heavy in the room, solas looks unreadable, compassion is sitting on her head like a crown, solas' ears are betraying him and ellana's move with every thought she thinks. we get it. the issue here is that an ai remembers the info you feed it, but not necessarily the info it shits out. if it's being told to write scene after scene of an elven woman with a gown that looks like fire doing xyz, it's going to do so with no regard for how many times the reader has already been informed of these details.

lastly: the breakneck speed

359,6k words in four weeks by a person who allegedly is employed and married and hasn't pre-written anything? no. any writer will tell you that this simply isn't possible. it absolutely infuriates me to see how much praise this "writer" gets for posting up to three full chapters in a day without anyone calling bullshit. i am pulling out my hair, you guys.

why i'm not going to live and let live this one

perhaps i would be less angry if the fic was some silly bullshit court intrigue Y/A stuff, but this is a text that handles very heavy and triggering topics such as SA, coercion, domestic abuse, and other things of the same vein. to sit back and put your feet up while having a robot write these extremely sensitive and very real human experiences with words it has stolen from texts written by actual persons is fucking heinous. the "writer" should be deeply ashamed of themselves and i'm sick and tired of watching people eat up their bs.

and on that note: the amount of people in my dm's telling me that they feel stupid and naive for not clocking this has infuriated me more than anything else. you're not foolish for this. being fed ai-generated bullshit is not what is supposed to happen on any creative platform and much less a fandom-centred one, so of course no one approaches a fic through that lens. fandom and fic writing is supposed to be about passion and the only person in this situation who needs to do better and change their behaviour is luxannaslut. polluting our creative spaces, wasting the time of your readers, and minimising the effort of actual writers who are working hard to provide content for us all to share and enjoy is vile and so, so lazy. i beg of you: do better.

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost���Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[yeoldenews]

Why do young kids sound so adult in old letters? Not just the ones you share, in general. It's one of the things that puzzles me about Yes Virginia, There is A Santa Claus. Were educational standards stricter? Was it actually parents writing for them?

If I had to guess, I'd say a decent part of this could be due to the fact that everyday, standard English at the time used a structure and level of formality we now associate with the elderly. It's similar to how teenagers in the past look older to us in part because we associate the styles of their hair and makeup with our parents and grandparents.

The first particular piece of syntax that popped into my head when I read this message is the placement of the word "have" in sentence structure. It used to be standard English grammar to begin questions about items or traits people possess with "have" rather than "do you have"; e.g. "Have you a pencil?" vs. "Do you have a pencil?".

If I were to hear the question "Have you any presents you'd like for Christmas?" my mind would default to imagining a formal, elderly person, as that's the only type of person I've ever personally heard use that syntax.

I think what we sometimes fail to consciously realize is that the stuffy, formal, 90 year old grandmothers we talk to didn't spontaneously start talking like that once they reached a certain age. They were taught certain grammar rules as children and continued to use them throughout their lives. We only associate that type of language with the elderly as the only people still alive to use it are now very old.

Education in the past also relied much more heavily on rote memorization and repetition, which I'd imagine caused people to more strictly adhere to the things they learned, including grammar, than we do now.

Children were taught in school how to write formal letters and those lessons were carried over even in letters to Santa.

I imagine in the future the phrase "I hope this email finds you well" is going to end up seeming (even more) oddly formal and dated, but people use it because that's what we were taught to do.

That being said, there are definitely Dear Santa letters written by parents, especially if the child is very young - but after 14 years of doing this I think I've developed a pretty good eye for spotting these. That's why I rarely post letters from children under school-age, with the exception of what I've taken to calling "toddler transcription" where the parents write down what their young child says word for word.

[sicksorrows]

more nanami hcs & scenarios !! nsfw & sfw

nanami kento who would shove his fingers down your throat while you're fucking, just so he could hear you struggle.

nanami kento who would cook dinner for you every night. if you ask to cook, he'd make you do the very minimal tasks.

nanami kento who dominates you in bed and acts like a submissive man when you finish having sex

nanami kento who would listen your favourite songs and save them to a secret playlist dedicated to you.

nanami kento ROLE PLAYS. (as much as I hate the thought of professor nanami) he would totally do any type of roleplay: teacher/student, boss/employee, pet/owner, doctor/patient, celebrity/fan and yeah you get it. also he would NOT break character at all.

nanami kento who would take pictures of you before you both head out somewhere

nanami kento who fucks you out of pure jealousy when he sees you talking with someone else, even if its just for a second

nanami kento who changes personalities when hes around you

nanami kento who seduces you to bed instead of going at it right away, he loves foreplay and would savour his time with you before getting to the good part

nanami kento who would stroke your hair and hum your favorite melody while you both lay in bed before you going to bed.

nanami kento is an experimentalist idc how much times im gonna say this he is an experimentalist he would literally try anything and would be willing to do anything to you he. is. an. experimentalist.

nanami kento who kisses your forehead every morning and waits for you to wake up so you could brush your teeth together

nanami kento who would pick up the phone even if hes fucking you, he would try to challenge you to stay quiet as he talks to the person on the other side, while also hitting every right spot.

nanami kento who would cuddle you after he's finished a long day of work.

nanami kento loves semi public sex. thats it. no explanation

nanami kento who remembers every single thing about you, if you were to ask him he would answer in a heartbeat

nanami kento who would use you as a stress reliever whenever hes angry.

nanami kento who would constantly talk about you to others and saying how proud he is to have someone like you

nanami kento who loves to dirty talk

nanami kento who would help you understand something without making you sound dumb. even if you both can't understand something he would try to learn it quickly before telling you

nanami kento who would wrap his biceps around your neck as he takes you from the back

nanami kento who's obessed with an unusual attribute of yours, something only he likes

nanami kento who cries during sex

nanami kento who fell in love with you at first sight

you could tell which ones I was excited to write about lol, and if u rmr the other hcs post I made, some of them may be mentioned so sorryyyy anyway some more detailed (ish) extras below !!

extras ++

nanami would definitely fuck you with music in the background, but he'd put it on low just so he could hear your sounds echo through the room. he only thought putting music would make the setting more fitting but he never really wanted to hear someone else when he has you in front of him.

more explanation on the crying during sex, he would have happy tears as he fucks you. its tears of gratefulness that you're there in his life and he's glad to be with someone like you.

he would definitely jerk off to your face when he's all alone and though he seems like an honest person he'd never actually tell you that he did that to your face just so you dont feel uncomfortable.

a really really odd thought I have is pervert Nanami.. now hear me out I know perverts are gross and all but nanami would honestly suit the roll really well. cat calling as you walk by him, staring you up and down in a subway. taking secret pictures of you and getting off at them later. basically being a total creep in general!

stalker nanami. once he finds his new obsession, hes hooked, and he knows you're the one. its dumb but he would first follow you to your house. thats all he needs and hes got it. he would follow your every move, try to break in and steal your things, and eventually "accidentally" create some coincidences so he could get closer to you. basically joe goldberg shit (besides the murdering part)

shower sex! shower sex!!!! he would hold onto you, very carefully, just so you dont slip as he takes you in so perfectly. he would go slow at first but when he can't control himself anymore he would quicken the pace and go FAST.

he loves hearing you say his name and would practically keep bugging you so he could hear you say his name multiple times. or while you guys are having sex he would keep begging you to call his name out, on every thrust btw.

he doesn't share.

though,,, I do see him as a voyeur. he would definitely get off at you masturbating to yourself or listen to the sounds of you doing something sexual, whatever it is.

I said he doesn't share but the thought of him getting jealous at the sight of you getting fucked by anyone else but him is what's so SJNFOSOSJ like imagine he comes home one night and hears sounds from your room and, of course curious, checks out what's going on and sees you getting fucked by another man!!!!!!! ughh the look on his face would probably be soooo hotttt

he's extremely kinky idc what you say he has the most weirdest kinks too and im not complaining.

recording during sex!!! fuck, thats actually so hot.

says I love you on every thrust

[potofsoup]

Happy July 4th, everyone, and good luck to the UK voters out there!

Wow it's Year 11 of doing these!! Here's the AO3 link to the past 10 years, and here's the tumblr link.

Reminder that this is a long game -- some of the judges making decisions were appointed back in the 80s. Many of the cases that were decided this round were from Trump's term. So it's going to take long-term, consistent voting over a decade to start tipping things in the other direction. (Which I talked about in 2018 re: Trump shenanigans and 2022 re: Dobbs).

A lot has been done by the Biden administration (I'm assuming most folks have seen this post by boreal-sea with their very helpful sources), and much of that will be overturned by Trump, especially if he gets the Senate, and especially now that he would have a blank check for anything "official". So let's make sure that doesn't happen.

And even if Trump does get elected, your decisions down-ballot might effect control of the House or Senate, or might make it easier to vote next time, plus the whole plethora of state and local issues. It's Republican state attorney generals who are challenging climate regulations, for example.

Plus, when you really get down to it, only one of the candidates plans on pardoning himself and all his friends if he wins, and attacking the government if he loses. Maybe that guy shouldn't be the President.

If you're new to voting, remember to check voter registration deadlines! I'm a permanent vote-by-mail voter and it's so nice. :)

Transcript under the readmore

Page 1: Sam and Bucky meet up with Steve for a picnic. Steve: Thought you guys were still in Sudan? Bucky: I’m forcing Sam to take a break.

Sam collapses onto the picnic blanket. Sam: Oof, it just never stops, does it? Steve: Nope.

Bucky hands Sam an orange popsicle. Bucky: Eat and relax for a bit, Sam. Sam: Thanks.

Page 2: Bucky asks Steve: How are things state-side? Steve responds: HORRIBLE. Bucky: I thought you’ve been tentatively hopeful about what Biden has been able to achieve? Steve: I was! Student loans, child care, climate regulations, infrastructure, labor, trans rights … he’s quietly done a lot through regulatory improvements and congress bills. But now all people will talk about is how he’s OLD. And then there’s the Supreme Court’s decisions … Chevron and immunity… Steve puts his head in his hands, while Sam and Bucky look on with some concern.

Page 3: Bucky hands Steve a blue/raspberry popsicle: Steve, take a deep breath, and a popsicle. Sam: Sounds like we missed a lot. What’s going on? How bad is it? Steve: Pretty bad. The Supreme Court has made some decisions that give the Court and the President A LOT of discretionary power. Sam: Yikes, that doesn’t sound good. Steve: Well, the Chevron thing means that judges with life-term appointments can override policies made by government agencies. And now it’ll be harder to hold a President accountable because he will have immunity for any “official” actions.

Page 4: Sam: So if the President tries to, say, overturn a democratic election result, he’ll be allowed to as long as it’s in his job description? Steve: I don’t think threatening state electors is “official” business, but that will be decided by federal judges. Who get their jobs by approval from both the President and the Senate. Bucky: Yeesh. No wonder you’re stressed. Any good news? Steve: Well, thanks the Biden and the razor-thin Senate majority, the newer bills don’t rely on the Chevron deference. Still not great but not catastrophic. Sam, squirting ketchup on his hot dog: So what I’m hearing is that it’s now more important than ever to have a President and a Senate who you can trust to appoint fair judges, pass bills, and not commit crimes.

Page 5: Steve: Plus all of the state level offices, now that more and more deciding power has been thrown back to the states — abortion, LGBTQ rights, voting access… Bucky: Hey, at least this is a big election year so we can actually do something! Steve, with his arms crossed, looking surly: Except that all people want to talk about is how Biden is “too old” and “not doing enough,” as if that is on par with Trump’s desire to dismantle basic rights! As if the candidate who doesn’t embody ALL their ideals is not worth voting for! Bucky interrupts with a smart and a loud “PFFT.”

Page 6: Bucky: Um, Steve. YOU were like that in 1940. Sam, nudging Bucky: “Oh, this I gotta hear. Spill, Barnes.” In sepia, Steve is pacing around their apartment while Bucky is sitting and reading a newspaper. Steve: I can’t believe he’s running for a 3rd term! we need a fresh candidate to vote for! This is hardly a choice at all! AND he refuses to engage in Europe! All of Europe under fascist control and we’re just twiddling our thumbs? He’s letting millions die through his inaction! Bucky: Most people don’t want another war, Steve. If he came out for it, he would lose. Steve, indignant: But Buck, it’s your Polish relative who are in danger! Bucky, closing his newspaper and looking at Steve: Yeah, and between FDR and Willkes, I trust FDR to help if he could.

Page 7: Steve, in sepia, looking away: Should he be encouraged to do more? Maybe I should vote for Browder. The Communists have historically be Anti-Fascist.

Sam interrupts off-screen: Waitaminute! STEVE was going to PROTEST-VOTE? Steve: We were in a Blue State, Sam! Sam: But what about the down ballot races?! Steve: RELAX, I did my due diligence down-ballot. I wanted a senate that’s more progressive than the President.Voted LaGuardia for Mayor, too. Steve hesitates: Then, when I got to the President… I realized that the Best case scenario would be that my vote did nothing, versus if it actually spoiled the election. And when I asked myself who I could trust to work with my Senator… well, FDR had a good record with Labor. (sepia shot of young Steve voting) Bucky interrupts: Hold on, Steve.

Page 8: Bucky, eating a cookie, arching an eyebrow: You didn’t vote for Browder? Why didn’t you tell me? Steve: And have you say “I told you so” for the next century? Bucky: Heh.

Steve, with hand on his chin: What’s weird was that, despite everything, I still felt HORRIBLE when I ticked that box. Sam: Sounds like you built up the meaning of that vote far too much in your head. Logically, we know that a single box can’t represent all of the complexity of a whole system, but the desperately WANT it to. Just look at how people have built up so much around the term “Zionis” that it’s made productive conversations difficult.

Page 9: Sam and Steve speak in the background while Bucky reaches into the cooler and pulls out a box. Steve: Sigh. And that’s something that goes beyond the election. Sam: Which is why we need to vote, AND do other things. Bucky, looking at Steve and Sam: Like how Steve works to push organizations on the local level? Or like all the work you do as Captain America? Sam: Exactly. Vote AND.

Sam looks at Bucky fondly: Like how you vote AND make me and Steve take breaks. Bucky, looking stern because he can’t handle compliments: Shush, Sam.

Bucky holds up a cake that has the number “107” on it: It’s time for cake. Happy Birthday, Steve.

[bayjaruchel]

Underneath The Strobe Light

－－－

Pairing: Mike Schmidt (2023)/AFAB Reader

Rating: Explicit

Summary: You're aware of your feelings for Mike, but you're unsure if he feels the same. A single late-night conversation changes everything. (4.2k | originally posted on ao3 | Masterlist )

Extra Notes: Posted October 29, 2023

－－－

You know Mike, sometimes. Mainly in bits and pieces. 

You know he has that poster of Nebraska above his bed; you know he's got a soft spot for terrible eighties cartoons. You know he likes his steak well done. Maybe it's generally useless information — but you've tucked it all away in a dear corner of your brain, in a well-worn cardboard box with his name scrawled fondly on the side in Sharpie. 

He's been busy nowadays, especially with his awful new job at that abandoned restaurant. You've always been there if he needs someone to watch over Abby. It's a strange juxtaposition— spending more and more time at his house, but spending less and less time actually talking to him. But you know he's exhausted, both mentally and physically. 

You don't expect much. You don't need much. Even though Mike's always offered to actually pay you for babysitting Abby, you've always declined. 

However— needing and wanting are two very different things. 

And you want. So, so much. 

Sitting here, on the couch in his living room, your mind always wanders back to him. Abby's a really nice kid, even if she's a little on the eccentric side. Whenever you're sitting with her, watching her draw or watching the television, you can't really focus on Mike. But now, with her safely put to bed … There's nothing to stop you. Nothing to distract you from the empty spot next to you on the couch. 

You blink, already bleary-eyed from the hour. There's some mediocre sitcom playing on the television. It's practically white noise, and you can feel yourself slowly but surely being lulled to sleep. The stubborn part of you wants to fight it. The tired part of you wants to just let it happen. You fumble for the remote instead, switching the channel. 

World News Now? 

Not bad, you think wryly, slumping back into the pillows. You liked the guy playing the accordion and singing about the news, polka-style. Hopefully they'll bring that back. Maybe large broadcasting networks actually do know their audiences. 

Yeah, no. 

You stifle a yawn, tugging your blanket a little tighter. The room's dark, so the only real sources of light are coming from the kitchen and the bluish glow of the television. The only sounds besides that of the T.V. are the occasional car passing by, joined by the gentle chorus of crickets. It's quiet, but not in a discomforting way. 

It's kind of perfect. Like your own little bubble in the world. Untouchable. Not until the sun rises, anyway. 

Your bubble suddenly pops when a car pulls into the driveway, tires crunching on the pavement, and your heart skips. 

It couldn't be anyone else. 

About a minute later, there's the sound of keys turning in the lock. The door swings open and then shuts behind him. Softly. He knows Abby would wake up if he slammed it. Then there's the thump of him setting down his stuff— carelessly. 

The couch cushions squeak a little when Mike sits down next to you. Silently. He's gotten rid of that stupid security vest. 

"Hey," you offer. 

"Hi," he obliges. 

You're sure he's not really paying attention to the T.V. "How was work?" 

It's bland small talk at best, and brutally annoying at worst. But it's the only way to move into interesting conversation territory. And he didn't just trudge past you to go flop down on his bed, so you're assuming he does want to talk. You might pretend not to know, but you're well aware of his social life— or lack thereof. Everyone needs to talk, sometimes. 

"Pretty dull." Rolling his probably stiff shoulders, he lets out a small sound of discomfort. Sheepishly, he murmurs: "I kind of … I kind of just napped, to be honest." 

"Aren't you supposed to be a security guard?" You tease. "That's a really important job, you know. You have to stop all the dangerous teenagers from breaking in and spray-painting dicks on the walls." 

He huffs out something reminiscent of a laugh. "Honestly, the pay's too low to take it seriously." 

"And yet … " 

"There weren't any kids, okay?" Mike shakes his head. When you turn to look at him, though, he's smiling. It's faint, but it's there. "No dangerous teenagers that I had to fight off. It was fine." 

"Fine?" 

"Fine." 

You don't want to let the silence set in. 

"Oh, yeah, we finished the leftover spaghetti earlier. For dinner. I hope that's okay." 

"No, it's terrible," he deadpans. "I hate you." 

"Asshole." 

"Whatever." Mike snickers, and you bask in its gloriousness. "Yeah, it's okay. I know that I probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway. Did you, uh … " He pauses for a split second. "… Did you like it?" 

His tone makes you wonder, but you hastily brush it off. "Yeah, I did," you clarify, "the sauce was pretty great. Was it store-bought, or?" Because if it was, then where can I get it?

"Yup," he replies, popping the 'p'. "Great stuff, for something that's canned. But I always add a little more garlic powder, too." 

"Oh, really?" 

Mike hums an affirmation. "It's like magic, I'm telling you. Doesn't even take a lot to add flavor." 

"That's cool." You rustle with your blanket again, adjusting it more out of habit than anything else. That, and it's kind of cold. "I'll try and remember it for later." 

He's almost cheeky when he speaks. 

"It's life-changing." 

You can't help but snort. "You sound like an addict." 

Incredulously, he glances at you. "To what? Garlic powder?" 

"Pretty much, yeah." 

"I can't believe that you'd say that." He slowly shakes his head, for the second time in the span of roughly a minute. "Especially as someone who's experienced it firsthand—" 

"—you're the one talking about how life-changing it is—" 

"—you can't possibly ignore the irresistible savoriness of garlic powder." 

You look at one another for a moment. The sheer absurdity of the situation sets in all at once. And, well. He starts giggling, and you can't hold it in, either. How could you? Even though he looks at least part zombie, his eyes are still very much alive. Despite the blatant awkwardness and lingering shyness that always follows him around, he's still got a very contagious laugh.  

After you both calm down, he lets out a long sigh. 

"It's getting really late." 

You cling to what little stubbornness remains. "Yeah?" 

"Are you gonna head home?" 

Again, there's something there. Despite his nonchalant attitude, it's almost like— 

—but you're probably overthinking. Wouldn't be anything new. He has to get some rest, and so do you. The drowsiness repeatedly threatening to tug your eyelids closed is a testament to that. Normally, you'd just pass out on the couch or something, and take off early in the morning; before Mike and Abby wake up. But now, it's different. Now, you actually have to make a choice before your sleepy body makes it for you. 

"Um." You rub your eyes again. "I mean. I could, if it's bothering you—" 

"It's not." 

He interrupts you so quickly that it catches you off-guard. It seemingly catches him off-guard, too, judging by the way he promptly averts his gaze and pretends to care about the guy on the television going on about some sort of plumber strike in the city. 

"Oh." You need a second to process. "Oh, okay. Well, in that case … I don't really think that it'd be safe for me to drive right now." You laugh, a little too airily for it to be completely genuine. "I'd probably fall asleep at the wheel or something." At least that's the truth. "I'll just take the couch. As usual." 

"Okay," he says. He's back to murmuring. 

"And I'll be gone before you eat breakfast." Subconsciously, you're fiddling with the slightly frayed edges of the blanket. It's well-loved. "As usual." 

You think you hear him suck in a breath, seconds before: 

"Why don't you stay?"  

Your own breath stutters in your chest. 

"... what?" Is all you can manage, without horrifically humiliating yourself. 

"I mean," he rushes to correct himself, "you come by sometimes because you want to spend time with Abby— she likes you a lot, you know, sometimes I think she likes you more than she likes me . I think—" He's properly nervous now, his knee bouncing up and down. But he's already continuing before you can get a word in. "I think she'd like you to be here in the morning. And you don't accept pay, anyway. You just— won't." 

His nervousness is spreading to you. "Hey, I—" 

"Why are you here, anyway?" 

The question sounds like it's been a long time coming. He's demanding you now, brow furrowed and eyes sparking with emotion. "Is it out of pity? Do you feel sorry for me? Do you feel sorry for Abby? Because if you do, then— then you can just—" 

"It's not!" You exclaim. 

Immediately, you realize that there's a sleeping girl not too far away, and shamefully lower your voice. 

"... It's not, I promise. I just—" It takes a little while for you to gather the right words, and when you do, you don't drop your gaze from him. All of his previous frustration is all but gone, replaced by a slightly wide-eyed expression that's making your heart ache a little. "I genuinely really like spending time with Abby, okay? She's really sweet, and creative, and just a really great kid. And I—" 

You stop yourself. 

"And you what?" Mike asks, gently. 

Might as well, huh? 

"And I really like spending time with you, too," you admit, finally unable to meet his eyes and focusing on your lap instead. 

There's an incredibly tense beat, in which you swear your life flashes before your eyes. 

Then: 

He's barely audible when he speaks. His knee has stopped bouncing, but he's playing with his thumbs. Clearly, your confession— vague as it was— resonated with him, in some way. You hope he understands what you meant, because you couldn't possibly put it all into words in a way that would make sense. 

"Feeling's mutual," he mutters. 

Your head almost snaps up at that. Maybe you had expected it, deep down— you're not oblivious, duh— but it's one thing to have a hunch, and another to have that hunch proven. And out loud, no less. 

"Yeah?" You dare to ask. 

Slowly, he looks up. He meets your eyes. 

"Yeah," he repeats breathlessly, like the wind's been knocked out of him. 

You let your blanket fall from your shoulders, and it slides all the way onto the floor. 

You reach out. 

He lets you lace your fingers through his. 

Mike's palm is sort of clammy— and he's shaking a little— but he still squeezes your hand. On instinct, you guess. It still makes you smile. He doesn't return it, but his lips are parted a little, and you really, really like that. More than you probably should. You like a lot of things about him more than you probably should. 

You scooch a little closer, and he doesn't move away. You let your gaze drop back down to his lips again, making your intentions clear. Still, you don't know if it's clear enough. You lean in, just barely. 

"... Can I?" 

His reply is almost instantaneous. 

"Please."  

You swallow all of the witty quips you could make, and kiss him instead. 

He's very tentative at first. Like he hasn't done this for a while. But you ease him into it— and before long, he's got one hand on the back of your neck, the other somewhere near your waist. He tastes like coffee and something else you can't really put your finger on. It doesn't really matter, though. Because you are kissing him, damnit! 

His eyes are still shut when you part— with a soft smack — but they flutter open after a second. You're not sure if you're supposed to say something meaningful. Luckily, he leans in instead, and your thoughts are immediately transported elsewhere. 

You kiss like this for a while. It's really nice, and you know he needs it. So do you. 

However— when you start losing track of time, lost in the moment, he makes a noise. 

It's quiet, definitely. But it's nothing like the little hums and sighs he's been making so far. It makes you shift closer, pressing more insistently into him. And he responds, enthusiastically wrapping his arms around you, closing the little distance between your bodies that there was. You can practically feel his heart jackrabbiting in his chest when you slip your tongue past his already kiss-swollen lips. 

He moans.  

You indulge yourself. For a little longer. And Mike chases you when you part. 

"We shouldn't do this in the living room," you whisper, nearly panting. "The couch is a little—" 

"Okay," he whispers back, already sounding wrecked. "Okay." 

You've been in his room before. You've sat on his bed— you've even laid on it before. But you've never straddled him on it before. It's a position that makes your head spin a little, and you occupy yourself with kissing him again. His hands fit perfectly on your hips, but they don't stay there for long, tragically— they trail upwards, up your waist, to your back. To your shoulders, and then back down again. It's as if he just can't get enough. You can't either. You need more. 

So, you tug at his shirt. He gets the message right away— hands scrambling to pull it up and over his head. He's still rather slim, but with a slight softness, mostly located in his midsection. There's a light dusting of dark hair on his chest, as well as the provocative happy trail leading down from his navel. You drag your eyes downward, admiring him, and then decide that you're wearing too much clothing. Your top comes off, dropped onto the floor near his. 

Mike takes more time to admire you when your torso is completely bare. His hands are warm on your bare skin, and slightly rough. Like before, he's hesitant at first, but when you encourage him— either literally or with physical indications— he grows bolder. His stubble scratches gently against you when his lips find your collarbone. 

You squirm a little, not even realizing it— and you feel him. Simultaneously, you both gasp. He's not fully there, but he's at least half-hard— and it can't be comfortable in those jeans. 

"Should I—" 

"Yeah—" 

With steady fingers, you unbutton his fly, and then unzip him. It's a little awkward when he shimmies out of the jeans, and when you wriggle out of your bottoms— you both snicker a little, but he's back to comfortably breathless when you settle back onto his lap. Under normal circumstances, you would tease him again. And yet, you can't bring yourself to. Not right now, at least. 

All you want to do is keep going. 

You roll your hips, testing the waters. His breath audibly hitches, and his hands fly up to settle back on your hips. He looks up at you, eyes already half-lidded— and they close when you grind down again. And again. His lips are clumsier this time when you kiss him, but he still reciprocates all the same. The sensation of him directly underneath you like this is intoxicating. You can feel every little twitch and every little jolt. 

"Fuck," he breathes, long and drawn-out, " God, I can— I can see the spot on your—" 

"Yeah?" You encourage, grinding down again, drinking in his answering groan. "You like that?" 

  "Yes —" 

"You want me to take 'em off?" 

Mike's pupils are blown wide, even though his eyes are already dark as is in the dimness of the room. He nods, once, then twice. "Yes," he murmurs. "Please," he adds, for good measure. 

He stares openly when you get off him, just enough to peel off your last remaining layer of clothing. And when you sit back down, well. It's obvious that you'll have to give him a second. "Can I," he says, finally, "can I touch you?" The way he's looking up at you again is just so sweet, so needy, that you consider saying no. Your throbbing core quickly shuts that idea down. 

"Go on," you encourage. 

He helps you move so he has easier access, and—  

His fingertips find your slit, already wet for him.

"Look what you did to me," you murmur. 

He visibly flushes— and then carefully works one finger into your slick heat. The feeling, combined with his thumb brushing against your clit— it's relief that you've needed this entire time, and you can't help but let a quiet sound escape your lips. It's apparently enough incentive for him to quicken his pace a little. Deliberately, he continues massaging your sensitive nub in a firm but easy pattern as he gently pushes a second finger inside you. 

Mike may be out of practice, but evidently, he still knows what he's doing. He peppers kisses up and down your neck, some more open-mouthed than others. Crooking his fingers, he maintains his diligent rhythm. A thought floats through your mind, unbidden— he must have strong hands, if he's been able to keep up like this—   

Two becomes three, and you're spreading your thighs a little wider for him. He's still transfixed, but speeds up at your urging, breath hot against the divot between your neck and shoulder. You chance a glance down, and you can see the visible outline of him through his boxers. You did that to him. He's desperate— for you. 

"Mike," you gasp, "nnh—" 

"Yeah, c'mon," he mouths, against your neck, "c'mon—" He's not letting up in the slightest, and when you tell him to, he speeds up again. He needs to see you cum just as much as you need to feel it. Your needs and wants are rapidly blending into one. You squeeze your eyes shut, but open them to look at him. His dark curls are a mess, his hand working tirelessly between your legs. 

  "Mike —" 

He says your name in return, like he's the one in the vulnerable position. 

"Mike , 'm gonna— 'm gonna—"  

"Please," his breaths are ragged, debauched, "cum, please, c'mon, lemme see it—" 

"Oh —" 

The tension snaps, and you spasm around his fingers. Your hips twitch, and you moan, your mouth falling open as you ride out your orgasm. You're rising— falling — molten honey pooling in your core, before flowing throughout your body. And Mike keeps going throughout it all, letting you enjoy the sensations until you're fully satisfied. 

Nearly boneless, you sag backward. His fingers, soaked with your glistening release, slip out of your cunt with a wet noise. He doesn't waste any time in bringing them up into his mouth, cleaning them off with his tongue— at the taste of you, he groans, even though it's muffled. Your mind takes a moment to catch up again with the world, but another thought manifests itself— how would he react, if you let him use his mouth on you? How would his head look between your thighs? He would be noisy, wouldn't he? Enthusiastic, pliant, and—

Your desire, although it waned for a short minute, comes back tenfold. But you take one look down again and— you can do that later. Right now, you want him inside you. 

Mike lets you tug him down for another kiss. He lets you feel the worn fabric on his thighs, almost playfully. When you palm him through them— he hisses through his teeth, hypersensitive even though you've barely touched him yet. You're going to fix that, though. Hooking your thumbs into the waistband of his boxers, you tug them down. 

You were right. He's desperate. As soon as his overheated skin meets the cool air, he lets out another quiet hiss. And when you take him in hand— 

"Mmh —" A firm stroke from base to tip, and you've already got him. He's average in length, but a little girthy. You know he'll be perfect. There's a little drop at the head of his cock, and you resist the urge to lick it off, focusing instead on warming him up a little. He whispers your name, once, when you pump up and down, twisting your wrist. 

"Got a condom?" You ask, stilling for a second. His eyes snap to you. 

"Oh my God, " he quickly mutters under his breath, before raising his volume, "uh, yeah, I think so. Lemme—" And he's already scrambling off the bed, opening the drawers of his nightstand with speed, but somehow simultaneously managing not to make much noise. He rifles through them, but soon emerges victoriously with what he was looking for. It's a little funny, how he doesn't waste any time in ripping it open and tossing the garbage into the mostly-overfull pail near his bed. Hastily, he rolls on the condom. You think he's expecting you to lay back or get up on your hands and knees so he can fuck you like that— you wouldn't be entirely opposed to it— but that's not what you want right now. 

You place your hands on his chest and push him back down so he's sitting against the headboard. He goes without complaint, even shifting when he understands what you want to do. He's flushed almost down to his neck. 

When you sink down on him in a smooth slide, still slick from earlier, you both moan. He sounds strained— he's biting his lower lip, squirming until he finally bottoms out. You have to take a moment to catch your breath, too; the fullness is just how you imagined, but it's so, so much, especially because of your lingering sensitivity. 

"I'm not—" He audibly swallows, hands tightening on your waist when you move just a little, "oh, fuck, I'm not gonna— I'm not gonna last long." He's babbling a little. "You're tight, fuck." 

You rock back and forth, once, and it's enough to force a choked noise from his throat. You watch his face, observing every little twitch, the clenching of his jaw. You can't hesitate for much longer, though— so you begin lifting yourself and dropping yourself down on his cock. Just in little movements at first, so you can get used to the feeling. His eyes squeeze shut— 

"Look at me," you demand, and he does. He doesn't try and thrust up into you when you really start to move. Up and down, up and down, with lewd plaps that accompany your sounds; his grunts—  you swear you hear him whimper .  His eyelashes flutter open and closed, as he struggles to follow your command, wanting to be good. For you. Even though you can see his thighs flexing as he holds everything back. You ride him for all you're worth. 

True to his words, you can tell when he gets close. Maybe he's been on edge this entire time. You thread your fingers through his hair— he buries his face into the crook of your neck, maybe out of embarrassment. You can feel how flushed he is, a thin sheen of sweat covering both of your bodies. Your muscles are aching, but you're determined to make him cum. You're determined to do this for him. 

He says your name, but it's more of a whine. "Please — I'm gonna— I can't — "  

"Go on," you pant, "you can. Don't hold back." Your arms are wrapped around his neck, now, holding him tight; just like his arms around your waist. The contact is almost too much, but somehow it's still not enough, despite him being inside you. "Go on," you repeat, after he whines again, the sound sending white-hot heat straight to your core. "Cum." 

Mike twitches, and you can feel him pulse— the sound he lets out is high-pitched, muffled into your skin. You slow your movements— the aftershocks of his orgasm last longer than yours. It might've been a little while for you, but it had definitely been longer for him. 

He doesn't let go, even after his breathing's slowed down. 

Gently, you pull his head back so you can look at him. He looks up at you with slightly wet eyes. The kisses you press to his cheeks and forehead make him scrunch up his face. 

"Hey," he rasps, "I gotta throw out the condom. Hang on." 

"Yeah, okay." 

When he slips out of you, you both sigh a little. With unsteady fingers, he ties up the condom before chucking it into the pail. 

The sheets are cool on your skin when he pulls them over you both. The room reeks of sex, but both of you are too exhausted to care. When you turn to lay on your side, he's behind you, throwing an arm over your waist. Tugging you closer. Almost absentmindedly, there's a kiss pressed to the back of your head. 

"Thank you," he mumbles. 

You stare at the far wall, unable to close your eyes just yet. 

"For what?" 

"For—" A pause. "For everything, I guess." 

The awkwardness is back. But you let it in. You smile. 

"You're welcome." 

He doesn't respond, but shuffles nearer, chest pressed up against your back. It's not long before you're both fast asleep.