#i think thats how it got translated into this as a dream

[dunmeshistash]

Hi, so recently there was a dunmeshi signing (?) event with Ryoko Kui in Korea. And I have found some posts from korean fans about their experience and a bunch of illustrations. @Dgae_715 is the acc on twitter i have found most of information from reposts. But basically here are the most relevant facts that I have found (Please note that they may be inaccurate due to me relying on online translator):

A fan asked if post canon Falin will live longer, Ryoko Kui basically answered “maybe so, right?”

The same fan asked if Thistle without desire will able to live happily with the care of others, and as far as I got she said “I hope so”.(Note: I am really not sure if I got this one right at all) The fan themselves said the way Ryoko Kui answered was rather unprepared, so she may not have an answer in mind really on such specific questions.

Another fan asked how Mithrun is in post canon, Ryoko Kui said that he is doing well, working and pursuing hobbies.

Somebody asked Mithruns about strength, he is weaker than a soldier, even though he is got the fighting skills, but he developed them mostly because of his sense of professionalism (?), rather than for fighting.

Past Mithrun didn’t really fight that much, he was mostly an investigator(?), he rarely had to fight in the rear(?) units.

Apparently Falin’s chimera form can get oily, so she repells water a bit

In real life, Marcille would be a med school research student, while Laios would be a “furita” (basically a freelancer with no stable income)

Someone said if Ryoko Kui considered a bad ending for Falin, and Ryoko Kui said she, as an author wanted a happy ending, but in case of Falin, she was worried after the ending (14 volume or later?), but overall she thinks it turned out well. (I think the after the ending refers to her post canon fate, and maybe thats why Ryoko kui did an extra on that specifically later on) 8. Also someone asked if Ryoko Kui would eat the dishes from dunmeshi, and she replied she is a picky eater, and she also said to someone that she drew dishes that she liked and disliked in dunmeshi (I bet she doesnt like fruitcakes).

(Note: There is a 90% chance I got this completely wrong, translator was struggling a LOT here) Someone asked about what Laios is good at, she replied “when he is a party member”. 9. She also likes Lord of the Rings and Wizardly 6(?), and she likes Skip and Loather

When asked about what word definies Laios, she said he is actually a normal/usual person(?). I have lost the post with this specific answer, so I am going by my memory;-;

Some fan showed her that picture with Tennant Chilchuck, she didnt recognise the actor unfortunately. Also apparently this meme originated from Korean dunmeshi fandom???

There were other questions and answers too, but they mostly about Ryoko Kui. And I also may have forgotten to add some;-; Also some fan suggested to Ryoko Kui that Falin in the real life should be a dentist by the way she makes them drool(????I think they meant it in non-sexual manner, like an excited dog), they kind of laughed about it. Also Ryoko Kui drew Falin the most(?) for signing postcards, other characters, and only 5-6 Senshis, 2 Winged Lions

Anonymous asked: The same anon with Korean sign event ask. I knew I forgot something, but basicaly some fan showed Ryoko Kui the day dream picture that most of fandom presumes to be a Chilchuck’s wife and asked if its true, she answered “Its up to your imagination”. So basically neither no or yes

Thank you! I LOVE SKIP AND LOAFER WEEEE

Hopefully we get some more corroborating translations for the bits you're not sure!

[dukku-of-catempty]

Linking my translation of Red Candle's interview yesterday here, also typed out below. I didn't translate everything, but hopefully it's enough for fans to get a glimpse of their game dev process. Interview vod here.

Ninesols was delayed twice. As their first try at a metroidvania, they found out there's a lot more to be done. Their first game play video was actually an accident. Someone clicked the wrong button on the obs and it became a live stream.

For the interview today, we have 2 of the 6 co-founders of redcandlegames, Henry and Vincent/4wei, plus the game play designer Lighty and Art designer Pege/XiaoHe.

Game Dev Process

Back then Yi was a head shorter, pretty close to Hollow Knight. Devs call it the "Hollow Cat era". It took them 1-2 years to progress from Hollow Cat to 2D Sekiro.

Q: You've already set such a high bar for game play (hollow knight, sekiro), why did you have the same high standard for art and story as well?

Henry:(points at Vincent) this is all him. I said, just focus on the game play! Then he decided to throw in the story

Vincent: I didn't set it out to be so dialogue heavy. But simple gameplay doesn't keep gamers playing, they have to be invested in the world to want to play more.

Vincent: I wanted to save budget so I thought, comics, they're simple enough. Turned out they were costly too. Pege got the other end of that. She drew all the in-game comics.

Pege: Comic works in that you can get up close to the characters and see the details, their expressions.

Their initial inspo for the artstyle was Akira... really reaching for the heights of everything

On the designing process:

Vincent: pacing comes first, whether it's story, combat, or the gaming experience

About 35mins in: Lighty explains the initial concept of TaoPunk

Vincent come up with keywords and Pege designs the character. For example, Goumang was "princess, tsundere", Lady Ethereal was based on "Zhuangzi and the butterfly dream".

40min, Pege explains the character designing process

Pege had the hardest time designing JieQuan. Girls are easier.

Vincent: he's the typical straight macho dude

MCs: what do you mean straight? All I see is 🌈

Vincent wanted there to be a low point for the gamer, since the first 3 bosses were relatively easy. He drew inspiration from Bloodborne and MGS, and JieQuan was born as Yi's tormentor.

Pege's favorite character is Ji, based on his character design and gender.

Vincent: I said Ji can be a they, but Pege insisted on him being male.

MC: So we can actually see stuff under his skirt

Henry: Yi had to struggle to not get flashed during the fight

Lighty also likes Ji best, because of his character. He likes his views as an immortal.

Henry also likes Ji best, because of his combat pattern. Out of all the bosses, his combat pattern is the only one thats entirely original. He wanted to make a 3rd stage.

Since all the characters came from Vincent, he doesn't have a favorite, but is impressed by how popular some of them are. Lady Ethereal's fight was actually the least costly. The platforming was a budget choice. Including the jumpscare, Ethereal was the easiest stage to make.

Vincent: Even the bgm. For Lady Ethereal, I didn't need to tell the composer what I want, they finished it perfectly.

Henry: This is a collaboration where everyone provides their expertise, and Lady Ethereal is an example of us working extremely in sync.

They ran out of time and funds at the research center, and were not entirely satisfied with it even when the game launched.

Solarian was based on Middle Chinese. Old Chinese sounds close to Vietnamese and is too hard for the VAs to pronounce. Vincent thinks since the game is sci-fi in ancient times, a new language is needed for immersion.

Everyone's stressed at the end of the project: it's been five years, and the game hadn't been tested by the mass public, so they weren't sure how it'd be received

Solarian language and Voiceover

Vincent: in Taiwanese we have checked tones, libiodentals, we digged deeper into these traits and referenced Taiwanese/Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese and Middle Chinese for the Solarian language. Our Solarian expert, Sheng-Han Lin worked on it for 3 months. He even wrote a program where it converts a word into Solarian automatically, complete with KK phonetic symbols.

Basic Solarian words/phrases:

(Making these up, tone numbers are mandarin)

Bi³ Suen² = big brother

Shuai² In³ = Hello Friend

Why⁴ Song⁴ = Stop right there

Uen Zai² Chok = got it (I think?)

Ket Do³ = thank you

Vincent: first thing I said to the VAs was "sorry". Even after the recording process they still weren't sure what they were saying 😂

Many thanks to our voice director Neven Chang. It's the VAs performance that convinced me that Solarian is an actual language.

The Solarian characters came out of the need for there to be inscriptions on the background architectures, but modern Chinese characters breaks the immersion, so the art team came up with the idea to use the CangJie input method.

Vincent: initially we wanted to use the oracle bone script, but it's too time consuming, we needed something systemized. We do have our own Solarian font tho.

Solarian font has been dicephered here

Fan made font

Q&A section!

First question: are there plans for future nine sols DLCs?

Vincent: we still have a lot of work, like console ports and adding more languages, plus the crowndfund reawards... so currently we're looking to finish these first.

Vincent: as you know, we are a bunch of overachievers, so if there is a DLC, there's no telling how long we'll work on it... but atleast for me, I do hope to tell more stories in this world. That's all I'll say for now.

Q: will there be merch?

A: Yes, all the crowdfund rewards will also be sold as merch, like the art book and physical game pack, but at a higher price. Not the figure though, they're already finished, to make more we'll go bankrupt.

Unless, there's a really high demand for it 👀

Q: were there any additional plot you had to cut due to lack of resources?

.

*SPOILERS

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.

.

.

A: Chien's boss fight, Ji's 3rd phase, Yi fighting himself in Eigong's soul sanctum, a TianHuo last boss, Abacus was supposed to be Yi from the past, Kanghui, the dragon... we cut a lot

Vincent: There are two plotlines I stood my ground on: the revenge plot, and the relationship between Yi and Heng.

We actually changed Shuanshuan's story a lot. Initially he was supposed to be super energetic and run around all of New Kunlun.

Q: there are a lot of ways the player can fight in #ninesols, were you worried about it being too hard?

A: Yes. It's very parry focused, so if you can't parry, you're dead. The Story Mode was made out of this fear. But from the response we've got so far, it seems to be ok.

Vincent: the real problem is gamers having false expectations. Souls fans get frustrated with the parrying and combat fans get frustrated with the dialouges. So we have to let the gamers know, this isn't hollow knight, isn't Sekiro, this is Nine Sols.

Q: what do the lyrics in the bgm mean?

A: they are all really simple. Like "heroes are forged in agony". For Fuxi and Nuwa, their keyword was "Peony Pavilion", opera related, so the composer incorporated 牧虎關 into their battle bgm.

All #ninesols boss music was composed by @/FFXX_sound. 4-5 of the songs were recomposed after betaing. The boss fight in plumblossom village wasn't supposed to be this hard, but the bgm was too fire, so the team adjusted it.

Vincent: the composer could choose whether to use Solarian or Mandarin lyrics. I was there during recording. We got a talented Taiwanese men's choir to sing for us. Four professional singers singing "Huh! Hah! Heroes are forged in agony!" It looked ridiculous.

For the ending song, redcandle wanted to connect to the international audience, and Collage fit that perfectly. Plus our fans kept recommending them to us. Communication was smooth, apparently Natsuko is a gamer and really liked us.

Taopunk was a mix of Eastern and Western cultures, so it was decided early on that there would be English lyrics in the ED.

There was an ARG on discord where fans can uncover the ED bit by bit.

There are also plans for future interactive games like that

Q: what are some challenges for the EN locoalizatuon?

A: It was pretty smooth, we had a lot of help from our discrod server, including JP proofreading. Both EN and JP TL was actually done in a month before release. We just posted our beta dialougues and everyone came to help us.

Lady Ethereal used to be FuDie, but it sounds terrible in English, so she was renamed.

KangHui used to be GongGong, but it's too confusing to non mandarin speakers.

Eigong too, she used to be Yigong, Yi as in change, but players may mistake her to be related to Yi.

Solarian society trivia:

-they are a matriarchal society

-the average age of death is 140

-cats are evolved from Solarians

They are working on more languages, all of them EU ones. MC asked if there are plans for SEA languages. They say that'll require ppl fluent in these languages, since the other TL are mostly done by community members/fans.

2-3days after release, their text file was hacked. It's a Google doc, Lighty went on there and found someone typing Italian text there, all correct dialougues. They kicked them out then emailed the Italian.

The Italian : I'm just a player, I just want to help.

They translated pages of text, the team was terrified. Security breach!

the Italian said thank you to the team for being patient with them, cause they did the same thing with other games and got severe responses.

RedCandle: thanks but please don't ever do it again.

Q: are you satisfied with the response from non CN speaking players?

A: Yes. Most of the reviews we got were English. It's our goal anyway, to break the culture barrier.

There are of course some surprises.

MC: you mean the furries?

A: the amount of fanart was unexpected

Vincent: I was also surprised by the response we got on reddit. We actually realized our goal, so I was pretty happy with that.

Q: any plans for a new game?

they've worked on nine sols for 5 years already, pretty drained right now, so (as a team) theres no new content planned yet

And here comes the funniest part lol (clip)

Q: any plans for a new game?

Vincent: Having ideas for a new game is one thing, but we still--

(Thunder claps)

Vincent: 😱 Did I say the wrong thing? I'm sorry! OK? We'll start working on it!

Discussing the ending...

Devs consider the true ending a good ending. Its ok if life has no meaning, having lived is enough and all that.

And ED is Collage's take on the ending.

I'll end the thread here, though there are 30mins more to go. Many thank to Wenlobong for hosting the interview, and Red Candle for making the game! Really hope #ninesols will get more recognition

[brogatory]

Dear Mr Strider ,

Im very sorry to hear of your [nessasary] yet unfortunate death! And im sorry your struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Ive heard dream bubbles can be tricky, especially for the uninitiated.

If you happen to be taking questions, I have a few. Only if your up for them of course. I understand death is stressful.

I was wondering if you ever reached any aspects of the game while you were alive? The medium, your own potential powers? Or if you ever felt any special connection to time, like your Beta counterpart.

Speaking of which, have you ever met any other daves?

Also, this may be presumptuous of me, but maybe try speaking to Beta!Dirk about my little pony? I remember it was something Alpha!Dirk enjoyed. Hopefully you could forge mild tolerance of eachother with this?

Anyway I apologize for speaking so long, curiosity tends to get the better of me!

Best wishes,

ChthonianConversationalist

Damn lemme try my best to answer these

[You should read the tags.]

Dear Mr Strider , Im very sorry to hear of your [nessasary] yet unfortunate death! And im sorry your struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Ive heard dream bubbles can be tricky, especially for the uninitiated. If you happen to be taking questions, I have a few. Only if your up for them of course. I understand death is stressful.

Oh god youre adorable

I dont know what dreambubbles are but thanks; death has been... okay so far. I actually really appreciate yalls questions; gives me somethin to fuckin do round here even if youre all nosy lil bird bastards

I was wondering if you ever reached any aspects of the game while you were alive? The medium, your own potential powers? Or if you ever felt any special connection to time, like your Beta counterpart. Speaking of which, have you ever met any other daves?

Ive never met another dave nah. Unfortunately (Lord knows id dote on the lil guy)

As for... powers... Idk much about the medium

I know mostly what Ro could tell me

Growing up I always knew the exact time, i guess; Down to the second, yknow? Pissed my foster families off something fierce; could never fuckin answer "What time is it?" or "How long?" without being a smartass about it. Literally could not help it.

And...

Well...

[You see him pause.]

I guess i can talk about it... It's hella long though

I used to be able to rewind time. Not very far. When i was little i could only go a few minutes

But i got better at it once i realized what i could do cause i started trying

I could go back a day by 18. Or two, if i tried hard enough (and was fine with bleeding for a while from wherever the universe decided i should bleed from)

But...

I lived to be 37

For a lot of those years i held a lot of bottled up shit close to my heart n that translated to using my powers irresponsibly for even the smallest shit

Theres a reason i think this is a punishment

I don't like talking about it

...

Anyway

Rose actually found me that way; me reversin time all the time gave her wicked headaches from all the way on the east coast, so she meandered her rich goth ass over to Texas

Unfortunately it didnt stop me from usin my powers; she just got used to it, cause bein close to me made it less painful for her

Coincidentally every time she got a vision Id go fuckin blind and it lessened when she was nearby (Actually straight up ruined my vision; My shades are prescription lenses put into the Stiller Frames)

Kinda like when you get up too fast yk

I also get feelings when things happen in other timelines that feel important; Think thats the role of "Guardian" in me plus the time shit; Like i felt that big ol green bastard start existing, felt the fuckin Green Sun start existing

But lemme tell you feelin The Scratch happen was wild cause it already happened to make my dumb ass exist

But it was currently happening and also has not happened yet right now

Makes my head hurt thinkin about it

Also, this may be presumptuous of me, but maybe try speaking to Beta!Dirk about my little pony? I remember it was something Alpha!Dirk enjoyed. Hopefully you could forge mild tolerance of eachother with this?

[=>]

[lilietsblog]

suddenly randomly thinking about Max Frei's Labyrinth of Echo (finally a Russian fantasy book actually translated into English!!! rejoice!!!) and tbh every isekai author should be legally required to read it for like. Educational purposes. so they have a bit more imagination about it

it IS in fact an isekai, or portal fantasy perhaps fits better. its so weird and good?

the protagonist: a guy. yes, i know, it's sad. but he's sad and cute and it's honestly just good. relatable without being an everyman. the sort of guy who would be a tragic poet except he's very self conscious about this part of his personality and prefers to be funny instead. hes very good at being funny. his narrative voice is fantastic i promise you will like it

the method: our protagonist had been having the same vivid and memorable dream for years where he meets with another guy in a very odd looking but very comfortable cafe and has drinks with him and it's very soothing. one day the dream guy makes him a job offer, and gives him extremely specific concerningly-kidnapped-by-fae-like instructions to follow when hes awake. when the protagonist wakes up hes got little enough going on in his life that he decides hes got pretty much nothing to lose by trying to follow the instructions. to his bafflement, it works. hes now in another world where hes got a job offer and a boss who summoned him from another world and is very self-satisfied about it. dont ask why he wanted an employee from another world (actually, do ask. very much do ask. its important and hes not telling you the full truth at all)

the genre: magic detective mystery. not always murder mystery mind you, theres plenty of fun magic stuff that can be concerning and require investigation without anyone being dead. mostly murder, but really not always. and yeah the protagonist is a magic cop but its like. its like a treatise on what police should be like in an ideal world where its actually good. and you really do need some people to do the job of extremely capable mages capable of untangling whatever bullshit people accidentally or deliberately wrought on themselves and/or people around them (they also have non-magic police. those are worse, though still not to irl degree, because this magic world has some wish fulfillment ass laws. not quite fully automated gay luxury communism but they're getting there)

the magic system: the mc learns two, but is made aware that a significantly larger amount exists. basically every country in his new world has its own chosen special magic system. also theres 'true' magic thats the kind of thing that can summon you from another world and is the coolest. not geographically locked. our world meanwhile is a magic dystopia and no-one here realizes it except for people who do, mostly subconsciously, but they can do jack-all about it so thats how depression happens so much. the local magic system the mc learns actually has clearly defined 'levels' ('steps') and divides neatly into two kinds, 'black' and 'white' - except instead of any good/bad connotations 'black' deals with material objects and 'white' with abstract concepts. the neatly divided thing is to the point where they have pocket sensors that tell you what step-and-color spells have been cast around here (v helpful for magic cops, except of course when the magic system involved is not the local one. well at least they tell you that fact then). theres no litrpg elements though, and what step magic the mc can cast is not really treated as important. its just a worldbuilding element

the woke: eh. goes with the weird russian-specific-i-think trope "specifically elves are bisexual/gay but they intermix with humans and thats why some humans are too". ableism... bad. very bad. the whole thing is founded on a deep understanding of particular kinds of being non-neurotypical but very, uh... ignorant that that's what it is. soo bad. fatphobia: very rarely comes up i think, but, uh, also. sexism... sincere well-intentioned attempt to worldbuild a society without it but i wouldnt say it worked. fun attempt though. queerphobia: actually a pretty damn successful attempt to worldbuild a society without it (a society that the mc is very much not from and periodically smacks into this, which is always fun), though i feel it could do with more non-cis-or-straight main cast. my favorite part is the part where the protagonist is told to crossdress for infiltration anonymity one time and is weird about it in a classic transmisogynistic sort of way and everyone around him is like ??? @ the entire thing like what? whats funny we dont get it. whats embarrassing. why are you being so weird about it. what IS the problem. and then he asks himself the question and realizes there's no reason and proceeds to not be weird about it henceforth. uses the disguise as an opportunity to bond with his love interest that he had just had magic drama with, and she loves the idea and approves fully. girl-boy interactions are awkward but hell yeah they can have a girls' night. also as an opportunity to prank his flirty coworker who is about 15 minutes into lying his ass off to this cute girl who is totally into him before the protagonist finally can't take it anymore and breaks down laughing. the coworker finds this also hilarious once he figures it out and it becomes a good prank memory between them

the power fantasy: yes. the mc is mega super special. hes not the first person to ever be so mega super special and theres even specialized predators that go after people like him (his boss is like, halfway there) so the power fantasy is well tempered by challenges. also the genre is inherently investigative so the mc being super powerful is not always particularly. relevant. to the challenge at hand. like its nice that when he figures out who the culprit is he can win the fight no problem but the main conflict is usually figuring out what even happened so yeah. good. also the dose of existential horror this book loves to pair the power fantasy shit with is a great balancer too

the humor: this is the first book in my life that actually made me laugh out loud, to tears. like i am not usually very expressive when Experiencing Stories, i never cry over books or shit like that, and i had never made an out loud noise over a book since i'd learned how to read not-out-loud. until that book. those books. they are hilarious. they are ridiculous. it goes super well with the existential horror

the language shit: this is the fun one and the one that spurred me writing this post! so the backstory is that the mc was talking to his future boss in his dreams right so they already somehow spoke the same language. and this doesnt become a problem when the guy comes over either. he understands the words, be they a different language or the same one (this is never really addressed in detail, which given the fae vibe i'm honestly fine with). HOWEVER the new culture has ALL ITS OWN IDIOMS. sooo many of them. the irl author is bilingual and has lived in another country before writing this and you can tell. the mc picks up local idioms more and more over time but early on it often happens that he says some idiom of his own and his friends and coworkers instantly turn into a descending horde of gremlins like "OOOH WHAT DOES THAT MEAN" and after he does his best to explain they just. start using it. mixed with their own idioms. colored by their own understanding. questionably correctly. they eat that shit up. at one point the guy brings over his movie collection and a dvd player to watch it on (it works in another world because magic, it makes sense in context) and thus introduces his coworkers to Another World's Pop Culture which they react to the way you would to being introduced to another world's pop culture. he regrets it immensely forever after

the romance: alas, the mc is tragically straight (and is incapable of being normal about learning other people aren't, at least until he's given 15 minutes to sit with the fact it's perfectly normal in this new world. its actually really satisfying to read tbh). his turbulent love life however introduces us to two absolutely IMMACULATE girls (and they meet each other through him and instantly become besties btw) who have their own shit going on. theres never drama in the sense of romantic triangle or jealousy but theres the FUN drama along the lines of "magic rules say we cant see each other but we're still coworkers so lets figure out how to painfully and caringly be friends" and "i can't survive here. i have to leave. i love you but i cannot be where you are right now" and "sooo i panicked and now im basically dead so no we're no longer dating but i still exist in this other place so come see me sometime actually". just. fucking ace. (technically theres a love triangle for approximately five minutes between the mc and his flirty coworker both flirting with this girl but she was never actually into the flirty coworker and he knows it so when she actually is into the mc hes like ok fine fair enough). the series DOES HAVE OTHER FEMALE CHARACTERS BTW. and they are awesome. not on a 1-to-1 basis with male characters alas but they are soo good

the vibes: immaculate. lovely romantic urban mystery. sometimes the ghost eats local children but sometimes the city just has a different street layout at night and some locations are only accessible at that time and that's just normal. sometimes the culprit is a restaurant owner who figured out how to make people into super extra delicious food with magic and sometimes the culprit is a group of idiot teenagers who found a description of a ritual in an ancient book and decided it would be a great idea to try it, and sometimes the culprit is an ancient dying beast from the depths of the ocean that accidentally got stuck on a ship's prow and brought to foreign shores where people don't know how to be careful of it. just. incredible

does he get to come back home: yes! at least twice that I can remember! both are horror. the conflict is that he desperately needs to get away from there if he is to survive. not in a 'magic soul sucking will actually die' sense but in a 'depression is a deadly disease' sense. it's really cool tbh

the bad parts that maybe need a trigger warning: i mean, the existential horror gets pretty bad and i cant reread some of the books, though that's not what i want to note most. the BAD shit: ableism. fatphobia. the sideways kinds of racism like exoticization, 'savages', white savior bullshit. the 'main' culture the mc lands in are the white people of the setting and everyone else. uh. uhhhhh. varies. the author put all their pussy into fun imagination lands but they do not know a lot about non-european cultures around the world and it reeeeally shows

[flipfliqyaoi]

Kicking my legs thinking about Hear Today Gone Tomorrow.... I need to talk about it

It is one of the TWO moments where Mondo lets us see how Flip & Fliq perceive eachother in a singular episode and it's so special to me gangg sigh(1 is this & 2 is Double Whammy except that one's special bc dude tried to fucking OD so they were just both tweaking the fuck out n well. Not sober, so)(more on that in some other yap sesh).

Over on Flippy's POV, where he's snoozing and dreaming of flying on an Alicorn, whilst outside there's like an earthquake sounding equivalent of alarms & sirens blaring from Lumpys house — when his subconscious mind registered those external triggers straight into his dream, it translated into Fliqpy chasing and slaughtering him with a helicopter with malicious intent, the LITERAL opposite of what Fliqs true intent is. (which is protecting the Host from dying), its also the first time he really acknowledged Fliqs existence (at least onscreen) AND ITS HIM FEARING FLIQ. THAT HE'S TRYING TO RUIN HIS LIFE AND HUNT HIM DOWN IN HIS DREAMS FOR SPORT. WHEN THATS NOT THE CASE. CRIES.

Meanwhile Fliq got shoved to front the moment they woke up (from the nightmare and not the actual sounds. which is rly funny that they made world's heaviest sleeper a consistent trait of his.. my seeper... my eepiest) (check Easy For You To Sleigh, but tbf he also woke up from a literal cookie crumb falling. I believe it's because they're used to ignoring loudass sounds like bombs and missiles flying by when they're getting some shut-eye but their ears are trained to alert the brain when there's very subtle sounds bc maybe someone is sneaking around and trying to capture them or smth, because they've been held hostage and tortured(?) before, as the flashback had shown in Easy For You To Sleigh) (another note why the fuck does he have so many sleepy scenes). When he start trying to kill Lumpy and pull the same fucking helicopter that was in the dream out his back pocket, upon chasing him, WE GET TO SEE FLIQ REACTING EMOTIONALLY TOWARDS FLIPPY WHEN HE SAW AN ALTERNATE VISION OF THAT DREAM WHERE FLIPPY WAVED HELLO TO HIM RLY CUTELY... guys he literally cried he literally teared up from just that he just wants Flippy to gaf abt him aswell soooo so badly it twists and pains him from the inside out that Flippy is scared of him. And it caused him to switch out IN THE MIDDLE of piloting that helicopter which could've been dangerous for Flippy (and it was they legit died in the next scene LOL) gang he switched out knowing he could be endangering Flippy to that situation. But honestly they're doomed either way bc Fliq got distracted and deviated from how he usually does his job and it fucked him up lowk so he had to switch out anyway

it puts into perspective how misunderstood both sides of this areee. Fliq wants Flippy to trust and care about him too and maybe get SOME nice acknowledgement after everything they've been through for so long but his form of protecting scares him away because it hurts his other friends anytime a trigger occurs. Which makes hanging out or celebrating or befriending w other people really fucking difficult cuz of his uncontrollable and hypersensitive PTSD triggers (check Party Animal, Hide n Seek, & This Is Your Knife). Which makes Flippy lowk be afraid and hate him more for it. for his protectiveness. sighs exasperatingly

THIS IS ALSO WHY Flaky's friendship with Flippy is soso so so interesting too because it's been hinted that they've known eachother and are friends for a consistent amount of time enough that Flaky is deadass the only character that acknowledges/KNOWS of his problem (check Without A Hitch), to the point where they get easily paranoid of Flippy suddenly going out his way to genuinely kill them....which, combined with their anxiety issues is NOT a good mix!! Yet they're still seemingly long term friends with Flippy bc im pretty damn sure they feel really bad that he's struggling this much and they just wanna be there for him (with caution lol, they're the only character that's aware of the dangers before it happens, check Party Animal [again] and literally any other time they've been hesitant to do anything, genuinely the best character to befriend Flippy because of how careful they are when it comes to interacting with people so um yeah!!!) (I also dislike when people portray Flaky as not being able to defend themselves bro have u seen them shank a literal shard of glass into Flippy's eye the moment they thought they were getting hurt by him. Along with boundaries like they know how to set them gang i swear!! pinkie promise!!!)

This friendship is mutual as also shown in Double Whammy where Fliq instantaneously switches out the MOMENT Flaky started screaming, and Flippy switches in!!!!! That does not happen with any other character that start yelling infront of Fliq/Flip!! Also Party Animal when Flaky exploded like a balloon it was the one thing that for some reason snapped Flippy in front too LMAO?? But yeah it happened twice and it was both Flaky so idk gang it must mean something right. :3333

Urrm yep!! Yeah I'm done yapping for today WAHOO >3<💚

[dailydegurechaff]

I wanted to know how do you interpret Tanya's gender. After reading chapter 58 of the manga i got the impression that she is definitely trans coded, but maybe thats just me

Very good question.

To be honest, when I think too hard about Tanya’s gender (and sexuality, for that matter) it gives me brain worms. Fun brain worms, but brain worms nonetheless. I can’t explain it. Everything she’s got going on is complicated as shit there’s way too much to think about.

Like, she was a man, but now she's a girl. But at some points she says she still sees herself as a man internally so is this MtFtM? How does that work. And if she accepts she's a woman now, is that just MtF or do we add more letters. More importantly: Was Being X being Transphobic or being the Greatest Trans Ally of All Time with the free divinely issued sex change.

Ok ok, jokes aside. Confession: I actually do not keep up with the manga, so I had to go find the chapter and read it first. Having read it now though, I see what you mean.

The conversation she has with the Salaryman/herself in that chapter really does read as essentially saying “I’ve accepted who I am now.” It’s a far cry from a much earlier part of the manga I remember where she has a breakdown about being a man/people seeing her as a girl.

A friend of mine was actually showing me stuff from more recent chapters of the manga (don’t know which chapter tragically, but I know it’s not currently translated to English) and from what I gathered of it, Being X was showing Tanya a dream of being back in her past life and in response she basically demanded to go back to being Tanya immediately. It is definitely not just you, I 100% see the trans-coding you’re talking about.

As for my personal interpretation of her gender, I touched very briefly on it once before, but I honestly think she wouldn’t want to label herself as anything. At first, this is out of hesitance and not wanting to acknowledge that anything might be ““wrong”” or ““different”” about her. Later on it turns into character growth, more along the lines of, “I don’t need the label to define me, I just am what I am/like what I like. I don’t care about it any more than that.” Yes this is 100% projection on my part. No, I won’t apologize for it lmao.

Of course, that's entirely my own headcanon. I definitely am not saying it’s the only way to interpret her, it’s just my personal thoughts. Especially since my opinion is subject to change on a dime depending on what I’m reading/working on myself. The Tanya gender is, in fact, transient, shifting like water.

Like. A transfem Tanya fic that focuses on her adapting to life in her new world and coming to discover she doesn’t actually hate her new body? I’d totally read that. I’ve seen a few fics that include that as a part of the narrative and those scenes of acceptance were among my favorite parts.

I get the feeling this is the route that the manga is going as well. It’s a bit of a shame that we don't have those aforementioned scenes in the light novel (or at least, I don't remember them), but I don’t think that Carlo Zen really intended that to be the focus/narrative in the first place. And honestly, I also think that’s a good thing because it allows for so much more room for interpretation and headcanon around Tanya’s character.

Anyway, the other direction is also compelling to me. A transmasc Tanya fic where, after feeling uncomfortable and hating how feminine he looks for years and years, he finally goes ‘Fuck this, I’m gonna go back to being a man’? I would read the fuck out of that too.

Could also be paired with him finally choosing to defect, where they think about it like, ‘Well there’s nothing to hold me back now, right? I don’t have to maintain appearances anymore. Also, since I’m defecting this would be a great way to hide myself. They’d all be looking for the wrong person. Two birds with one stone, how efficient.’ …Now we’re getting to fic ideas I won’t ever get to so it’s time to move on I think.

Semi-related to the Trans Tanya Concept, this actually brings me to a bit of a lore/headcanon/idea/question I want to present to the public for opinions. In Norden, during the inciting battle of the war, Tanya uses magic to “dope up” so she could enhance her strength and reaction time and kill pain. I took this to mean she used a formula to synthesize the narcotics/adrenaline hormone/whatever else directly into herself, right?

Can you see where I’m going with this? As long as you know which hormones to make, how they’re made up, and what quantities you need… Well, don’t you think magic HRT is completely possible? Of course, as I'm not sure it makes sense for Salaryman to have known the detailed specifics about it from the modern world, it would require a lot of in-universe research/science advancement for someone to actually do that, but theoretically...

The magic system in this universe has so much potential to be explored, I’m fascinated by what you can theoretically do with it. Although, this is long and off-topic already I think this should be the end, lol.

I think I talked too much? I’m sorry, you were probably not expecting such an answer. I told you, Tanya gives me brain worms (mental illness).

I guess the TL;DR is this: that kid definitely ain’t cishet.

[2screamingpears]

A not-complete list of wonderful changes, translation and localization I noticed when I went to see Book of Mormon in Madrid!

Hey! So I went to see The Book of Mormon last month in Madrid, and since I had watched (bootlegged) and listened to the original production, I was able to enjoy some changes they made so it could be enjoyed by spanish audiences!

First off, I should say that it wasn’t a replica production (and I think I much prefer this one!). The choreography was amazing, and definitely more elaborate than on broadway ! Here, have a look: https://youtu.be/NZ5UxjN2MPs?si=UErYQUODo5Qs-EMC

Some of the first changes I wondered how they were going to make was the opening number: both Hello and Hola have the same syllables but hola cannot be used, since the accent falls on the first syllable in hola and the second in hello….. so spanish mormons just end up saying how are you (¿qué tal?) 😂

Second change comes during the second number, two by two: one of the jokes is weirdly untranslatable, which is the addendum at the end of the phrase “we are the soldiers of the church of jesus christ (of latter day saints)”. Since in spanish “of la-tter day saints” (5 syllables) would be “de los úl-ti-mos dí-as” (7 syllables), they changed it to “yo-soy-mor-món” (i am a mormon) which fits! There is a joke lost, but mormonism isn’t as widespread as it is on the US, so it’s hardly noticeable.

This one is mostly to update the content, but during two by two when the trip to japan gets announced, the mormons are excited about soy sauce and godzilla (instead of mothra)

Next comes a change i also wondered about: how do you make a joke out of Elder Price’s wish to go to Orlando, of all things? In the English version, Elder Price would like to go to orlando because of Sea World, Disney and putt-putt golfing: spaniards have no cultural knowledge of what Orlando is, so the translated line is “Orlando! Disney me espera, soy fan de Frozen” (Orlando! Disney is waiting for me, I’m a Frozen fan) which really drives home the ridiculousness of choosing that place as your mission trip. Also, if you watch the video i linked, the joke is super amplified through choreography, which is part of why i love this production so much.

Hasa diga eebowai gets one change Very right: instead of saying fuck you god, they say “me cago en dios” (i shit on god) which is a very common way of cursing about things in spain: you can shit on the milk (me cago en la leche), on your mother (me cago en tu madre) and indeed, you can shit on god!

One fun localization comes in at the end of All-American prophet, a song that’s basically a sales pitch or infomercial : the fun little gag at the end where Elder Cunningham says “if you order now, we’ll also throw a seat of steak knives” gets changed to “if you order now, we’ll throw in a thermomix for free” For people who don’t know, a thermomix is The Product everyone gets from infomercials/ through independent sellers: it’s a chopper/blender/cooker/scale/kitchen robot, very convenient! My mother has one :) one of the ugandan ladies asks Cunningham about the thermomix inmediatly after finishing the number and he excitedly begins explaining the whole shtick every middle aged spanish lady has heard before, that got a big laugh :)

In the sequence before spooky mormon hell dream, when Elder Price’s so happy that he finally reaches Orlando, he throws in another elsa joke, saying that he’s blonde like her, so thats why she likes her😂

During Spooky mormon hell dream, one change that got Such a big laugh was seeing the four people that are in hell according to Elder Price: Genghis Khan, Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer and, instead of Jonnie Cochran (idk even who he is) we got Silvio Berlusconi, politician and founder of communications company Mediaset, which runs a thrash tv channel called Telecinco (and that’s what he’s in hell for, according to the song)

The thing elder cunningham always says “tomorrow’s a latter day” gets changed to a saying a lot of catholic old people say, “mañana dios dirá” which both fits in the metric and localizes it, since mormonism isn’t that well known.

And that’s it! It was such a wonderful performance, and a testament to the beauty of translation: even if i know I understand English fairly well, seeing the jokes on my native language made everything 100x times funnier! Strongly recommend!

[liquidluckandstuff]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

Thank you for tagging me @racfoam (oh my gosh these are a lot of questions

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have a total of 21 fics 😅

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

182,399.... dayum

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry potter and only Harry potter. I'm TRYING to put in effort into other things, but they just don't hold my attention.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Heaven is your sleeping Enemy

Phantom Touch

Just Another Omegaverse Fic

Darlings and Dragons

Found Footage

5. Do you respond to comments? Why? Why not?

I respond to most comments. I love it when people comment. It makes me happy to hear what people think about my fics. or that they are just reading it at all.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Heartbreaking Confession. It has to be one of the shortest things i've ever written but man, there is just no hope.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

His Brave Boy . It just got attention recently due to a tik tok and i CRIED. I love this little one shot so much.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The only reason i've ever gotten hate on a fic is because people don't want to read tags or think they can dictate how my story is going to progress.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have a whole ass second account for my smut fics thank you very much.

SolidMisfortuneandThings

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I mean it's got Dungeons and Dragons vibes.

The only other cross over fic i've ever written I orphaned along with all my other stuff many years ago.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nah.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! and surprise surprise it was the smut

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

Sort of? We collaborated and then life happened

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

HARRYMORT. Not tomarry. (i mean i like tomarry and all) but Harry and Voldemort.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

One i have saved with 20k words in my documents about Harry having actual prophetic dreams about death because of the killing curse and through that ends up saving the minister of magic and being adopted by Voldemort.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Yo man idk thats too much internal thinking for me.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sentence structure. Grammar. Confidence.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't even try. I say either the main character didn't understand it, generalize the conversation, or mention that its in another language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

..... Final Fantasy

20. Favourite fics you’ve written?

DARLINGS AND DRAGONS. IT IS MY BABY AND I LOVE IT

Tagging: @i-dream-of-libraries @cloverwoodss @queasyghosts @reggieblk @zombu7 @vyrid I don't remember everyones tumblr i am so sorry

[thebestofoneshots]

WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED WHEN YOU SAID I WAS A SLY FOX!?!??? GOD I LOVE THIS STORY AND THAT JUST PROVES SO MUCH THAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT!!!! IM LITERALLY SCREAMING!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! AND THE COVER FOR THE BOOK?!?!? ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! ITS SO PRETTY!!! BUT ALSO I DIVED DEEPER LIKE YOU SAID I NOTICED SOME HIDDEN CLUES!!!

ok so first of all right off the bat i noticed the little fox on the bottom! but also above that is “A labyrinth of lost souls” (now i know this might be reaching but idk!) so i looked up “a labyrinth of lost souls” and immediately got a bunch of links talking about assassins creed! and i quickly read over one of the links and saw that there’s a ring involved?!?!? and i immediately thought of the ring that y/n got from her mother! but i also saw there’s another game called wizardry: labyrinth of lost souls! so that could also be what you’re talking about!!! idk if either of those are relevant but for now this is just a quick rundown of what i can gather right now!

ok next are the the little moons in the top corners with the woman sitting in them! idk what meaning you have behind them rn but what i got from them is the fact that they are not full moons and she’s sitting inside of them while it kids looks like the moon is curving into her in a way? like trying to reach to her? idk again just the vibe i’m getting! ALSO THERES STARS IN THE MOON!!! WOLFSTAR!!! not only are there stars in the moon but there’s a single star outside of the moon but also in it? with the woman! it almost looks like the woman is sitting inside the moon admiring the star!!! idk!

MOVING ON BECAUSE THIS ISNT A DEEP DIVE JUST WHAT I CAN GATHER NOW!! I WILL DO A DEEP DIVE LATER!!! OK THE CONSTELLATIONS!!! I NOTICE THREE OF THEM AND I IMMEDIATELY LOOKED UP SIRIUS’ CONSTELLATION!!! AND WHAT DID I FIND?!?!??? THATS RIGHT CANIS MAJOR!!! THAT LOOKS LIKE A DOG!!! WHICH HAS SIRIUS’ CONSTELLATION IN IT!!! and where do i see a dog like constellation?!?!? ON THE LEFT OF THE COVER!!!

i believe the constellation in the middle is cassiopeia but i could be wrong. i don’t know for sure i looked up the story and don’t see how it fits in right now but maybe later in the story? hmmm

i can’t figure out what the one on the right is but hopefully i will find out soon!!! like i said this is just be briefly looking at the cover because i got so excited and couldn’t wait!!!

OK FOR NOW THATS ALL IM GONNA TALK ABOUT I WILL FIND MORE THINGS LATER!!! BUT OMG THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!! TO LIKE LOOK FOR LITTLE DETAILS!!! ALSO THE WHOLE PRIZE THING?!?!??? I SCREAMED OMG!!! I WOULD ACTUALLY KILL TO BE A CHARACTER IN YOUR STORY!!! ITS LITERALLY AMAZING!!!! AND I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO SAY BUT I NEED TO GET TO BED BUT JUST KNOW IM IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITING AND EVERYTHING YOU DO ITS AMAZING!!!!

OK LOVE YA BYE!!!!

Tinny little fun fact so you don’t rack your brain over this one: Labyrinth of Souls was actually my second top option for naming Gilded Constellations, I wanted it to have a very David Bowie-esque vibe which is why Labyrinth (literally from the movie The Labyrinth, was just perfect, but I felt it was too corny (especially when the first iteration was Labyrinth of Hearts) that I went for Gilded Constellations instead.

Gilded being inspired by Golden Years from Bowie, and constellations because our babies are our moon and stars. In Spanish we have a word that’s “Astros” which roughly translates to “all the things in the sky” but there is no cool version of it in English so constellations it was in the end.

Aaaalso, theories are so freaking fun, I thought I’d let you guys run with them, so I’m helping you recruit some of my other readers, especially the ones that always approach me with theories since I feel like you could have lots of fun together theorizing over the cover: @moonyunebi @starchaser-lily @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @imdoingbetternow (no pressure btw)

Lovelies, this is a follow up to this post, and I’m also adding the cover here again for your convenience ♡

But in short, I was telling Comet that I had designed this cover and that is just as filled with easter eggs, foreshadowing and secrets, as the story itself… So you may or may not find clues for the story here ☆

Also taking this chance to invite everyone who has not sent questions for the future Q&A, to send as many as you want ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡

Lastly, there will be a mini contest later on, so Comet will not be the only one receiving a price, stay tuned, and send in all your theories…

Ps, That’s not Cassiopeia, perhaps you should look closer to where the swans swim…

Ps2, thanks for the rose and love kit, you’re lovely ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹

[falloutjuli]

Fanfiction Writer Interview

Hi! I got tagged by the lovely @monkey-banana41 and without much introduction, here we go! <3

---

How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 12. Im picky about what I actually publish and since I got a job my time to write at all has gotten.... thin. :(

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

Alright... This feels a little insane but its as follows

Eros - South Park - Kenny x Reader - Oneshot / Explicit - 7,3k words

Wait, youre my hero? - South Park - Kenny x Reader - Oneshot / Teen - 5,1k words

All I want for christmas is some time with my Rival - Bungo Stray Dogs - Akutagawa x Atsushi - Oneshot / Teen - 16,3k words

I dont wanna be alone (Dont wanna be alone) - Bungo Stray Dogs - Akutagawa x Atsushi - Oneshot / Teen - 6,3k words

What are you doing Stepbro? - South Park - Tweek x Craig - Oneshot / Explicit - 18,5k words

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

YES!! I may be slow or forget at times, but i genuienly love and appreciate anyone who takes time out of their day to leave a comment. Especially funny ones <3

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

I have two candidates.

If I count all of mine, like even from a different site and in my native language then its distress. Because that one has no real happy ending and one actual bad ending where the reader can decide if the story ends in the worst way or in only a slightly bad way.

From my most recent fics and in english its for sure my DD fic; Zephyric Mizpah (BSD - Explicit and Dead Dove; Do not eat). Its very obvious why this one for anyone who has read it.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

It was a hard decision but i think its So let us stop talkin' falsely now, The hour's getting late (BSD) that i wrote for the BSDC Music Event. I have writte a few happy endings for SSKK but in this one I barely angst them unlike my other event fic and both get to live their dreams while being cutely in love. Atsushi in particular gets a good ending here, maybe its to make up for what I did to him in the other event fic...

Do you write crossovers?

No. Idk why. I think its because Id see myself struggle to nail everything in such a thing. The only crossover I make would be JoJos Bizzare Adventure and Arcane simply because I have two OCs in each and I stared shipping them. But it wouldnt be for canon characters :/

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I was gonna say yeah but then remembered the weirdo who accused me of insane shit (calling me a PDF file) over a properly tagged fic. Yeah. Other than that no, everyone I interacted with has been a real sunshine <3

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Uhm.... yeah. I like smut that also has an emotional component and try to balance that. Not in all fics of course but inward narration is something thats dear to my heart. If its good or not is for my readers to decide.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. Almost like uhhhh a decade (holy shit im old) my most popular work in a fandom kept getting stolen and it was annoying. Some where just inspired while others stole the whole idea and tried passing it of as their own. Luckily readers of mine informed me back then and helped me report it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Uh yes and no. Someone asked to translate but never got back to me with the link so idk if they ended up doing it or nah. haha

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I used to write with my irl bestie in my native language. I had people asked for collabs back then too and nowadays I like coming up with ideas with @monkey-banana41. Sharing a fic has always been something i treasure dearly. <3

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

That's a tough one. I think I have a few OTPs for each fandom so its hard. SSKK for BSD, GioMis and GyJo for JJBA, Creek for South Park. The list is looooooooong. Current hyperfixation: SSKK tho <3

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

Uhm. A lot haha. I have so many ideas that Id kill to finally finish. Be it my old fics from my native language or The Other side of Paradise, my multi chapter BSD what-if-Fic. I have many more wips and ideas. My head makes a lot of them.

What are your writing strengths?

From what others said I apparently excell at nailing characters and dynamics as well as dialogue. And humor, which is something im very proud of :D <3

What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing anything short. And scene transitions sometimes, like when I really need a scene to end so I can get to one i wanna do more.

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

Depends truly. I mean as someone who has a different native language to english itd be easy to me, but I know at times it can be a little disruptive to the reader if implemented poorly (I have been there, good god, when I wanted to flex my newly learned french), or be really immersive if done well.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Ehmm maybe Solar Opposites (Im a slut for Terry and Korvo), GioMis and Hetalia. I have written drabbles and a few OS for it already but never published. I think theres a lot more but Im lacking the brainpower to remember.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Cliche but all of them. If I have to say it tho... Before it all goes dark... For one last second I know I wasnt alone... (BSD - SSKK) simply because its near and dear to my heart. I put a lot of effort into it in a limited time frame and I had a great time traumatizing some people with the mean twist. haha.

Tagging: Everyone who would like doing it. Most of my moots have already done this and so idk who to tag. <3

[wfanfic56]

Nettle's poison | Price x Reader

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU THESE DAYS??!! YOU ALMOST KILLED US!!!"

"I didn't know... How would I know that C4 was planted there?"

Price and I got into a bad fight... No one ever remembered a fight like this, and most of all, this was our first argument between us. We came back from the mission... The boys were heavily injured when the apartment exploded, and I barely saved him from the enemies while Price was outside covering us with a sniper.

The team was listening us, together with Laswell... They all witnessed that Price had changed these few days, no one knows why, no one knows the reason, but he became reckless. And this argument crossed my line...

"Okay, listen, I know you're angry, but we should take a deep breath, calm ourselves down and focus on the next mission"

"Yeah, but without me!" with that, I left his office and slammed his door shut... I couldn't bare this anymore, and thats why I started packing my things, and as I packed them, I felt guilty... Guilty that I couldn't prevent this situation about the explosion.

Soap was watching me and he slowly came closer to me. "Lass... don't leave us please. We don't know what to do without you. You are more our family and leader than he is."

"Don't say that... He lead you through everything... he just has a tough period... that's all* Even though I hate him right now, I don't want his men to think of him as a man not worth called leader... And with that, I just left the base, leaving my guns on my office desk.

Months have passed and I enjoyed my new life... in a small house on a Greece beach, and planning on opening my own cafe. The dream life of mine, it was all perfect, until I was knocked out...

I don't know how long I have been captured, tortured...Every day was the same. They were putting my head under water and hold it until my last breath and they pulled me in the last moment, then the beating that comes afterwards.... And finally when you think the torturing is over, they lock your hands and legs and turn on electricity... Every inch and corner of my body is burned and has marks... They treat you like an animal and that's the only way to survive.... To become an animal...

---------------------

She's MIA for seven years... The last known location was in her apartment in Greece... I wish I never had an argument with her, I wish I was more careful... She would be here by our side, by my side...

Gaz came to me, he was panting, trying to catch some breaths...

"She's alive, captured by Russians... Makarov is behind this... he knows she's your weak point...

----------------------

When the doctors looked her up, they revealed to me that she went through thick and thin... But most importantly... she wasn't the same... She was an animal...

At first I didn't believe them, until she attacked me in the cell where she was knocked by Laswell... An unrecognizable woman...

Nikolai told me once, that songs brings memories and so I looked through her laptop and found her favourite song, one that carried a strong message. At first I didn't understand it because it was on her native language, but then, the tears came out of nowhere when I translated them...

"When my love was picked by you,

You trusted by your whole heart,

As I repeated that song many times...for the first time... I was poisoned by her voice, that was good for my ears, just like a nettle for our health...

That my soul isn't poisoned by sadness"

[cokowiii]

Look look. I cant write for shit but a certain lil someone translated my shorty ass handwriting I’m the discord (Mantha) and made it readable so now u must all suffer.

.

.

"You're thinking too hard. You Two do that too often."

Usagi turns from his seat on the couch. Seems their days have been uneventful. Staying at the hideout house consisted of music nights and meals together under shitty lights. As funny as it might seem, it felt like a dream vacation. The young rabbit stretches before making space for the other to sit.

"I think a normal amount..." Usagi says with a faint smile before it fades.

"It's just that the whole time you've been here we've finally had the chance to breathe."

The older turtle plopped down with a huff. The calmness is something Leo is getting used to but with every passing day its easier to get accustomed to. He looks down at the rabbit with tired eyes.

"Is that a bad thing?" He chuckles.

Usagi puffs up. "No! It's great! I've never seen Cali without bandages for this long!"

"Then what's got you so fluffed up?" Leo raises his hand to ruffle up Usagi's fur. The boy lets out a laugh and pushes the large hand away before leaning back against the couch arm rest. His face scrunches up for a second before staring down at the ground.

"Now that Casey knows you're here its pretty obvious you're going with him."

Usagi twiddles his thumbs, contemplating, thinking, way too much thinking, God he's gonna get a headache.

"And it's not a bad thing!-" He sputters out " Its just I- "We"!" Usagi's fur bunches up once again. "Both of us are going to miss you.. thats all. Even if Cali wont admit it."

.

.

Here’s how it looked before it got BEAUTIFULLY TYPED OUT

[batsyx]

So I finished Batman Resurrection and I have thoughts:

Copied and pasted from my goodreads account FYI.

Some major points I want to talk about:

SPOILERS BELOW

The introduction of Clayface. He wasn’t just a pure bad guy. He had some genuine inner turmoil because he’s dealing with the changes of his body (Smylex exposure) and due to heavy manipulation by a certain character (it was Auslander), he ends up in the ultimate no-win situation. I normally don’t like it when characters origins are changed but if its done well and in service to the rest of the story then I dont mind here. We got a Basil Karlo that was a tragic victim, a guy who was simply at the wrong place, wrong time, wrong everything. You really do sympathize with him. What I’m trying to say here is that I liked the depth he was given here.

Dr. Hugh Auslander aka Dr. Hugo Strange. His name being German translation for stranger (not an exact translation i know but close enough), somehow I feel dumb for missing that. It was pretty obvious from the start though, his experience, the way he was using Clayface and Lawrence (jokers boombox henchmen), all his experiments. Like Clayface, Strange is a character we’ve not yet seen on the big screen but he would totally be a great villain to use. I liked his introduction to the Burton-verse and him being the guy who was working with the Joker behind the scenes on smylex, that makes sense. I remember theres a scene in the Batman movie where Joker is in his lair cutting up the photographs but on his desk there’s a file folder that said CIA top secret. His name being in that file folder totally works. I guess one could argue that if it weren’t for Strange’s involvement in the use of smylex, we wouldn’t have the Joker. At least according to this book.

Joker’s death and how it still affects Bruce. So having defeated the man who killed your parents, obviously thats gunna leave a mark on you mentally. The parts where he’s constantly dreaming about his final showdown with Joker in that cathedral, Joker mocks him every time. Most of the time he’s just saying nonsense but deep down it was Bruce’s subconcious nagging him. Basically telling him the stuff with Joker is not over. If you’re looking for more Batman-Joker stuff to analyze, you won’t find much here other than the dreams Bruce keeps having. Joker killed his parents so Bruce is trying his best to move on from him and the fallout from his demise. I always thought making Joker the killer of the Waynes was a weird choice at first. Especially when you grew up watching the movie as a kid and always believed that until you got older and read the comics and the animated show and realized “ohhh so it was joe chill”. It changes their dynamic, it’s not going to be the one you would expect. Making him the killer works because it gives Batman his motivation, especially when you factor in the whole “I made you, you made me” bit. I liked that the story tried to tackle Bruce’s emotional state and you do get some character development. Do I think this is the same man we see in Batman Returns? I think so, he seems to be more confident and sure of himself and his methods. I mean he’s never going to be OK in the normal sense but things have certainly changed for him.

Speaking of Joker, the whole “is he really dead or not” kinda dragged on too long for me. It went on for too long when I already knew he was truly dead. He had to be because then the rest of the movies wouldn’t make sense especially since this book is supposed to be considered cannon now. And Clayface pretending to be Joker, saw that coming a mile away.

I read an article that the author wanted to explain the plot hole of how Joker’s henchmen were on the rooftop of the cathedral by the time Batman makes it up there. Joker radios for a helicopter but somehow the henchmen, including boombox carrying Lawrence, were already there so fast so how did they know. I have to say I never thought it was that big of a deal. I always assumed they were there because they were stationed in case Joker had to escape via rooftop. Should Joker not have needed the helicopter and just left the building through the front door, then I thought Joker would radio them and tell them to come down. This is assuming they have radios too which I would assume all the henchmen do because how the hell do you communicate orders. When you’re 7 or 8 watching this movie, it’s not something you give a damn about. The other plothole he wanted to address was Joker telling Batman “Hey, bat-brain, I mean, I was a kid when I killed your parents”, Joker being a kid doesn’t make sense. In the movie, thats clearly a much younger man shooting the Waynes. I always understood that sentence as Joker thinking of himself as a “kid” because he was so young. I never took it literally. Despite that I do think the author was able to explain these plotholes in a way thats pretty easy.

I did like the little cameos and foreshadowing we got from various characters. Max Shreck, Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent all show up. I do feel like Max and Selina were kinda pointless, they were just there to have something to tie into Batman Returns. You take them out of the story and nothing really changes. The story ends with Bruce getting a riddle from, yep you guessed it, The Riddler. Kinda wild to know the Riddler has been messing with him for this long.

Do I think this book is worth checking out? If you’re a hardcore Batman fan and want more Burton-verse Batman, then yes absolutely check it out. It expands the Burton-verse while also setting up the stage for whats to come. I will note I did listen to this story via audiobook so that was a much more entertaining experience imo.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

what are some cool games u have played? dont matter if u mentioned before. tell me again tell me again :D

uhh hmm.

well okami is my all time favorite the art & the music & the message/story are all just incredible theres not a single time ive finished it i havent cried. i absolutely adore ryoshima coast ive spent so many hours just running around there to listen to music. which fun fact for u i only know about this game bc in about 6th grade i picked up okamiden bc i thought the little doggy was cute & was like fine i'll play as this boy if i get a cool dog and u cannot imagine how excited i was to find out u DID play as the little dog. i was SOOOOO obsessed literally my exact thoughts were 'if issun is ammy's celestial envoy then i am going to be chibis' i have a metric fuck ton of fan art i did at the time bc i thought it was quote "the epic-est game for ds ever" also cried every time i finished it. i was 13 so i didnt know what "being down bad" was but do know i was as obsessed with kurow as i was with d-ne later and now tenshi not a single irl friend was unaware i was in love with him. also fun fact for u bc at the same time i was also getting super into vocaloid i was so convinced my vocap name would end up as chibiP to the point i named myself that in pkmn x chibiP after chibiterasu of course. please enjoy my banger old art which is not even a fraction of my output

yume nikki is my next favorite game specifically the og that changed my brain chemistry as a kid. i adore that game so much its hard to put it into words. its just so unlike anything else. there is absolutely nothing in the game that can directly harm u theres no real health meter theres no way to die during the main play the absolute worst that will ever happen is u get stuck or woken up. in a horror game. which is already just amazing. and the whole horror aspect just plays on something i dont think is often done as well in many other things. ur alone. u wander and wander thru worlds that loop and connect and seemingly have nothing to do with each other. theres no dialogue; talking to npcs just gets u a noise or animation at best. ur entirely alone with just urself. its all dreams so u know everything is of madotsuki's own creation, another layer to the all u have is urself feeling. the art is just unusual i cant even say any of it on its own is in anyway scary. the whole thing shouldnt be scary and yet every time i start wandering in a world i cant help but feel unease. amazing 10/10 no other game will ever have what this gave me.

everyone knows i play pkmn the best is still pmd sky that also rewired my brain i still cant play it without crying.

its been a long time since i was really just playing it as the chapters released & got translated but 1bitheart is so so so important to me too. i dont kin for multiple reasons but if i did nanashi would be my first choice. like- without saying that to her i got my one irl friend to play once & when she saw how nanashi was she turned to me and went "this is just you" hes very important to me even now. absolutely loved the whole friendship sim & the story & its twists & the endings & their implications left me in shambles at 1 am on a school night. my fave charas are nanashi enri & saaya btw. i should replay this.

i also love the etrian odyssey series i love the character portraits (esp with the more recent games' color customization) i LOVE the dungeon art & i think all the monster designs are so cool. adore the whole make ur own map aspect keeps me so entertained to take a step & look around & chart all the walls & path ways. unfortunately i fucking suck at every single one i am not very good at strategy games so i end up stuck at or before the 3rd stratum. but thats okay its still fun to me.

the other one i'll talk about at length is spirit of the north another game i loved the art of. u play as a fox & get a partner spirit fox & i just love it SOOOO much. its also a game with 0 dialogue but theres A Lot going on it if u care to follow along & explore & dig into details & the game play is also pretty fun to me. this is the one game i started learning the speedrun btw thats also a very fun way to play it but ABSOLUTELY play it as intended first it has so much to offer

aaaand special mentions to omori, oneshot, witch's house, mermaid swamp, corpse party, & limbus company

[alpinelogy]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @63historian thank you so much for the tag <3

not tagging anyone cause I think most of yall already probably got tagged. the failure of catching up on tag games late o7

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

14 including fics posted on anon

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

159,278 including fics posted on anon

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Nowadays only F1 but I wrote for several fandoms before

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

[fic posted on anon], galaxy collapse (somebody scream), soldier down (on that icy ground), system’s breaking down (there’s been a glitch), fill your drink with tonic gin (this is the american dream) 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond. I am not particularly good at responding but I try o7

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

fill your drink with tonic gin (this is the american dream) because of how open the ending is

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

galaxy collapse (somebody scream) probably because its very much 12k words of fluff but I think the happy endings in we found wonderland (you and i got lost in it) and now entering a world (from which you will never return) hit more cause of how much shit goes down

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet and fingers crossed I never will. That being said I do have shitposts locked and loaded for if I ever get anon hate

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sort of...? I'm not particularly good at writing smut but I am learning:tm: and when I write/try to write its smut with feelings

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope. Tho back in the day aged maybe 13 -ish? on wattpad I wrote a lot of them. Fun times

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope and I hope I never will, especially now that I write rpf

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

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

Nope but few weeks back I joked about a fic idea for an older fandom with a friend from that fandom and we are seriously considering co-writing it now

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Protagonists of the world!! (Bokuto and Akaashi from Haikyuu!! my og two sports guys ship even if these were fictional sports guys playing a real life sport)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

So many. Predominantly the Pierre/Esteban attempts at psychological warfare but I dont think I am smart enough to write that

16. What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions I think? I like putting adjectives everywhere

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

What the fuck is dialogue!! In all seriousness just interactions in general

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Fine for a couple of lines/to emphasize a point. If its for longer dialogues just write it in the language youre usually writing it, even just the act of writing is an act of translating from your brain into words and unless theres a really good reason to write in another language I think there are better way to make it clear the characters are not communicating in English

i have a lot of feelings on this topic and yes i do have a rant locked and loaded lol

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Naruto I think? I was a child on the internet thats for sure

20. Favourite fic you've written?

I like all my fics equally (its maybe we got lost (in translation) by probably a long shot. or we found wonderland (you and i got lost in it). galaxy collapse (somebody scream) and fill your drink with tonic gin (this is the american dream) are also some of my favs)

[dteamain]

i really love your idea of it as less translation/multilingual focused and its more a thing thats just... there. it exists, its not the main focal point, but its a great feature.

i think it would work in great combo if it was still pushed towards a slightly more competitive server too, somehow, maybe with the leaderboards and small monthly challenges etc. etc <- so that would be the defining 'thing' much more so than languages

exactly! like i think so many people are done with the whole lore thing and they want fun/slightly competitive minecraft again. you know how like you hop on hypixel to fuck around and it's all for fun but still competitive enough that it's engaging and addictive especially against good friends who just want to have banter i think that's what dream wants his server to be just from the sneak peak we saw of the leaderboard i got that vibe so i hope he really focuses on that

obviously keeping the language tools to make the server more accessible and allow more creators to join and mingle.

dream loves bringing people up in the community and he also loves some good hearted competition i think that these things will shine through on usmp