#i love that language and the way i speak doesn't need to be coherent or make sense to anyone. its not a requirement of language

[fearcicada]

Was trying to write down my reasons for why I see certain tma characters as aromantic (AGAIN) and a lot of it is still always so related to the energy I get from them being disconnected from humanity. Like being aromantic and not experiencing love does not make you inhuman and love is not an inherent part of the human experience but it's like. U know how people shouldn't make all aro characters robots/uncaring/unfeeling etc but at the same time any time u see an uncaring/unfeeling/robot character u still wanna be like yes I'm making them aro.! Its the same thing here like you will never understand our warrior's bond (me and all the TMA avatars)

[to-be-a-dreamer]

I talked about this in the tags of a reblog but I need to expand on this because my brain is vibrating and it's all Hank Freaking Green's fault. This will not be coherent at all just roll with it.

I don't know if it was on purpose or not but the scene where The Fix and Pasha were flirting by exchanging fun facts did so so much for the Fix's character in my mind because like. Pasha is the only character we've seen who had a positive response to the Fix's fun facts right off the bat. (Presumably the orphans at the Home for Wayward Interests had positive responses but I'm specifically talking about on-screen reactions.)

The targets that the Fix talks to are so terrified by his facts that they just disintegrate on the spot. The DA is mildly annoyed at best by them. Even the other Prefrontal PIs are freaked out or confused by them at first. It takes a couple episodes for them to come around to his fun facts, especially after "half the bones in your body" one. It takes them some time to realize that that's just how The Fix communicates his thoughts and ideas. He uses his fun facts as a way to connect and bond with friends just as much as he uses them to intimidate his targets.

But Pasha is the first person we see and, presumably, one of the only people in The Fix's life to hear one of his facts and not only immediately accept and understand it to be a method of conversation, but to also respond with a fact of their own and have an entire conversation with The Fix in the way he feels most comfortable.

We've seen so many times that The Fix goes out of his way to try and appear less threatening or even avoid people altogether because he knows most people are scared of him because of his appearance. It takes him so long to convince the other Prefontal PIs that he's really not going to hurt Conrad (compare how quickly Dan is a part of the group and how his motives are never questioned despite how vocal he is about hating Conrad and being all too eager to turn him over to the police and/or have him murdered to how long it takes The Fix) and he doesn't even seem hurt by the idea that all these people think he would murder a child when he's clearly a very kind and loving person, especially to children.

He's just. Come to terms with the fact that everyone's first impression of him will be this big intimidating presence who enjoys hurting people. But he's not. He's just passionate about his job, like everyone else in the city. It just happens to be that his job is to keep Elias focused, which means letting go of the butterfly tails. When he's tasked with eliminating someone who doesn't seem like they need to be eliminated, he immediately stops and questions the case. As far as I can tell, he doesn't like to kill people, he doesn't do it for fun. He does it because that's his job, literally the only thing he was made to do. But he's come to accept that most people will always be afraid of him because of that job.

And then he meets Pasha, who immediately accepts his form of communication without question or confusion. Who isn't afraid or intimidated by him. Who isn't just entertaining his fun facts but is actively engaging and returning with her own. She is the first person (who isn't a child, who is the Fix's peer) that The Fix could talk to without having to explain himself. The first person who wasn't afraid or confused or annoyed by the way he expresses himself.

Like. I dunno I imagine it would almost be like moving to a foreign country as a child and not being able to speak in your native language because every time you do people are suspicious of you or annoyed that you aren't speaking the local language or just plain don't understand you, even if they're trying to be kind about it. And it's harder to explain yourself and express your thoughts in this new language but you learn and you adapt because it's the only way to survive. Then you meet someone who speaks your language. Someone who allows you to speak freely and for the first time you can actually express yourself fully and easily. And they're speaking back to you in the language you think in and for once you don't have to translate everything before you say it out loud and after you hear it. I think that would feel so freeing.

So yeah, I'm guessing that scene was supposed to be a silly goofy one-off gag that's just funny and cute but it genuinely means so much to me. Truly I don't get people who say The Fix isn't as deep or interesting as the other characters he is FACINATING to me and this isn't even touching on his relationship with Conrad or what he might be feeling after learning Ichabod was Pasha's brother. (If it gets revealed that Ichabod was one of The Fix's first hits I will lose it.)

Thank you for coming to my late-night nonsense ramblings I hope I was mildly entertaining

[lakesbian]

💝 for Rachel (for the ask meme)

💝 A headcanon about their love language

yeah these are def just shaping up to be analysis of canon vs. headcanons for most of 'em because we already have interesting canon answers for a lot of these questions but that's ok because that's fun too. this is gonna be a bit messy bc i'm real tired but anyway:

the long and short of it is that she's a dog. she loves like a dog. and i love how that behavior interacts w/ the specific way taylor is fucked up. it is So meaningful and compelling. taylor is for the most part absolutely incapable of admitting or even noticing when something has hurt her, let alone reaching out for support. she's very similar to brian in the sense that people verbally acknowledging that she's upset (generally synonymous with 'weak' in her mind) is intolerable to her, because ignoring and repressing that emotion is critical to her ability to force herself to stay standing & push herself thru the agony to achieve what she wants to achieve. there's this moment during the echidna fight where she sees wards verbally checking in w/ each other and she thinks that she's glad that her team would never ask if she's okay because she wouldn't be able to stop from breaking down if they did.

and the thing abt rachel's love language is that she's Direct About Everything All Of The Time Forever because she doesn't know how not to be. but it's not in a "asking if someone is okay" way, because even that is a level of indirectness, of giving someone the option to say "yes" and reject comfort! she instead directly notices when taylor isn't okay, and moves straight to offering comfort without forcing taylor to experience the weakness of admitting that she needs it. she's not great with words--she frequently feels frustrated by not knowing how to communicate what she wants to communicate--so instead she shows love through simple, blatant acts of physical affection, devotion, and trust. she's the equivalent of a big ole dog that just silently huffs and climbs into your lap when you're sad, and you can't do a damn thing about it because you're getting cuddled now and that's just how it is. she doesn't force taylor to acknowledge the situation to her, she simply notices when taylor needs a hand to hold and very firmly grabs taylor's hand. she's silently, unobtrusively understanding. she sees things as they are, and responds not with social niceties, but with firm and direct kindness. if you start crying while she's sitting next to you, she won't make a big deal out of it, she'll just keep sitting next to you. and that's exactly what taylor needs--affection and comfort sans expectations for her to have any sort of coherent explanation or conduct.

the devotion & trust is also Sooo. auugh. ough. when taylor turns herself into the PRT and she's unquestionably faithful that taylor has a plan, regards everyone else like they're idiots for having even the slightest sliver of doubt in her. during gold morning, when she willingly steps into taylor's field of control, saying that taylor is smart & to let her do what she needs to do. there's this moment during the behemoth fight that i think a lot about where rachel says "you have a plan" in response to taylor, y'know, having a plan, and taylor sort of confusedly reads it as smug & then satisfied without really grasping why. and the reason why is that rachel has put up with so much social bullshit she doesn't understand--the way the undersiders interact w/ her, coil, the prt--and taylor, without fail, has made things make sense. she's the only undersider to successfully speak to rachel on terms she fully understands, the one to kill coil, the one who soundly trounces the heroes every time. whenever things are confusing or scary or nonsensical, taylor, smart and strong taylor, fixes them with her plans. the earth is cracking and coming apart around them, because There's A Fucking Kaiju, but it's okay, because taylor is there, and rachel knows taylor will always make sure things turn out alright. genuinely doglike levels of unquestionable devotion, where there are ways she understands taylor more intimately than anyone else on the planet, and there are ways she can never understand taylor, but she still unquestionably trusts her enough to place her life in her hands. taylor even remarks that rachel trusts her too much when she steps into her radius during gold morning--and the reason that rachel trusts her too much is because she trusts like a dog trusts their person. i've seen ppl say that taylor is rachel's dog, but no, rachel is 100% taylor's dog. she loves that girl like a dog would. it rocks. autism forever.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Rose Recaps Rose Tinted Glasses It's been three months since I made a post thanking this community for being a place for me to share my love of BL.

And since then, every day I feel a little bit more comfortable here.

This place is so special to me for so many reasons and the fact that I found it is a small miracle. I was talking with my friend Neely about something BL related and they told me that they think I'm doing much better since I came here. So thanks again.

I was never a part of any online fandom. And before BL I never really felt like I was missing something. Maybe because I always found someone irl that I could freak out about whatever I was watching I never really felt the need to go look.

And the people here are exceptionally kind. Before, I made a point to never engage much online, except for certain support groups, because of the hate that sometimes exists in certain spaces. So I was very much surprised by the kind humans that exist in this bl fandom in this corner of the internet.

Also. There is some serious brilliant people here. Look giffing is not easy, it takes a long time, sometimes you spend so much time with a set only to hate it by the end and never posting it. And sometimes you post something and you're really proud and crickets. And sometimes you post it just so it doesn't go to waste and all of a sudden it explodes. It's all part of the magic.

I keep my sets pretty simple so I'm in awe of how some people make these beautiful art pieces with layers and colouring and typography. It's incredible and I applaud your creativity and patience.

Speaking of brilliance, I'm constantly in awe of the meta writers. That shit is not easy.

It takes way longer than we think, to make it neat and readable, adding gifs or shots to illustrated a point, sometimes wasting so much time finding the gif you want in the mess that is the gif search (I understand it now, cause yesterday I was on the hunt and it would've been quicker to make the damn gifs), and reviewing it before posting, changing it in the process, sometimes leaving it in drafts because the idea is not completed. I'm tired just thinking about this. I'm not able to do that. Sure I can talk for hours about this stuff but actually organize my ideas into a coherent point of view and writing it down. Nope. Not me. So bravo meta writers. I applaud you.

And of course all the people that share the stuff that really matters. Like the colours, the wardrobe, the places we see, the news about what's coming, language nuances, pictures of the pretty people in sometimes ridiculous or beautiful outfits, sometimes the pretty people before shirts were invented, and some of the funniest commentary I ever encountered.

I don't wanna single people out by tagging them because truly there are way too many. So I just want to thank some people that helped me navigate this place and made this time so enjoyable. First and foremost. @twig-tea You were the first person I talked to here and you were so kind and patient with me and my awkwardness and lack of knowledge of how this place works. She also writes great meta and is brilliant and everyone should be following her. @lurkingshan because of the Sahara-Sensei post that you tagged me in and made me feel so seen. @pharawee because IFYLITA just wouldn't have been the same without your sets. @respectthepetty because she helped get the colour coded subs right and she appreciates the bokeh in all its glory. @itsallaboutbl for screaming with me in portuguese. @mikuni14 Because she's been so incredible kind to me. @iguessitsjustme because of many reasons. And If I ever reblogged anything from you, consider yourself tagged in this post. All of you are amazing. And finally...

@blmpff for a lot but mostly for the most unexpected and incredible moment I experienced in this short time. The day that a bird took over my dash. Khun Feathers was such a treat and this masterpiece was the highlight of the day.

image by @blmpff It's been a wonderful year and I look forward to see what happens tomorrow. Wishing you all a happy new year!💜

[dushpshpsh]

Okay, okay, I took my time to tune into the right wavelength before starting to talk about our campaign here

The biggest block for me has been, and still is, the need to translate my stream of thoughts into English, which inevitably leads to cutting down my vocabulary of a back-alley bydlo. But I’ve come up with a compromise! In cases where I can’t find a sufficiently funny translation for a particular phrase, I’ll leave it in the original language and explain its meaning.

While I’m learning to structure my thoughts into coherent text, you’re learning my Russian curses. Everyone’s going to suffer.

First, let me introduce you to our party in more detail:

Tenurr-la — my character, you already know her. A young Khajiit of the Om-Rat variety. She grew up in the Mages Guild of Leyawiin from an early age, and she doesn't know her parents. Born under the sign of the Serpent, she studies the stars and dreams of entering the University of Magic. She's sharp-tongued and doesn’t filter her speech much, not really caring that her directness might offend someone. In reality, she knows when and what to say and what not to, but she doesn't care to think about her words.

Versed-in-Herbs (shortened to "Otrava") — an @aethismantis 's Argonian from Black Marsh, a talented alchemist who took everything she could from her mentor and went to Cyrodiil to study. A completely logical, mathematical being driven by practicality. Literally a true neutral. Many social rituals that we use are incomprehensible to her, but she’s learning them and refers to us as her "pack" (I’m not crying, I’m not crying)

Mistery Landau — a Dunmer and talented battle mage, Tenurr’s friend from their Guild. His past is shrouded in mystery, even to him, but despite his cold, aristocratic demeanor and destructive power in battle, he's incredibly kind and socially awkward — a sweet boy. Until he was 16, he lived in isolation in his father’s library, who mysteriously disappeared, and only recently began to explore the wider world and learn how to communicate. And his friends are a cat who doesn’t watch her speech and an autistic lizard. The bro was doomed from the start. Recently, we learned that Mistery’s father sold his soul to Vermina in exchange for his own, and that’s why Mistery has been plagued by terrible nightmares all his life. Now his father is dead and abandoned him out of shame. Father of the year, really

Alexius Diero — this is an NPC Imperial who travels with us. A former captain of the Imperial Guard with terrible bad luck in life. Bro has really been through the wringer by the time he hit forty, and he blames the Serpent sign under which he was born, just like Tenurr. Strictly speaking, the dates of his worst streaks of misfortune really did coincide with the nights when the Serpent slithered across the stone near Leyawiin, so Alexius (or as we affectionately call him, Leha) was determined to find a way to change his birth sign. He was, because Tenurr convinced him otherwise, and I’ll make a separate post about it later, hehe Leha is a simple, honest man with a strong sense of duty, but an absolute emotional log, shaped by life. And he’s also Tenurr’s love interest, which is a problem for both of them because they’re both too proud 🤗 And for Tenurr, this is her first crush 💕

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I just randomly found ur blog and am now OBSESSED with the whole avian!mumbo concept

…….tell me everything there needs to be known abt it please I want to draw little bird boy (even tho my main way of doodlin mumbo is vampire but I WANT BIRD)

(apologies for the ramble I live laugh love moustache man)

(here's the previous avian!mumbo post for anyone curious)

It has taken me far too long to get the chance to respond to this ask and I have been so impatient because adjsaklfhaskghjd someone actually saw and enjoyed my unedited babbling about avian!mumbo :')

anyways I think I already said most of what I have coherent ideas on, and the rest is just nebulous vibes and happiness and fluff and hurt/comfort potential, but! I can share doodles and also reiterate/expand upon stuff I have already said

(putting it below a cut so I can make it soso long)

WING FLAPPIES!! I feel like this would definitely be something he'd appreciate about having wings, because I feel like it would be a more satisfying expression of emotion than like. stomping or bouncing or whatever. He would also totally struggle to control his avian body language, you can read his wings/ears/tail like a book, he's so unused to paying attention to and stifling his bird gestures. (Grian finds this beyond hilarious especially, because he can read Mumbo even better than everyone else being another avian)

His wings are red and black, though I haven't entirely decided if I'm gonna switch which goes where to make it match Grian's wings better. Since Grian is a Scarlet Macaw, Mumbo really ought to be too, but that would look just. so goofy. with his color scheme

AND SPEAKING OF LOOKING GOOFY- his wings look so silly for the first couple weeks. Until the feathers grow in properly, they're just kind of gradually more fluffy. raw chicken. wings. stuck to his back. because that's what baby parrots look like apparently! And then also pin feathers, before finally being pretty feathery bird wings

He also just accidentally passively collects the other members of Boatem's clothes. Grian does this too, but intentionally. Mumbo just does it without realizing and then gets confused about it because he doesn't understand the whole nesting thing, so someone else has to explain it to him

Oh and Mumbo tries to just go about his life without any changes or accommodations for his wings at first, because he doesn't want to ruin his clothes or generally have to change his routines. Grian and the others do not put up with this and persuade him to take proper care of the wings instead (<- this is a constant uphill battle for months)

On a more overarching note, Mumbo initially Does Not Like the wings, because they're just tiny and kind of ugly things that get in the way of his elytra and make him have to get all his shirts edited and they don't really do anything but cause him problems. Then once the wings start getting feathers and stuff and they have to start making preparations for learning to fly, it kind of becomes a bit of a bonding thing that brings Boatem together, with Mumbo starting to get used to them and accept them, and everyone else being able to help out with their care some (preening, stretches and exercises...).

Ultimately (probably sometime around HC 9), Mumbo ends up quite loving his wings in the long run. Once they're fully grown they're actually pretty impressive (since he's so tall they end up being a fair bit larger than Grian's, much to his annoyance) and Mumbo ends up putting a fair bit of effort into their upkeep and keeping them all nice looking (at least, when he's not too busy with other projects). He does still find a bunch of the other avian traits a little embarrassing (nesting, chirping, dietary restrictions, wings giving away his thoughts...) but he gets used to them.

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I saw The Wild Robot a few days ago, and I think I would need to see it again to know how I feel about it. Visually, it was gorgeous: the coloring, layout, animation, effects, etc etc were all just a treat to look at, and while it seems to be following the recent trend of blending aspects of 2D and 3D, it's stylistically distinct from the others. Like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, it would've been worth seeing for the art alone even if everything else had sucked. I felt like the score was doing a lot of heavy lifting in terms of narrative and emotion as well. I did cry a couple times in the theater.

That said, I couldn't help but be hung up on the writing the whole time I was watching it. It often felt too straightforward and preachy. There were multiple times where a character would make a statement about an emotion and I would wish that we had instead gotten to witness the emotion for thirty seconds instead. (To be clear, this isn't an issue with Roz or overly literal robot speech styles: that's my jam and I love it. All characters were guilty.) This would ruin most movies for me, but again, the art and music were carrying so hard that I'd end up feeling the emotion anyway.

It also felt like the pacing was strange: it felt very storybookish in that one thing happened and then another thing happened and then another thing happened and now the movie's over. There were three climaxes: Brightbill's migration, Roz saving all the animals from the blizzard, and the final robot fight, but all of them felt like they were fairly equally weighted so each subsequent one felt less impactful because, what, again?

I feel like I would have liked the movie better if:

1. Less dialogue period. Maybe Roz is the only one who speaks, and the animals communicate through body language. If they must talk, maybe rather than learning animal language through a scan in a montage, Roz slowly learns their language throughout the film from the ones she's close to. I feel like that would've been more impactful for their relationships and the theme of Roz having to learn how to do things differently than she was programmed to. (see footnote)

2. If they took out that stupid old freaking goose. Mentor death was a layer that did not really add to the movie, the goose wasn't there long enough for me to care, and having one old goose who doesn't hate Brightbill for some reason doesn't really help connect him to the other geese at all. Have him form a connection with someone rather than having this wise old grandpa bird show up out of nowhere for no good reason. I'm not even glad he died because I'd rather he hadn't been in the movie at all.

3. Give the movie a little more time and use it wisely. Everything is in montage form. Give us a couple non-montage scenes of the characters doing stuff together so it's more impactful when they break up. Alternatively, take away at least one of the three climaxes so the focus doesn't feel so scattershot.

4. Tie the human civilization into the themes more. I don't think there should actually be humans in the movie, but there seems to be something there about how the animals learn they're stronger together, and the human civilization seems to have sealed itself away from nature in biodomes (probably for safety from the effects of climate change), and they chase the geese away, unlike Roz, who takes all the forest animals into her own dome-shaped house. But like, the humans seem to be doing fine. I feel like it'd be way more interesting if there were background glimpses of things beginning to fall apart juxtaposed with the shiny advertisement videos for the robots. I think it'd help make that theme of outward focus and making the world a better place stand out more.

In conclusion, I do think it's a very beautiful and worthwhile movie to see. However, it could have been a masterpiece with less heavyhanded writing and tighter, more coherent theming and plot. And that kinda bugs me. It could've been perfect.

(Footnote: Pet peeve territory, but it also would've made more sense. Roz is presumably programmed to pick up human language with grammar and syntax, and while I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for talking animals in an animated movie, they are absolutely not talking like humans would be even if they appear to be speaking English for the audience's convenience. That montage literally showed Roz doing like a find-and-replace language reconstruction on those little projector screens, and like... really? Animals have a language that is analogous to human language structures and nobody has put that together yet or it would be in Roz's database. Shut up. People have been WISHING animal communication worked like that for ages, but it doesn't. No way algorithms designed for human language syntax structures would work on animals and no one would know. Either handwave it completely or get me a semi-satisfying explanation; don't put that crap on the screen and force me to think about it.)

[iridescentis]

VIOLETTA EP5 WOOOO

i love the theme song so much

i love the way ludmila calls tómas 'tom' in a british accent im not sure why she does but it's very funny

ewww gregorio you don't just take someone's glasses off and keep them wtf man

bro broke her heart already and they haven't even spoken longer than 5 minutes get your head out of your ass tómas

i love the dynamic with jade and mati (i think that's his name? that's what she said at least) they are so chaotic

what is león wearing

oh wonderful another boy saving violetta we really need that but also THAT'S HOW YOU LEAVE SOMEONE AFTER HELPING THEM, THAT WAS SWEET!

sir i dont think you can just expel someone because you want to

jade is so much fun

violetta i love you but what the fuck was that dramatic ass run upstairs honey

SHE HAS A POINT if she told him what happened she'd be grounded or something

fran you are embarrassing yourself

my loves <333 they can do no wrong i adore them

oh nooo the second embarrassment is killing me tómas what are you doing???

STOP CUTTING HER OFF what do you mean 'you speak the same language' YOU THINK HER NAME IS OLGA AND THAT SHE WORKS THERE YOU ARE SPEAKING YOUR OWN LANGUAGE SIR

IM SORRY GREGORIO THROWING A TANTRUM IS SO FUNNY sir as i said previously you need wine and a bath hun

okay...so león is planning to steal violetta from tómas who doesn't even have her in the first place do any of these kids have coherent thoughts

awh i could cry over angie and vilu they are the sweetest

pablo if you are in love with angie please say it now i would like to plan your future for you <3333 THE WAY HE LOOKS AT HER

why does everyone think it is the end of the world for violetta to like a boy like this is really not a big thing

angie... this is not an endearing moment he is a bad father please run I REPEAT THIS IS NOT ENDEARING HE IS A BAD FATHER

girl...honey... stalking is not the key to a boyfriend

SIR ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH MY WIFE??? FUCK OFF THAT IS MY WIFE

YOU CAN'T HUNT YOUR DAUGHTER'S 'BOYFRIEND' THAT'S NOT HOW LIFE WORKS

i love the mixed song

LET HER LIVE LIKE SHE SAID MAN WHY IS SHE BEING IMPRISONED

pablo needs a raise for dealing with all of this

YES ANGIE TELL HIM

OH??? ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO THE SCHOOL?? please for fuck sake it's been five episodes can we please go to the school violetta

ALRIGHTY THAT'S IT :D

[mjjune]

Hi buddy! Its Athena, I'm sending this out to all my mutuals - what got you into writing, what inspires you, who inspires you and what music inspires you to write? what do you love about writing?

Hello new mutual!!

Oh man, I don't know what got me into writing other than it's just how my brain works, and even before I could physically write, I think I just knew that I needed a lot of words, and stories, to get the ideas across the way that they needed to. I think that's really what I love most about writing, is that it seems to be the best way for me to communicate and get the ideas I'm exploring across to others in a way that's actually coherent. Speaking just doesn't work for me. Writing does. And finally having others see and understand these ideas the way I understand them is why I write.

My friends inspire me, my favorite authors inspire me, other languages inspire me, my favorite music inspires me! Writers here on writeblr inspire me <3

[khaosophist]

Thank you for sharing.

The strength this woman exhudes. her nudity, and position giving a sense of vulnerability. Her laying on her own wing for comfort gives a sense of being habituated with solitude. Then, there are the flowers and life in contrast to her fleshy monster colours. She is natural, yet stands out in nature. Where does she come from? Is she okay? The subtle scales. The webbed tail, and dorsal fins showing an adaptive being alongside it's wings, claws, and talons. The fact her hair is closer in colour to the nature around her is as if the most anthropormorphizing aspect of her is her hair, and not her torso. The freaking relationship between her frailer arms and her strong claws. I love this girl. But she doesn't exist. But then I have trans-existential leanings so, I don't know. I hope she has sharky teeth! NOM!

Is she sapient? At what point is one meeting a monster girl rather than studying one? If she's sapient, then what language does she speak? How does her age come into play? How far does definition go for characterization?

What is a monster girl?

I think I was first introduced to the concept of 'Monster Girl' because of monster girl quest. I remember losing on purpose, and eventually moved away from it as it became clear it's intended audience became more niche. When I think about how it was presented in the monster girl encyclopedia it was like the fantasy to me was that sexuality became something uncontrollable, like there was a partner out there that was just going to be obssessed with their partner no matter how bad they are because they need sex, or die. Even then, the way the monsters were set up, some clearly were set up with certain features for different interests. Man, there's so much sexual assault in those areas. I'm glad I moved away from that. Now it's just about them, how they live as beings. It reminds me of how tentacle hentai was, I think, to me, almost always sexual assault. That led me again to add consent to these situations. The absence of monster boys in my experience with MGQ and MGE ironically showed how being masculine was basically being seen as a sexual object, or a tool. The roles reversed showed a way that women could feel. Surrounded by monsters that think they need sex, demand sex, take sex, using their interests, and context, to rationalize their entitlement.

So we have fiction giving space to sexual assault. I removed it. Adding (Enthusiastic) consent, and Equalising monster girls with monster boys, (And removing the shotacon aspect) made it more palatable to me. How does one woo a hellhound, a woman like the one in this piece? Respect them? Understand them? Extending empathy, affection, friendship based on interests, and context. How would cross-species interactions work?

One constant was how most were just anthropomorphic. So how would consent work between vastly different species? In truth these questions are rhetorical for myself. In the sense that I don't really care about a coherent answer because it's fantasy. But that doesn't mean no fantastical questions should be answered coherently.

The child in me wants to give her a big old steak, or a big sandwich...I want her to protect me, and I want to protect her. We could fly as much as swim! A primordial force. I'd hope she liked me...Maybe even romantically...I'd be honest about my feelings, and hope we can grow as people together.

Another aspect of monster girls is how their qualities are transferred through metaphor to personality like we can sometimes see in furry fandoms through the choice of animal in a fursona. However, I realize some may just be characters. Lol. Projection!

Anyways, fursonas and mobsonas are like philosophical homunculi, rather than represent the sensitivity of senses, they represent our sensitivity to ideas. A good example is shown in "Homunculus", however: it is more humanist in it's treatment of trauma, where the protagonist just sees the person WITHOUT a homunculi when the trauma is dealt with.

I love monster girls.

Tired tired

I liked this girl's colors so I wanted to draw her again. One more time and I'll need to think of a name ^^

[borom1r]

ace attorney asks!! (I'm sorry you're having a night,, I hope it doesn't stay that way ❤❤) ummm I would actually love to hear if you have any side/case-specific characters you're fond of and why!! & if you'd like smth more specific, I would love to hear abt either maya + miles bestie-isms or maybe how you think franziska & phoenix's relationship is after he and miles are officially together!!!

I feel like this is sooo obvious but Jake Marshal!! also Ron and Dessie DeLite!

idk that I have a lot of specific Thoughts abt them but they were all rlly standout characters to me

I also enjoyed Hugh and Robin, actually— Robin is so transfem to me. in my heart of hearts she’s trans 💞

there r honestly so many characters I wld love to see Come Back who like, obviously Won’t but still. Godot I am biting u soso much. this is not coherent im sorry but I would rlly truly genuinely love a prequel focusing on Mia n Diego like pleeeeeeease!!! PLEASE!!!!!!! give Mia her own game for realsies it’s what she deserves 😩

+ like OUGH. Maya Miles bestie hours.. I think, particularly early on wrt him n Phoenix reconnecting, he can be.. not more GENUINE per se, but he certainly puts less pressure on himself to try and hit some like. ideal the way he does w Phoenix. and not even necessarily consciously, but like, Maya doesn’t have this idealized childhood savior version of him propped up in her head.

and this is like, Me Projecting bc hey I can do that :3 but I’ve started trying 2 like. give myself more space to actually BE nonverbal when im overstimulated instead of forcing myself to maintain verbal communication— and I think Maya knows sign language from her childhood with Mia (Mia figuring out quickly that it was a good way for them to communicate if/when Maya went non-verbal— and Mia probably being the only person she felt comfortable signing with bc, well, she’s so bubbly and outgoing and really, she can’t POSSIBLY be non-verbal, they all know the moment she TRIES she’ll be talking their ears off!! So Maya forces herself to talk around the adults and signed with Mia).

and her recognizing overstimulation in Miles before he’s even really giving himself the space to recognize it himself— coming over to annoy him because he NEVER visits Phoenix and she gets it but she MISSES him and… stopping when she sees the way his shoulders hunch and his fingers clench around his pen and he’s staring pointedly at the papers on his desk because he’s been TRYING to focus, trying to force himself to function like a NORMAL adult (except not really; he’s aiming for Von Karma standards whether he wants to admit it or not and that’s not exactly normal). Maya gently tapping the desk to get him to look and signing, and the mixture of relief and sheer confusion when he realizes she’s providing accommodations he’d never admit to needing while also having absolutely no idea what she just said.

That first evening passes with Maya signing while speaking softly, and Miles writing his responses on a spare notepad, but slowly he learns more and more from her until he’s practically fluent too— they can spend a whole evening conversing about the chaos of the legal world and the equally chaotic reworks to Steel Samurai lore without ever saying a word out loud, and those are moments Miles always treasures

(and, when Phoenix stops him one night when he’s particularly overstimulated, clumsily signing “it’s okay, Maya’s teaching me” Miles feels so grateful to know her that he could, possibly, cry. He admits to nothing, but he does text her that she’s his favorite person in the world. She quickly responds “we both know that’s actually Nick, but ily2 ^u^” and it’s definitely one of those moments where it hits him that he Has A Family Now, For The First Time In Years)

ALSO Maya feels very much like the kind of person to say “I love you” very liberally. Especially because of how young she lost Mia + feeling like she didn’t let her sister know enough, even if her feelings are complicated. so I’m sure you can imagine the sort of (very hushed) gossip that goes around whenever people catch Maya leaving (Miles giving her a one armed hug and unable to stop himself from smiling a little even as he TRIES to glower intimidatingly at his subordinates while Maya exclaims “okay BYE Mr. Edgeworth LOVE YOU!! Good luck in court, you better come to game night!!!”)

(he does, of course, come to game night)

(Maya has definitely channeled a spirit to win at LEAST twice and they have yet to decide if it counts as cheating or not since technically it’s not looking up an answer!! but also it is kinda looking up an answer.)

+ lastly ok I’ve probs talked abt this before but I do like the idea that they maintain the sort of silly rivalry they start with but more in a “if you turn my brother into even MORE of a fool you WILL face my wrath, Phoenix Wright” “pffft yeah right, Maya will never let you live it down if you break out the whip at dinner on Saturday” “…I will exact my revenge in other, more subtle ways.”

She sends him a Top Ten Scariest Things Caught On Camera compilation at three in the morning one night (thank you different time zones, she loves being in a different time zone) and he texts back “I hate you >:(“ but they are both laughing. There’s no one he would trust to take care of Maya more than her and there’s no one she would trust to care for Miles more than him.

Also I’ve DEF talked abt it from Phoenix’s POV (texting her at night to confirm Maya’s safe when he has nightmares about her being kidnapped/in danger) but Franziska ABSOLUTELY texts him every now and then like “Miles is there?” and Phoenix knows she would never outright admit to either him or Miles how much Miles’ “death” affected her. Asking if he’s there (safe, nearby, a phone call away) is as close they’ll get — Phoenix always responds as soon as he can (“yep, we’re making dinner!” or “he’s at his office, I’ll see him in forty minutes for lunch” or “he and Maya have a coffee date, you can double check with her but I wouldn’t wanna interrupt their Steel Samurai gossip session”)

She doesn’t always respond, but Phoenix gets it, and he’s always happy to let her know— he’s okay just getting a one-word (or sometimes one letter, if it’s super late for her) response about Maya, but he knows she needs more detail to put her mind at ease (Evidence is key, after all; you can’t build a perfect case without all the information) and he’s happy to provide

They definitely all have dinner together once a week (either just the four of them out at a restaurant, or their entire “family” at one of their houses— Miles and Phoenix, Trucy, Maya and Franziska, Klavier and Apollo, Pearl, Kay, Emma, Athena and Juniper, Simon if he’s feeling up to group interactions, Gumshoe and Maggie if they’re in town, even Larry sometimes). It gets hectic and usually they only get EVERYONE together for holidays, but all of them spent so long with nothing, losing everyone they loved, that having such an ABUNDANCE of connection really is something for them to revel in.

[f-o-x-t-r-o-t]

Steph/Jay/Rose thoughts include: Rose and Steph on either side of Jason taking turns edging him through the night while pawing and sucking at his chest with whoever gets him to cum gets to pick the strap for tonight.

Rose ordering the two of them to only speak in one specific language through the night and if they break that then they don't get to cum.

Steph having Jason deepthroat her more normal-shaped dildos to lube it up and then kinda tying it up like a gag and going down on Rose while he watches with his mouth occupied. Taking it out of his mouth after the two get at least 3 orgasms from each other and it's just covered in his saliva, praising him for keeping it in so long while he gasps for air.

Jay and Steph getting teased and edged by Rose for literal days on end, there are no breaks or safe times, they wanna get themselves off so badly but she hasn't given them permission yet so they just keep waiting and waiting, and when she finally gives them permission the two just straight up tackle her onto the floor.

OH! These are all so hot!

Jason's contacts are acting up one day and they find out Jason needs and owns glasses so they come to a logical conclusion and fuck him in them. They keep slipping off from sweat, the lens are fogging up from the heat of his body, and there's tons of condensation build-up. One of them keeps trying to straighten them out but the glasses immediately start skewing and bouncing again from the other's thrusts. Jason has to read an entire chapter of his current book out loud and he's not allowed to cum until he completes the chapter. Every time he messes up a word or stutters, he has to start the chapter over. Let's just say it takes a while for him to get off that day.

I think Steph deserves to be bratty. She's patronizing when she doms, but when subbing, she loves to be difficult. Steph gets into this mixed dom/sub headspace when Rose is domming her but Jason's the one pleasuring her. So Jason's fucking her being the delightful service top he is, crying and losing it over how good it feels and Steph is telling him what a good boy he's being. But she's constantly mouthing off to Rose who orchestrated this whole position. So Rose has Jason stop and pull out then flips Steph over and spanks her because "Your disobedience leads to both of you being punished."

Rose has an insatiable libido, it comes with the accelerated healing territory. So she's always dtf, but sometimes she really likes edging her subs on and won't let them touch her. This in turn acts as a form of edging to herself which works Rose up even more. As a way to raise the stakes, she'll take one of their dildos and fuck herself with it in front of Jay+Steph. She'll never admit that they feel better than the dildo [they know ;)] but the sounds of their whines and pleas do help her get off even stronger.

Rose wrapping a hand around one of their necks and kissing them softly while they grind against her thigh

Steph or Rose pulling Jason down to sit on their lap, but he doesn't sit all the way/relax because he's afraid of being too heavy and hurting them. They roll their eyes and yank him so he's cradled or straddling them and give him kisses. Then they have him ride their thigh because even though Jason has the thighs to end all thighs, Rose and Steph aren't slacking on leg day. He's hiding his face in their shoulder or neck while moaning mindlessly.

Steph, who just absolutely loves having her hair pulled and emits the most erotic moans when anyone does

Steph, who loves to talk during sex, and Jason, who's just downright noisy (but not actually...ya know, coherent) having Rose strap them to ball gags as punishment. Or Rose saying they have to be completely quiet during sex or they aren't allowed to cum.

Rose is away on a mission and calling them. Her guiding Jason through touching himself & how he needs to cum. Steph shadowing to make sure he's following orders and rules to a T. Jason being jealous because Steph has free range to touch herself whenever, but Jason can only cum when both of them are there to guide.

when they're all worn out from a long, brutal mission, the sex is soft and loving. Holding hands and soft caress as a way to apologize for the rest of the world. Rose, usually a strict dom who likes to have her rules followed, melting to absolute putty, the softest dom ever, when she recognizes what her partners need.

[bruciemilf]

,,,, russian bruce wayne

Russian Bruce Wayne

RUSSIAN BRUCE WAYNE -

Listen. Listen. Not fully compacted into something coherent, but I'll do my best, because this idea has been haunting me, -

SO he's russian on his mother's side!! Martha Wayne immigrated in America when she was a teenager, nothing to her name but hope in her chest and her mother's pearl necklace in her pocket

She always got ugly looks for speaking in her native language and her accent. Slowly, it melted into something perfectly English, but she still spoke Russian at home and especially to Bruce

Little Bruce loved Baba Yaga as a kid and dressed like her for Halloween every single year; Nobody really understood it, but a glare from Alfred was enough to fill a bag full of candy

Martha and Bruce would talk shit in front of Thomas' faux philanthropist friends, but they were on wildly different spectrums

Martha, whispering: You see that man, Brucie? He sold his soul to greed. He's a worm of a human and his morals are rotten. That's why his eyes are dead

Bruce: haha, he's balding at 25

Martha, Alfred, and Bruce cooking beef stroganoff, syriniki, borscht, and Bruce's absolute favorite- pirozhki.

Martha also played the piano and LOVED Swan Lake so, so much. It was the one song that calmed Bruce during night terrors.

When he reaches eight, it all stops.

He eventually reconnects with his Russian roots in his 20s, when he's in college and his literature teacher shares a DISRESPECTFULLY incorrect opinion about one of Dostoevsky's works.

His teacher scoffed, " Well. Didn't know we had a Russian citizen here. "

" Not a citizen, but I AM a Russian descendent. My mother was an immigrant. That's kind of how America was formed. It's a pretty significant thing that happened."

Imagine you're a Gotham criminal and Batman starts muttering things about you in Russian. Somehow that's even more intimidating than anything he does.

" I can't believe they're more afraid of someone who doesn't speak English than a guy who beats up people dressed as a bat."

Alfred hums, sloooowly pulling away the vodka cereal Bruce made. " I can't imagine why. You're the poster child for mental health, sir."

" Not funny, papachka"

" For you."

When Dick is brought into the nest, Bruce struggles a bit with showing his affections; He only has money to offer, but Dick is happily uninterested in that, and seeks Bruce out instead.

BRUCE ABSOLUTELY SPENDS AN ENTIRE NIGHT TRYING TO PERFECT HIS MOTHER'S BAKLAVA FOR DICK!!

yes he's supposed to be on patrol. No, he doesn't care, Jim. It's all worth it when Dick takes a single bite and he has stars in his eyes and vines his little but strong arms around him, " this is PERFECT! Thank you so much, dad"

Air freezes in his blood, " ... Of course, ptichka."

He absolutely uses russian proverbs all the time (mostly when his children need to be reprimanded and reminded that making jokes is illegal when they're on duty)

JASON AND BRUCE FIGHTING OVER TRANSLATIONS AND CONTEXT IN ENGLISH ADAPTATIONS OF SLAVIC LITERATURE!

" PAPI, THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY MEANT TO SAY!"

" MISKHA I'M SO GRATEFUL YOUR GRANDMA ISN'T HERE, BECAUSE SHE'D DIE AGAIN IF SHE HEARD YOU SAY THAT!"

Damian 100000% prides himself on knowing russian and communicating with Bruce the smoothest.

It becomes a competition soon enough. Bruce is SO tired but the way they butcher words is funny, so he just pretends they're right.

The League finds out when Bruce snaps and calls Hal Cyka in a low, angry mutter while stomping away from his stupidity. " ... Bless you? What did he call me?"

Diana, struggling so hard not to laugh. " He said you were a genius."

" Huh. Had no idea he was French."

Meanwhile Clark is losing HIS shit because wow, Bruce's russian might be the hottest thing he ever heard. Please, this dork would absolutely try to learn Russian and talk to Bruce more.

He's absolutely horrible with it but Bruce is just very excited. He definetly chuckles (which. Wow. Clark couldn't even make him GRIN 3 weeks ago) " You just asked me if I sleep with my dentist."

" ...Oh. I...Was trying to ask you for drinks. You can kill me right now. Please?"

" Maybe another time, solnyshko. Take me for a drink first."

Clark inhales. " oKaY thank yoU."

[softguarnere]

hey there! It's the local Joe Toye admirer here hehe

first of all — thank you so much for your writings! they're awesome and bring me lots of happiness, and you nail the character's personalities pretty well ❤️

so I was thinking, could you write some headcannons of our mostly badass, but this time soft Toye falling for badass fem!reader?

Thank you in advance 🙏

When You Talk To An Officer

Joe Toye x reader

A/N: Anon that is so sweet💖🥺Thank you so much, that really made my day!! I usually try to work on requests in the order that I get them, but I had just watched a badass Speirs clip that came up on my feed when I got this one, and immediately took inspiration from that to write this. I didn't feel like I could organize this into headcanons coherently, so I hope you're cool with a whole fic! (This is written about the show's fictional depiction of the men. Absolutely no disrespect to the real life veterans!)

Warnings: Mild language, alcohol, a fight, sexism

"Oh-ho!" The sound of Guarnere's glass slamming onto the table punctuates whatever point he's gearing up to make as he fixes his friend with a mischievous smile. "So you are in love with (Y/N)!"

Joe's head snaps back towards his friends. "What?"

Guarnere's smile is so broad that he can hardly speak. "No one talks about someone like that unless they're in love with them."

"And he does talk about (Y/N) a lot," Perconte points out.

"All because I said that I wondered where she was?" Joe asks. He glances around the pub, packed full of paratroopers, and spots (Y/N) sitting at a booth in the corner with some of the other female paratroopers. She's his friend, and he knows that sometimes she takes flak for being a woman; it's not unusual for him to wonder if she's okay . . . Is it?

"It's not just that," Guarnere insists. "We all like her. I mean, she's great, and most of the men have had a little crush on her at some point. But we're in England, running wild on passes, and you can't stop looking at her. Admit it --" He leans across the table to emphasize his point. "--you've got the hots for (Y/N)!"

Joe has liked girls before. He's dated girls before, back in high school, before the war. If he were in love, he's pretty sure he would know it.

(Y/N) doesn't make him feel at all like he's felt about girls in the past. As a teenager, he would crack jokes and make smooth comments to get the attention of girls that he liked. He'd go on runs past their house, offer to help carry their books -- things that would impress them. But he doesn't feel the need to do any of that with (Y/N). She's not the kind who needs impressing. (If anything, he's too busy being impressed by her to worry about impressing her.) She's not like those other girls, who seem dull and bland in comparison. When she walks into a room, it's like the colors are siphoned away from everything except her, making her vibrant and impossible to miss. The way that he thinks about her is different from how he's thought about other girls.

And he's thought about her, sure -- he wonders if she's okay when they're in combat; thinks about how her hair looks pretty when she gets to wear it down instead of pulled back and tucked under her helmet; how soft it would probably be if he ran his hands through it; wondered how her smaller hand would fit into his bigger one if they held hands . . .

The realization hits him like a punch in the gut.

"Holy shit," he realizes aloud. "I think I might be in love with her."

Luz raises his eyebrows as he laughs into his drink. "And you're the last one to know!"

In his shocked state, he's only vaguely aware of his friends thumping him on the back, smiling, some money exchanging hands between Luz and Perconte. They're all celebrating his realization while he stares into his drink, wondering where to go from here. It's not like he can ask her out. They're friends. They're in the middle of a war. And she's just been promoted.

Before he can say anything else, silence falls across the pub, all heads snapping to a corner on the other side of the room, near the bar, where a voice he would recognize anywhere has grabbed everyone's attention.

"What did you just say to me?" (Y/N)'s voice stirs the tension in the pub as everyone stares between her and a man that Joe only vaguely recognizes. In a second, all the Easy Company men in the pub are on their feet and moving closer, ready to defend one of their own without hesitation.

"I Company son-of-a-bitch," Joe hears someone from Easy whisper as they move in.

The man at the table rolls his eyes and nods to (Y/N), who's flanked by some other female paratroopers from other companies. "I said that it's bad enough that you're takin' our jobs as soldiers, and that it's a real shame to see you all takin' our beer."

"We have just as much of a right to be in the service and the bar as you."

Behind the bar, the pub's owner is looking worried. Paratroopers have gained a reputation for causing trouble while out on passes, and this man has obviously heard a few of them.

"Hey, now," he pipes up. "Don't go getting rowdy. Everyone was having a pleasant time."

(Y/N) presses her lips together in a polite, but forced, smile. "Don't worry, sir. I won't let any of my men get out of hand."

The man from I Company snorts. "Oh yeah. Your men. Forgot they put you in charge. Look good for the history books, I suppose."

"For the record, I earned these wings, just like I earned my position as Lieutenant. I worked hard for what I have."

Being a female paratrooper is controversial, and a lot of the men have made it known that they don't approve of their comrades. Rumors about other women have made the rounds and then fizzled out, but (Y/N) is different. Something about her has always commanded respect, even when she was new to Toccoa. And when she was promoted to Lieutenant, the rumor mill kicked into overtime as angry men spat venom behind her back. At this point, the only other person with a reputation like that proceeding them and a trail of rumors following them is Speirs.

"Worked hard?" The I Company man raises an eyebrow. "Not what I've heard. You probably became an officer through . . . less conventional methods."

Joe would have cracked by now -- he feels like he is; he wants to deck this guy, but everyone in Easy knows that (Y/N) is perfectly capable of fighting her own battles, and they won't step in unless she needs it. Instead, his hands clench into fists by his side. His chest hurts, listening to this guy and not being able to help defend her.

"Private, if you're referring to the sexist rumors and comments people enjoy making about me, then I can assure you that there are better uses of your time than filling your head with that garbage." She looks him up and down. "Maybe you ought to work on paying closer attention to such details in yourself -- particularly your uniform. You are aware that your jump wings are pinned upside down?"

Snickers pass through the crowd as the man looks down and blushes, realizing that she's right. The sound only makes his face redden more deeply as anger chases embarrassment. He should just take the loss and get over it, but he can't let it go.

"Thanks, Doll," he says. "I appreciate it."

Joe steps forward, but Luz grabs his arm. Wait.

(Y/N) face turns to stone. "What did you say to me?"

"I said thanks, Doll."

It's happens so fast that if he hadn't been standing so close, Joe probably would have missed it. (Y/N) turns her head slightly, like she's about to say something to one of the girls beside her, and Joe can see a smirk on her face that would give Liebgott -- smirk and sass extraordinaire -- a run for his money. Then suddenly her hand is pulled back past her shoulder, and then arching down, straight towards the I Company man's face. The pop! that echoes through the bar as she slaps him is the only sound for a second, and then as everyone collectively realizes what has just happened, it's followed by shocked gasps and a few cheers from E Company.

My God, Joe thinks, impressed.

She takes a step towards the man and silence falls once again. "When you address your female officers, you will say 'Ma'am'."

He clutches his jaw where she's just hit him. It's turning red. He glares at her, and then acts like he's going to stand up and walk away. But (Y/N) grabs him by the tie and forces him back down into his seat.

"Let me hear you say it."

"Yes . . ." he says, his voice sounding very small, like he would rather be anywhere else. Tension hangs heavy as everyone watches him force out, "Ma'am."

She nods. "Good." Then she steps back, takes some money from her uniform pocket, and tosses it onto the bar, towards the pub owner. "That should cover it." She turns to go, but stops when she sees everyone standing still, continuing to watch her. She nods again, this time at the onlookers. "If anyone else has any issues with me or my rank, voice them now."

No one speaks.

"Well in that case, good night to you all."

When she's gone, noise fills the pub all at once as everyone repeats what they just witnessed. Other companies are awash with excitement, not even caring when the pub owner demands that everyone settles their tabs and go before anything else can happen.

"Damn," Joe breathes. He's seen you in combat and in training, he's been worried for you before, but he's never seen you go up against someone that way before. Once again, you've impressed him. It stirs a strange mixture of pride and concern in his chest.

"Well," Luz says, draining what's left in his cup. "Should we try our luck elsewhere?"

His friends try to remember other pubs nearby, puzzle out what might still be open, but Joe feels removed from it. He takes out some money and tosses it onto the table, with a vague, "I'll pay you back if that's not enough" as he makes his way to the door.

He's not sure where he's going. Back to where he's quartered, probably. He could stay with his friends, but something about tonight has drained him. Whatever tender feelings that she inspires to stoke the flames in his heart have causes it to feel heavy on her behalf, even if she did handle the situation better than any of the other officers would have. Yet at the same time, there was a kind of thrill to watching her in action.

Ahead of him on the street, through the darkness, he makes out a familiar shape.

"Lieutenant!" he calls out.

He watches her stop, turn stiffly, and then immediately relax when she recognizes who's coming towards her.

"Joe." She sounds relieved to see a friend.

"Are you okay?" He asks. (Another thing about (Y/N) that's different, he realizes -- he's never been so concerned for a girl before.)

She tries to brush it off. "Oh, that? I'm fine. Just another day in the life of a female officer."

"No, really, (Y/N)."

Her expression softens, and he feels like he's just watched a knight removing her armor. There's not shield for her vulnerability now. "I will be."

The way she says it makes him want to hug her, to go fight that guy, to do anything to make it better. And he could, because they're friends, and that's what friends do -- but would someone as capable of handling herself want him to do that?

"I appreciate you checking on me," she says quietly, offering him a smile. "Glad to know you didn't forget about me once I got promoted."

"Yeah, well," he teases. "You're still the same old (Y/N)." (But different, somehow, now that he's beginning to decipher these emotions she causes him to feel.)

She hugs him, and Joe feels like he's just gotten something that he didn't know he was waiting for. And then all too soon, the embrace ends, and she smiles at him again as she gives him a silly solute and says, "Bright and early, trooper! That's an order!" in a poor imitation of Major Horton before she heads down the street.

"Yes, Ma'am!" he calls after her, the distance between them tugging on his heartstrings.

When she's out of sight, he has to lean against the wall of a building and take a minute to breathe and get his wits about him. He's Joe Freakin' Toye. So why is he so out of it? So off his game?

That's when he knows that his friends are right; he's fallen for her -- hard.

[pumpkinpaix]

hello there, hope you're having a nice day <3

so i've been reading a lot of fics lately, uk for sanity's sake, and i've noticed that in most of them, lwj doesn't use contractions (eg., says do not instead of don't)?? and i think he doesn't in the novel either but i don't remember lol so i can't be sure but anyway that made me curious - does chinese have contractions as well? does he not use it bc it's informal?

hello there! I’m doing all right, i started to answer this ask while waiting for a jingyeast loaf to come out of the oven 😊 many thanks to @bookofstars for helping me look over/edit/correct this post!! :D

anyways! the answer to your questions are complicated (of course it is when is anything simple with me), so let’s see if I can break it down--you’re asking a) whether chinese has contractions, b) if it does, how does they change the tone of the sentence--is it similar to english or no?, and c) how does this all end up with lan wangji pretty much never using contractions in english fic/translation?

I’m gonna start by talking about how formality is (generally) expressed in each language, and hopefully, by the end of this post, all the questions will have been answered in one way or another. so: chinese and english express variations in formality/register differently, oftentimes in ways that run contrary to one another. I am, as always, neither a linguist nor an expert in chinese and english uhhh sociological grammar? for lack of a better word. I’m speaking from my own experience and knowledge :D

so with a character like lan wangji, it makes perfect sense in english to write his dialogue without contractions, as contractions are considered informal or colloquial. I don’t know if this has changed in recent years, but I was always taught in school to never use contractions in my academic papers.

However! not using contractions necessarily extends the length of the sentence: “do not” takes longer to say than “don’t”, “cannot” is longer than “can’t” etc. in english, formality is often correlated with sentence length: the longest way you can say something ends up sounding the most formal. for a very simplified example, take this progression from least formal to absurdly formal:

whatcha doin’?

what’re you doing?

what are you doing? [standard colloquial]

may I ask what you are doing?

might I inquire as to what you are doing?

excuse me, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

pardon my intrusion, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

please pardon my intrusion, but might inquire as to the nature of your current actions?

this is obviously a somewhat overwrought example, but you get the point. oftentimes, the longer, more complex, more indirect sentence constructions indicate a greater formality, often because there is a simultaneous decreasing of certainty. downplaying the speaker’s certainty can show deference (or weakness) in english, while certainty tends to show authority/confidence (or aggression/rudeness).

different words also carry different implications of formality—in the example, I switched “excuse me” to “pardon me” during one of the step ups. pardon (to me at least) feels like a more formal word than “excuse”. Similarly, “inquire” is more formal than “ask” etc. I suspect that at least some of what makes one word seem more formal than one of its synonyms has to do with etymology. many of english’s most formal/academic words come from latin (which also tends to have longer words generally!), while our personal/colloquial words tend to have germanic origins (inquire [latin] vs ask [germanic]).

you’ll also notice that changing a more direct sentence structure (“may I ask what”) to a more indirect one (“might I inquire as to”) also jumps a register. a lot of english is like this — you can complicate simple direct sentences by switching the way you use the verbs/how many auxiliaries you use etc.

THE POINT IS: with regards to english, more formal sentence structures are often (not always) longer and more indirect than informal ones. this leads us to a problem with a character like lan wangji.

lan wangji is canonically very taciturn. if he can express his meaning in two words rather than three, then he will. and chinese allows for this—in extreme ways. if you haven’t already read @hunxi-guilai’s post on linguistic register (in CQL only, but it’s applicable across the board), I would start there because haha! I certainly do Not have a degree in Classical Chinese lit and she does a great job. :D

you can see from the examples that hunxi chose that often, longer sentences tend to be more informal in chinese (not always, which I’ll circle back to at the end lol). Colloquial chinese makes use of helping particles to indicate tone and meaning, as is shown in wei wuxian’s dialogue. and, as hunxi explained, those particles are largely absent from lan wangji’s speech pattern. chinese isn’t built of “words” in the way English is—each character is less a word and more a morpheme—and the language allows for a lot of information to be encoded in one character. a single character can often stand for a phrase within a sentence without sacrificing either meaning or formality. lan wangji makes ample use of this in order to express himself in the fewest syllables possible.

so this obviously leads to an incongruity when trying to translate his dialogue or capture his voice in English: shorter sentences are usually more direct by nature, and directness/certainty is often construed as rudeness -- but it might seem strange to see lan wangji’s dialogue full of longer sentences while the narration explicitly says that he uses very short sentences. so what happens is that many english fic writers extrapolated this into creating an english speech pattern for lan wangji that reads oddly. they’ll have lan wangji speak in grammatically incoherent fragments that distill his intended thought because they’re trying to recreate his succinctness. unfortunately, English doesn’t have as much freedom as Chinese does in this way, and it results in lan wangji sounding as if he has some kind of linguistic impediment and/or as if he’s being unspeakably rude in certain situations. In reality, lan wangji’s speech is perfectly polite for a young member of the gentry (though he’s still terribly rude in other ways lol). he speaks in full, and honestly, quite eloquent sentences.

hunxi’s post already has a lot of examples, but I figure I’ll do one as well focused on the specifics of this post.

I’m going to use this exchange from chapter 63 between the twin jades because I think it’s a pretty simple way to illustrate what I’m talking about:

蓝曦臣道：“你亲眼所见？”

蓝忘机道：“他亲眼所见。”

蓝曦臣道：“你相信他？”

蓝忘机道：“信。”

[...] 蓝曦臣道：“那么金光瑶呢？”

蓝忘机道：“不可信。”

my translation:

Lan Xichen said, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Lan Wangji said, “He saw it with his own eyes.”

Lan Xichen said, “You believe him?”

Lan Wangji said, “I believe him.”

[...] Lan Xichen said, “Then what about Jin Guangyao?”

Lan Wangji said, “He cannot be believed.”

you can see how much longer the (pretty literal) english translations are! every single line of dialogue is expanded because things that can be omitted in chinese cannot be omitted in english without losing grammatical coherency. i‘ll break a few of them down:

Lan Xichen’s first line:

你 (you) 亲眼 (with one’s own eyes) 所 (literary auxiliary) 见 (met/saw)？

idk but i love this line a lot lmao. it just has such an elegant feel to me, probably because I am an uncultured rube. anyways, you see here that he expressed his full thought in five characters.

if I were to rewrite this sentence into something much less formal/much more modern, I might have it become something like this:

你是自己看见的吗？

你 (you) 是 (to be) 自己 (oneself) 看见 (see) 的 (auxiliary) 吗 (interrogative particle)？

i suspect that this construction might even be somewhat childish? I’ve replaced every single formal part of the sentence with a more colloquial one. instead of 亲眼 i’ve used 自己, instead of 所见 i’ve used 看见的 and then also added an interrogative particle at the end for good measure (吗). To translate this, I would probably go with “Did you see it yourself?”

contained in this is also an example of how one character can represent a whole concept that can also be represented with two characters: 见 vs 看见. in this example, both mean “to see”. we’ll see it again in the next example as well:

in response to lan xichen’s, “you believe him?” --> 你 (you) 相信 (believe) 他 (him)? lan wangji answers with, “信” (believe).

chinese does not do yes or no questions in the same way that english does. there is no catch-all for yes or no, though there are general affirmative (是／有) and negative (不／没) characters. there are other affirmative/negative characters, but these are the ones that I believe are the most common and also the ones that you may see in response to yes or no questions on their own. (don’t quote me on that lol)

regardless, the way you respond to a yes or no question is often by repeating the verb phrase either in affirmative or negative. so here, when lan xichen asks if lan wangji believes wei wuxian, lan wangji responds “believe”. once again, you can see that one character can stand in for a concept that may also be expressed in two characters: 信 takes the place of 相信. lan wangji could have responded with “相信” just as well, but, true to his character, he didn’t because he didn’t need to. this is still a complete sentence. lan wangji has discarded the subject (I), the object (him), and also half the verb (相), and lost no meaning whatsoever. you can’t do this in english!

and onto the last exchange:

lan xichen: 那么 (then) 金光瑶 (jin guangyao) 呢 (what about)？

lan wangji: 不可 (cannot) 信 (believe)

you can actually see the contrast between the two brothers’ speech patterns even in this. lan xichen’s question is not quite as pared down as it could be. if it were wangji’s line instead, I would expect it to read simply “金光瑶呢？” which would just be “what about jin guangyao?” 那么 isn’t necessary to convey the core thought -- it’s just as how “then what about” is different than “what about”, but “then” is not necessary to the central question. if we wanted to keep the “then” aspect, you could still cut out 么 and it would be the same meaning as well.

a FINAL example of how something can be cut down just because I think examples are helpful:

“I don’t know” is usually given as 我不知道. (this is what nie huaisang says lol) It contains subject (我) and full verb (知道). you can pare this straight down to just 不知 and it would mean the same thing in the correct context. i think most of the characters do this at least once? it sounds more literary -- i don’t know that i would ever use it in everyday speech, but the fact remains that it’s a possibility. both could be translated as “I do not know” and it would be accurate.

ANYWAYS, getting all the way back to one of your original questions: does chinese have contractions? and the answer is like... kind of...?? but not really. there’s certainly slang/dialect variants that can be used in ways that are reminiscent of english contractions. the example I’m thinking of is the character 啥 (sha2) which can be used as slang in place of 什么 (shen2 me). (which means “what”)

so for a standard sentence of, 你在做什么? (what are you doing), you could shorten down to just 做啥? and the second construction is less formal than the first, but they mean the same thing.

other slang i can think of off the top of my head: 干嘛 (gan4 ma2) is also informal slang for “what are you doing”. and i think this is a regional thing, but you can also use 搞 (gao3) and 整 (zheng3) to mean “do” as well.

so in the same way that you can replace 什么 with 啥, you can replace 做 as well to get constructions like 搞啥 (gao3 sha2) and 整啥 (zheng3 sha2).

these are all different ways to say “what are you doing” lmao, and in this case, shorter is not, in fact, more formal.

woo! we made it to the end! I hope it was informative and helpful to you anon. :D

this is where I would normally throw my ko-fi, but instead, I’m actually going to link you to this fundraising post for an old fandom friend of mine. her house burned down mid-september and they could still use help if anyone can spare it! if this post would have moved you to buy me a ko-fi, please send that money to her family instead. :) rbs are also appreciated on the post itself. (* ´▽` *)

anyways, here’s the loaf jingyeast made :3 it was very tasty.

[yourfellowmutereader]

Hi there Al, may I get some general dating headcanons of your favourites Danganronpa characters?

General dating headcanons!

Characters: Mukuro Ikusaba, Hajime Hinata. Mentions of: Non-despair Junko Enoshima, Chiaki Nanami. Reader: G/N, mute. A/N: Sure thing, Al! Ok, just kidding. Just me messing around in my own inbox. Also... kinda OOC because I don't know what's canon and what's not anymore. Currently listening to: Hey Kids by Molina.

Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier, seemed like a cold and reserved person to you the first time you saw her, walking alongside her sister like a bodyguard of some kind.

That didn't change much even after you started dating: always on guard, making sure nothing happens to you when you're together, even if you two are alone.

There are, however, some times when she gets easily flustered, in contrast to that serious personality of her. A blush always appears on her cheeks when you take her hand or kiss her out of nowhere. She tries her best to cover her face with one of her hands afterwards, too stunned to speak coherently.

She's not the best with verbal or physical affection due to her lack of experience, but she truly tries her best.

For some reason, she likes to call you 'puppy'. You always thought it was ironic: a cold-blooded mercenary from Fenrir calling her beloved one 'puppy'.

She's so, so touch starved. When you two are cuddling, she tends to be the big spoon. She has the need to watch over you, so she holds you tightly, making sure she doesn't let you go.

She does the same when you're sleeping together, holding you and keeping you as close as possible. When you wake up and try to leave... you can't. Not because you don't want to, but because she holds you closer when you try to move, even if she's asleep.

One day, she asked you if you could teach her sign language. She thought it would be easier for you if she could understand it instead of making you write down when you wanted to say something.

To your surprise, she learned extremely fast, mostly because she already knew many signs.

She never uses it herself, but there may be times where she signs 'I love you'. You had to admit it: it always makes you blush.

She enjoys the silence in your quiet conversations, only broken by her soft voice. Sometimes, you think it's impossible for someone like her to have a sister as loud as Junko.

Talking about Junko, Mukuro already introduced you to her. Not because she wanted to, but because the Ultimate Fashionista did nothing but insist once she found out her sister had a partner.

"Sooo, is this the person you were talking about, Mukuro? The one you're dating?" Junko said when she saw you, analyzing you without even trying to hide it. "What was their name again?"

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" was Mukuro's answer. "If they want me to tell you something, they'll tell me."

Mukuro's always like that when it comes to you talking to other people. She doesn't want to make you feel as if you couldn't communicate with others by yourself, so she doesn't interfere unless you ask her to.

She takes a notepad and something to write every time she goes somewhere with you, in case you forget yours. She knows that will most likely not happen, but she likes to be prepared.

"I... I love you, [s/o]. I've never felt this way for someone else before. So please... don't leave my side, all right?"

Just like Mukuro, Hajime doesn't have much experience when it comes to love, so he's kind of confused when he finds himself trying to spend more time with you, blushing and stuttering whenever you're together. He didn't understand why, or better said, he didn't want to admit he was slowly getting feelings for you.

It was Chiaki the one who told him it would be better to confess his feelings than to bottle them up forever.

It should be mentioned that Hajime hadn't told anyone about his crush for you. Chiaki simply knew it all along only by seeing you how nervous he was around you.

As your boyfriend, he tries his best to make sure you're always okay, caring for you and taking you to dates when he has the chance. He tries way too hard. Hajime doesn't want to let you down, as he has felt useless his whole life. He doesn't want you to see him as a useless, talentless person as well.

One day, you hugged him from behind while he was studying, showing him what you had writen on your notepad.

'Hajime, please... don't be so hard on yourself. You may not be an ultimate, but none of them can compare in any way to the person I fell in love with. Don't forget it, okay?'

When he turned back, he saw you signing something. He didn't know sign language, but he could tell what it meant just by looking at your face.

[I love you.]

Since that day, Hajime started to act more like himself and less like the perfect boyfriend prototype.

He's not a big fan of PDA, but he won't complain if you hold his hand while you're walking together.

He likes to call you babe or honey, but nothing too cheesy. At least, not in public.

Even though he doesn't understand sign language, he knows some easy signs you showed to him so you didn't have to wriye everything down. Things such as good morning, thank you, please and sorry, but also I love you, since you used that one pretty often when you were with him.

He drinks a lot of coffee. If you sleep together, you'll probably find a cup of coffee ready for you when you wake up.

The dates he plans are always simple. His favorite place to take you is the park during sunset; calm and peaceful, perfect to enjoy each other's company just the way he wants.

When you're cuddling, he prefers to be the big spoon, even though he will always let you choose. He loves to hold you close as he softly plays with your hair in silence; it gives him a sense of security and helps him calm down.

Sometimes he'll even take your hand and start tracing letters with his finger. At first you thought they were just random letters, but after paying attention, you realized he was spelling actual words such as 'love' or 'sweetheart'.

Expect to receive way more kisses and hugs if you are alone, even if they're quick or small.

"I used to think that having a talent would make me happy, but now... I realized that the only thing I need to be happy is you. Thank you, [s/o]."