#im good with english and language

[blueskittlesart]

is detcon actually good

no <3 hope this helps

[nart-is-a-monster]

Oh the fear of losing something you already lost

[lazy-creates]

"SANS?"

"i'm ok bro, don't worry 'bout it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A screenshot from my animation, since people are allergic to watching videos on this platform.

Can't wait for new Deltarune chapters ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

[loonsloon]

sleep so i can see you, 'cause i hate to wait so long jegulus microfic, words: 1060

For Regulus, mornings would always start in the same way. Being a light sleeper, he would wake up to James trying very hard not to stir him—fumbling around, knocking over something on his nightstand, stumbling over his own foot, or even cursing silently to himself.

Regulus always tried to keep his eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep. He enjoyed waiting for James to lean over and kiss him gently, ruffle his hair, or graze his cheek with the back of his hand.

“Don’t pretend that shampoo bottle falling in the shower didn’t wake you up,” James would chuckle, making Regulus finally open his eyes with a smirk.

“You know, I just enjoy hearing you suffer,” he would tease him back, voice still thick with sleep, while James brushed his hand over his cheek, eyes softening with so much adoration that even Regulus wasn’t blind to.

“I have to go, baby. We’ll see each other tonight. Go back to sleep,” James would say, followed by a soft kiss goodbye.

And that’s how their usual mornings went by. But today, Regulus could sense that something wasn’t quite right. James dropped his phone with a loud thump, followed by a very frustrated string of curses, not even trying to quiet them for Regulus’ sake. Regulus could hear him getting dressed, the sound of him rushing all over their room and bathroom—too many sighs, too many curses and frustrating noises. But even through all of this, Regulus kept his eyes closed, because surely, no matter what, James would still kiss him goodbye. He wasn’t mad at Regulus; he was probably late or maybe stressed over his shift today. Or was he?

Because when James finished getting ready, there was no kiss. There was no soft touch on his cheek or a gentle ruffle of his hair—just the creak of their bedroom door closing and James’ hurried steps down the stairs.

Regulus’ anxiety took over. Maybe James was actually mad at him. Maybe James finally got annoyed at Regulus’ little games in the morning. Maybe they weren’t as important to James as they were to Regulus. And before he could come up with any more excuses, his anxiety got the better of him, and his feet were already touching the cold floor, covers pushed to the end of the bed. He found himself tiptoeing silently down the hallway, because surely it didn’t have to mean anything, and other people wouldn’t think twice about it, but to Regulus—their mornings and James’ gentle goodbyes were sacred.

Regulus stopped at the top of the stairs, just in time to see James hurriedly tying his shoes in front of the door.

“Jamie?” Regulus asked, voice still thick with sleep, not able to hide his growing anxiety.

James flinched, clearly not having heard Regulus reach the top of the staircase, his head tilting upwards to meet Regulus’ gaze.

“Hey, Reg, sorry if I woke you up. Go back to sleep. I’ll be home later, yeah?” he said quickly, his tone distracted and almost dismissive, gaze returning to his sneakers.

Regulus’ heart dropped. He felt a lump forming in his throat. He blinked, eyes filling with tears, focusing down at his hands as they fumbled with the sleeves of his jumper. He knew James was late. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but it still hurt. It wasn’t just about the kiss—it was about the routine that Regulus had grown to love, which made his mornings feel less cold in James’ absence. He wasn’t used to change; he hated it in fact, and James knew that, so that made it sting even more.

“Regulus?” James’ concerned voice pulled him from his thoughts.

Regulus tried to swallow the ache in his chest, but the lump in his throat gave him away. A weak resemblance of “yeah?” was all he managed to say before he heard James drop all of his things on the floor with a soft thud.

“Oh, baby,” James sighed, his voice mixed with realization and guilt. And before he could say anything, James was rushing up the stairs so quickly that Regulus thought he was going to topple them both over.

All of a sudden, he was engulfed in a strong hug, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, holding him as though Regulus would vanish if he let go. James’ breath was shaky, his words urgent and full of regret.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I got so caught up in everything this morning, and my head is a mess. I completely forgot. I didn’t mean to upset you. You know I would never ignore you on purpose like that.”

Regulus gently unpeeled himself from James’ chest to look up at him, tears still in the corners of his eyes as he tried to hold them back. Before he could respond, James’ hands were cupping his cheeks gently, bringing him in for a soft kiss. Regulus felt his anxiety wearing off, replaced with reassurance that everything was okay, even though he felt like an asshole for making such a big deal out of nothing.

As they pulled back, James was whispering against his lips, “I love you.”

It made Regulus smile sadly, knowing that he had made James late because of his own feelings. “I love you too, and it’s fine. I know you didn’t mean to. But now I feel the need to apologize for making such a big deal out of it.”

“Baby, don’t say that. It is a big deal. Forgetting to change out of my pyjamas is not a big deal. Forgetting to charge my phone is not a big deal. Forgetting to put on my shoes is not a big deal. But kissing you goodbye? Seems like a pretty big deal, if you ask me.” James grinned, brushing the loose curl off of Regulus’ forehead, prompting Regulus to laugh and slap his bicep that was back to gripping his waist like its life depended on it.

“Don’t be an idiot. You’re late.”

James stole a few more rushed giggling kisses before he was running back down the stairs, as he reached the door he turned around, gentle smile playing on his lips.

“Go back to sleep, baby. I’ll be home to annoy you in no time.”

“You better,” Regulus threatened with a smirk, adoration filling his chest.

[ganondoodle]

Sorry ab the shitty English translations/localizations, it's bc they think that Americans won't get it otherwise (bc when we act stupid, we act REALLY stupid), our bad 💀

[mimiri22-6]

This has probably been discussed before, but the way Nani was animated in the surfing scene seemed So much more professional compared to David. I've never surfed and haven't watched real surfing probably ever BUT

We see David on the waves first and he has this stutter in the water, a trip to put it. It's So subtle, but the moment Nani took to the waves it was like she Was the waves. Effortless looking, smooth but also Walking on waves, with Power. I noticed that difference and went back to David and I noticed his "trip."

Everything in animation is Deliberate and honestly I think this attests to that. Nani was set to "ride the waves" of her surfing career while David does it as sport, just to catch them when the opening comes. She Lit Up while riding, she worked on that water but she also Loves it like a 2nd skin. I may not surf but when I swim, I swim. I understand that feeling with water, maybe not salt water but water and the waves sometimes nonetheless, the way it just feels like nothing else. A hug, a home, a 2nd skin. The rush of swimming till I'm breathless, seeing what I can do This time in This pool. I had the entire deep end to myself last year at a pool because, for some reason, No One wanted to be in it. Kids adults, teens. The only people with me were my friends because we were antisocial and it was Barren. When I say I couldn't help myself I mean I did Not want to get out for any jumps or want to even hold onto the ledge that long. I full sended myself until we had to leave for food.

It was my Best experience swimming and I imagine Nani has felt that freedom almost every time she's surfed. Maybe one Really good day in the water, but even in slightly crowded pools or a good creek and I feel at home again. And I imagine That's what she feels every time she gets on a board with the intent to catch a wave.

The way she's animated in her body and her face makes me believe she's in her Element in that scene. It's so So well done.

[iveseenthatlovebefore]

So I absolutely was NOT going to continue this but then I spiraled because I saw @knine-nights-loves-ac comment of:

"I desperately want to know how Leonardo would try to translate 'skibidi'. Just, what unholy conclusions would this man draw?"

and I—being the deeply cursed and spiritually feral individual that I am—took that as a challenge. A summons. A prophecy.

What followed was not a short answer. It was not even a reasonable answer. (It was, in fact, a tangent of the highest order.) 

And so, I present to you this little blurb of: What Happens When You Say Skibidi in Renaissance Italy

A yet another continuation to my wholly unhinged Assassin's Creed alternate timeline where Desmond, emotionally repressed and cosplaying as Altair in what he assumes is a postmortem death dream, accidentally becomes the cool cryptid stepmom to a flock of murder ducklings. Also, he uses gen alpha slang such as skibidi unironically in field op notes, and now Leonardo da Vinci is trying to linguistically reverse engineer its divine meaning.

There's mentorship. There's an unholy tax-deductible therapy horse. There's emotional support nibbling.

This is my apology (if you're not into this shit.) And also my gift (if you are into this shit.)

See Part 1 here and Part 2 here if you are new to my unhinged fantasies.

-------

Forli smelled. Desmond hadn't expected it to be this bad. It was sharp and wet and sour, like someone had spilled alcohol, barfed on it, and then let it marinate in shame. Ezio hadn't mentioned it in his memories, which now felt deeply suspicious because if this hadn't warranted a comment, then Venezia was going to be a goddamn nightmare.

Desmond wrinkled his nose and muttered, "Maybe I'll just send the kids. They've got stronger lungs."

Still, the city was decent for laying low, and—most importantly—it had good rooftops. Rooftops meant pigeons. Pigeons meant contracts. And contracts meant... well, technically murder.

But also training. Mostly training.

Desmond had already swiped a few light assassination requests from the local coop—nothing high profile. Just the sort of low risk jobs that could be repackaged as 'field experience' for his rapidly growing crew of baby bird recruits. They'd never know he'd nicked them from Ezio's actual network. As far as they were concerned, these were official Brotherhood sanctioned missions.

Which, technically… they kind of were.

Sure, Desmond's forged version of Ezio's handwriting was a little off kilter (writing left handed wasn't doing him any favors) but it got the job done. Lorenzo de' Medici might be a little confused how Ezio was completing Forli missions while in Venezia, but… details.

Right now, though, he had a new recruit to introduce.

"Alright." Desmond said, gesturing toward the little cluster of novices waiting behind the ruined bakery. "This is Isotta. She's fast, quiet, and got a better sense of balance than I do when I'm half-asleep, so treat her well. She's one of you now."

The other recruits—Tommaso, Leonello, Carlo, and Matteo—nodded solemnly.

"Got it, boss." Carlo said, puffing out his chest. "She's fam now."

"Absolutely bussin'." Leonello murmured under his breath.

Desmond blinked. "What?"

"Nothing." The boy beamed. "Welcome, Isotta!"

Isotta gave him a sharp nod, eyes wide with focus—clearly committing every bizarre word and gesture to memory. 

Desmond patted her shoulder, fixed Tommaso's half-buckled belt, and nudged Leonello's hood forward like a mildly exasperated parent trying to get everyone out the door on time. Then he stepped back and gave them a onceover—quiet and methodical. He straightened a sash here, tugged a blade strap tighter there.

They didn't know it yet, but they were going to be Ezio's future crew—part of his future Brotherhood and Desmond wasn't about to hand over a bunch of scruffy, lopsided disaster gremlins who looked like they'd die tripping over a fruit cart.

They needed to look sharp. Capable. Impressive.

(And, well—alive. Preferably alive.)

Only once he was satisfied that no one looked like a walking liability did he nod, stepping back with a hum of approval.

"Alright." Desmond straightened. "I'm going to scout for a location for our base. Somewhere Caterina won't notice a pack of hooded teenagers doing parkour over her olives."

He tossed a heavy coin pouch to Matteo, who caught it with both hands. 

"Allowance." Desmond said dryly, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards from beneath his hood. "Don't spend it all on throwing knives. Or do. Just make sure everyone gets something decent. And make sure Isotta is properly geared up, yeah? I'll check in before dusk."

The irony of it all wasn't lost on him—handing out allowance money and field assignments like a medieval soccer mom, all while cosplaying as Altair like it was a Comic-Con for trauma victims.

Desmond stepped forward, slow and deliberate, making his way down the line of recruits—half inspection, half farewell—and really looked at them.

Matteo clutched the pouch like it was sacred, eyes wide with the solemn weight of command. When Desmond gave him a nod of approval, the man straightened like he'd just been knighted.

Tommaso glanced up, shy and hopeful, then looked away fast like he'd been caught wanting praise. As Desmond passed, he let his good hand brush the kid's shoulder—casual, grounding—and Tommaso immediately went pink. Desmond hid a grin. Even as the most senior of the bunch, the kid was still bashful. It was kind of adorable.

Leonello was still fussing with his bracer, muttering to himself as he practiced the flick of his hidden blade. He'd nearly lost a finger last time, but the motion came smoother now. He cast a quick glance Desmond's way, just a flicker of a look and promptly lit up when Desmond gave an approving hum.

Carlo—taller than Desmond by a head—held his gaze like a soldier waiting for orders. Desmond clapped him lightly on the arm, a brief but grounding gesture, and Carlo exhaled, shoulders relaxing just a fraction.

And then there was Isotta. Chin up and posture straight, she was practically vibrating with the need to prove herself. Young, but not reckless. Raw, but watchful. There was something solid in her—if someone just took the time to hone it.

"You'll do fine." He said to her quietly when he passed.

(He always made sure to say it, at least once, to the ones who showed promise. Not because he was sentimental, but because sometimes, they needed that half-muttered vote of confidence. Something to carry into the next rooftop, the next fight, the next brush with death.)

She blinked, caught off guard. Her stance didn't change, but her expression shifted—eyes warming, mouth parting just slightly, like she'd been seen for the first time.

Desmond stepped back then, surveying the group as a whole—quietly proud, unexpectedly fond, and already regretting it.

He wasn't built for legacy, not like Altair was. Or like Ezio. Desmond was built for survival. 

But these kids? 

He could see it—the way they looked at him. Like he was legacy. Like he knew what the hell he was doing.

Which was ridiculous.

Truthfully, Desmond was just winging it. Half of what he said and did was pulled from vague memories of how an older Ezio trained his recruits in Rome and Constantinople. He wasn't sure he was getting it right. He was mostly playing it by ear and praying Ezio would fine tune the chaos later once he handed the kids off.

He could only do his best, but still—they looked at him like he was someone worth remembering and looking up to and—

Desmond swallowed, looking away.

Great. Now the damn dream wanted him to care. Next it'd be asking him to do taxes or something.

He gave a short nod—half farewell, half please don't die stupidly—and turned to walk Clay toward the street, leading the horse by the reins until they were a safe distance from novice ears and idolizing eyes.

Beside him, Clay—still chewing on someone's abandoned glove like a nihilist with unresolved grudges—sensed Desmond's rising emotional spiral with the uncanny precision of a beast born from pure spite and affection. 

So, he did what any patron saint of unholy emotion support beasts did.

He intervened.

With all the subtlety of a thrown brick, the horse yanked Desmond's hood down, exposing curls and neck like he was revealing a plot twist.

"Clay—" Desmond warned, already bracing but it was too late.

The horse leaned in and exhaled—long, warm, and obnoxiously close to Desmond's now bared skin like a horse who knew exactly where the ticklish bits were—

Desmond twitched, violently. "Don't you—"

—and nibbled.

"Dude!" Desmond yelped, jerking sideways. "That's my neck! You can't just—"

Clay snorted like a creature deeply satisfied with his life choices—and did it again.

"Oh my god, stop!" Desmond half-laughed, half-shouted, twisting away. "Stop, you absolute menace, I'm trying to emotionally repress over here!"

Clay ignored him and began nosing through his curls like an aggressively maternal aunt armed with a trauma radar and zero respect for personal space.

Desmond burst into laughter—real, gasping, undignified laughter. "Okay, okay! I get it." He wheezed, squirming sideways, and swatted him weakly. "Emotions. Bonding. Fine! Just—just stop trying to physically tickle the trauma out of me."

Clay gave a mighty snort, dropped the glove like a mic, and nudged Desmond firmly in the ribs as if to say, I helped! Now say you love me back, coward.

"You're the neediest horse I've ever met." Desmond said, still breathless with leftover laughter. "Okay, okay, fine. Love you too, Clay. You unholy tax-deductible therapy beast."

Clay sneezed and resumed gnawing the glove, smug and satisfied.

Desmond shook his head, grinning helplessly as he tugged his hood back into place. The smile lingered—small, reluctant, and stupidly fond. He was about to mount up when a voice called out—

"Wait!"

He looked over his shoulder.

Isotta had jogged forward, breathless but clearly determined. "Um, Master Spettro? Before you leave, I just wanted to ask, ah…" 

Behind her, the rest of the ducklings were catching up, trailing at a totally casual distance with the guilty coordination of teens who were definitely not eavesdropping. 

Desmond waited until she collected her thoughts. 

She hesitated, clearly unsure how to phrase it, before blurting, "What's… skibidi?"

Desmond blinked once. Then again as if he hadn't heard right. "Huh?"

"I found one of your notes." She said, sheepish. "It said, Skibidi if heat hits. Prophet's got eyes."

The rest of the novices immediately straightened, looking at Desmond like baby ducks watching their mother cross a river.

"Oh, that." Desmond scratched the back of his neck. "It means… y'know." He waved his good hand vaguely. "To, uh. Skedaddle. Get out of dodge. Move fast. Evade. Flourish, if you're fancy about it."

Which, to be fair, was probably wrong. He'd only heard it once—muttered by a half-drunk college kid back at the Bad Weather just before they tripped over a curb and in Desmond's brain, the term had slotted itself right next to 'skedaddle.' It sounded right. So he used it. Liberally.

(If he was wrong, well… too late now.)

"You'll figure it out." Desmond added, back turned and already climbing into the saddle. "Just make it sound cool. I guess."

(Behind him, the recruits exchanged reverent nods like disciples receiving a parable.

"So that's what that means." Carlo whispered. 

"He's so goated." Leonello breathed as Tommaso frantically scribbled down definitions in their rapidly expanding Codex: 

"bussin" - exceptionally good, elite, possibly food-related, outfits "heat" - incoming danger, possibly literal fire?? (note: to test later) "skibidi" - flee, flourish, dramatically escape with flair (urgency implied)

Isotta leaned over Tommaso's shoulder, eyes wide with awe, mouthing the words as he wrote them. She didn't know what 'goated' meant just yet, but if that was what Spettro was, then she would. She had to.)

Desmond leaned down from the saddle to check Clay's reins—then paused, sweeping his gaze one last time over the little cluster of hooded chaos gremlins he'd somehow adopted.

"Stay sharp." He said finally. "Watch each other's backs and…please don't set anything on fire." Desmond grimaced. "Again." 

The novices—all except Isotta—winced in unison.

(Last week, they'd taken 'low-key fire' as a literal instruction. They were still arrest-on-sight and banned from the tailor stand. And the bakery. And technically, most of the western side of Florence.) 

Desmond sighed through his nose—long-suffering, yes, but fond. His little murder ducklings were sharp. Focused. Surprisingly coordinated, considering two of them had tried to poison each other last week just to see who would pass out first, but they were improving. They'd survive. Maybe even thrive. 

His eyes lingered on his ragtag group of baby assassins a second longer than necessary.

They'd come far.

(Not far enough to stop lighting things on fire, apparently, but still. Far.)

He exhaled, a bit of tension bleeding off his shoulders and then he tapped Clay into motion. 

Behind him, the novices waved with varying degrees of enthusiasm—some with both hands, others already vaulting up walls, disappearing onto rooftops like caffeinated squirrels on a time sensitive mission. Someone whooped. Someone else immediately told them to shut up and be stealthy. It was unclear who was winning the race to the blacksmithy, but yelling about it probably wasn't helping.

Desmond smiled, shaking his head like an exasperated PTA parent who knew the next parent-teacher conference would include arson charges and encouraged Clay into a trot, heading deeper into Forli. Spirits high, hopes cautiously intact, and with the vague, desperate wish that somewhere in this town was a potential assassin's den no one had pissed in yet, Desmond rode off, blissfully unaware that several regions and one very bad idea away, Leonardo da Vinci was in the process of rewriting his entire understanding of language around the sacred word, skibidi.

----------

The note had been written in a shaky scrawl with splotchy ink. The words were slanted slightly wrong and the strokes jagged, like the writer had been in a rush... or possibly concussed. Ezio had lifted it off one of Spettro's newest recruits the moment he spotted the familiar style—uneven spacing, odd cadence, and just enough cryptic nonsense to make it feel intentional. Almost as if the writer had gone out of their way to be untraceable. It just screamed Spettro. 

Or maybe it was the pigeon that gave it away.

Ugly thing—one eye, crooked wing, waddling like it'd taken an arrow to the foot, but Ezio had seen it before. Wherever that cursed bird went, Spettro's notes (and his rotating band of unhinged rugrats) weren't too far behind.

So when he burst into Leonardo's workshop, note in hand, he slapped it onto the worktable with all the might of a man bringing proof of the divine.

"Leonardo." Ezio said gravely, voice low. "I require a translation."

Leonardo looked up from his latest design of a flying cart, completely unfazed by Ezio's arrival. "Another Codex page?"

Ezio didn't respond.

Leonardo perked up. "Wonderful!" He snatched up the parchment with the enthusiasm of a man unbothered by context. "Let's see—"

He unfolded the note.

skibidi off the rooftops @ dusk. real op incoming. ur 4v4 on thin ice. don't fumble. Prophet watching.

There was a long beat of silence. Leonardo's expression shifted from bright expectation, flattening into confusion, and then furrowing concern.

He read it again.

And again, slower this time.

Then he looked up, cautious. "...Skibidi." He echoed, mouth twisting. "That term again. I remember seeing it once before—but this usage feels different. Is the author escalating… or deteriorating?"

"It's from Spettro." Ezio said, as if that explained everything. 

Which, of course, it did.

Leonardo's concern deepened instantly. "Ah. Of course." He turned the note slightly, squinting. "The script is shaky. Spaced erratically. This could be a distress signal. A cipher, perhaps. Or a regional dialect?"

Ezio watched as Leonardo pulled a spare parchment paper, quill moving erratically as he began testing variations:

Schi biddi? – Venetian? Sciabidi? – Rural Turkish diminutive? Skibi di? – Possible abbreviation for secret rendezvous?

"Or perhaps an onomatopoeic expression." Leonardo murmured, tapping the table with a finger in rhythm. "'Ski-bi-di.' It has a cadence. Like a chant—or perhaps a song?" He hummed it experimentally, half under his breath, as if testing for tonal patterns before he nodded slowly, then rapidly. "Yes… yes, I can hear it." 

Ezio gave him a tired look. "You think they're singing battle orders?"

"I wouldn't rule it out. You've said this Spettro is…" Leonardo searched for the phrase. "...unconventional."

The assassin dropped into a nearby chair with a sigh. "They describe threats as 'mid' and call each other 'bussin.' I do not know if these are insults or terms of endearment."

Leonardo blinked. Then… something shifted. His frown was replaced by a spark of interest. "So it is a code. Brief. Emotive. Improvised. A linguistic evolution."

Ezio squinted. "It is… nonsense."

Leonardo ignored him entirely, now scribbling furiously. "And the '4v4'—a challenge of some kind? Like four against four? An encoded call to arms. Or…or a structured format—an assignment style, even. It's remarkable."

"That or a metaphor. Spettro's people speak almost entirely in riddles." Ezio muttered. "And now they are everywhere. I caught one cartwheeling across rooftops yesterday."

"Yes! Yes, of course they would. It's a performative language. Ritualistic. Almost liturgical in structure. See how it builds? Skibidi—a flourish. Real op incoming—a declaration. Don't fumble—a directive. And all of it under surveillance. The 'Prophet' watching—perhaps Specttro himself? Or a commander. Ezio, this is brilliant!"

"Brilliant." Ezio echoed dully.

Leonardo nodded enthusiastically, already pulling spare parchment toward himself with manic glee. "This Spettro isn't merely collecting assassins—he's constructing a dialect. No, a linguistic system. Alive. Elastic. Capable of abstraction and emotional nuance. This note is shorthand, Ezio. Shorthand for an entire culture!"

Ezio blinked. "It's five lines."

"Five perfect lines." Leonardo was scribbling furiously now, underlining 'skibidi' again and again, testing spellings and phonetic variations in the margins. "Look at it! 'Skibidi'—what does it sound like? A percussive burst! Three syllables. Staccato. Performative! Not just a word—an act. An energy. Repeated use may suggest ritual or emphasis. Or even a rallying cry."

"Rallying cry." Ezio deadpanned. 

"It fits their patterns. Brief. Rhythmic. Possibly humiliating to their enemies." Leonardo clapped for emphasis. "Ski. Bi. Di. You hear it, yes?"

Ezio did not, but Leonardo was already pacing.

"It could be an imperative—Skibidi! Like 'Go!' Or a signal—Skibidi off the rooftops—like a military code, only more elegant. It's fluid. It implies motion. Could be a dodge. Could be a dance." 

"Could be made up." Ezio muttered.

Leonardo didn't even hear him. "And if it's made-up? That makes it better! It means it was invented! Forged for purpose!"

Ezio stared, horrified, as Leonardo drew an entire branching diagram with skibidi in the center.

"I'll need a few more samples." Leonardo muttered, eyes darting, a wild light in his eyes. "We'll categorize them. Establish a lexicon." 

He shuffled through the mess on his table, then lit up. "Wait—didn't you bring another one last week? The one that said, 'skibidi'd too hard. had to dip. stay goated.'"

Ezio winced. "I tried to forget it."

Leonardo slapped the table. "You see?! There—right there! The verb form—skibidi'd. Past tense. It's already evolving, Ezio! We're witnessing it in real time!"

Ezio blinked. "You're saying the nonsense is… contagious?"

"I'm saying it's alive!" Leonardo declared, grabbing another sheet and writing: 

 skibidi (verb?): to depart swiftly / to act with flair / to embarrass authority?? Perhaps synonymous to 'slay' (see pg. 4)

in frantic script. 

"It adapts depending on context. It shifts. What meant 'move' yesterday might mean 'strike' tomorrow!" He paused, wide-eyed. "This language is faster than Latin. It could replace it."

Ezio buried his face in his hands. "You cannot be serious."

Leonardo returned to his parchment, now completely possessed. "We must document this. Before it evolves again. The next note—please bring it immediately. I need to chart semantic drift."

Ezio stared, defeated.

Leonardo just beamed. "Isn't it fascinating?"

"No." Ezio said flatly. "It's exhausting."

He took the scroll back with a sigh and left the workshop, muttering something about rabid pigeons and the slow death of written Italian.

Behind him, Leonardo called out from the door, "If he uses 'skibidi' again, tell him I'm willing to correspond directly! There is much to learn!"

Ezio didn't answer, but later that night, when he passed the merchant quarter and heard two children yelling "Skibidi!" while chasing each other in circles, he frowned… and wrote it down. 

Just in case.

[echoing-gravity]

you ever think about how the japanese word and that one state of the united states sound phonetically exactly the same?

Like from a non english reading standpoint its gotta be really funny to them that we have a place named o-hai-yo

[ssruis]

Every time I think abt toyas relationship to the tenmas I wanna throw up he loves them so so so much. And what if the bright spot in your depressing childhood is two over excited blond ppl who love you just as much & this bond carried you through hard times. & he’s so much quieter in his affection than them but it’s so obvious to those who know them in how much work he also puts in to making them happy.

Toyas 2024 4koma my beloved. I died and never recovered. Look at how much closer he’s gotten to saki!!!!! Saki getting out of the hospital and seeing him again and going tsukasa stop hogging him.

[emptymasks]

Old Web European Musical Sites

So this post started because I was looking through the waybackmachine on the Internet Archive for the old Disney Fairies site for a friend, and remembered I'd backed up some old musical related sites a couple years ago on the waybackmachine just to archive them.

Which made me remember how recently I saw someone on here, I don't remember who, asking if there were interviews either about Elisabeth das Musical or specifically with Uwe Kroger (the actor who originated the role of Der Tod/Death) in English to which someone had answered no but there are some quotes and fragments in other posts on here. Which made me remember an old website I'd found that did have interviews on and I went out to find it. After I found it, I tried to find another website I'd found that had nice old photos of Uwe on that I'd save for I'd never seen them anywhere else, but sadly can no longer find the site and I hadn't bookmarked it or archived it. But, in doing so I did find some others.

So, come along with me as I find some ye olde websites based around European Musicals and Non-English Musicals, all of which I am archiving using the waybackmachine and can be found on my archive.org account @ wennli3b3 under the 'web archives' tab on my profile.

What is old web? The aesthetics wiki describes it as "Essentially consisting of screencaps and gifs, Old Web is an aesthetic utilizing traditional web design elements combined with aspects of poetry and self-expression. This also includes GIFs, video games, and clip-art. This aesthetic expresses nostalgia for Internet culture of the early 1990s to early 2010s." Think of old GeoCities and AngelFire websites, the pre-2010s internet where it wasn't uncommon for anyone to make their own little website for anything and the internet wasn't just social media. There's just such a charm for me about these old sites and the work people put into customising and decorating their sites, often just as a fun project for themselves or a way to document things they loved. Therefore the websites we'll be looking at are from the 90s up to the late 2000s, 2010s and onwards websites don't count for this list.

What is the waybackmachine? The waybackmachine is hosted on the Internet Archive, it's a digital archive of websites that lets you visit websites as they were during the past if they've been archived there.

[Note: this post won't have clickable links because that can make Tumblr unhappy and either hide or soft-block my post, so sadly no clickable links, but I will write out the links with spaces in the hopes that won't hide the post and you will just have to type them in for yourselves, and I will link my web archive page in the replies to this post. I am also not claiming to be the first to back these sites up or discover them, some of them have already been archived in past, but doing them all under one account means you guys can have an easy list of them all in one place. Some of these sites no longer exist and are only accessible via the waybackmachine, in those cases I will save those sites to my web archive so they are all listed on one page.]

1. musicalvienna . at

Staring with a website some of you will be familiar with and while in it's current 2023 form doesn't count as old web and is easily accessible, we're going back in time with the waybackmachine to see how the site looked and what information it had about old current productions in 2000-2008. And frankly I don't know what to do with the information that at some point in 2000 there was a 'vampire museum' inside the Raimund Theatre that had what appears to be a wax figure of Steve Barton in his original Graf von Krolock costume. I. What??

2. eljen . net / kroeger

A fansite dedicated to Uwe Kroger, the actor, that was run seemingly from 1998-2002 that old photos, links to music that no longer work, but most important to me is the 'Press' page that has many articles and interviews with Uwe that have been translated into English! The site is also available in German eljen . net / kroeger / deutsch. A special shoutout to Uwe's own drawing of himself as Der Tod.

3. eljen . net / elisabeth

Run by the same person as the first site, in fact it is technically the same site however if you go to the root eljen . net there is just a blank page with a link to the /kroeger site, there's no direct link to the Elisabeth site, you can only find it through googling or having the direct URL.

4. iukc . de

The Uwe Kroger fanclub webite seems to have started around 2000 but it was taken offline sometime after October 2021 as going to the URL now leads to a 404 error page, but the site is still accessible using the waybackmachine. On a 2019 capture of the website it states this fanclub was dissolved on December 31st 2019 and was advertising the uwe-kroeger-community . com website as a new fanclub. Some of the pages are available in English and Japanese, but all of the pages are only available in German. The site includes information about the fanclub, as well as lists of Uwe's work, discography, and more.

5. gudrun-kauck . de

A site that as far as I can tell is run by someone just documenting their life and things they see, and that happens to include many musicals. Down the left side of the site there are pages for The Phantom of the Opera, Tanz der Vampire, Ludwig, Concerts, Musicals and Actors. Here there is so much information, interviews, photos, screenshots, transcriptions of scripts and lyrics, articles, and more. This site is a real treasure trove. It's been updating since at least 2004 and it's most recent update was in 2023. This site is in German.

6. jimsteinman . com

The Tanz der Vampire page on Jim Stienman's website has links to lots of articles, interviews and photos for the original 1997 Vienna production and the 2000 Stuttgart production. This site is in English.

7. carpe-jugulujm . com

Another site that is no longer active and can only be accessed via the waybackmachine, it was online by 2006 and taken offline between late 2021 and 2023. It has information on productions of Tanz der Vampire between 1997 and 2009 and is one of the few if not the only place I've found information about the 2000 Estonia production. This site is in English.

8. geocities . ws / mymusicalworlds

This website is all in Chinese, however parts of it are in English and German. It lists information on different musicals, actors, and has lyrics for songs, and photos. It also has midi files but, as with almost all of these old sites, the download links no longer work.

9. theatre-musical . com

This website started around 2002 and was closed some time in 2016, if you go to the website now all you'll get is a message saying the website has been closed, however the old pages are still accessible via the waybackmachine. There's pages for many musicals with lots of information about each show and each of these musical pages has a link to a page that lists other sites, official and fanmade, that are about this musical. There's many more sites to find via

10. elisabeth-fanclub . de

A fansite dedicated to Elisabeth das Musical, more specifically the 2001 Essen production and 2003 Vienna Revival. This site includes information and photos about these productions. It was online by 2004 and was taken offline some time after 2007 and is only now available via the waybackmachine. This site is in German.

11. sisi-net . de

While this site is more dedicated to the actual real Empress Elisabeth, it also has a page dedicated to Elisabeth das Musical which includes several articles and interviews for the 2001 Essen production. There is also some information on here about the Ludwig musical. This site is in German. It was online by 1999, in 2008 the site was empty and "'"under construction" and after 2008 seemed to have either had it's domain sold or hacked and became used for something else, and by 2019 was offline.

12. geocities . com / broadway / 8851

Another site that is dedicated to the real person Elisabeth, but also has information about multiple productions of Elisabeth das Musical. The site was started in 1996 and is no longer online as GeoCities no longer exists as a website hoster, but can be accessed using the waybackmachine. This site is in English.

13. elisabeth-musicpage . de

A German fansite for the 2001 Essen production of Elisabeth das Musical that contains information about the show, merchandise, photos, etc. The site was online by 2002, went under construction in 2005 and after 2006 went offline and only accessible via the waybackmachine. This site is in German.

14. elisabeth-das-musical . de

The old official site for the 2001 Essen production of Elisabeth das Musical. It's only accessible via the waybackamachine however all I could access is this homepage as the site seems to require flash player which no longer exists. The site was made in 2001, by 2006 it was redirecting to a different website that no longer exists, and by 2008 it was just offline.

15. sissi . nl

The official site for the 1999 Dutch production of Elisabeth das Musical. The site went up in 1999 and is no longer online and only accessible via the waybackmachine.

16. marloes . info

A site where someone cataloged every musical they saw between 1996 and 2004. Some of these listings link to their reviews of the musicals and pictures they took (the pictures of Elisabeth das Musical really interest me because they went on a night where Jesper Tyden was understudying for Der Tod (he usually played Rudolf) in teh 2001 Essen production).

17. danceofthevampries . com

The official site for the 2002 Broadway production of Tanz der Vampire. Whilst we all have... feelings about this production, the site's design is very of its time. It has information on the (re-written) plot, cast, downloads for the original English demo recordings (that no longer work), and more. In 2002 the cast page lists the Broadway cast, after the shows closure in 2003 these pages advertised the 2003 Hamburg cast, and by 2006 it now advertises the 2006 Berlin cast, and then even by 2012 that page was no longer being updated. This site is now only accessible via the waybackmachine, I don't know when exactly it went offline but I remember being able to acccess it back in 2020. This site is in English.

18. tanzdervampire . de

The official site for German-lanuage productions of Tanz der Vampire from 2000 to around 2004, mostly the 2003 Hamburg production. Some pages of the site sometimes redirect to musicalwelt . de, like the 'galarie' page that links to a page of many paintings by Mike Schöbs of the original 1997 Vienna production. The site is only accessible via the waybackmachine, sometimes I have difficultly loading the pages, and sometimes the pages on later dates redirect to stagegholding . de which no longer exists or works.

19. tanz-der-vampire . de

A fansite for the 2003 Hamburg production of Tanz der Vampire that is still online. It has info about the musical and this production. The page I found the most interesting is the info > links page. It has a list that includes screenshots of websites from around 2003 with official and fanmade sites for different actors from the musical (such as Marjan Shaki, Maike Switzer, Aris Sas, Thomas Mülner, Jens Janke, Ian Jon Bourg, Kevin Tarte and more) most if not all of these sites are on the waybackmachine (and I'm saving them to my own web archive page rather than listing them all here, Tumblr has a text limit and an image limit and we're already running close to it).

20. fuer-sarah . de

A fansite dedicated to actors who played Sarah including understudies, alternates, swings, and dancers who played Sarah/Solo Female Dancer in the dance sequences in Tanz der Vampire. This site is in German and is only available via the waybackmachine and was active between 2001-2005.

21. musicalland . de

A fansite dedicated to musical theatre with some more specific pages dedicated too Elisabeth das Musical, The Phantom of the Opera, 42nd Street and Mamma Mia. The site is still online and stopped updating in 2010. This site is in German. The link to the Elisabeth das Musical page no longer works, but can still be accessed using the waybackmachine.

22. old-hickory . demon . co . uk / jim

A fan page for composer Jim Steinman that has pages about his non-musical work as well as his musicals Tanz der Vampire and Whistle Down the Wind. The Tanz der Vampire pages include lyrics in German and English, as well as the entire original 1997 Vienna libretto translated into English, as well as the 2000 Stuttgart production's programme fully translated into English that includes information and interviews. The site is in English and only accessible via the waybackmachine.

23. romeojulietmusicals . com

A fan site for the French musical Roméo et Juliette that has pages dedicated to many different language productions with cast lists, information, lyrics and lyric translations. There are galleries on the site but the images on longer load. This site is in English and was online between 2004 to 2008. There is a 'related links' page that contains so many more links to other musical sites.

24. compat . tf1 . fr

A fan site for Roméo et Juliette for the original 2000 Paris production containing images of the cast, and video interviews and behind the scenes with links that no longer work. This site is in French.

25. mozartbudapest . hu

The official website for the 2003 Budapest production of Mozart das Musical. This website is only accessible via the waybackmachine, it contains the cast list, a bio of Mozart (the person), but sadly most of the image no longer work. I mention it here only because when i opened it I was surprised the original logo animation and music still played. This site is available in English and Hungarian.

26. notredameonline . com

During 2000-2001 this URL was for the French musical Notre Dame de Paris and you can see this via the waybackmachine. The site then went offline after 2001 and the domain was sold and since 2006 has belonged to the University of Notre Dame. I really like the design of this site, sadly most of the links open pop-ups that no longer work. The site is available in French and English.

27. notredamedeparis . it

The official site for the 2002 Italian tour of Notre Dame de Paris. It has a lot of information about the musical and this specific production. This site is in Italian and is only accessible via the waybackmachine.

28. geocities . ws / dreamcatcher182004

A fansite dedicated to a few musicals that was last updated in 2003. It has pages for Chicago, Les Mis, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera and Tanz der Vampire.

.

So yeah, that was a list. I hope that was interesting or for anyone wanting to find more information about these musicals for research, essays, or just for fun, that this post was helpful or interesting in some way. There are a lot more websites than just the ones on this list, however Tumblr has both a photo and a character limit for text posts. Hope someone found this interesting. I just like making lists.

[jessiescock]

ok i got another one

i can’t seem to find a comprehensive list of dub languages online rn, these are the audio options i can select on my netflix account – not included in the poll but also available to me are hindi, indonesian, thai and a japanese audio description. idk tho if those are all that were produced or if there’s more options that are just not available in my region, lmk if there’s something else i missed here! also if you’ve listened to/watched multiple of these options do kindly tell which one(s) you like best!

[americanotaku]

Please don’t bother/harass anyone mentioned below,

Sorry if it’s a little jumbled in the tags.

[vincinder]

life these past weeks has been: wake up, drink coffee, walk dogs, try to study (actually think of jayvik), make lunch (while thinking of jayvik), eating while reading some short fluffy fic about my boys, walk dogs, studying again (or trying because fucking brainrot won't let me), walk my little demons one last time, cook something and read more jayvik fics till time to go to sleep. aaaand repeat.

[doomdoomofdoom]

suzanne collins really just shows up every few years to drop an even more obvious allegory to current day politics huh

[ganondoodle]

i know the internet is super english centered but i wish it was more common to mention the language whenever theres talk about a voice actor too, just say "the english voice actor of xyz"? that cant be too hard to do right??

i wish there was more appreciation for non-english voice actors!! in english spaces as well as in general! i know the names of many of the english cast for zelda even though i dont like any of them and have never set my game to it but know them simply bc they are the only ones getting any mention and they are always just called "the voice of" making it seem like that is THE one and only voice

im aware that its in part bc i am mostly in english speaking online spaces and the internet IS a very english centered thing but i dont think its wrong to wish for more recognition of other actors for languages other than english or to simply want them to mention to what language they are the actor of

like i dont mean that you gotta talk about every single different voice actor but i think just mentioning it like that more directly implies that there ARE others at all, especially since alot of games dont even do other voices at all and just make english the only voice over even if the game was developed by non-english people, i just find it sad :(

[skogsdotter-draws]

Ok but, regarding TMAGP 27, I can't stop thinking about Jonah writing, after sending Archibald to a certain death, "It is done, and I am surprised to find how little remorse I feel." It reminds me of his statement in MAG 160:

"The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear. (...) It is an awful thing to know about yourself."

I will never get tired of little details about his life being revealed (regardless of the timeline/dimension) because the parallel between his discovery of the supernatural world and the discovery of his own true self and the things he's capable of is so interesting and compelling to me.

Along with the knowledge of the horrors that exist in his world comes the horror of the realization that he might be capable of anything to stop feeling scared and vulnerable, to put himself over everybody else if necessary. Every time curiosity leads him into a new experiment, a new sacrifice in the name of knowledge, he lets go a little bit of himself and his morality. And then, as it happened with Archibald, and as it happened with Barnabas in another world, he feels surprised of how easy it was. Of how he doesn't feel regret or grief, how at most he finds himself thinking that it was all a pity. So it becomes even easier each time, he finds freedom in it, as he also mentions in MAG 160— and one sacrifice after another, it all becomes incredibly simple. There is no fear of losing himself, only the fear of death and pain remains, and only after that process of two hundreds years can one condemn the world for his own sake.

The progressive descent into evil of Jonah Magnus, slowly exposed through statements and letters, will never stop being one of the more interesting parts of this podcast imo.