#i mean... the og language is chinese for the story

[plsleafmelon]

so apparently using cn dub and actually listening to what they say does help me understand the story better huh

[nick-cassidy]

to deal with the post le mans blues here I present u with my fav nickname for kév in China motorsport community:

So the dudebros often call kévin 吉吉国王（King Gigi）cuz Gigi in Chinese pronounce the same as 急急,which means hurriedly and we all know thats from kev's agrresive driving style (taking ur fav driver out for p6😌) And King Gigi is a character from a famous Chinese anime and its basically a hilarious monkey.(Its also a popular meme in the gaming community but thats a different story and I know nothing so)

It's never unfunny to me when dudebros show their huge love and praise for kév and regarding him as this unserious nickname the same time. Like there are so many other choices but they just love this one so much😭

also their nickname for andré is like the OG lmaoo

regardless of language, dudebro or tumblr bff … we all are connected in kévin estre insanity . also I think it’s hilarious kév got a nickname after a monkey and he’s constantly compared to a mouse/rat too . this is beautiful .

[aeonophagic]

I was going back through some of APHO and parts of Joey and Void Archives' conversation in Joey's A Rating stuck out to me, and since I know that the APHO translation in particular is really rough I asked one of my friends who knows Chinese to retranslate any parts that seemed off to them in the official ENG translation a couple of these retranslations (and even in the OG translation) are interesting to me in terms of their implications, and I was curious what you may think of them, as you are kinda the de facto Void Archives person; I've got my own interpretations, and if you'd like we could discuss them in DMs or something (these are taken out of context so going back through the convo itself might be a good idea) original: "The voice fell silent. Joyce felt a familiar attachment. It reminded him of his father."

original: "There was a sorrow in its voice as though it was lamenting for a distant past."

original: "'You' and I used to be something else. 'You" are now hiding in a child's body, just like how I hid in another."

(this one could definitely be about the general Otto thing but some of the other lines make me wonder if it could be something else) original: "I wanted to see you one last time before I see you off. I started this story 50000 years ago."

there are a couple more, but they're mostly just better wording; I can send them too if you'd like

if by any chance these things are explained elsewhere in the story, and/or you have discussed them previously, I'd appreciate if you could tell me where and also my bad lol

First of all, I really appreciate you showing these to me!!! The “sense of closeness only felt from a father’ rather than “reminded him of his father” is so… I’ve always thought Void Archives to be bad with kids, but this makes me think otherwise. All of these lines manage to give a slightly different meaning when translated properly (so I want to say thank you to your friend too!)

THIS ONE GOT ME THOUGH. MOUTH WIDE OPEN, JAW DROPPED TO THE FLOOR, EYES WIDE, LIKE ACTUALLY, I WISH YOU COULDVE SEEN MY FACE

“You are the story I started 50.000 years ago” is entirely different from “I started this story 50.000 years ago” as it was translated in the game. I don’t know what to think of it, because we know too little about Void Archives’ past- it’s given to us in fragments, vaguely stitched together pieces of a puzzle someone’s abandoned, so no, these are not explored in the story, not at all! There’s clearly bigger things going on with Void Archives that we haven’t gotten to know because of a bunch of (redundant) Hoyoverse writing choices,

I’d appreciate seeing the other ones too! It doesn’t matter if it’s just slightly better wording- I like seeing how things differ from the translation to the original since I speak two languages but unfortunately neither of them are Chinese.

For anyone else reading this I have the bit of this story easily accessible here

[tonhalszendvics]

I follow some ppl who went nuts for She Who Became the Sun, and since it's the best kind of advertisement for me, I obviously read it, and was baffled. So good. Can recommend.

I tend to read actual published books mostly in my native language since, y'know, I'm pretty sure the translator speaks the og language better than me. Turns out this book is a duology and everyone and their mother already read book 2 and I'm here with book 1, which was released in 2023.

However. Someone thought that they should just use the Hungarian transcript for the names, which is kinda okay for me, since I don't speak Chinese at all and had to beg for a pronunciation chart for MDZS (but in my mind I still said those names as they were written. Let's not talk about it.) My Chinese speaking friend almost cried blood when she saw the names.

Long story short, it took me a while to decipher that people are talking about those books in detail, bc Ouyang is the only one who I was able to recognise from those posts. Esen? Who's that? Oh, you mean Jeszün, aaaaa

Here I am, avoiding spoilers like bullets in the Matrix with the power of language barrier

[drwcn]

Hi! I hope you are doing okay with all the discourse going around. Im white and raised in a very white society so i will never have a say in it, but i was wondering, is there any way i can educate myself more in asian/chinese culture? Im aware i consume content thru western lens and because of that i dont really get all the nuances of the shows, but i would like to have at least some backround. Im guessing just watching the shows doesnt give enough of that, can you maybe reccommend some blogs or books to check out? (If you dont thats totally fine and im sorry if i said anything offensive)

Hey friend! Not offensive at all, no worries. Honestly, I’m not too sure. I think just keeping an open mind about things is a really good start. I’m not really sure which blogs to recommend but if I could recommend some dramas? Since it’s probably easier to watch a show then read a book?

《The Story of Minglan》 is a good one to sort of parse out the intricacy of historical Chinese society in the Song Dynasty, keeping in mind that different dynasties have different practices, so even amongst different time periods there were differences. 《The Story of Yanxi Palace》 is another good one for Qing Dynasty (circa 1740s) if you wanna get into imperial harem stuff. (Or you can watch 《甄嬛传》 or 《如懿传》 for harem stuff. I just think The Story of Yanxi Palace is the most palatable, most aesthetic, and most fun out of the three. The other two are kinda tragic?) There are other dramas but I feel they’re not as... accessible?

Chinese historical dramas come in 3 flavours: serious dramas, idol dramas, and those that ride the fence. What I mean by idol drama is...everyone in it is young and hot and the writing is eh and the acting is eh. More often then not there’s a lot of modern elements to it. The Untamed is so popular because it’s idol drama done really well.  (xianxia and wuxia genre used to be more quality when I was a kid, but now they’re kind of ehhhh.) I would say Minglan and Yanxi are both successful because they ride the fence. 

On the other hand, serious historical drama has A LOT of politics and can be quite dry especially if you’re watching it through half-assed subtitles. The actors typically are more seasoned, older. People jokingly say that idol drama is what mom watches and serious drama is what dad watches, and honestly given my parents’ tv habits...it’s pretty accurate 😂.

Some really well known ones from the past 20 years are: 

The 《铁齿铜牙纪晓岚》 series 1-4. I would only recommend part 1-2, 3-4 are not as great. This one has quite a bit of humour but it might fly over your head a bit because of the language barrier. The story surrounds a well known government official and scholar named Ji Xiaolan  纪晓岚, his frenemy and colleague the (EXTREMELY corrupt) prime minister He Shen, and the Emperor Qianlong. For better or worse these three are depicted as both liege and subjects as well as friends. Trying to see Ji Xiaolan and He Shen one up each other while Qianlong tries to balance his court and rule the country is quite interesting. I won’t pretend this is an easy series to follow, but it’s actually quite fun. 

《汉武大帝》 - is about Hanwu Emperor of the Han Dynasty circa 150 BC? He’s one of the most famous emperors of distant history. It’s basically about the course of his life and the many people that featured in it. 

《大明王朝 》- my memories of this one is very vague, but it is about the Ming Dynasty (the dynasty before the Qing Dynasty c. 1500,1600.) 

《The Advisors Alliance 军事联盟》-  2017 two-part television series based on the life of Sima Yi, a government official and military general who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China. circa 150 AD. 

As a side note, a lot of serious dramas for a while now have been focused on the Qing Dynasty, just because it’s the last imperial dynasty before Imperial China fell into decline, WWI and WWII ravaged the country and communism happened. Even a lot of idol drama are about the Qing Dynasty (I feel like I should do a post about this, just to string things together haha). 

So for the Qing Dynasty, because they are Manchurian, their last name is Aisin Gioro or in Chinese Aixin Jueluo 爱新觉罗. Their earlier emperors are much more well known than their later ones and have been the focus of MANY dramas. (You’ll notice their names in the beginning spell very different than the Chinese names you’re used to, but once they take over China, the emperors’ names start to become more and more mainland Chinese and less and less Manchurian.) 

Nu’er Hachi 努尔哈赤/ Nurhaci - The granddaddy of Qing Dynasty, but was never officially Emperor of China during his life time. 

Huang Taiji 皇太极 - Nurhaci’s oldest son. He led the campaign against the Ming Dynasty but died before the campaign was over 

Fulin 福林, Emperor Shunzhi 顺治 - Huang Taiji’s 9th son. He is the real first Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. His uncle Duo’Ergun 多尔衮/ Dorgon was his regent as well as his commander-in-chief. Dorgon was the one who won the war against the Ming Dynasty and instated his nephew as the Emperor. Fulin was 6 years old when this happened, and now you may wonder why the fuck is that? It’s because Fulin’s mother, Huang Taijii’s widowed concubine Consort Zhuang (name: pu’erji-jite bumubutai  (pinyin) 博爾濟吉特 布木布泰/ Bumbutai Borjigit, Da-Yu’er 大玉儿) remarried her brother-in-law Dorgon. Whether Bumbutai and Dorgon were actually in love is....contestable. Certainly one of my favourite serious dramas that depict this part of history is《大青风云》. 

Xuanye 玄燁, Emperor Kangxi 康熙 - Fulin’s third son. Very famous. Very long reign. Serious drama associated 《康熙微服私访记》， 《康熙王朝》

Yinzhen 胤禛, Emperor Yongzheng 雍正 - Xuanye's 4th son. His reign was highly contested because some ppl believed he forged the succession document. It’s probably not true. He was an efficient emperor but very austere, very severe. Not well liked. The best serious drama about him is probably 《雍正王朝》and the aforementioned《甄嬛传》. The former is 100% politics and a fictional re-telling of historical events whereas the latter is 100% harem drama and 100% made up. 《步步惊心》is an idol drama about a girl who transmigrated back to this time and fell in love with Yinzhen. Lol. 

Hongli 弘历, Emperor Qianlong 乾隆 - Yinzhen’s 4th son. I think he’s the longest living/reigning emperor of Chinese history. SOOOOO many dramas were made about him or set in his reign. Of the serious drama category:  《铁齿铜牙纪晓岚》 that I mentioned earlier is really good. There are others but I won’t name them here.  《如懿传》 is a serious drama about his harem, but really terrible? I really didn’t like it (just my personal view). Incidentally it was released around the same time as《The Story of Yanxi Palace 延禧攻略》which is also about his harem and MUCH better in my opinion, because the actor for Hongli in Yanxi is much better skills-wise. 《还珠格格》was the OG idol drama about Hongli’s children. I gave a brief synopsis about it here. It was made in the 90s but damn...so nostalgic. 

There’s many more emperors after him, but they’re not as important. 

Okay yeah, so I’m not sure if any of this is really helpful, but definitely watching serious drama gives you much better context and understanding of Chinese culture than idol drama. I mean when the drama has flying and magic...the historical relevance sort of falls to the side. 🤣

ADDENDUM: I made a typo earlier. Fulin is Huang Taiji’s 9th son, not Nurhaci’s son. Also Abahai is Huang Taijii’s mother’s name (wikipedia lied to me on this one XD). 

[slicedblackolives]

Please tell me of the racism in arrival. I have not seen the movie but heard praise about it ever since it came out. This is the first time I’ve heard that it’s racist/has racist elements.

THANK YOU ANON FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY! ahem.

so arrival (2016) is based on a 1998 novella by ted chiang (who is of asian descent. this is relevant later) called the story of your life. at no point the race of any of the characters is described.

it's told half in a narrative and half in a "flashback" about the protagonist recalling her daughter's life and death at 26, hence the title. it's essentially narrated to her. towards the end you realise the narrative is the present and because she learns the language of the aliens she gains the ability to experience time as they do, all at once, and sees her marriage will fail and her daughter will die. yet she CHOOSES to follow it, because your life is worth living even if it ends sadly and even if you don’t have as much free will as you presumed. It’s a beautiful story, i ugly-cried. 

now the movie changes a lot of shit!! which is fine. the story is short and cerebral by which I mean it mostly takes place in the protagonist's head and is kinda unfilmable BUT they changed it by inserting racist tropes. 

in the story, there are international teams, but they largely work together. there is no “we have to combine our messages” bit because the aliens don’t say “weapon” they just say they are here to “observe”. IN THE MOVIE THOUGH!! they make the chinese delegation, the ONLY ASIANS in the whole movie, the villains because they talk with their heptapods via “cruel and barbaric” mahjong (they depict mahjong as cruel in barbaric.... *deep breaths*) and are the ones who want to attack the aliens. the only reason they share their slide is that louise (who is white in the movie but is race undefined in the story) talks them down. the plot is that a white woman tames barbaric asians. like they took a story by an asian-american man and made the plot a white woman civilising cruel asians. 

and the only Black character in the whole movie is a trigger-happy military official whose actions end up killing one of the aliens. which, again, never happened in the story, the aliens just said they were here to observe and then left, no one was hurt, there were no explosions. 

the daughter is killed off when she’s 12 rather than 26 and there are basically no flashback/premonitions scenes. so it becomes just another america (and american military) saves the world by Being The Best movie which is just. propaganda. anyway. arrival (2016) is racist and also dumb (why in the hell would the aliens talk in person rather than using projectors like in the og story??). read the story of your life. 

[nyxocity]

Fic Writer Questions!

Thanks to @redmyeyes for the tag!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

82, although that's not even close to my actual total. There's a bunch on LJ that have never been transferred (all shorter works)

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,780,805 (over 2mil on LJ)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Mostly three, plus a couple dips into a few other pools. X-Men Comic Book fandom, Buffy & Angel fandom (they kinda count as one since it's the same universe), and Supernatural & SPN RPF. Dips have included Dragon Age, Firefly, a tiny bit of TVD, a Sons of Anarchy crossover.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is tough if I go by numbering. Homework Verse has the most kudos scattered across all parts, but Stranger Than Fiction has the most as a single story. Anyway...

Homework Verse (J2 RPF, 200k+ words) - My very first RPF fic, Supernatural or otherwise. Two of my online fandom friends basically TOLD me I was going to write Teacher/Student J2, and I kept protesting that I drew the line at RPF. They didn't care. 200k later, here we are. This story was a game changer for me; it made me fandom famous. I still love those boys with my whole heart, and they still talk to me sometimes.

Stranger Than Fiction (Sam/Dean, 50644 words) - This story idea took root immediately following the episode The Monster at the End of This Book. I quit the Big Bang I'd already begun writing for that year (which was Who Watches Over Me, which I finished and posted for BB the following year) to write this story. It just took hold hold of me and took over. I wrote it in 6 weeks and it was easily the most fun I ever had writing anything--I cackled like a madwoman most of the time.

Who Watches Over Me (J2 RPF, 96591 words) - This story was, at the time, the toughest thing I'd ever written. Little did I know that would become the norm and not the exception, as I began to write more complex stories. It was by far the longest story I had ever posted all at once in its entirety (rather than chapter by chapter) and I had no idea if people would like it. Fortunately a lot of people did.

Like Staring Into the Sun (Sam/Dean, 23243 words) - Ah, my very first hardcore Wincest fic. I remember writing the first chapter of the story (meant to be a one shot honestly), and just sitting there, at 5am, being terrified to post it. It was twisted, dark and intense and SO porny I was scared people might think I was weird. There wasn't anything like it out there at the time. As it turns out, people loved it so much I ended up writing eight more parts.

Like a Fish Out of Water (Sam/Dean, 59498 words) - I have a lot of love for this story. It didn't come to me easily, but it was fun to write. I remember smiling a lot and just having a nice, warm cozy feeling the whole time. I had no idea if anyone was interested in reading this many words of what amounted to a dramedy curtain fic

Of course there are other stories that I feel deserve love, but I can't argue with these.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do. And by that, I mean I try. I don't always succeed in answering them all, but I answer as many as I have time and energy for. Life is busy and there is writing to do as well. I read every comment I get (multiple times) and I feel guilty for all the ones I don't answer, because they mean SO MUCH TO ME. Like you took time to leave this beautiful, well thought out comment, or even a keysmash, or a heart, in response to something I wrote. That means the world.

I WISH there was a reaction function for comments on Ao3, so I could heart things, or laugh in response. Replying with emojis without words feels weird. So yeah, a reaction function would be amazing. But in the meantime, I do my best.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Probably A Touch of Evil. Interestingly, it's also a HAPPY ending, so there you go lol. It's a serial killer love story with a happy ending that comes at an exorbitant price.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm not sure why the OG post skips from 6 to 8 lol . So, yes, I have written a few minors crossovers. Mostly Faith in the SPN verse with the boys, nothing too crazy, because she fits right in. But for long stories, I have written all of ONE crossover. It's Dean Winchester/Jax Teller (SPN / Sons of Anarchy). My crossovers so far have tended to make sense to crossover, so I don't think any of them are crazy.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. I got some hate on a Buffy/Xander fic back in the day. I got really excited and had fun with it. Like yeah, now I'm SOMEBODY! You're no one til someone hates you lol Most of that was people who were haters of the ship, or were like, gross, they're like brother and sister (they weren't, they were FRIENDS). I've gotten nasty comments here and there on some of my SPN fic. My favorite was the person who accused me of having a "Top Dean Agenda". I STILL laugh about that one. I don't respond to that crap.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Have you MET ME? LOL If I ever post a story without smut just put me out to pasture, because I'm done. And all kinds. Het, Gay, PWP, Plotty porn, mostly super kinky but some vanilla (but intense). I used to challenge myself regularly to see if I could up my kink game--like hmm, but could I write THIS? I haven't written really kinky sex in a long time, though. Might be time to do that.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Several times. Who Watches Over me was stolen by someone and converted to One Direction Lourry fic. Literally just did a name change. Someone else stole a bunch of my one shots and passed them off as their own. I know there were a couple other instances but I only vaguely remember. I never got too deep into it, most of the time the people who discovered the theft already told everyone else too, and the plagiarist had been hammered by them so hard that I didn't have to step in before they took it down.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. I used to get requests so often that I just posted my usual response in my profile for people to read instead of replying. Definitely into Russian and Chinese for most of the stories listed with most kudos above.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times on one shot fics. SO MUCH FUN. I love co-writing with people.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Sam/Dean. Easily. Hands down. I just love their unique relationship, bond and love so much.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Well I finally finished A Touch of Evil after posting 3 chapters in 2009 and never touching it again until 2017. And I never thought I'd finish that. So never say never, I say. That said, there's the third and final part of my X-Men comic book epic that remains unfinished by about five (shorter) chapters, and it HAUNTS ME. But I don't think I'll ever finish it.

16) What are your writing strengths?

NOW we get to the hard questions. I'm really good at dialogue, bouncing banter back and forth between characters, and I have a sense for how long a scene should be. I just KNOW when it's going on too long, even if there's more that needs to be said, and I try to tighten it up in that case.

A friend of mine once told me "Porn is my gift". I don't write as much of it as I used to, but yeah, I shine in that area.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

So I always reach a point after writing so many words in an unpublished fic where I'm like, I have no idea if this is even any good/makes sense/hangs together etc. Beyond that, I've been writing for so long that I've had so much practice that I've strengthened a lot of my weaknesses. I'm sure I still have some, but I don't FEEL them like I used to anymore. That said, there are things I simply will not write. Like historical pieces. Because I would research the fuck out of every detail trying to get it perfect and then I would still doubt myself completely.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I mostly try to avoid it, because there's no way I would ever get the language correct. I usually write it in English and then explain that they're saying it in another language. Like, "What are you doing?" the man asks, speaking in Chinese. Then reiterate in the continuing dialogue in various ways that they're speaking in Chinese.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

X-Men Comic Book fandom. I was reading a lot of Remy/Rogue fic back in 1996-1997, and one day I was like, you know what? This person did a pretty good job on this story. It's not great, but it's pretty good, and if they can have the guts to put it out there, then I can do it, too.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

This is a tough question. I don't love all my children equally, but I love them all a lot in different ways lol

Remembering favorite is different than which one I think is BEST... Homework Verse is probably my favorite. I was learning so much about writing then, I was really growing, and discovering, and pushing my limits. Those characters lived and breathed in me, I swear they spoke through me from some alternate universe. They feel so REAL to me. There's so much of what I've learned in life in that story, like really, big, life changing ideas and understandings that happened to me that I put into that story. There's so much of me in that story, and yet there's so much of THEM, too. It's their story, but it's also mine. It's raw and not entirely perfect and it feels like home to me.

--

So that's it, that's my piece. I feel like EVERYONE has been tagged since it took me 3 days to have time to do this, but I'm basically tagging any of you writers out there who haven't done this yet!

[lenskij]

The StoryGraph's Translation Challenge 2021 - a reflection

Today I just finished this 10 prompt reading challenge! I had so much fun doing it, especially since I’ve for years wanted to expand my reading beyond the same old and familiar I’ve been reading until now, but I didn’t come around to actually do it until I came across The StoryGraph's Translation Challenge 2021.

The rules are: pick a book for each prompt that has been translated from a language that isn’t English. For myself, I added another rule - it can’t be translated from any language I speak, either. I also wanted to find an individual book for each prompt - if there was a book that would fit in two prompts, I counted it for only one of them and chose another for the other.

I wanted to share my little translation journey with everyone here, hence this post. The prompts, what book I chose for each, and my thoughts on them are below the cut!

Also: I’m always on the lookout for non-English books! Bonus points if they’re from outside of Europe ^w^ Hit me up with your recommendations!

1. A translated fantasy or sci-fi novel

Stanisław Lem: Солярис (Solaris) Translated from Polish to Russian by Д. Брускин

This book has been living on my sister’s bookshelf for years, and while I was visiting her I read it. It didn’t impress me in any way, it felt like any regular old sci-fi, although a bit creepy (and just a lil dash of sexism).

2. A book written by a Black woman in translation

Marie NDiaye: La Cheffe (La Cheffe) Translated from French to Swedish by Maria Björkman

This is a lovely novel, even if it focused on French food - and the detailed descriptions reminded me that French food is overrated. I loved the character la Cheffe, it was highly enjoyable to read about her relationship to people and her profession, and the narrator had sweet heart eyes that shined through the text.

3. A translated book originally published before 1950

Choderlos de Laclos: Farliga förbindelser (Les Liaisons dangereuses) Translated from French to Swedish by Arvid Enckell.

This prompt was the easiest to fulfill, and I had several choices for it. I've spoken about this book elsewhere on this here blog - it's morbidly fascinating to read about terrible, terrible people.

4. A translated non-fiction book

Romaric Godin: Klasskriget i Frankrike (La guerre sociale en France) Translated from French to Swedish by Johan Wollin

For this prompt, I went to a local bookstore and asked the seller for help. She had to dig around for a while before she found something that wasn't originally written in English - like she pointed out, most academics choose to write in English, even if they're not native speakers.

I picked this one because I've seen snapshots of the yellow wests in the news, but I know barely any of the context. Although the book is short, it's a pretty detailed overview of recent French economic history, with an emphasis on explaining why and how French neo-liberalism ended up looking like it is today (and why French neo-liberalism is different from the neo-liberalism in the rest od Europe). This tickled my inner economics nerd.

5. A translated novel 500 pages or longer

Isabel Allende: Andarnas hus (La Casa de los Espíritus) Translated from Spanish to Swedish by Lena Anér Melin

Another book that has been sitting on my sister's shelf! I absolutely loved it - a family saga, in a time of social change. Look, my favourite part about any book is when the characters feel like humans, even if they're not relatable, I can still understand them.

6. A book translated from Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish or Icelandic

Vigdis Hjorth: Arv och miljö (Arv og miljø) Translated from Norwegian to Swedish by Ninni Holmqvist

In my case, it meant a book translated from either Danish, Norwegian or Icelandic (I do have to pepper in the fact that I'm a polyglot, after all). It's my sister who recommended it to me, and she was right when she said this was good! I loved the three separate timelines, the prose, and the family drama.

7. A translated book by a South American author

María Sonia Cristoff: Håll mig utanför (Inclúyanme afuera) Mariana Enríquez: Det vi förlorade i elden (Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego)Translated from Spanish to Swedish by Hanna Axén

What? Two books?? Yes, when I searched the library catalogue it spit out these two - because they have the same translator - and since they both seemed interesting I checked both of them out.

Unfortunately, these are the two books of this challenge that I liked the least. The first one didn't have a premise that worked with me - the main character chose to listen more than she spoke for a year as an experiment, and as an introvert, to whom this is how I've always lived my life, it was hard for me to understand what the big deal was.

The second was just my personal taste - these short stories had bloody ghosts, and ended abruptly without quite resolving the story - that creepiness just doesn't vibe with me.

8. A translated book by a Chinese author

Eileen Chang: Ett halvt liv av kärlek (Banshengyuan) Translated from Chinese to Swedish by Anna Gustafsson Chen

After quite a slow start I suddenly was drawn into this book. It's such a lovely read on when life doesn't always work out the way you want, and you still do your best to be happy. It felt very real, without being a 'happily ever after', or it's opposite of endless tears - that sweet middle ground spot.

9. A book translated from Arabic

Rajaa Alsanea: Flickorna från Riyadh (Banāt al-Riyāḍ) Translated from Arabic to Swedish by Tetz Rooke

I found this when messing around with the "similar books"-algorithm on Storygraph (I've just finished Unmarriageable, and liked it a so much I wanted to find something similar). When this one popped out I noticed the Arabic author name, and checked it out from the library. I've actually never read any book set in the Middle East, and I loved seeing a glimpse of life there (naturally, this isn't a comprehensive illustration - the main characters were all from well-off families). The most interesting thing was how the characters adjusted their behaviour as they travelled between Europe and Saudi Arabia - the social rules are different depending on where you are (and if you meet a fellow Saudi in London, your day is ruined - because suddenly you have to behave in accordance to Saudi rules).

10. A book translated from a language spoken in India

Vivek Shanbhag: Ghachar ghochar (Ghāchar ghōchar) Translated from Kannada to English by Srinath Perur; translated to Swedish by Peter Samuelsson

At first I was cranky about that this is a translation of a translation - but in the acknowledgements I read that it was the author's request that the book is to be translated from English. I assume it's because the English translator already has made the inevitable tradeoffs between language and form, which the author approved, and so the Swedish translator wouldn't have to make the decisions all over again.

This was a short book, just over a hundred pages. It barely had any plot, but it didn't need any - the description of the family members' relationship to each other was juicy enough.

In conclusion

This challenge was a great opportunity for me to also try genres I never would have tried otherwise - I was limited to what my library had, and especially for the smaller languages, it's a limited choice. I've been talking about this translation challenge to everyone I know because I've had so much fun! And the best part is - it's only ten prompts. That means I wouldn't need to scram to finish it in time, even while also reading the regular same old books I do still want to read. While I'm waiting for the 2022 challenge, I'll be doing another round for these prompts - I've already checked out a short story collection originally written in Tamil, and a nonfiction about Syrian resistance originally written in Arabic :)

[sunmaylight]

TGCF Book 2 Reaction pt. 4

Okay. Let’s finish this for book 2, then I can post stuff about book 3 after this

I have decided to split instead of my OG plan because like I said last post, my reading app decided to cram Ch 82-88 into one reading count, so I got a counter that said that Ch 82 has like 100 some pages and I firmly decided that I will read that later.

I said and did what I promised and became a wreak after the end of book 2 cause of all of the drama and development that happened. Book two is literally about Xie Lian growing up and I got so emotional from the environment that forced him to.

Ch 82: The effects of the aphrodisiac-like drug were paused somehow.

- Me: Hm, was it cause Xie Lian cut himself and drained some of the blood away? Or was it cause some of his blood mixed with Hong Hong-Er’s blood was inserted into his bloodstream. Wait, if that is true. Xie Lian is lucky with his divinity he doesn’t get blood poisoning. 

The affects of the curse-drug are affecting Xie Lian and the novel is slowly climbing to the R-18 levels based on sounds.

- Me: Oh, Hong Hong-Er. I wish you luck and that you NEVER find out what those sounds mean until you are older.

Xie Lian ties a piece of his hair to Hong Hong-Er’s finger on one hand.

- Me: Wait, if Hong Hong-Er becomes Hua Cheng in the future, then...oh! This is where the red string ring on his hand comes from?

* Learns about Ch 83 *

- Me: Wait. -checks table of contents- *sob* oh thank god. There are like four more chapters to go instead of one really long chapter

Ch 83: Xie Lian pulled a Nagito Komaeda.

- Me: *Sob* Xie Lian, no! I understand why, but nooooo!

Feng Xin and Mu Qing find Xie Lian on the ground with the sword and freaks out. Then once Xie Lian is out, they explain that Yong’An has hidden backers secretly supplying them supplies for war.

- Me: Fu-dge. It’s getting bigger than expected.

Xie Lian comments to his retainers that the Young Solider has the potential to wield the Sabre, like Mu Qing. Mu Qing: *Unreadable expression*

- Me: Oh, is Mu Qing jealous? I think Mu Qing is jealous of a teenager

Back at Xian Le: Xie Lian runs into Hong Hong-Er again. Hong Hong-Er says he got kicked out of the army because...

- Me: ...Did baby Hong get kicked out the army because the army found out about his cursed existence? *Gasp* What if Mu Qing did something out of spite/jealousy. 

Ch 84: First victim found to possess the Human-Face disease is found in Xian Le. Everyone starts to freak out because of the large commotion it made. The ‘Face’ is revealed to be functional somehow.

- Me: *Reading the description* Oh gods. I think I’m going to be sick.

Hong Hong-Er tries his best to help Xie Lian do damage control

- Me: Awe, Hong Hong-Er. How adorable. You are trying to seek attention

Hey, remember the child of Lang Ying that was buried near the temple? Yeah, it became a curse/demon after being buried for over a decade without proper rites.

- Me: *Sigh* Why am I not surprised. Actually, I am very surprised. This was near a sacred place and NO ONE noticed this slowly growing into something dangerous an alarming rate.

Human-Face disease is growing and people are desperate. They turn to Xie Lian thinking he could do something instead of trying to find an alternative solution.

- Me: Man, I am so glad for modern medicine and the ability to have multiple paths taken to try and find the solution to this problem.

Learning about Human Face disease

- Me: Will make another post for theorization of how the disease come to be, but for now.

- Me: Wait, if the cursed child grew from almost over a decade ago, then that means Hong Hong-Er is like around 15 now...Holy shit.

Ch 85: Xie Lian created an idioms punishment if Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s arguing went out of control

- Me: Aww, how cute. This will also be good practice to familiarize one self with literature and language. 

Guoshi asking Xie Lian the hard, but necessary hard questions. Scolding Xie Lian for his naive ways of thinking and he should have listened to Guoshi from the beginning. Says that this matter with the kingdom of Xian Le is going out of control cause of Xie Lian

- Me: I know that the Guoshi is trying to drill the important stuff into Xie Lian’s head. But he is also at fault for omitting/withholding important information that Xie Lian should have learned

- Me: Flipping balancing act, that is ugh.

Yong’An troops is now classified as an army. The battles become bigger. Lang Ying is shown in a one-on-one battle with Xie Lian that he has a Deus Ex Machina effect attached to him

- Me: Oh no. That is not good. That is a sign of the shift in power and Xian Le will, the inevitable is coming. 

Human-Face Disease: Becomes sentient and eats and screams

- Me: O-oh *Blegh* Not good.

Ch 86: Xie Lian took a nap and woke up to a quilt on him

- Me: Who placed that on him? Hong Hong-Er? Did you do it?

The rapidly declining situation is now affecting Xie Lian to the point that he snaps. He punches a tree. Scared of the enemy and is getting desperate?

- Me: “To rise is human. To fall is also human” Shit, that is coming true now.

Xie Lian trying to call out for the White-Clothed Ghost. Said Ghost appears & tells how the Human-Face Disease came to be to Xie Lian

- Me: I already made a post about this. No need for repeat

- Me: The Human-Face disease. I am actually curious how it came to be.

Ch 87: Reveals the origin of the Human-Face disease in his bedroom to his retainers. Knows how to cast, but no cure

- Me: Oh god. It is a curse with no counter spell. Oh no.

Xie Lian and Mu Qing are fighting. Feng Xin, stays quiet until he can’t take it anymore and snaps.

- Me: Ah, a fallout? No, an argument. This is the start of the splintering between these three. Mu Qing always says the blunt truth with no consideration of how this will affect people later.

Earthquake? Happens later. Qi Rong jumps out from under the bed

- Me: Oh no. Fu-dge, it’s bratty Qi Rong. He is going to blabble, I can feel it

Ch 88: Xie Lian calls upon a giant golden statue of himself to hold up the Celestial Pagoda from falling

- Me: Wow! Gundam. Xie Lian can control an ancient Chinese Mecha. Wait, *inhales* o-oh. Atlas. Xie Lian is now representing Atlas.

Xie Lian’s strength is failing him. All he can do is hold up the pagoda.

- Me: Xie Lian is losing belief. No, not that. Also is anyone going to do anything to evacuate precious items form the Pagoda before it will eventually fall?

Qi Rong blabbles about the Human-Face disease. It makes everything more stressful for Xie Lian

- Me: Goddamnit, Qi Rong. I called it.

The outbreak of the Human-Face disease in the capital + Yong’An finally invaded the capital, people going to Xie Lian asking him to fix them even though he can’t. All of it builds up and then Xie Lian falls and breaks his leg. After, changes as something indescribable is lost.

= Me: ...oh Xie Lian. 

- Me: Depression...?

Xie Lian thinks he is a god of misfortune. Watches his temples burn with no emotion. Empty.

- Me: ...Xie Lian. I can’t understand how you are feeling, but the void and empty feeling? I can relate.

There is one temple of Xie Lian that was going to burn, but stopped. It is revealed a young teen has been protecting this temple. A painting of Xie Lian is revealed.

- Me: ..Hong Hong-Er is that you?

Xie Lian decides to let this teen see him on whim for a second. His retainers and the teen are surprised. Xie Lian tells the teen to forget him,

The teen: “IN MY HEART, YOU ARE GOD!”  “I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!”

- Wow. I can hear the theme music play in an uplifting tune.

MXTX Author’s note read

- Me: Wow. All of this story so far for this one image. Amazing.

Okay. Book two got me emotional like I said before that I read straight to book three next. Once I have a good place in book three, I will do a post then

[norgestan]

Literally the casting n stereotyping so bad! N no one talks abt albas racism either like ...

If u look on albas Instagram there’s a picture of her w her friends and she says so happy I make a chinese rat face Bc of the way her eyes look or whatever? And it’s still up it was published a while ago. I can submit the post if u want but idk how to use tumblr submissions 

well, thanks anon for sending these! honestly i think the picture is more of an... irene thing, like these casual/ignorant racist remarks. i’m not trying to diminish what she did though, i simply think it’s careless as fuck. which is funny because the whole point of that vlog she made on lucas’ channel was how we’re so used to using these microaggressions on our everyday language, and she’s a prime example of that outside the show... and by funny i mean that it makes me very sad :/

but back to the casting, yes!!! since s3 (but it goes way back) it has bothered me that dilan has these casual moments where he’d use ecuadorian lingo and idioms and all the girls look at each other like “????? what is he even saying” as if they don’t spend every clip saying “me renta” “estoy que flipo” and all kinds of madrilenian lingo themselves. with the lackluster number of four moc on their cast it’s just too easy to sort them in two different categories. eskam really doesn’t deem them worthy enough of a full, nuanced story. they either barely have plot relevance or are used as plot devices (eloy, dilan), or if they have plot relevance then they’re obstacles on the main couple’s path (eloy w crisana, dilan w virihugo, now kasim with damira). and if it wasn’t for amira, we wouldn’t have any kind of nuanced stories for woman of color in the show. it’s only thanks to her existence that other (arguably?) good female characters of color like dounia and amira’s mom exist.

i think it’s great to have a remake with a woman in charge and that shows on how the storylines were carefully constructed and delivered (for the most part) for all the mains. but things like these also show such a lack of racial diversity on the producers, casting team and writers. it’s a no brainer when you have three white lgbtq+ characters whose storylines were handled with care and improved upon og (they even gave lucas a youtube channel to make up for it!) and then you see the shit they’re doing with kasim. and it’s a no brainer when they cast a thin, cis white attractive girl to play cris fully knowing that they wanted to give her a story (and chris is usually the taken lgbtq/racialized/plus-sized character in other remakes). the only member of the girl+boy squads who has had nothing going on with him on the entire show has been, you guessed it, dilan. i wouldn’t mind as much if it was only one character, but characters of color getting substantial screen time and nuanced storylines/plot relevance seems to be the exception in this show.

[georgelore]

Not to butt in on the language talk, but I think from my limited exposure to Danish (through seeing a few interviews with Alphabeat, and any Eurovision stuff) that while you might not consider it a 'pretty' language, I do think it's an interesting one. But then again, I only speak English, so what do I know :P

Thanks anon! I guess danish is alright. It's cool when you think about how only around 6 million people speak danish in the world. It's also considered one of the most difficult languages to learn along with chinese. And since you've mentioned alphabeat (goooood shit) and eurovision, let me just drop a short list of recommendations on danish artists i think everyone should know about:

Scarlet pleasure

I don't listen to them much anymore but they are honestly one of my favourite bands and they only have songs in english! You might know 'what a life' from the oscar winning danish movie called 'another round' staring the ever so amazing mads mikkelsen (who i've worked with on another movie which was really cool and he's super nice!!!) and that song is a banger. Start with their songs 'deja vu' or 'limbo'. They are very popular and very good songs.

Lukas graham

People already know lukas but him and his band are just amazing. He writes really good and emotional music about his childhood and growing up poor in one of the craziest places in denmark. (Not sure if he still does though, i haven't really kept up with him) but super inspiring and cool.

Outlandish

Their old music slaaaaaps! You might know their song 'aicha' which i think is an old meme song if i'm not wrong? Anyways, their songs are in english and spanish and it's sooooo good. I would recommend 'warrior // worrier' and 'guantanamo' :] I JUST REMEMBERED 'DESERTWALK'!!! WHEN I SAY IT'S A BANGER I MEAN IT'S A BAAAAANGER!

Kim larsen / gasolin'

I can't make a list of danish artists and not include kim larsen. He is the definition of danish music and literally everyone in denmark knows who he is. He was a cultural phenomenon and he is dearly missed. He mainly has songs in danish but the song 'this is my life' by gasolin' (his band) is such a beautiful song. I also think some non-danish people know that song? (Adore delano (drag queen) posted about it on their instagram story once and i was in shock because it was around when kim passed away and it was surreal and made me a bit emotional ngl) you can hear his music being played anywhere you go and everyone, both young and old, will scream along to his lyrics.

I also think our eurovision song was robbed this year. We didn't even make it to the finals... stream 'øve os på hinanden' by fyr og flamme

[mintgator]

SVSSS novel thoughts

So I started reading SVSSS!

ok so i would’ve never gotten through that first chapter without watching the donghua first (which is why i waited)

i’m almost more amused by the footnotes than the actual story ngl. i mean the “hug thighs” thing? and the author’s name? hysterical

reading it here if anyone’s wondering

gonna have a great time (ie - STRUGGLE) learning new character names

i always sigh a bit at how clunky translations sound. i respect that the translators are keeping true to the og work but goddamn the passive voice and repetition and sheer indirect way of explaining things is painful for someone who writes novels in english

the OOC description, for example, was agonizing

WOW Shen Qingqiu‘s death is a lot more graphic than in the donghua. the weird pot thing ain’t got nothing on the human stick YIKES

i love how unimpressed Shen Yuan is with the stereotypical villain role

listen i can’t read “Airplane Towards the Sky” without giggling now that i know what it means

i still have no idea how perspective works in Chinese novels; it seems omniscient but like...i’m not sure? always at the mercy of english being a shitty language to translate things into

“This YY stallion novel, as soon as a sister arrived, she became the male lead’s. Everyone knew this.” it’s so true that it hurts (thank god this is gonna go gay; i’m very here for the gay)

I love how much Shen Qingqui just HATES this novel he’s stuck in (but how is a novel a SYSTEM and not a video game? how the hell does this subgenre even work?)

from the footnotes “Previous life: Bit of a subtle hint that our main character probably had a terminal illness or something that would have taken his life in time.” that surprised me!

i’m so impatient to catch up to where eps 3 left off, but also really worried i’ll be confused, because wow this is hard to understand in english

TBC!

[farmerlan]

thank you so much for the honorifics post! i was wondering if you have any recommendations for dramas where the cultivation world exists side by side with a royal court? mxtx ignores the existence of any type of empire and i'm curious to see how terms of address, honorifics, and language in general differs with the inclusion of different social ranks (i'm watching 月上重火 right now and the mix of both worlds is super interesting). Thank you again!!

This is a super good question and I’m going to answer it with the limited knowledge that I have haha. If I am way off base here and/or if other people have recommendations, I hope they can add to this!

I’m going to preface this by saying that I’ll play fast and loose with the definitions here and throw in some wuxia (a lot of them have fantasy/martial arts elements even though there’s no specific reference to cultivation) and also some ‘royal court’ settings within the cultivation world. A lot of xianxia actually do have some element of royalty (e.g. characters being royalty of the heavenly realms etc.) and the honorifics employed here for the large part cross over to the imperial dynastic setting. AFAIK there is not really a drama out there with a perfect blend of both xianxia and historical court intrigue in the strictest sense (the two worlds don’t really mix) – hence my taking liberties.

Warning: not all of these shows have a happy ending.

Side note for anyone who needs a quick explanation on wuxia vs. xianxia:

Wuxia is the genre of martial arts stories, sects, often set in ancient China, these tend to be ‘real world’ setting stories except the people practice martial arts, there’s sects and and it’s set in the jianghu, the pugilist world, which… is kind of both a shared world with the secular world of regular human beings and an alternate world upon itself. I know, I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this. It’s basically historical fiction.

At the risk of hugely oversimplifying genres, xianxia is baaaaasically wuxia on fantasy drugs. It adds Daoist influences and that’s how you end up with the concept of cultivation sects (as opposed to martial arts sects), immortality, the realms, ghosts and ghouls etc. Again, I’m grossly oversimplifying, but in terms of honorifics and broad concepts, there’s a huge amount of crossover. Xianxia really exploded as a genre in more recent years and is now the popular kid on the block, but wuxia is the OG. I’m showing my age here.

Ashes of Love (香蜜沉沉烬如霜)

This was like THE hottest drama in recent years until The Untamed came along. Since the protagonists are royalty (in the heavenly realm), there’s a lot of usage of court-specific honorifics (殿下，皇上，臣 etc.) Story is very focused around the love triangle though, which I’m fine with but as with all love triangles, it’s very will-they-won’t-they. Also the soundtrack is really good haha.

Legend of Fuyao (扶摇)

This is more wuxia with fantasy elements. It’s broadly a coming-of-age romance story, but there is a lot more state affairs and politics rolled into it as there’s five kingdoms (all fictional). Starts strong, but ends with a mediocre second half. IMO Fu Yao is a well-written, strong female character that also benefits from Yang Mi’s acting, although a lot of Chinese viewers also think she’s a Mary Sue. So if you do watch this I’m interested to see what you think!

Ever Night (将夜)

Set in the Tang dynasty, this is probably the most relevant to what you’re asking! It’s a combination of cultivation, and kingdoms, with some cultivators leading kingdoms. We follow the path of our male lead protagonist on his quest for vengeance (what else) and cultivation.

With that said, I will say that the relationship between the male protagonist and his love interest has an …interesting and somewhat controversial premise that I won’t spoil here but DM or google if you need to know. Full warning: it suffers from pacing problems, so I don’t know if I would wholeheartedly recommend it, but thought it would be remiss of me not to. If you thought Legend of Fuyao was long, oh boy you’re in for a ride. No lie, I fast forwarded through a bunch of it.

Nirvana in Fire (琅琊榜)

This is a non-romance wuxia historical drama. I just wanted to squeeze this in here even though there’s no mention of cultivation anywhere because it’s SO. GOOD. Without the distraction of a huge romance plot, the show really deals with the ideas of rebirth, revenge and politics. It’s also benefits from being extremely well-written from a plot perspective – there’s a lot of believable politicking, both within and outside the palace. We’re talking sects, officials, alliances, princes, wives, concubines. We’re talking characters with depth and ACTUAL logical motives beyond “I had to write it that way to advance the plot”. We’re talking Princess Nihuang, who is THE Merriam-Webster definition of badass. There’s also a Season 2 (completely different story set 50 years after), which I haven’t seen but have heard it’s great.

/side note on honorifics: If you want honorifics, *slaps drama* this bad boy can fit so many honorifics in it. And to be honest, I think that the key to understanding honorifics is to understand the underlying social structures and concepts (respect, familiarity, positions of power) that existed in ancient China as a whole, and that’s not genre specific. And once you’ve grasped it, it really doesn’t hinder your understanding of the novel/drama if you don’t know the exact difference between words like 师傅 and 师父 as long as you grasp the fundamental meaning if I’m being 100% honest.

[jennsmischievousmind]

EXSOMNIS

CHAPTER 2 - Red Light

Exsomnis: Wakeful, Vigilant

Summary: Fresh Doctor out of residency you didn’t expect Conyers to be this uneventful until everything happened at the same time. From the outset, an odd meeting with what seems like a steadfast Detective but it was only the beginning.

Notes: English is not my native language, I’m trying to get better at it, please be indulgent.

Based on the movie Prisoners by Denis Villeneuve (so I don’t own any of the OG characters) if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do (maybe before reading) :) The story takes place before and through the event in the movie.

The temperature dropped radically at the holiday season approaching, you couldn’t wait to get home. 10 PM strike the end of your shift, you mentally slapped yourself remembering you had run out of prep meal. The Chinese restaurant at the last bus stop will have to do.

Flopping down on a chair near the window, a waitress came right away as the place was practically empty.

“Rice and spicy chicken soup, and to drink?” she tapped her pen on her notepad.

“Water please, no straw thanks.” As she strolled back to the Comptoir, your head fell into your hands, elbows resting on the table, if it wasn’t for your grunting belly you would be home showered and tucked into bed.

The door’s chime announced a new costumer, letting in a stream of glacial air on his way, you shivered pressing your legs together, not bothering to look who had entered.

“Rough day?” the newcomer asked.

“Rough life.” You answered curtly, not in the mood to have a talk with a stranger.

“Tell me about it.” You heard a sigh then a chuckle, intrigued you finally looked up.

A smirk, a sharp jaw, and some sad blue eyes had you at attention in a second. Detective Loki. You had met occasionally, at the grocery store or the hospital and Erin almost tried every subterfuge for you to meet him, mostly in vain. She was funny, so you let her do her thing.

“Doc,” he nodded. Somehow you gestured to the chair next to you, pushing it with your feet, he took the hint and let his heavy jacket fall from his broad shoulders.

“I’d presumed you’d want to enjoy your time alone.” he picked up a pair of chopsticks.

“I don’t mind some company, as long as you don't ask me about the hospital.” He smirked, still playing with the chopsticks without breaking them apart, a way of keeping his tattooed hands busy. You quickly stared at the tattoos wondering the meaning of them. Pondering if he had more than these and the star on his neck.

The waitress cut your thoughts when setting your bowls in front of you and a plate and a mug of coffee in front of him.

“I see you’re known here,” you eyed his plate after thanking the waitress. He scoffed picking at his food.

“There’s not a lot of places which stay open this late here.” Both of you ate in a comfortable silent at first, then he’d talked a bit about the police station, he had you talk more though, mostly on how your first 6 months in Conyers went.

Plates were gone, the warm mug of decaf in your hands prickling at your skin. “

"How your stitches are doing by the way?” His hand went to his rib.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about hospital matters?" he asked amused

"Occupational hazard? you arched an eyebrow, a Doctor never really cease caring for his patient."

"Good to know I have you to care for my injuries." you scoffed at his saying but surprised yourself at feeling the blush creeping on your cheeks.

"Let's hope I'll not have to stitch you up in a long time." he raised his coffee mug at your saying.

“I'm no doctor, but I think they're fine...” he blinked again three times in a row, looking back at you, you avoided his eyes trying not to be so obvious about his motor tics.

A gust of wind made the door’s chime moved, you look at the door, he didn’t.

The air was glacial, winter was definitely here, you blessed your mentor back in Cleveland for the warm coat she had offered you. Conyers was by far, colder than Cleveland.

“Where’s your car?” You jumped at the sudden question.

“I came with the last bus actually my car didn’t start this morning, 'was about to walk home, goodnight Detective.” Waving two fingers near your head you step backward and turned around.

You heard him fiddle with his car keys, his door opening, and closing.

“Wait, Doc!” Glancing back, he had his arms on the top of his car. “I’d rather drive you home if you don’t mind.”

“Y/N, my name is Y/N, you chuckled to yourself thinking that you didn't even introduce yourself properly, you don’t have to really” unconsciously walking forward the car.

“… It’s freaking cold, he paused, and look, it’s unsafe for anyone to walk at night like that.” He drummed on the car’s roof, keeping eye contact with you.  

“All right, all right. I cave.”

Seating in the car you became aware of the intimacy that the proximity created. As you told him your street, he stopped the car at the parking exit. His hands tightened the wheel.

“You were going to walk 30 minutes at night, alone!?” His sudden concerns and hardened expression had you confused.

He gave the wheel a turn and engaged the car on the main road not really waiting for your answer.

“I’m not stupid you know, I don’t go, Gretel, every night.” Hand in your bag, a flashing blue light, and a buzzing sound got his attention.

“I can protect myself,” you said putting away the stun gun. His jaw relaxed a bit, his blinking became less erratic than a minute before.

“No gun?” The red light's halo engulfing the car, you scoffed.

“I am a doctor, remember? I don’t shoot people. I’m tired to see gun victims at the hospital.“

“True.” he stated not letting his eyes off the red light. “I better not get shot then.”

It was supposed to be a joke you guessed, but neither of you laughed.

“You better not!” You might have answered too genuinely, as silence fell in the car, his eyes left the red light to you, locking his blue eyes on yours.

The red light causing a particular tension, you caught yourself unable to say something, he stayed silent too, his eyes skimming your facial features. You started to feel warm inside, your hands getting clammy, you started stressing out not understanding why your body reacted so easily. A bright green light made you blink, putting a stop to this awkward but intense moment, your heartbeat returned to his normal rhythm.

5 minutes passed without a word spoken, your phone buzzed in your hands, lightning the abode as a text message pop up on the screen. It was from Erin that you renamed ‘Hun’ in your contacts. You saw Loki glancing at your phone while waiting for a truck to turn. Few meters later you saw the stairs of your house.

“That’s me,” he parked in the driveway. His eyes darted around the house as if he was looking for something that might lurk in the dark.

“Nice house,” he stopped the engine.

“Thanks. I would offer you a cup of decaf but …”

“Don’t bother, your friend must be waiting for you. “ he half-heartedly smiled looking at your phone.

“My friend? You wondered, I don’t ..., and then you got it, you assume I had someone?” You chuckled, taken aback by your reaction his erratic blinking came back.

“Goodnight Detective” you simpered opening the door.

“I, uh ... Goodnight.” he offered a simple smile, his eyes boring into yours.

You nodded inevitably smiling. You text Erin back, deciding to keep for yourself the "ride home", way too tired to spend an hour on the phone with her. As soon as you entered your shower fatigue overwhelms you, 3 minutes top until your head hit the bed’s soft pillows. Didn’t have time to think about the evening with Loki that Morpheus reclaimed your body for at least 8 hours.

During days Erin harassed you with Loki after hearing the "ride home" story, it was as she said “a big move”. It didn't seem like it, you had learned not to expect anything from men or women for that matters. But you had to admit Loki was intriguing and somehow charming, you were willing to try a little harder than usual.

Chapter 3 : Expecting the unexpected 

[coyote-brainbabies]

Profile: Liisi

I completely forgot I have a bunch of profiles in my drafts so here’s the OG Momth

Basic Information

Full Name: Liisi Nicknames/Aliases: Lii Title(s): None Age: 26 Gender: Cis Female Orientation: Heterosexual Species: Isabella Tiger Moth Birthday: March 19th Occupation: Innkeeper Powers: None Living Family: Quail (husband), Ibbie (daughter), Pascal (son), Timo (son) Hometown: -tba- Current Residence: Dirtmouth

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'5” Skin Shell: Brown Hair Fur: Shades of orange-tan Eyes: Maroon Body Type: Average Distinguishing Marks: None Left or Right-Handed: Right Quirks/Habits: Curling up when she's feeling particularly distressed. Voice/Voiceclaim: -tba-

Medical Information

Addictions: None Aids/Augmentations: None Allergies: Fungus spores Conditions: None Physical Abnormalities: None Blood Type: ??? Mental Illnesses: None Other Notes: None

Mental/Personality Attributes

Known Languages: Common Positive Traits: Warm, decisive, self-reliant, creative, compassionate Neutral Traits: Sassy, assertive, emotional, somewhat conservative Negative Traits: Worries too much, somewhat clingy Optimist, Pessimist, or Realist: Realist Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert Fears: Abandonment, losing her daughter Secrets: Liisi was never married to Ibbie's biological father, Alvar; she just tells people that she was so they won't know Ibbie was born out of wedlock. She's also not quite as bold as she appears; she can get overwhelmed and anxious about as easily as any other bug, she just tries to hide it and push through as best she can.

Likes/Dislikes

General Likes: Family, tea, ghost stories, shopping, reliable people, naps, seashells, wind chimes, quilts, cool weather, beaches General Dislikes: Rowdy customers, bitter foods, violence, crude humor, mushrooms, crowded rooms, restless nights, disorder, mistreatment of children Favorite... Animal: -tba- Color: Ocean blue Food: -tba- Music Genre: -tba- Season: Autumn

Relationships

Best Friend(s): Elaine Other Friends: Chepi, Filaree, Iselda Acquaintances: Quirrel, Cornifer, Sly, Elderbug Significant Other(s): Quail Rivals: None Enemies: None Pets: None

Other/Trivia

Meaning of Name: Liisi is ultimately derived from Elisheva, meaning “my God is an oath”. Religion: Indifferent Astrological Zodiac: Pisces-Aries Cusp Chinese Zodiac: Monkey Celtic Zodiac: Alder and Fox Element: Earth MBTI Type: ISFJ Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff Alignment: Lawful Good

Liisi is very devoted to her family, and can be quite the mama bear when pushed.

One of Liisi's most treasured possessions is a quilt made for her by her late grandmother.

Liisi's former lover ran out on her before Ibbie even hatched from her egg.

Liisi has been fending for herself for so long that she doesn't always think to ask others for help or support, though she will accept it if someone offers and insists a bit.

[rollie-ollie-pollie]

@ruby16wallpaper tagged me (thank u) and I didn't do the last thing I was tagged in so im going to do this right now so I don't forget

nicknames: lolo (also only by my parents) lando, landed (landaddy) ((don't ask))

zodiac sign: scorpio!

height: 5′2 .__. 

Hogwarts house: I took 2 quizzes and the first one I took said I was a gryphidor but the second one I took said I was a Hufflepuff so idk

last thing I googled: constellation stories I think and Japanese emojis....

favorite musicians: scorpions #1 favorite! but I also love rammstein (ofc), ghost, STRFKR, def leppard…. a lot of classic rock....but that's what im remembering atm

song stuck in my head: none actually rn atm

following: on my og account 691 xD

followers: here, 72 ^w^

do I get asks?: no, but that's ok I don't really reblog those ask me things and I might be really shy if people try to come into my ask box for like headcannons or sometimes opinions but if I do get asks I wouldn't mind I think ill be ok

what im wearing: black sweat pants and a black tee shirt that says “music is my life” how fitting

dream job: to work in an orchestra/symphony with the upright string bass!

dream trip: Germany, actually, or Europe in general

favorite food: hard to say....fries! or pancakes....or tacos....hmmm....

languages: english first language, learning French in school (year 1) german and Chinese with duolingo, but I stopped Chinese lessons probably since last October so I could focus on german and French...... but ill go back to it! id love to learn Spanish and latin and Russian and all sorts of languages idk I jus really love learning languages!

favorite song: wind of change by scorpions :)

random fact: ill put 3 here cause this is all I can think of: a) ive never broken a bone b) im a plant dad! I grow all sorts of succulents (I have 12 roughly) c) I play the upright string bass in orchestra for about 5 years now :)

I tag: (ill only tag my friends cause im sure all the other rammstein blogs have been tagged) ((also this is @curi0usityme welcome to my rammstein/hard rock blog))  @abstract-lavender-bat-corpse @random-cluster--missile @unholyopossum @chachamaru-chan @darkshifter98 id tag some ghost blogs I follow but I don't know who and im also really shy ( ´△｀) so if ur a ghost blog and were mutuals then I tag u!!! if ya wanna do it I mean (*´∀`*)

thanks!