#i've never really tried writing in norwegian...

[puddingvalkyrie]

Reading massively improved my mental health and I want to talk about it in case it can help others!

Y'all, I think we all need to read more books.

I know I'm an author so I WOULD say that and in fact, I DO say that to children at every opportunity (my dyslexia would be a LOT worse if I hadn't read so much as a kid) but hear me out.

So back in ...March/April I was pretty miserable and it was partly because Norwegian winter will do that to an unprepared foreigner but also because it was the anniversary of The Bad Thing so I felt miserable and alone.

I had no way to really remedy the situation.

But one thing I did do was... Finally crack. See, I'd been DYING to reread my Discworld books, but they are in a different country and I can't afford to go get them or have them sent to me. I have a few paper books here though - I mainly took my fairytale collections, because what did you expect? Actually I guess hardly anyone on Tumblr knows me - Alicia does two things. Vampires. And Fairytales. Didn't bring my vampire encyclopedia, too big and heavy. Anyway.

I have a part time job with an hour on the train each way. I started taking my paper books, my fairytale collections. They were full of short things I could finish easily in a train journey.

Some info. I had managed to sour reading for myself some years previously... I mainly read for research purposes, hardly picking up anything just for the fun of it. PSA: Don't do this. Do not do this. Don't. Do NOT.

And then I reread one of the few paper fiction books I had with me. I enjoy fairytales but they do still fall under 'sort of work' for me. This did not. This was a book I am eagerly awaiting the finale to.

Anyway, I finished it quickly, reading it both on and off the train. You know. For fun. Not just fill time I was stuck somewhere.

Finishing it annoyed me. I wanted more stories. I wanted more than fairytales. And so I cracked. I bought Equal Rites as an ebook. See, I'd previously decided I would not buy anything I already owned in paperback as an ebook because... Well, waste of money, something I don't have enough of. To buy my entire discworld collection in ebook format would cost as much as getting on a plane and bringing my paper ones back.

But just ONE book would be alright, wouldn't it?

So anyway I finished the book.

Of course I'm not going to read just ONE discworld book.

So I carefully ration myself ebooks, making a condition for myself that they are mainly for the train, but I am allowed to read them at home too.

And gradually... The fog lifted. Nothing much has changed besides that I'm reading books regularly again. I still have the same problems that were upsetting me in March. I was also HORRIBLY BURNED OUT until last week. But my mood is MASSIVELY improved. Like, hugely improved. And yeah, yeah, it's summer now, so the weather will have helped also. But I can pinpoint my recovery to when I started reading regularly again. And that is to say that while I was burned out, I wasn't ALSO sad.

So from now on I will be making an effort to keep reading books for fun.

It's kind of crazy that I had stopped for so long. I mean. I write books people are supposed to read for fun. Kinda hypocritical of me to like.. not do that.

I think maybe I have created this problem for myself with many of my hobbies. I tried to make drawing into a business, tried to do too much too fast, and since then I've barely drawn. I love cartoons so I watch them in Norwegian to help me learn - means I was never just relaxing while watching a cartoon for a few years. Recently started just watching cartoons in English/Japanese if I darn well feel like it.

...enough tangent, back to Why Reading Is Good.

Don't quote me on this, I am just scribbling down thoughts I've been meaning to write down for a month, therefore, am too lazy to track down any sources, but I'm pretty sure reading books is actually scientifically proven to help your brain?? I seem to remember reading your hippocampus shrinks if you don't exercise your brain enough and reading long stories does that. And a shrinking hippocampus causes depression?? I don't know anything much about brains and psychology so I must have read that somewhere.

I think a hippocampus is also like... A horse mermaid.

Again, no source, might be thinking of something from Mermaid Melody.

I'mma go read more of my current book now. It's a history book this time.

Yay books!

[ask-commander-arild]

what was it like for you when you were first taken from your home and forced to work for the pigmasks? did they threaten you to join? im sorry, either way it must have been a hard time for you.

It... was very hard. It still is. I don't like to talk about it very much, but... I feel like if I don't get it out at some point, I might just explode. So, well... where do I even start..?

When I was 11 years old, just weeks before my 12th birthday, I... hmmm... I got up one morning, got dressed, got my backpack, got breakfast, and watched some tv. It was the same as every morning. The only difference... before I left, I... got into an argument, with my mamma. It's been so long now, I don't even remember why, but I can imagine I probably did something stupid. We both said some pretty... not great things to each other, and then I slammed the door and left in a huff. I didn't care what the consequences would be once I got home, that was a problem for future me, I was just going to go to school and worry about it later. But, then...

I was on my way to the bus stop... and I... it happened so fast, I didn't even have any time to react. There were three of them, they grabbed me and... it was a blur after that. Next thing I remember, I was in a place surrounded by men in lab coats and strange uniforms, and they explained who they were (which, you already know, evidently), and I... may have punched a few people out of fear. Unfortunately, one boy vs a group of trained soldiers doesn't exactly end well... After that, I... don't know... I remember being approached by a caped soldier in a white uniform. He said something like "Y'know kid, we could really use someone with that kinda attitude. A little discipline and I think you'll make a fine addition around here." or.. something along those lines...

The thought of that terrified me. I didn't want to join them, I didn't even want to be there. I just wanted to go home to my family. I tried refusing, but... they gave me two choices. Either join their ranks and become a soldier, or be brainwashed and made to forget everything. I feel stupid for it now, but... well, obviously, you know what I chose. Thus, I've spent the past few years right here, in the army, and as much as I wish I could say I've hated it, I really don't know if I'd have it any other way. Overall, the army has done some terrible things, and I have always hated that, but on the other hand, getting to know my brothers in arms and making such a deep connection with them has been one of the best experiences in my life. Even still....

From the moment I was taken, I have missed my family desperately. Letting my lillesøster play with my toys, even if I found her annoying. Playing games with my storebror, even if he found me annoying. Going fishing and camping with my pappa, even if I was a little afraid of him, haha. And my mamma... jeg savner henne så mye... As much as I've enjoyed the past few years, there's nothing I want more than to be in her arms again. But, even if I can go back now, would she... even want to see me? After the things I said to her? Does she even care that I'm gone now? What if she's happier now that she never has to see me again? I don't think I could ever go back and face her again. Especially now, being a chimera. What would she say if she saw me? She'd probably see me as some kind of monster. I can't go back...

Thanks for the question, friend...

(ooc: Ooooo, boy, this one was tough to write, in more ways than one. I teared up more than a couple times writing, tbh. I did have a lot of fun writing it, though. Even still, I'm not the most proud of it. I def think I could do better, but oh well. Also, this post has a lot of Norwegian, and thus a lot of google translate. I have no idea if it's grammatically correct, but I just hope it gets the point across. If anyone who's Norwegian somehow finds this blog, HELPPPP. Anywho, sorry for the long read, y'all. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the ask, Hal Pinkalliums!!)

[hetaestoniahq]

You mentioned that you worked with the Estonian and Scandinavian embassies and found out that there's a lot more closeness between the countries than people would expect. What are some interesting and unexpected things you learned about the relationship between Estonia and the Nordic countries?

(Modern-day connections would be preferred, as I would assume the historical conflicts are well known. In a Nationverse context, I would like to write about the friendship and cooperation between their personifications in the modern day 👀)

Out of the Nordic embassies the most I've worked with is Danish Embassy, but also I have connections in the Swedish embassy and have spoken to the Norwegian embassy asking about facts of culture etc. (There are in fact a lot of culture and history facts the average person will not know.) I'll note to myself to make a post about Norway especially - even if the facts they were able to give were limited at the time. (I will also refer to my uurimustöö and take the facts I used from there too.)

Unfortunately Finland's embassy has ended up unreachable most of the time, with their cultural institute also being slow about responses (but my guess is that being such an important neighbour has left them very busy, same situation with Latvia.) And Iceland does not have a direct embassy here, needing to contact the one in Helsinki for any cooperation (which I tried and never got a response, again, alright.)

A keyword to know about the embassies is HELPFUL. They're very nice and open to anyone who approaches and wants to know things. They can also be generous about giving free stuff (ESPECIALLY Denmark :''D though I've noticed they just seem to have a higher budget compared to Norway's embassy for example.)

The Estonian embassies in the Nordic nations have also made 100 year timelines of diplomatic relationships, many of which really bring together a nice picture. (the Danish one actually made me cry). Unfortunately they exist mostly in Estonia, which only some having a translation into the other country's native language (Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish) if anyone speaks those then I can easily send the timeline for you to read.

I've found that the Nordic embassies (especially Sweden and Denmark which have active social media accounts (primarily Instagram) also like to actively participate in social events or matters such as Arvamusfestival (opinion festival) and other events that discuss Estonia's quality of life and development. They've always been economically close with frequent meetings about "increasing cooperation". This does not just apply to economical matters but also education and in recent times a lot lot more about defense too (especially now with Finland and Sweden having joined the NATO gang, something which was seen as a HUGE deal in Estonia to the point Estonia made a stamp of Finland about it.) I'll note to myself to also make a post about all the specific times I can recall Denmark being very active about the topic of defense to the point that I often use it as a point in arguments about faith in NATO.

The Nordic embassies have also been very vocal about and advocating for LGBT rights for years, possibly decades. They have always participated in LGBT events such as the recent Tartu pride. They even posted about having spectated the Riigikogu meeting in which the voting about legalising Gay marriage happened. You can say the Nordics have been one of the closest friends of the LGBT movement in Estonia, often raising rainbow flags in solidarity. (So YES to content about the Nordics celebrating Estonia's progress because of how much they've been supporting it!)

One thing I must bring attention to is NORDIC-BALTIC 8! It is a group that has existed since the 90's, right after the Baltics regained independence. This is another reason for why the "can Eesti into nordic" is incredibly stupid, because we already are considered together. (UN officially views the Baltics as Northern European too, grouping us together further.) Besides some international events wanting to put us far away from each other it is quite acknowledged on a nation relationship scale that the Baltics are in region friends to the Nordics. Some say that this regional friendship is the reason the Baltics are among the better countries in the Eastern half of Europe, because we have good developed countries to be influenced and supported by while some other countries were left with not the best options.

(I like to HC that the NB8 all sit pretty close by to each other in meetings.)

I intend to work on posting some of the information I've found, especially when I get time to read some sources I've received but not had the time to fully go through them.

Hope this response at least satisfies you a little <3

[therealvinelle]

Hi, are there any relatively modern (past ~75 years) Norwegian authors you'd recommend? I'm more interested in genre fiction if you want to narrow it down, but anything goes. Thanks!

(Post on classic Norwegian literature)

I have a few! I unfortunately don't read much Norwegian literature, and the authors I have strong feelings about are older (namely Amalie Skram, Ibsen and Krogh).

Dag Solstad I haven't read but heard so much that I know I must.

Erlend Loe I haven't read myself, but heard great things about him. Has a very charming writing style.

Gerd Nyqvist, Norway's Agatha Christie. Only read one of her novels, "Avdøde ønsket ikke blomster" (the deceased did not want flowers at the funeral), but I liked it.

Jostein Gaarder writes philosophical and esoteric novels. The Christmas Mystery, The Cabal Mystery, and Sophie's World are all fantastic (though you have to start on December 1st with The Christmas Mystery and make your way through one chapter a day)

Unni Lindell is a crime author, though I haven't read any of her crime novels. I have, however, read "Knut - Nobody's baby", which is an autobiography told through the cats which have impacted her life, the most formative being a cat named Knut who forced her to move several times (she tried moving away from him at one point, didn't work out), became a national celebrity, and caused furore among the Norwegian cultural elite on several occasions. I'm not sure if Knut has been translated to English, but I'm hoping some of her works are.

Vigdis Hjorth because she is so incredibly controversial. Triggered national debate when she wrote a novel about sexual molestation in the family that was inspired by her real family even though she's never been molested, which made her family so upset that her sister wrote a novel about when your sister writes a novel about how she totally got molested except she didn't. From what I hear, the novel Hjorth wrote ("Arv og miljø", hopefully been translated to English) was really good and I've been meaning to read it.

[aromantisk-fagforening]

You’re really cool! /gen

What languages are you learning?

Which ones do you want to become fluent in, in the future?

Where do you learn them?

What’s your favorite language?

Would you advise someone to learn Norwegian?

Do you have a language you’d never want to learn?

What’s the hardest thing for you when learning a new language?

How’s your day going?

ok first thank you for this epic ask. my answer is long so it's under the cut.

I'm currently primarily learning Russian. I am sorta learning Swahili, but I haven't come any far yet.

I'm also continuing to learn french, but I'm already pretty good at french so it's pretty much just reading stuff in french.

I'm sorta learning northern Sami or Sami languages (multiple), but I haven't gotten far.

I'm not sure which languages I want to be fluent in. I guess french, I'm definitely not on a C1 level yet but I know a lot so it's probably the easiest. But I just want to take things as they come a bit. Sami languages (probably northern Sami has most materials) are a candidate, because decolonization and stuff, plus it's a new language family to me which interests me a lot. Though I'll likely try one I know people who speak.

but for learning in general I am considering/currently learning:

- Arabic (maybe Egyptian)

- Swahili

- French

- Russian

- Chinese (probably mandarin)

- Urdu

- Sámi language (unsure which)

- Norwegian sign language

- international sign language

- Usamerican sign language (ASL)

- Thai

And of course I'm probably gonna update this list. (metaphorically speaking, not physically this list in this post)

Where I learn:

So for french I learned primarily in a classroom setting, but honestly that has left me with very weak like audio processing for french.

For Russian I've been using Duolingo which is pretty good, though as people talk about I don't understand the grammar so if I want to use it formally I'm probably gonna diversify. (not sure what I'll do yet)

For Swahili I'm using language transfer. But I struggle to motivate myself to do language transfer lessons. They're primarily audio based and I'm genuinely addicted to music so I'm not always in the mood.

I've also used Polygloss, which is an image description game type thing where you get feedback on your language skills from other users. I would probably recommend this one if it sounds at all interesting to you. This has many languages btw, even toki Pona.

I've used drops but that app fuckings sucks ass. It's difficult to remember stuff in complete isolation. It's like the opposite of reading wikipedia in the target language.

For Thai I've used "Thai drill", which seems pretty good, I haven't gotten far with thai though because I've focused on other languages.

I've used lingodeer the short time I learned japanese, I've heard it's supposed to be really good for that.

I also like using texts, for Russian I've used a lot of wikipedia, trying to just read articles in Russian and see what I understand. For french I've used magazines and lemonde. For Sami I've used just the regular news.

I've tried chatting apps for language learning but I haven't really stuck to them too much so idk if that's for me. I think people like those though.

I've tried YouTube for Norwegian sign language and I find myself less likely to use youtube for language learning, but it definitely helps with getting access to resources when there's little.

Also miscellaneous websites. For Norwegian sign language, Russian and French I've used websites and it's helped at least a bit.

Translation services are essential! Like yeah don't just put everything through translation, but if you need a specific word or want to check your grammar it can be very helpful. I use it a lot in french.

On whether to learn Norwegian that depends what you value.

Some options are: novelty (different language family? unfamiliar writing system?), easiness (similar? are there apps? are there complex conjugations?), practical use (can you watch tv in the language? do you know anyone who speaks it?), different culture (will it give you access to a world radically different to your own?), decolonization (is it a colonized language?)

But personally I'm inclined to say yeah please learn my language. I can recommend resources and help teach you if you chose it, so the easiness is high (plus it's on Duolingo). the practical use, though lowered by the fact that most Norwegians speak english, is decent because it's easy to access free books online in Norwegian, plus news (that may be different like with Palestine - the free national news report does not have to be approved by isnotreal). And in general Norway values freedom of speech. The easiness is raised by you speaking English, and Norwegian also doesn't gender anything depending on subject's gender (unlike french), only grammatical gender, and you can choose between 2 & 3 genders. For novelty it's probably not that interesting though. For decolonization it's a colonizer language, Norway colonized a part of Sápmi and forced them to speak like us, no one colonized Norway. wait actually there might be more than Sápmi? idk I found this about Denmark-Norway, it might be wrong to pin it on just the Danes even though they had the upper hand historically, idk (there was centralized royal rule based in Copenhagen in Denmark). But yeah that last part idk if it really matters, it's not immoral to learn a "evil" language (of any kind), it's more that I consider it extra moral to learn a colonized language. (I wouldn't necessarily consider Norwegian evil but you get what I'm getting at).

For languages I wouldn't learn, honestly there's not many. I'm skeptical towards learning more languages like french because it's hyper gendered & usually non-binary excluding, but I think Spanish for example is one of them and it's so widely spoken it's kinda worth it.

The most difficult thing for me when learning a language, I guess staying consistent. I only have like one perfect month on Duolingo, and for other languages like Norwegian sign language I've not been consistent at all, not even reaching a rate of one lesson a month.

My day is going pretty well, especially after answering this ask :)

[flowerandthesongstress]

it's mega fringe knowledge, and you probably won't believe me, but:

not everyone is from the usa

not everyone wishes to be

not everyone who speaks english as a native language is from the usa

it's rare, but cats can be allergic to common meats like chicken and beef; due to a certain genetic predisposition

not everyone who posts things in english is from the usa

not everyone who posts things in english is a native speaker

not everyone has a choice in this regard

not all of usa's problems and issues are universal or even universally relatable

slow-blinking at a cat communicates affection and helps develop trust

there are places with different and/or bigger problems and issues (there are other places! omg srsly so crazy!) and even historical milestones unrelated to usa's history

not every system—be it conceptual, social, political, economic, veterinary, legal, or educational—functions in the same way as it does in the usa

not everyone's experiences and environment match yours

if something does not match your experiences, does not mean that it's made-up

not everything is about you (mind. blown.)

norwegian forest cats are really big, fluffy, and super cute! unfortunately they suffer from a number of hereditary health problems

accidental ignorance is not a crime; willful ignorance is

inquisitiveness is never a fault; presumptuousness is

writing can have layers, and they're not always hidden subtext

cats are like family, we love them like family

things that are an ingrained norm for you might be virtually unfamiliar and/or inapplicable to the mythical peoples in those mysterious places that you probably think I've just made up (but I swear! I've seen them! they're real! I tried to take a picture but it came out blurry!)

not every fictional character is from the usa

not everything needs to be americanized

cats don't live very long lives

cultures and cultural contexts that differ from yours are not ‘weird’, ‘unusual’, and ‘surreal’

saying that they are ‘weird’, ‘unusual’, and ‘surreal’ is most definitely not a compliment

some plotlines and details might seem random, but they hold a crucial meaning and hide a resolution, even if neither were spoon-fed and spelled out for you

it's important to douse your biases and pay attention

...phew, some legit mind-blowing stuff, hard to believe, I knooow!

[withlovelunette]

Hey! I hope everything regarding your health works out! I love your blog, you're an angel for imparting all this knowledge for free. I love your posts they're invaluable!!

I wanted to ask your opinion on referencing songs lyrics or modern artists while writing? My ideas are so tied to the songs I listen to, i sometimes really want to incorporate them into what im writing. Especially bc often i feel like my character liking certain songs says a lot about them but I've never actually seen this done well when ive read it in other works. It always comes off awkward and out of place (imo) - do you have any advice? is it better to just leave it out entirely?

Please take the time you need to respond <3 I hope you get well soon! Good luck with everything!

Hello hello! Thank you so much for the good wishes :,D <3 And I'm so relieved this blog has been helpful for you, thank you for the ask!

I'll preface by saying that I don't write in very modern settings anymore, but I do have some experience from some of my older projects, as well as from reading books that include songs, so I'll try my best to help you tackle this issue!

For if you have a specific song in mind!

Firstly, and this one is probably the most obvious one, is to make sure that the song actually suits the setting that you're writing in! This is pretty straightforward when writing in contemporary settings (regardless of whether you're specific about the year your story is set in or if you're keeping it vague). If you have a specific time and place in mind, it's pretty much just a quick google search to see if the song was around back then. If you have a vaguer time and place (say, 1980s), you'll want to make sure that the technology/events/celebrities you're including don't accidentally specify the year, in case it contradicts your song choices. This also applies to mentioning artists!

But if your setting is more fictional (even if it's based on our world), this becomes a lot more subjective, and ultimately comes down to whether or not you feel like it fits into the setting.

Onto the actual "how to incorporate music" bit; one way you can go about it is to primarily refer to the music by name and describe your character's experience listening to that music, and then readers can always just look up the song themselves. I believe Haruki Murakarmi did this in Norwegian Wood! He might've included a few lyrics (it's been a while since I read the book, so I can't say for sure), but for the most part, he only refers to the Beatles song by name and describes the song through the characters experiencing it. This allows you to both describe the general vibe of the song to the audience in case they're unfamiliar, while also conveying the characters' relationship with the song.

Another way you can do it is to include lyrics in your writing, and I imagine this is the one you often find to be awkward and out of place, maybe? (I've definitely found them a bit awkward ^^;) I'll be transparent here and say that I generally don't like to include lyrics in my writing, particularly because it can lead to copyright issues if it's not in the public domain, but also because I find this to bring a lot of show vs tell issues for me (as in, it feels very "on the nose"). The main way I've tried to sidestep this issue is by having characters sing parts of the lyrics themselves, and sort of weave it into the dialogue, but it can definitely still come off as awkward if it's not done well. By having characters sing specific parts out loud, you're kinda highlighting which parts of the lyrics stick out to that particular character; but again, this can definitely be a very on-the-nose solution, so I'd really recommend to use lyrics sparingly!

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins includes a fair share of lyrics in it (though they're fictional songs), so maybe give that book a read-through and see if you like her format!

For if you don't have a specific song in mind/songs that don't have lyrics!

This section is more so dedicated to situations where you might not have a specific song, or if the song you've picked doesn't have any lyrics (such as classical pieces), since the solution here is more or less the same.

In these situations, I'd recommend to go the "describe the vibe of the song + how the character experiences the song" route! If it's a song that doesn't have lyrics, but has a name, you can also name it, similarly to what Murakami did in Norwegian Wood. You mentioned that songs can say a lot about a character, and you can often achieve similar effects just by describing the songs that they're listening to as well.

A character who listens to intense, grimy metal with a heavy bass and distorted electric guitar is going to give off a very different image than a character who listens to melodic piano pieces with softened, delicate strings harmonising in the background. It often helps to have specific songs as a reference for these descriptions, even if you don't outright name any songs! I also find that using descriptions that don't typically describe sounds can be very fun to experiment with (such as describing as something sounding "sour"). These can get a bit flowery sometimes, but it can still be a lot of fun to write! :,)

– Outro

Hope this helped you out a little bit! Honestly, lyrics can be very tricky to incorporate, so I completely understand the struggle ^^; And as always, if I was unclear/confusing about anything, or if there's anything else, let me know! Thank you for the ask!

[flawedamythyst]

Fandom Deep Cuts

Tagged by @drgrlfriend : okay apropos of this post —

tag a writer if you’d like them to share a never-before-seen playlist/moodboard/bit of background lore from one of their fics!

So, I'm going to be talking about Cluster Got Your Back, Bro, which is my Sense8 Avenger's AU. I'll ramble about it for a bit, and then I've got a scene that got cut.

So, when I look back the thing that frustrates me most about this fic is the failure to live up to the diversity of Sense8 itself. Everyone is white, I managed 2 women out of 8, and despite Bruce being in India and Bucky starting out in Afghanistan, everyone is from the USA/Europe/Australia. Given the state of the MCU at the time I wrote it (which was pre-Black Panther or I would definitely have dropped Bruce for T'Challa) I don't know that I could have done much better but it still bugs me. I tried to get a bit more global by making Tony Italian and dumping Thor in Australia rather than Norway, which might have felt more obvious but would have meant I had 3 Americans, 4 Europeans and Bruce, hanging out in India but clearly not Indian. Not that Australia isn't another Western country, but at least it spread out the dots on the map a bit.

And I did really enjoy writing Australian!Thor. He was so much more fun than Norwegian!Thor would have been, imho.

The hardest part of writing it was the timezones. I had a tab open on Time Zone Converter the whole time I was writing it, and kept having to move scenes around so it wasn't weird that various people were awake at the same time. Thank God for Thor's dawn surfing habit and Tony's erratic sleep patterns, but the hardest one was definitely Bruce. He was just never awake when the others are.

He's also the only one who didn't get his own plotline and yes, that is a bit related, but also, I was juggling a lot already and I didn't have anything for him to do. I hinted at him being on the run or whatever, but I never gave him any real backstory. I think it would have all been too much. So, bless him, he's just the guy who sleeps through the plot, occasionally meditates and is only useful when someone gets injured.

Originally, there was going to be an extra epilogue bit set a couple of years later, to show everyone settled into the lives they ended up with, which is what the snippet below the cut is. I accidentally introduced an antagonist though, and it suddenly started feeling like a sequel with a whole new plot arc, so I cut it. I kinda meant to go back at some point, but that never happened (if it had, possibly Bruce would have got some plot of his very own. Possibly not.)

It's a bit long and stops mid-scene, as a warning.

Clint actually really loved being a Stark Industries bodyguard. It meant he got to wear sunglasses and loom behind Tony, looking menacing - which was easy, given their respective heights. He got to carry a weapon everywhere with him which, okay, so it wasn’t his bow, but a gun was okay too, and got him less weird looks, and mostly his job was just watching people, which was easy as shit.

Mostly, though, he liked that it meant he got to work with Bucky.

“All clear here,” said Bucky through the comms that Tony had insisted on buying them, even though they could speak to each other’s minds. Clint glanced over the crowd of assembling reporters to where Bucky was standing by the door, looking hot as hell in his fancy suit as he glared around at the crowd.

“Here too,” said Clint, tearing his eyes away to glance around from his vantage point on the stage. “Tony, are you ready?”

Tony was in the back room, flicking through notecards that Clint knew he’d ignore as soon as he came out in front of the crowd. “Sure, yeah,” he said distractedly. “Hey, is the guy from The New Yorker here?”

Clint had no idea what he looked like, so he just scanned over the crowd as Tony appeared beside him, following his gaze.

“Aha! There he is,” said Tony, pointing at an old guy in the second row. “He wrote an article when I moved to New York about how Stark Industries was overextending itself. I’m going to make him eat his words.”

“Not literally, please,” said Steve. He wasn’t at the press conference, because despite Tony's best wheedling, he’d declined every single job offer from Stark Industries and stayed working for the NYPD. Clint thought he was nuts, because the benefits he and Bucky got were insane. The dental alone was worth turning up every day to hang around with one of his closest friends and his boyfriend, while looking hot in a suit.

And Clint did look hot. Bucky had made sure that he knew that.

“Sure, sure,” said Tony. “All the words eating will be hypothetical.” He straightened his tie, then took a step closer to the door. “Okay, I’m ready. Wish me luck, guys.”

Everyone who was currently awake wished him luck, glancing in on the press conference from wherever they were. Thor was in board shorts, clutching his surfboard as he ran down to meet the first wave of the day, Wanda was curled up on a sofa reading a briefing document and drinking a glass of wine in preparation for the next day’s political mindgames in the Sokovian parliament. Natasha didn’t let them see where she was, which was pretty much standard these days, now she was rising through the ranks of SHIELD.

Bruce was asleep. Tony had tried to persuade him that he needed to stay up for the conference, for moral support, but Bruce had just rolled his eyes and started his usual evening meditation.

Steve was on patrol with Sam, but Clint could see him sitting in an unoccupied chair in the front row, waiting for Tony’s big announcement.

Tony strolled out as if onto a runway, waving both hands at the crowd. “Hey guys!” he said. “Good to see you again. Well, most of you.” He sent the guy from The New Yorker a pointed look. “Now, I know most of you are hoping this is going to be about some awesome new Stark Industries product, because everything we create is incredible, but this is actually going to be even more fun than that.” 

His hand went into the pocket his notecards were in for a moment, but when he took it out, it was empty.

This was going to be fun.

“Okay, so it’s probably pretty clear now that I’ll be living in New York semi-permanently for a bit,” said Tony. “Not that I don’t love Roma, of course not, the weather is so much better, not to mention the coffee, although the tourists are about the same. Just, New York has a couple of things in it that I’m enjoying having easy access to.” He gave Steve a wink that made Steve roll his eyes, and then disappear to go back to his patrol.

Tony just turned his grin on the rest of the crowd, unfazed. “Which means I need to start acting like a good neighbour, right? I don’t want to be one of those asshole-type billionaires who don’t pay taxes and pretend a couple of thousand to charity is a big deal. Not that I’m talking about anyone in particular of course, except, wait, yes I totally am, and of course I’m going to name and shame them. Page four of your briefing pack has a full list of billionaires who aren’t pulling their weight when it comes to helping out the rest of the community.”

Clint wondered who had signed off on the briefing pack, and how long it would take Pepper to fire them.

“So, in addition to paying all my taxes like a good boy -my returns are available on request from the PR department- I figure it’s time to get into the philanthropy business properly. So, I’m announcing that I’m setting up the Maria Stark Charitable Foundation, who will be starting off with a fund of a couple of billion, to be divided between projects in New York, for my neighbours, and throughout the world because let’s face it, this is a global community now, we’re all each other’s neighbours.”

Clint scanned over the crowd again, trying to pretend he couldn’t see Bucky rolling his eyes at that one. There was a movement near the back and he zoned in on it, then froze dead.

Trick was standing there, staring straight at him with a malicious smirk on his face.

The cluster were now so close to each other that he didn’t need to say anything, didn’t even need to think it. Just the sudden change in his emotions was enough to make Bucky, Steve, Thor, Natasha and Wanda appear next to him while Bruce startled awake in Mumbai.

“What is it?” asked Bucky.

“That’s Trick,” said Clint, stepping out of his body so he could point.

Bucky’s eyes narrowed. “Right,” he said, and disappeared.

“What the hell is he doing here?” asked Wanda. Clint didn’t have any answers. As far as he was concerned, Trick had disappeared into the night and was never coming back.

Bucky stalked over to Trick and put a heavy hand on his shoulder, doing the sexy badboy glower that usually made Clint melt, but was just making him feel reassured now. It didn’t matter what Trick wanted, he had a kickass boyfriend and the rest of the cluster on his side.

Trick tried to throw Bucky off, but he just tightened his grip and marched him off. Clint wondered if it was possible to love the guy any more than he did right now.

“So, enough about me,” said Tony, wrapping up the speech that he’d somehow managed to continue with despite the drama. “And I know I don’t usually say that, but I figure there’s only so much of the glory I can take right now. Let me introduce you to the person who’ll actually be running the show.”

He was finishing up a lot quicker than he’d been intending to, which Clint had a feeling was because of him, but he was more than okay with that. Tony handed over the podium, gave one last wave, then glanced at Clint and headed backstage.

Clint followed him, and the minute they were out of sight of the crowd, Tony put an arm on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Clint nodded. “Just really want to know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing here.”

“Let’s find out,” said Tony.

Bucky had Trick in the security room, handcuffed to a chair with another security guard outside while Bucky stood against the wall with his arms crossed and just glared at him. In the time it took Clint and Tony to walk down there, Trick went from trying to play the whole thing off as a mistake to trying to threaten him with a lawsuit. Bucky didn’t so much as twitch.

“How are we going to play this?” asked Steve, walking around Trick. “You know I’m not actually going to let you hurt him, right?”

“No hurting,” said Clint. “I’m just going to ask a couple of questions.”

“If I don’t like his answers, there may be some hurting,” said Bucky. Steve just sighed.

Clint paused outside the room to take a breath, and Tony slapped a hand to his shoulder again. “Hey, any time you want, just say the word and I’ll throw the full weight of an outraged billionaire at him,” said Tony. 

Clint snorted and shook his head. “Nah, let’s do this the old-fashioned, carnie way.”

“Oh god, please don’t kneecap him,” muttered Steve.

Clint ignored him as he opened the door and went inside.

“...can’t treat me like this,” Trick was saying. “I’ve done nothing wr-” He shut up when he saw Clint, then glanced over his shoulder at Tony and raised an eyebrow.

“You really are playing with the big boys now, huh?” said Trick. “Look, I-”

“Shut up,” said Clint. “What are you doing here?”

Trick shrugged as well as he could in the handcuffs. “Hey, a guy can’t drop in to see an old friend?"

“We’ve never been friends,” said Clint.

Trick faked a heartbroken look, and Clint just rolled his eyes, glancing at Bucky, who was still glowering. “Maybe we should just kneecap him,” he said, mostly to hear Steve’s protest.

“Oh, come on,” said Trick. “It’s not that bad. I’m just here to talk to you.” His eyes flicked to Bucky, then across to Tony. “In private,” he added.

“Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of them,” said Clint.

Trick’s eyes raised. “Seriously? You want all your dirty secrets out in the open?”

“He wants to blackmail you,” said Natasha.

The idea of Bucky and Tony not knowing everything there was to know about Clint was ridiculous. Clint grinned at Trick, feeling the vicious edge to it. “Nothing secret about it,” he said. “Sorry if you were hoping to have any kind of leverage.”

Trick snarled at him. “Fuck you, Barton,” he said. “Maybe I’ll tell all the press out there that Tony Stark is hiring a guy with a murder conviction, then.”

“He’s not,” said Tony, leaning back against the wall. “Tony Stark is hiring the very best guy for the job, and his past, which may involve some criminal charges, none of which are actually murder, isn’t Tony Stark’s business.”

“Tony Stark is talking about himself in the third person,” noted Wanda, and earned herself a glare.

“Fuck,” muttered Trick, and glared at Clint. “Didn’t think you’d be the type to let some rich dude fuck you in exchange for being pampered, Barton.”

Bucky suddenly moved at that, making Trick as he uncrossed his arms and stepped forward. “Say that again,” he said. “Go on. I dare you.”

Trick stared at him, not nearly scared enough. “Okay, so apparently it’s not just Stark you’re getting on your knees for. I wouldn’t have thought a billionaire was big on sharing.”

Tony let out a long sigh, “Okay, two things. First of all, were you not listening to my speech out there at all? Sharing is exactly what I’m about. And secondly, I don’t know why you think Clint would need to sleep with someone for them to think he’s worth employing and being friends with. He’s incredibly talented, you know.”

Clint felt his ears blush red at the compliment, but he did his best to keep glaring at Trick.

“We need to scare him badly enough to never come back,” said Natasha. She crouched down to stare at Trick. “You should leave Bucky alone with him.”

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

I've written a lot of fics, but I do have a lot of original work too. I decided to share some.

I'm gonna put them up into sections.

First section is called "stuff I wrote when I was younger and gave up on":

I am not gonna include stuff I wrote under the age of 10. I'm gonna include stuff I wrote from age 11-15 and thought "this will be a big hit if I just finish writing it".

There was this one story about an entire class of students getting expelled from their school, so they are sent to this boarding school where ~wacky stuff~ happen. All I remember is that they all slept in the same room and there was these giant bunk beds - like we're talking 10+ beds on top of each other. There were two of these 10+ bed bunk beds and then the remaining kids got to sleep in hammocks tied together in the roof??

This story about a girl who discovers she could visit people in their dreams. So she decides to visit all of her classmates and kiss them in their dreams, just so she could see their reactions at school the next day. I mean, what if everyone in class dreamt about the same person kissing them and then seeing said person? Chaos and confusion ensues.

I kinda predicted covid, except I was a bit off. In like 2013/2014, I wrote a story that said that in 2017, a pandemic would come and take a lot of lives. Two girls pass away in this disease, and then when their mutual best friend grows up, she gets pregnant with twins and names them after her lost friends. But, here is the plot twist: Her children are possessed by the spirits of her best friends. So not only have she named her children after them, it's also them *reborn*... oooooohhhh. Also I had too many jokes about her best friends reacting that they were teenagers now trapped in babies' bodies, instead of like. Moving on with the story-

I had this full world of characters that I thought would eventually be included in some animated show I was so sure I'd make and it would be famous. Anyway, it was about these 12 year old twins that were going through life. They had a neighbour who had a rainbow T-shirt and a guy friend who was all silly but he had a tragic past. There was not much plot tbh, everyone just vibed and I just liked drawing them in different scenarios. They still live in my head. I may or may not have created a blog about them when I was 11 and I posted drawings of them there and I have no idea how to delete that blog so it's still there on the internet somewhere.

I have always been liking stories about large families and I have tried to make countless stories based on large families I’ve had on the Sims. They have never gotten far. I have also tried to create stories based on moviestarplanet films.

Alright, and now we are moving on to ”stories I am trying to write every now and then”.

These include two primary ones. The first one is called ”The Six Spins”. You will def see where I have gotten inspo from.

There is six siblings in a household. Oldest is almost 16 and the youngest is 10 months. Their surname is Spins.

They find out their parents have died in a plane crash, so now they gotta live with one of their relatives.

The relatives try to discuss where to put them, and many want to split them up cause no one can take all six. Until their father’s cousin takes them.

He lives up north at the countryside (in which country they live in, it’s never stated. I gave them pretty western names though, and I am wondering if I should change some to make it more diverse + unclear where they really are from).

They find out they are neighbours with these twins named Matias and Martina. I originally wanted them to be named Marcus and Martina but people would think I’d got that from the norwegian twin duo (Markus and Martinus). And it’s very important the other twin is named Martina.

One of the Spins siblings have this thing for Martina and they have a deep conversation in a tree. I actually wrote this very tree scene for a ”short scene” in my writing class in high school and I got an A for it 😊 Which has been my biggest wish in all my years in school - go get top score for a creative writing assignment.

Something is incredibly weird with the twins’ dad. Like his whole vibe is off.

One day, the twins’ mother is missing. They later find her corpse.

After they did, the father suddenly takes the twins and drives tf away from there. So it’s up to the Spins siblings to go look for them.

Here I am not as sure about all the details. I know all six will sit on a rooftop in a city and they’ll also meet their aunt who is like ”wtf are you doing here does your guardian know you’re on the run” and they are like ”Yeah we left a note”

And here is my other story. Currently unnamed and does not have as much plot yet. But I wanna make a comic or something about it later.

It’s about a girl named Monica who when she was 1 lost her parents in a car crash (don’t ask what it is with me and crashes), so she grows up with her aunt and her cousin.

Her aunt is cold asf and both her and her cousin have trauma from her during their childhood. But at some points, they get along fine with their aunt. It depends on the day, really.

Monica is starting upper secondary/high school. I again do not know in which country this should take place in, and I will base it kinda on my own school system… but she starts 10th grade, that is all you need to know.

She gets a friend who is blonde and that is all I know about her looks and personality rn. One time she follows this friend home and learns she’s an identical triplet, so there is just a bunch of pics of three identical girls everywhere.

She also has two other friends who has this thing going on in the bg kind of. One time they start getting a bit intimate in an empty classroom and Monica walks in and then at the same second walks out again before even reacting. Hard to explain, but kinda like this Violetta scene:

Both her and her cousin are WLW in some way and they kinda bond over it. Her cousin has a bigger plot regarding it, though.

The rest is just random half-done scenes in my head that makes no sense or have no context.

So Yeah! That are some original stuff I have written or am trying to write.

[gayahithwen]

Oh yeah, if we're going down the FULL list of languages I've studied to some degree, my list also gets long, because I'm also a conlanging linguist nerd (high five @guardevoir) (I got at least two conlangs to the point of translating the Tower of Babel into them, which is, as I'm sure you know, A Thing in conlanging circles).

Swedish (native language, acquired in childhood and studied through school as a primary language. And did creative writing courses in it, etc.)

English (technically my second language, but bordering on being a primary language because of how immersed I was from a young age. And, these days I live in the US and use it way more than Swedish, so...)

Spanish (only one offered at my school at the time, studied for four years, have tried to duolingo it a few times, still really really bad at it.)

French (studied for two years in high-school, have tried to duolingo it since, I'm NOT GOOD at it. But apparently my accent when I try to read it is "not the worst" some French speakers have heard, so... bam.)

German (studied for two years in high-school, even worse than my French.)

Latin (two years! in high school! I really wanted to be good at it, but the way it was taught did not work well with my ADHD)

Classical Greek (one year, in high school. I... remember the alphabet, mostly? and I know Caesar's last words were more likely "kai su, teknon" than "Et tu, Brute", soooo.... yeah, I'm not good.)

Danish, Norwegian (not really studied much, mostly just passively able to understand because they're closely related to Swedish. But we did have some instruction in Swedish class on how to read Danish and Norwegian, so I'm counting that as having had some formal instruction.)

Finnish (I begged my middle school Swedish teacher, who was from Finland, to teach me some Finnish. And she did! We had like ten, twelve private sessions, covering numbers and colors and a little grammar, but besides being fairly confident I can count to ten and say "hi" and "thanks", I really don't retain much of that at all.)

Japanese (two or three years of night courses, during my late teens/early 20s, right when that got popular enough to draw an audience in Sweden, so... once again, not much retained, though more than my Finnish or Classical Greek, for sure. The things I know how to say in Japanese are a random assortment of anime song lyrics, bad pickup lines (thanks, Miroku, I'll never forget "watashi no ko o unde kudasai"), and random politeness stuff.)

Russian (dropped out of that uni course after half a semester, so lol. nope.)

Also tried at various points to teach myself Icelandic, Dutch, Klingon, Quenya, and/or Sindarin. Sorted in rough order of how able I am to communicate with speakers of said languages (hæ, hoi, nuqneH, elen síla lúmenn omentielvo - the only phrase I actually know in Quenya. At least in Klingon, I can also say Qapla'! Though then again, with that level of fluency, we might as well also count Goa'uld, because I can also say "Jaffa, kree!"...)

Mostly, what I do retain from the languages I've studied is a) the ability to correctly identify the language, b) general understanding of the grammatical constructs, c) the ability to make an educated guess about what's being discussed, especially in text (unless it's Japanese, in which case I have higher listening fluency).

Entirely superfluous additional information on my language acquisition road:

English: So, for starters, only if the expected audience includes children who are too young to read subtitles do movies/shows get dubbed into Swedish. So from the moment you're old enough to read, you're hearing English and reading Swedish at the same time. And some movies I just watched in English way before that, usually with a parent by my side reading the subtitles for me. Hence how I was a huge fan of both Sound of Music and Mary Poppins before I was old enough to follow the dialogue (because I loved the music and the visuals, and knew the story well enough because my Mom had read me those same subtitles dozens of times).

We threw around a lot of English phrases, because it was cool. For example, we use the word "cool". Also "wow" and "okej", and more recently, "åsum" (awesome).

Whether the spelling gets Swedeified or not can be a bit of a crapshoot. This is the same language that spells the French "adieu" as "adjö" and "bureau" as "byrå", but also spells "boulevard" and "rouge" in French, so... Swedish is the loanword slut of the Nordic languages, though we still look like complete prudes when compared to how English gobbles down any tangentially useful word it comes across. (Which is not to slut-shame the English language. Imperialism-shaming, sure. But not the willingness to incorporate foreign words into the dictionary).

Anyway, I'm right on the cusp on whether I can be considered an Internet native or not, but whether or not you count someone who first visited the world wide web around age... 8? 9? as a native, by my teenage years, I fell deep into fandom. Which primarily happened in English, and was full of hyper-lexical language nerds. Aat least the LotR fandom and Star Trek fandoms were... Harry Potter a bit less so, that was more cross-discipline amalgamation nerdery (languages because everyone has a Signficant Name, and because of the Latinate bs, history because did you know Nicholas Flamel was a real dude? mythology because it's significant that Hagrid got Fluffy from (paraphrasing because I no longer give a shit about JKR) a "greek fellow down at the pub", etc etc).

Anyway, point being, I earned most of my English skills through direct acquisition, rather than through Swedish, so even though I did study it as a foreign language, it's basically my 1.5st language.

Spanish: My mom spoke fluent Spanish, because she spent time as a missionary in Peru (at least she also provided healthcare resources and helped a pregnant teenager escape the teacher who got her pregnant, so...) I have complex feelings about the religious colonialism my mother participated in. She was also the original Spanish teacher at my school, but the year I started learning Spanish was also the year my mom stopped teaching. And also the year she started trying to kill herself. So. Bit of a mental block on that one, for various reasons.

Danish and Norwegian: There was at least one Pan-Nordic (well, not including Iceland) edutainment show on TV when I was a kid. Very focused on people speaking slowly and encouraging kids to see the similarities. I was the kind of kid who ate that shit up. Here's a link to an episode where the narrator is Norwegian. And below, a brief clip from youtube showing part of an episode with a Swedish narrator;

[queen-mihai]

Sometimes I really fucking hate the autocorrect feature on my phone.

No. I didn't write "someone's" I wrote SOMETIMES

I don't know anyone "Moravian". I've never once tried to type that word until just now. I do, however, talk a lot about things that are Norwegian

Freaking geez

[thelibraryiscool]

Temauke 3: Nature

Ok. Puisque je parle pas mal français mais ma grammaire est quelque chose d’un cauchemar, je vais essayer à prendre part dans ces semaines à thèmes de langblr. Mais pas seulement en français? Peut-être en latin ou en norvégien aussi. Donc.. voilà:

La semaine dernière était un temps d’orages violents et soudains: un moment tout restait calme, et l’autre la pluie tombait – une averse, en fait – et la rue devenait une rivière miniature, o�� les voitures passaient, lentement et presque majestueusement, en formant des petites vagues. Ma ville (au centre) consiste pour la plupart de nuances de pastels, comme une Venise désaturée, et ça me plait bien en général – elle retient l’air de XIX-e siècle, et on peut imaginer des calèches et des marchés animés – mais quand il pleut, tous les bâtiments deviennent gris et prennent un aspect vraiment triste. Même les arbres dans les boulevards perdent un peu de leur verdure, et les pigeons laids, avec leur plumes d’un bleu sale, vagabondent comme des rois légitimes de ce domaine malheureux. Bien que juillet est tout juste arrivé, j’ai quelquefois une peur irrationnelle que les feuilles tournent jaunes, se flétrissent et tombent tout à la fois. Certes, je suis un peu dramatique, mais c’est pas grave: enfin il y a une tradition estimée de dramatiser la nature.

Jeg snakker norsk mye verre enn fransk. Slik teksten min kan ikke være veldig komplisert. Jeg elsker leser og studerer utenfor, i sola, med en bris (selv om jeg bli solbrent lett). Det er så rolig, og du kan pause og sette i varme. Utenfor jeg er ikke så redd for insekter, til og med vepser eller biller, fordi det er deres domenen. Når jeg gjorde min bachelor, det var en plen med mange marmorbenker hvor vi kunne studerer. Der var også kuer på en bakke nærheten, og en av professorene mine ville bringe sauer til universitetsområden. Det var alltid mange ekorner, hvem plukket opp kongler og epler et spilt i trær. Om høsten, bladverken var vakker, og du kunne skaffe cider smultringer eller gå å plukke epler. Om vinteren, det var ikke for kaldt, men det var noen ganger snøstormer, så sent som i April.

solbrent - sunburnt veps, m. - wasp bille, m. - beetle plen, m. - lawn universitetsområde, n. - campus (not quite nature, but) ekorn, m./n. - squirrel kongle, m./f. - [pine] cone bladverk, n. - foliage

[rannadylin]

Hat patterns here we come! Lots of hats, so I'm putting most of them behind the cut...

First though, time for Silly Hats from LOTRO :-D I never got around to writing up patterns for these hats I based on cosmetics/gear in Lord of the Rings Online, but I adore them too much not to show them off.

Here's the Loose Linen Hood:

And the Spring Flinger Cap!

OK, on to normal hats now. :-D

Tentacula Hat - fun stitch technique, super fluffy Wonderfluff yarn from Knit Picks

Beeswax Hat

Camden Cap, which I liked so much I made another one for my mom as I had plenty of that red yarn left over from a sweater to make two whole hats.

Winter Garden Hat is another one with an intriguing stitch technique! It was the first pattern I tried on the Knitrino app, which made it really easy to follow the charts.

Most of those above are JCL hats with my own colorwork patterns, but the bottom left is the adorable Cat-tastic Hat!

Norwegian Star Earflap Hat - I end up wearing this one a lot when the fall starts getting cooler! And it was a pretty easy colorwork pattern, so a good starting point perhaps for someone wanting to learn.

This Felted Bucket Hat pattern is THE best bucket hat pattern I've yet found; I made this purple one for me and a red one for my grandma.

And finally, another hat I designed but never got around to writing down the pattern: the R2D2 hat!

Happy Make A Hat Day! Post your favorite hat pattern and let's start a massive hat pattern thread! I'll start by posting links to the hat patterns in this pic, can even be your own pattern ...

1) Garter Stitch Slouchy by Susan J. Griffin of Skein Worthy

2) Bunny hat pattern by Meryeme of Knit and Hygge

3) 'Granny's Square Dance Slouchy' by Marken of The Hat and I

4) Kismet Hat by Shaina Bilow

5) 'Fais Do-Do' Hat by Cheryl Toy

6) Hat Pattern Set by Amanda Barry

7) New Direction Hat by Julia-Maria Hegenbart

8) 'Constellate' Hat Pattern by Hunter Hammersen

[galaxythreads]

some lore for you screamed for so long perhaps? i read all 8 (at the time) chapters of that on a 3 hour plane ride it kept me going through quite possibly the worst turbulence i have ever experienced

I'm so sorry about the turbulence. :( That sounds un-fun. Fun fact, I haven't been on a plane since i was 18 months old. I have absolutely no reference for that irl, lol. XD

ANYWAY.

LORE FOR YOU SCREAMED FOR SO LONG WE FORGOT TO CARE ANYMORE <- link to story

i have been planning some form of this story since 2018. In the original version, there was a massive plague going on. I'll probably still write that version actually. It's different enough from this one that it can stand on its own two feet.

CHAPTER ONE:

I was inspired to start the story several months after Loki got there after reading a Darcy/Loki story on ff.net I never finished

""I don't want to be buried. Cremate me." He instructs, swinging his quiver across one shoulder. "Or drop my body from the sky for the dogs to pick at, I don't really care. I'll be dead." " -- this is 1000% based off of Shane Madej from Buzzfeed Unsolved loudly declaring how he wants a sky burial

CHAPTER TWO:

"The looming figure in front of him gives a curt nod, and something smacks him in the back of the knees, and he goes tumbling into suffocation all over again," -- In the end you will always kneel.

Actually, the above torture is a slow form of suffocation. Someone ties a rope around your neck and hands that are connected together and suspends you enough that you have to stand on your toes. When your feet come out from underneath you, the rope on your hands tugs on your neck until it tightens until you either suffocate or manage to stand upright again thus relieving the pressure.

----

"He feels the surge of intense, overwhelming heat against his already raw, blistered skin before he even feels the brand press against his back, burning into muscle, bone, anything and everything, and he wont, can't—pain pain pain pain—

He screams—

^^^^ the above scene is the source of THIS scar, "Some of the worst scars are white and puckering against Loki's back and they look older than all of this" (chpt 9) and it will be discussed in further detail later. It's actually very important to the story. All of the dreams are. Nothing was put in there "just because"

---

"Hill hates all of them because the fact they're on the same floor is her fault." --- rather than having Fury in charge of the Avengers, I decided that it would probably be more realistic if Hill was. Fury is a busy man.

---

I learned some Norwegian for this fic solely so I could know on a basic level when the sentences didn't make sense, lol. XD

---

"All of them have made an effort to learn how to learn with Loki's flashbacks, but the only people who have had any real success are Thor and Steve." --- This is because Steve looks like Thor and Loki's brain is not super great at telling them apart when he's a mess.

---

"Clint forces out a thin breath, then says, "Do you want a sandwich?"

There's a long lull as if Loki's struggling to understand him. Clint repeats the question."

---

I dreamt about you getting your back burned open.

BACK INJURY IMPORTAAAAANNNCCCEEEE lol. XD all of you would be exhausted if you know how much I've been trying to subtly state this.

---

Natasha and Clint are legally married in this fic and have been for several years, but I never make that explicit because it doesn't matter to either of them so it's not important to the narrative. They are, first and foremost, partners. (Natasha proposed)

---

"Natasha is quiet for a second, then she tags on, "Ya tebya khochu."

Clint chews on his bottom lip, "Ya tozhe khochu tebya,""

This is Russian for "I want you," and then "i want you too." I think it's a little bit more meaningful than I love you.

---

Clint doesn't remember being taken to S.H.I.E.L.D. for the first time. When Coulson dragged his sorry butt there for medical after Barney tried to beat him to death, Clint was unconscious.

I have spent so much of this fic paralleling Clint's relationship with his brother with Loki and Thor's.

---

"Beside that is, predictably, an open tissue box.

Clint doesn't know what it is, but he's never been in a S.H.I.E.L.D. conference room without one. It's like the janitorial staff is worried that a group of covert spies and government officials are going to spontaneously..."

I work in janitorial. There is an ungodly effort put into making sure the tissue boxes never run out.

----

"If you're done saying I love you," Fury looks pointedly at Steve and Tony, the latter of whom smirks. Steve buries his head in his hands.

I have a lot of internalized homophobia issues despite being lesbian, but this is my first gay joke in a fic and I'm really, really proud of it. I know it's not very good or even comes across as a joke, but I felt so proud putting it in here all the same. Acceptance of self is real, y'all.

---

when i was listening to this chapter as i edited it, the speech to text reader read "asgardr" as oosgar and it was really funny to me.

---

CHAPTER FOUR:

this was the first scene I wrote for this fic.

the Chitauri do not refer to Loki by any other pronoun but "it." this is an effort to dehumanize him. (NOT to say that those who go by it pronouns are not human, love you guys (gender neutral))

---

"You are weak, like a mewling, crawling baby animal. But don't worry, because where you failed, your not-brother will succeed." --- Am I making a pointed jab at how awful Mobius calling Loki a mewling kitten was? Yes.

---

(chpt 4 vs 8)

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This is one of my favorite interactions in the story. Loki has been lying through his teeth about his feelings most of the fic up to this point and then Clint asks him and Loki tells him the truth.

Loki and Clint have a very strong bond, even then.

---

CHAPTER FIVE:

everyone got a specific name-sign in this chapter. Loki's is grumpy-L because he's a grumpy little guy. XD No, it's cause he's grumpy but the L stands for his name

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"Karma coming to collect its debt." -- a reference to my friend @widowronin's SPN story.

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"c"-- by his brother

"b"-- by the circus of crime and Coulson

derogatory -- by his brother and the circus of crime

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Waaaaay too much of my writing was inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved now. XD

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^^^ this is actually referring to Frigga and Odin's relationship, not the chitauri

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CHAPTER 6:

^^ reference to Vibranium

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the actual plan for the cafeteria scene:

"The Avengers eat breakfast or something at the facility and the SHIELD agents are generally nasty to Loki. One of them starts a fist fight and Loki defends himself until the Avengers bodily pull everybody off and are like “no.” Loki is a little banged up, but nothing serious. Clint breaks some guys nose, though. Bruce looks him over and is visibly agitated. Says that the agents shouldn’t have hurt Loki. Loki’s like, okay, sure, but I did kill like, a lot of people, so they’re entitled. Bruce is like, “:/” "

---

this was intentionally framed like the beginning of Black Widow with Yelena. Thus to indicate that Natasha now sees Loki as a brother.

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Loki intentionally says something unrelated to the situation to calm Clint down. yes, this was a reference to Clint and the sandwich thing. It worked so well then, why not now?

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this is an important clue that will help us later

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^^^ Gamora and Nebula

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^^^ Loki dreams about Clint's brother trying to kill Clint. In the next chapter, Loki's brother tries to kill Loki. These scenes were placed on top of each other on purpose. NARRATIVE PARRALEL.

Also. by the gods am i projecting hard into this fic with clint and barney lol.

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^^^ I still cannot believe that @worstloki made this for me, and then the post sort of blew up. Last time I looked it had like 250+ notes and LOTS of tags discussing how wonderful the story was. It literally floored me. I still am baffled and deeply humbled. Thank you.

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CHAPTER EIGHT:

this scene was originally written from Clint's pov. I have it in a junk document somewhere. This is probably going to be Loki's only POV in the fic, but we'll see. I just though it would be really good to see Loki's thoughts about all of this, given how pivotal this moment is in the story.

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chpt 8 vs chpt 5. DIRECTLY MEANT TO PARALLEL EACH OTHER.

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^^^ this is the above meme. In the fic. You're welcome. XD

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Parallel to the first thor, anyone??

--

as far as thor is aware in this scene, Loki just killed their parents and his world so the fact that Loki is actually worthy of Mjolnir is absolutely BAFFLING to him.

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CHAPTER 9:

I made the executive decision that odin and Frigga's relationship is...strained, to put it mildly.

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most of the time Siygn is a princess of some distant realm in fics, but no! she's queen here. XD

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reminder!! "Far" is the formal way to address your parent in Norwegian.

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Odin doesn't swear once in this conversation.

ALSO. Loki purposefully tries to intervene before giving up quickly because Odin and Frigga fighting is a common occurrence and he knows it's useless to stop it.

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the way this chapter is set up is that you SEE what Odin and Frigga did to Loki with the flashback to Thor watching over Loki. You are supposed to think "Uh, wait a sec"

THIS is NIce?

for reference:

"Loki is thin, more a skeleton than a person, skin dragged against bone and pulled taut in some grotesque imitation of death. There are layers upon layers of gauze over Loki's entire forearms, covering up the horrible scars and stitches keeping his arms attached to his body. Beneath that is purpling and black bruises several inches thick encircling his wrists. There are open wounds almost everywhere in various degrees of healing, bones still bent awkwardly out of place that the doctors distastefully said they'd need to reset so it could heal right. Loki isn't stable enough for them to try yet."

but yeah. It was nice.

---

Btw, the title "You screamed for so long we forgot to care anymore" is NOT a reference to the Avengers.

It's Loki's thoughts to Odin and Frigga. Years of torture, of suffering and pain, of screaming, and they seemed to grow more apathetic to it with time.

I will probably reblog this with more thoughts once the fic is finished, but yeah. I have put a LOT of effort into this fic. And I am still baffled as to how it has so many people reading it. When the number processes in my brain every couple of weeks I feel horrified, lol.

YOU SCREAMED FOR SO LONG WE FORGOT TO CARE ANYMORE <- link to story

[meimae]

Language Learning Through Immersion: One Year Japanese Update

11/03/2021

I did it, you guys! I’ve successfully reached my very first year of Japanese language immersion! I honestly thought that I would have given up by now, but this really has been a fun and ultimately rewarding endeavor.

Studying the language has been at the back of my mind for years since elementary school, I just never really knew how to go about it before, and I always thought that I could learn it in a classroom setting someday. That someday for me was in two elective courses in university, and while those were fun as well, it did not give me the same gains that I have achieved in this past year.

It’s probably easier to quantify learning a language in a classroom setting, especially when going through a program to earn a language degree. Learning through immersion, however, I had to really consider what my goals should be on my own. Eventually, I stumbled upon an article saying that for an English speaker, Japanese was exceptionally difficult to learn and that at least 2,200 hours must be spent with the language to reach a certain level of proficiency. So I said to myself, “well okay internet, if you say so!”, and set that as my long term goal going forward.

Spoiler Alert: I did not hit that goal in my first year. I am not crazy and will never listen to Japanese in my sleep regardless of what Khatzumoto (the creator of All Japanese All the Time) says. 

I did, however, hit a total 1,226.65 active immersion hours in my first year, so I guess I’m still a bit nuts. That is 874.96 hours of active listening and 351.69 reading hours. I also did 270.59 hours of passive listening, also known as the time in the very beginning of my immersion where I was using Japanese subtitles (therefore not really concentrating on listening alone). That’s a cumulative 1,497.24 hours spent with Japanese. That’s more than halfway towards my goal! 

To further break that down for curious animanga fans out there, that’s 973 episodes from 109 anime, 765 episodes from 33 dramas, 7 movies, and 967 chapters from 107 volumes of manga (21 series). Here’s my anilist and mydramalist to see what I’ve read/watched.

During all this, I was also doing my daily Anki reps and now I have a 530 day SRS streak (includes the time prior starting immersion and only doing RTK and some vocabulary cards) and a total 8,857 sentence cards. I’ve been averaging 406 cards daily (because I’m trying to cure my leeches) and I spend about an hour per day doing reps and learning new cards. I don’t really track my time on Anki, but I do have a set timer that goes off after 1-1:30 hours.

What I haven’t touched upon at all is output. I have not gone out of my way to find a tutor or a language partner. There’s still plenty of input out there to immerse in before I even consider outputting.

Graphs, stats, and more thoughts:

Here's my current card count in my main deck (minus the cards in my new/learning queue and leeches I've been relearning which are in separate decks):

That one day in 2019 where I did not do my cards because I was seriously doubting whether I can actually stick with language learning this time around will forever haunt and inspire me to keep going everyday.

Workflow and Tips

You might be wondering, how do I have a lot of time? I started this whole endeavor in the middle of a pandemic, which eliminated the option of me going to a language school, and a slew of other things I were considering doing last year became impossible (and if anything, very scary to do in a pandemic). All I can say is that, things work out eventually if it is His will, and if I can learn a skill before everything properly settles back down again, then why not? 

I wake up at 5 in the morning everyday to either do my Anki reps or read until the time when I need to get up and I listen to compressed audio throughout the day. The biggest tip is to switch the time you spend watching/reading in your native language to your target language instead. Listen to a podcast during your commute, watch an episode during lunch break, read before going to bed, do your Anki reps in the bathroom if you have to. 

But, if you’re feeling burnt out, there is no reason for you to not take a break! I have been watching a lot of Among Us streams before bed, and I chat with my friends from time to time. Language learning is not a race.

More Stats

Here are a couple of grids of the kanji characters that I have encountered at least once in my immersion and how well I have answered them in my vocabulary/sentence cards.

It's interesting that after almost 9000 words, I have yet to encounter every single character from the Remembering the Kanji 1 (RTK 1) book by James Heisig, which teaches you the most common use characters that are part of the 常用漢字. Which brings me to the question, was writing down every single character being taught in RTK worth it every time it came up in my reviews for the first 3-ish months I was reviewing them? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly removed my anxiety whenever looking at blocks of text in Japanese, but the longer I think about it, the more I feel I should have switched to Recognition RTK earlier. Still, being able to write in proper stroke order is cool I guess, and it also helps me when looking things up in the dictionary.

Here’s the same grid but in JLPT order:

I clearly need to grind those N2 and N1 level cards! Speaking of which, I have apparently almost covered every single character that could possibly appear in the JLPT (except for the N1 which I have only covered half of) in just a year's time. If the JLPT word frequency lists I’m using are accurate, I have about 2,000 words more to go to to cover most vocabulary that could appear in the test. This makes the "10,000 sentences/words to fluency" argument a reasonable milestone to aim for for Japanese learners if said aim is only to pass the test. That said, 10,000 words is just that, a milestone. It's more akin to a comfortable level of comprehension, but not my own concept of fluency which is being able to read with ease, speak articulately, and write comfortably.

READING IMMERSION GRAPHS

My biggest motivation for tracking my stats is for the purpose of seeing whether my reading speed is improving over time. Reading speed is also easier to measure than listening comprehension which is kind of subjective, so I had a lot of fun making these. What I found is that for the first volume or chapter of whatever it is I’m reading, I always take the time to get used to the writing style of the author. My speed really improves whenever I keep reading the same topic over and over again. On the other hand and quite obviously, looking up many new words in a row and trying to parse sentences slows me down.

Manga: Reading Speed Progression per Volume

I clearly love ちはやふる and I am not ashamed to admit it.

I need to start reading longer manga. When I do, I’ll probably split this graph into less than and greater than 20 volumes. Imagine if I start reading something ridiculously long as 名探偵コナン or ワンピース, these graphs will start breaching the bounds of time and space.

Novels: Time Spent Reading per Chapter

#neverforget the time I read chapter six of Norwegian Wood for 9 hours when it took me less than half that time in English RIP. Also, my interest in Kitchen plummeted LOL. Still planning to finish it don’t worry. 

I also need to start branching away from manga and start reading more novels and light novels, too just so I can make more pretty graphs.

Visual Novels: Time Spent Reading and Daily Word Count

Also known as images that clearly show that I’ve already spent several days only reading the prologue of Island. I’m not sweating. 切那 needs to stop using words I don’t know in succession. More thoughts on this VN far into the future.

Thoughts on Immersion

I can’t really say anything else other that that it works for me, and needless to say if you’re considering this method, remember that the SRS is your friend but immersion should be your one true love.

Prior to all this, I couldn’t even read a sample paragraph from Genki without being confused to my very soul. Yes, I know, it’s embarrassing, but that’s the truth. I was way more scared of failing my Japanese classes than my actual thesis for my bachelors degree, I kid you not. I would quite literally spend all my free time in university trying to understand grammar, memorize vocabulary, and answer my workbook exercises with little to no success. 

I tried so hard to get all the grammar “formulas” into my head for 1.5 years and it only brought me more confusion. I’m never going back to traditional classroom study for language learning, but I will still refer to grammar books when I need to, and not because I feel like I need to answer 4783342 different workbook exercises like my life depended on it.

I still can’t believe it, but with immersion this statement is actually true to a point, don’t try shadowing anime/or calling your boss anime language slurs, use your common sense:

study anime to understand Japanese > study Japanese to understand anime 

Future Goals/Plans

2,200 immersion hours was my initial goal, but honestly I feel like that number could be much higher. There’s still a lot of stuff I don’t understand (news, politics, sciences, etc.), so I’ll make attempts to cover more of those things in my immersion. 

I’ll continue reading more, because that’s a natural SRS in itself. Try to read longer manga, more novels, visual novels, and light novels, and maybe news articles. 

I’ll try to mine as much “JLPT vocab” as I can before making any attempts at taking the JLPT. I noticed that a lot of the words I know don’t appear in the JLPT word lists as much, even though they appear a lot in media/daily conversation. 

Continue mining all words I don’t know because all words are useful anyway. There is no such thing as useless words. I never really understood mining only “interesting words” or words that “pop up” in your immersion. As I said in my previous blog post, 美人局 is an interesting word and I certainly caught it being said in my immersion, but in the three languages I know, I wouldn’t know when I would be able to use such a word, as compared to something like ジャガイモ which is a significantly less interesting word, but is certainly useful to know. 

_

I have managed to talk up a storm, but if you have any questions regarding my process or recommendations for new immersion material, please feel free to send an ask/reply to this post. I love hearing about other people’s language learning/immersion journeys. 

See you on my next post!

[lumassen]

What if aph England was a Scouser?

This came from a conversation on a discord server about what accent people headcanon England to have as we have so many, and as a northerner I like to think he would rock a northern accent. Based off several headcanons that England and Norway are good friends, and that nations move around a lot to avoid being clocked by their citezens for the fact that they don't age, I bring you this random drabble:

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It was getting dark by the time Norway finally arrived in the port of Liverpool and stepped off the ship. It had been 5 years at least since he'd seen Arthur, and perhaps 15 or more since he'd last visited England, and since finding out that Arthur was now living in Liverpool he took the opportunity to visit him when he was there on a trip.

Stepping down from the gangway, Norway tightned his scarf a little tighter around himself, the biting cold winter air slipping through any opening in his coat that it could find. Pulling back his glove to check his wristwatch, he noticed they'd got in a little late even though they hadn't really been delayed when they set off from Bergen.

Turning back to the ship for a moment, Norway watched with a small smile as his crew who'd kindly let him come along with them began to unload the large Norwegian Spruce. Since 1942 he'd given a Christmas tree as a gift to the people of England as a token of gratitude for the support they had given him during the second world war, something he would never forget. It started off as a single, 60 or so year old Spruce that was cut down specially and gifted to be put up in Trafalgar Square every year, but in recent years Norway had started gifting a couple more to other cities around the UK, and this year he had one for Durham, Oxford and Liverpool cathedral.

When he was satisfied that his crew didn't need any help, Norway waved a quick goodbye to them before setting off across the docks. He walked slowly at first, admiring the Christmas lights that decorated lamp posts and trees until he spotted England sat on a bench at the end of the docks. Quickening his pace so to not keep him waiting much longer, Norway's smile broadened just a little more. He and England were old friends despite their past differences and conflicts, and Norway had been looking forward to this visit since he found out that England living here.

"Long time no see." He said as he stopped in front of England, who looked up away from his smartphone and put it in his pocket.

"Likewise," he said with a smile, standing up and grasping Norway's hand in a firm, friendly handshake before pulling him in for a hug.

"So, Liverpool eh? I thought you'd be more of a country house in the cotswolds kinda old man by now, so I'm a bit surprised to find you here." Norway teased as they started strolling away from the docks and toward the city centre.

It was the end of November, so despite it being nearly dark it was still only 4pm in the afternoon and the streets were still full of people. For the past few years Norway had been living in the depths of the countryside up in Narvik with more sheep around him than people, so it felt strange yet nice to be surounded by so many people again.

England laughed a little, "Yeah, I fancied living somewhere a little livelier. I was getting a bit fed up in a big drauhty house down south, I found that I always had a proper cob on so I knew I needed to move to somewhere with a bit of atmosphere. I know we shouldn't have favourite citzens, but I've always had a soft spot for the people of Liverpool." he said, and Norway was shocked at how much his accent had changed since the last time he'd seen him.

It happened to most nations who lived among citezens to end up speaking with their accent or dialect, so he wasn't necessarily shocked, just a little taken aback.

Whether it was the fact that his own English skills were a little rusty from living in a rural place where not many of his citezens around him spoke anything but Norwegian or the fact that England's accent had thickened he wasn't sure, but Norway was struggling to keep up with him.

"What abar you? Where you living?"

"Er, Narvik. Been there about 7 years. It's nice." Norway said, with not much else to add. Narvik was Narvik. He went fishing occasionally, but other than that he was either buried in paperwork or eating or sleeping these days.

"Fancy a bevvy while we have a natter? There's a bar close by that's proper sound, you'll love it, and no I won't get bladdered before you say anything." England said as they turned the corner, and Norway quite honestly didn't understand a word that he just said.

"A bevvy?" he repeated, and Arthur turned to look at him and raised a large eyebrow,

"Yeah, a drink. Do you not fancy it?"

Norway blinked a couple of times, trying to get his head around England's changed accent. Sure, he knew that dialects and accents were a common thing, and back in his country he had many unique ones himself, but the way that England was rolling his 'r's and talking from the back of his throat on some words was tough enough to understand without the added slang.

"Sorry, yes I'm happy to have a drink with you." Norway said, a smirk crossing his lips at the fact that England was so oblivious to his change in accent.

They talked about this and that while they walked to the bar, England asked after Denmark and Iceland and they discussed the upcoming football championship until they arrived to a wobbly looking old stone pub nestled among the more modern buildings of the city. One of the things that Norway loved about visiting England was hidden gems such as this, and in summer he loved touring old castles and historical sights with Arthur.

Norway stepped inside as England held the door open for him, relieved to be inside and out of the wind. The smell of beer hit him immediately and he could feel the carpet sticking to the bottom of his shoes.

He spotted an empty table and took a seat, England following him and sitting down opposite, taking his gloves off and stuffing them into the pocket of his leather jacket.

"God it's baltic out there, but I'm proper made up that you've come to visit though. Actually this probably isn't that bad for you is it, now you're living in Narvik." England laughed, rubbing his cold hands together before he stood up again, "Let me get you a bev, back in a tick." he said before pushing his way to the bar.

Norway watched England as he leant on the bar, laughing with the bartender and chatting away and sighed, still not fully understanding what the hell he'd just said. He was pleased though that England was happy and settled in Liverpool. He'd had it rough the past couple of years with the whole Brexit thing which had obviously made him move as a distraction if anything else and Norway was glad to be catching up with an old friend, but had he realised that he would struggle to understand England as much as he was then he might not have suggested staying for a whole week...

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lol. For those people not from the UK and aren't familiar with a Scouse accent I tried to find a video. The best one I could find is still a bit crappy, but the girl at 0:12 is a prime example of how fast Scousers speak that not even I or the subtitles could keep up with her at first.

Click for the video

this fic is the closest I've ever got to writing a crack fic and this is purely self indulgent im sorry lol