aspergianmind-blog

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Will You Be Okay in the Next Ten Years? - Ruikasa Week 2004

Day 6: Invention

(Inspired by Katekyo Hitman Reborn but no knowledge of said show is needed)

It was a sunny lunch break when Nene asked the question: “Have you ever wondered about the future?”

Emu, who was lying on her stomach, held her cheeks in her palm and elbow on the floor. Her legs swung back and forth as she asked back,  “Huee? The future?”

“Once we graduate from the academy,” Nene said again. “What do you want do you want to do?”

Tsukasa let out a chuckle. “Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” He struck a pose. “I WILL BE THE WORLD GREATEST HERO!”

“That’ll be so cool!” Emu leaped into a sitting position, eyes gleaming in excitement. “You’ll go in a Gundam and whoosh whoosh BOOM! Save the world!”

Tsukasa laughed loudly. “Exactly! To be heroes and protect everyone’s smile.” He grinned widely at the group surrounding him. “Isn’t that what Wonderland x Showtime does?” Emu followed his cheer while Rui and Nene just smiled. Tsukasa knew they could change the world; he believed in them.

It had been a year since Wonderland x Showtime was formed. All of them are students at Mikudemy Institute, a military academy in this age of advanced technology with giant robots as the main weapon. Both Tsukasa and Emu are pilots while Rui and Nene are scientist/maintenance. They had a bump in their first mission which nearly cost their early disbandment. But they worked it out and became stronger than ever.

“How about we take a peak into the future?” Rui suggested. “I’m also curious about what would happen.”

“You can do that?” Tsukasa asked, already feeling excited.

Rui chuckled. “I’m sure I can manage. Huh… Maybe I can…” He went off into his usual mumble, slipping into his own unique thinking space.

Nene let out an amused sigh. “There he goes again…”

“Let’s leave it to Rui!” Emu cheered.

Tsukasa couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Rui. His brilliant scientist will no doubt impress them once again, no matter how big or small in invention is. Tsukasa couldn’t imagine a world where he and Rui would never be together again, especially after that first fight. They said a lot of hurtful things to each other, but they managed to sort them out. If anything, they became much closer than before and Tsukasa wouldn’t trade it with anything.

*****

“TA-DAA! The Ten-Year Bazooka is done!”

“The what?!”

Rui, as he promised, came back three days later with a giant purple bazooka. They might be in a military school, but Tsukasa was sure that didn’t mean Rui could carry around a weapon without a license. 

“In theory, it can allow you to swap places with your future self,” Rui explained. “Like a time machine, but without the whole ‘two versions of you at the same time’ paradox.”

“Why ten years though?” Nene asked, still in disbelief.

“Well, the world of next week probably won't change that much, so why not far into the future?” Rui said. “And if it works, then maybe we can make a proper time machine.” 

“You haven’t tested it?!” Tsukasa shouted.

“That’s so cool!” Emu cheered. “I want to go! I want to go!”

“Hold on, Emu.” Tsukasa put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from bouncing. “I’ll test it, just to make sure it’s safe.”

“Are you sure?” Rui asked. “The future is unpredictable.”

Tsukasa nodded determined. “I believe in you!” He took a deep breath and stretched his arms, “Hit me!”

Rui gave him a thankful smile and threw the bazooka at him. Almost automatically, it extended its mouth to swallow him whole. Tsukasa could hear a click and pink smoke covered his vision, causing him to cough. When the smoke subsided though, Tsukasa could finally see his surroundings.

He was in a room with white walls, ceiling, and floor. While the floor is clean, except for some trinkets here and there, the walls are covered with papers on every surface he could reach; printed articles with bold headlines, graphs and diagrams some crossed with a red marker, a pinboard with few photographs, sketches of what he could guess a human mecha armor (that Tsukasa remember is currently underdevelopment in his times). He was sitting on a bed whose sheet probably hadn’t been washed for the longest time. Beside it, there was an unrecognizable humming machine beside him and cables seemingly once stuck on something but were forcefully taken off. Beside where his head was supposed to be, there was a single worn-out platypus plushie that suspiciously looked like something Tsukasa sewed back then for Rui’s birthday.

There’s no way this is his room right? If Rui said that the bazooka was supposed to make him swap places with his version of ten years later, does that mean he’s going to be a slob?!

The metal door was suddenly opened, the light from outside hitting Tsukasa right on the eyes, making him cover his face with his hand. There was a breathy “What…” followed by the sound of shattered glass. 

There, standing by the doorway, was a man in their mid-twenties. Unkept purple hair with two cyan streaks tied in a sloppy low ponytail. His wrinkled lab coat hung on his skinny frame. Bags under his no-longer twinkling yellow eyes as if he hadn’t slept for years, but now those same eyes stared at Tsukasa with shock.

“Rui…?”

The man, ten-year-later Rui, crumbled. He sprinted to the bed and pulled Tsukasa into a hug so tight that Tsukasa could feel Rui’s ribcage.

“Tsukasa… Tsakasa…” Rui’s voice was hoarse, as if he hadn’t used it for a very long time (but why? Rui is always the lovable rambly one), yet filled with heavy emotions. He cradled his head, pressing kisses on his neck that made Tsukasa blush.

“R-Rui…?” Tsukasa tried to shift his position but Rui tightened his hug.

“Please…” he whispered tearfully. He was trembling. “Give me a moment…”

Tsukasa hummed, unable to deny Rui’s request. He brought his hand onto Rui’s hair, caressing him. Rui let out a whimper. Tsukasa didn’t have the heart to pull away.

It took a while but Rui finally let go of his hug. He cupped Tsukasa’s cheeks and Tsukasa could finally see how weary the man in front of him was. Has ten years really taken a toll on him?

“You look so young…” Rui whispered, his thumb caressing his cheeks. “How?”

Tsukasa gulped. “I’m not… I’m not your Tsukasa.”

Rui paused. “Not mine?”

“I’m from ten years ago. You- I mean, my Rui, made a Ten-Year Bazooka just for fun. So, we can, you know, take a glimpse for a few minutes.”

Rui’s eyes widened slightly before they softened. “Are you… Are you close with your Rui?”

“Aren’t we?” Tsukasa asked back, not really grasping between the words. “You’re still in Wonderland x Showtime, aren’t you?” 

Rui didn’t answer but Tsukasa could see a flicker in his eyes. A brief glimpse of melancholy. “What happened?”

Rui let out a huff, the closest thing Tsukasa took as a laugh. “Stuff happened. Your Rui accepted your apology, didn’t he?”

“Yeah… Didn’t you?”

Rui sighed through his nose. He leaned down, pressing his forehead onto Tsukasa’s in the gentlest cradle as if he would shatter. “You can make a different future. A future where everything will be okay. Where you can be safe.”

“But I have you. Why wouldn’t I be safe?”

“I made a stupid mistake.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Tsukasa reached for Rui’s hand and leaned against his touch. “I’m sure my future self wouldn’t want that either.”

Rui’s eyes teared up from that and he gave a small nod. “He wouldn’t… He never would…” He pulled Tsukasa into another hug and Tsukasa could feel his shoulder getting wet. “I miss you… I promise I will fix this.”

“What happened?” He had to ask the same question, but like before, Rui never answered him instead he shook his head.

“The future is not set in stone. This timeline is nothing you need to worry about. You’re gonna be fine. You have to…”

Tsukasa didn’t have time to question again for his five minutes was almost up. His skin started to turn smokey as he stared at Rui in panic. “What’s happening?”

Rui must’ve felt it too because he pulled back, his eyes tearing up again. “Looks like it’s time for you to go home.”

“What will happen to you?”

Rui quickly grasped his shoulder, grounding him for the last few seconds. “I’ll stay here. I have so much work to do.” He shook him slightly. “Please promise me something.”

Tsukasa nodded. “Anything.”

“I know I can’t stop you from being a hero, but please, stay safe. Trust in others. Let them help you. Despite what you believe, you are not alone. If my feelings stay the same in your time, then come to me, I’ll do anything to help you.”

That was a big request but Tsukasa was never one to deny a promise. “Okay.”

Rui smiled. He leaned down for the last time to kiss him on the forehead. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry for everything… I love you… You’ll always going to be a star…”

Tsukasa puffed into the same pink smoke. When it slowly disappeared, he was back in the past, and the first thing he was the devastated faces of his comrades.

“Guys-”

“TSUKASA!” Emu immediately hugged him so tight that he thought his ribs cracked. She was sobbing loudly. “YOU’RE BACK!”

“Tsukasa, are you alright?!” Nene was never the one to lose his emotions, but Tsukasa could hear the desperate relief in her voice. She went down on her knees and clutched his shoulders.

“I-I’m fine.” Tsukasa returned Emu’s hug gently, causing her to cry even more. “Did you meet my future self?”

Nene froze. “We did…”

“How was he like?” None of them answered. “Guys?”

“You don’t have to worry about it.” Rui crouched down beside him as well and pulled the both of them close and Nene followed in. “I’m glad you’re back…”

They hugged him tight as if they were worried that he would switch places with his future self again. 

Tsukasa would never know about what the rest of Wonderland x Showtime had seen. Rui never told him about the state of his body ten years later: broken beyond repair but someone has been desperate to put him back with machinery. But ever since then, Rui had become more protective of him. Something changed in him.

He might’ve used the bazooka a couple of times after that, trying to look for clues of that bleak future from the news headlines: ‘Five years commemoration of the death of Emu Otori…’, ‘The peace treaty has been broken between Japan…’, ‘The Otori Cooperation will never be the same!’, ‘Scientists suggest of an approaching meteor…’, ‘The search for Pegasus’ body continues...’

Tsukasa could see it in Rui’s eyes: fearful yet determined. The future is not set in stone, so Rui swore they would never get to that future where the scientist Rui cradled what is left of hero Tsukasa in the crater that was his grave.

[alienssstufff]

Updated the way I drew Scar

[mxtxfanatic]

While flipping through mdzs to verify some stray thoughts of mine, I happened to fall into a translation discrepancy that I feel really, really emphasizes how important it is to have a proper grasp on the language you are translating before translating for a public audience.

Now before we get too deep into this, I want to reiterate that I am someone who does not understand Mandarin in any form but has been reading translations (both by humans and machines) for a few years now. However, because I have been reading translations that tend to follow the Mandarin more closely in grammar and because I haven't shied away from reading machine-made or bad human translations, I have noticed some places where mistranslations from Mandarin to English are common: pronouns, verb-subject matching, negatives, prepositions, and conjunctions. For this post, we will be focusing on the latter two.

In the lead-up to the Wen invasion of Lotus Pier, we are given a scene where Madam Yu whips Wei Wuxian, and in this scene, we are given a glimpse as to Madam Yu's average punishments towards the young ward.

While Madam Yu always pelted him with hostile words, she’d never really hit him hard before—two or three lashes at most, or being made to kneel or confined indoors, and it never took Jiang Fengmian long to release him from that.

—Vol. 3, Chapt. 12: Sandu: The Three Poisons, 7seas

In the past, although Madam Yu had always come at him with harsh words, she had never truly been cruel to him. The most that he’d been through were two or three strikes and being grounded. He’d also be let out by Jiang FengMian soon later.

—Chapt. 57: Poisons, exr

Reading these back-to-back, it should be very clear that though the same section is being translated from the same exact source, these translations do not say the same thing. The official stresses that Madam Yu had never hit Wei Wuxian "that hard" before, as well as saying that his punishments were a few lashes OR being made to kneel OR being confined, three separate punishments never taken together according to this diction. The exr translation, however, states that Madam Yu had "never truly been cruel to him" (emphasis mine) and that him being whipped was in addition to being confined. The emphasis on the strength of her lashings is absent, but an emphasis on the intent behind her actions—that she never meant to be honestly cruel to her ward—is established in its stead. (While this section as translated by exr does not mention kneeling, later scenes reflecting on Wei Wuxian's childhood in Lotus Pier do.)

Both of these translations... are wrong.

If we give exr the benefit of the doubt by virtue of being the original completed English translation of mdzs, then the official 7seas release should automatically raise red flags for the ways it seems to directly contradict the narrative that has existed for a few years before the novel was licensed. It doesn't help that the official has been riddled with many mistranslations and omissions from the very first volume, lowering any credibility it would otherwise have to stand on. But if we were to examine the rest of the exr translation, then the emphasis on Madam Yu's intent also rings false given the fact that we are told over and over again in this same translation that 1) Madam Yu is, in fact, unnecessarily, illogically, and erratically mean-spirited and cruel, and 2) Wei Wuxian knows this even at this time in his life (shoutout to the Lotus Pod Seeds extra) and understands her actions as targeted cruelty. What does the actual text say, then?

Although Madam Yu always spoke ill of him before, her hand had never been this viciously cruel. At most, she whipped him two or three times and ordered him to kneel down and be confined to his room, and he would be released by Jiang Fengmian sometime later.

—@jiangwanyinscatmom (emphasis mine)

Madam Yu has never been "as cruel" as in that moment when whipping Wei Wuxian, because normally she only whips him 2-3 times. She would whip him a few times and send him to the ancestral hall to kneel and be in confinement, which matches up to the memories that Wei Wuxian reflects on in other parts of the novel. This translation gets rid of the character inconsistencies that the other two translations create. So how did we get here? Remember how I pointed out those common Mandarin-to-English translation mistakes? Well, both the exr and 7seas translations fall into the trap of confusing conjunctions and prepositions. That's how we get a list of punishments rather than an order of events for a singular punishment type. That's how we get "not truly cruel" instead of "not as cruel." That's how we get these sections contradicting what we know about Madam Yu's personality and behavior from the rest of the novel through those two translations. Unfortunately, both translation teams just happened to flub in the same area in slightly different ways, and while I'm willing to give a multi-lingual grade-school student translating in their spare time the benefit of the doubt, a paid translator with a translation team hired by a professional publishing house should have better quality control than a spare-time hobbyist.

Also, just in case anyone wants more proof on what mxtx meant for us to take away about Madam Yu's treatment of Wei Wuxian from this scene, it was also apparently so important to mxtx for readers to know that Madam Yu was truly cruel to Wei Wuxian during his childhood that the act of her routinely whipping him whenever he was in her presence was something that was added into the revised mdzs. It was not in the original unedited version of the novel.

In the past, although Lady Yu always insulted or patronized him, she never laid a hand on him. At worst, she’d make him kneel for prolonged periods of time, but he’d always get bailed out by Jiang FengMian after a while.

—Chapt. 57. Act 12: Sandu/Three Poisons, Part 2, qinghe-nie

[mugwot]

making the funky little guys funkier

the them

[leafatlaw]

flowerhusbands… to me… is just, “I’ll wait for you forever”. And Scott does no matter where when or anything Scott’s always there waiting patiently for Jimmy. Empires rats limited life, it’s always going to be them meeting, and it’s always going to be them not working out.

Ranchers to me is “I’ll go to hell with you. I’ll go to heaven with you, I’ll go anywhere with you.” They’d go anywhere together holding hands and laughing. I doubt they’d notice where they’re going, I think they’re lost.

desert duo to me is “I’ll follow you to hell and back but I swear the next time you go to hell I’m leaving you there”. Grian will never leave him. They are tied together.

[project-sekai-facts]

How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

[vhoorlpool]

based off @slightly-knot-insane’s sexy af werewolf drabble… (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)੭ꠥ⁾⁾ muahaha!!

(nsfw under the cut— monster referred to as him because I love being a slut on this website /j)

trepidation, repugnance, utter disgust— your monster mate is only used to being seen as something to be feared and abhorred in the eyes of humans.

claws rip and tear into your captor, leaving a spray of blood and gore in replacement; a raw, sickening pink to red clumped in fleshy piles at his feet. you’ve taken his heart. rearranged the broken pieces left within and gifted him with something easier to understand. where he sees nothing but mistakes and regret stained under his sharpened nails and in the lines of calloused palms, you see refuge— a safehaven in the form of a hideous beast.

you were supposed to be with him today. he was supposed to be helping you inside and tucking you away into his home with your bags in tow, nesting with him in preparation for this season’s rut. instead, his heat is in full force; and you’re broken and bruised before him just because some fool thought they’d like to take you for themselves.

“damn it—! you alright, sweetheart?”

dirtied hands hurriedly cup your clammy cheeks as he looks you over, gaze worried and voice saccharine as he pulls you close. “look at what they did to my girl,” he castigates to himself, clicking his tongue in distaste as he swipes his thumb; gentle in the way he rids your face of mud; though smearing blood on the apples of your cheeks in accidental exchange. “out here thinkin’ they could take you away from me. look at where that got ‘em.”

he’s hard. achingly so, being so close and smelling your flowery scent that’s like solace turned aphrodisiac to his weary body and tired mind. his cock chubs; twitching in his pants as he breathes you in. “do you hurt anywhere? did they do anything to you?” and when you shake your head, it’s like he can finally rid himself the weight of a thousand worries off his back. with a low groan, he molds himself against you; big hands sliding down your back and settling on your waist instead. “smell so fuckin’ good, baby. god, you worried me to death out here.”

seeing you laugh as he gives the globes of your ass a soft, teasing squeeze has him chuckling along; the sound raspy and growly as he licks a wet stripe up the column of your throat. he’ll never be used to this— the devotion in your eyes and the warmth in your heart that’s all for him. he’s used to being the one who heels, the one who is shunned and scorned; and yet you’re knelt against him with your arms wrapped around his neck like he’s the next greatest, oversized plush you’ve got your hands on. saying he loves that is beyond an understatement.

“mm… ‘s it okay if I take these off?” he murmurs lowly in your ear, palming at your shorts with a look that’s nothing short of heated. “can’t help it, baby. when you look at me like that… fuck, makes me want you so bad—“ he’s hungry, but tender in the way he helps you shuck them off before helping you into his lap; letting you curl up against his chest. rough palms find the fat of your thighs as he spreads them slowly; making you straddle him before he’s playing with the wet heat between your legs like it’s a stress reliever. (but let’s be honest… it absolutely is.)

“so pretty,” he coos, using the pads of his fingers to rub slow, soothing circles into your ever swelling clit; his foe’s blood and your slick making a delicious, wet friction between your nub and his digits. he grins like the devil when he feels your back arch like a woman possessed. “atta girl. I’m gonna add more, yeah? keep your legs spread for me, princess.”

gentle. he’s gentle in the way he spreads you open with one finger before it melds into two, thrusting sloppily into your fat cunt as he uses his free hand to rub at your clit again. feeling you squirm makes him laugh; delivering a benign slap to your pussy that makes you let out a delicious little squeal. “will your noises be just as cute once I mount this pussy? tell me, pretty girl, do you want that?”

tired of his teasing, your answer is given when you turn in his lap to push him down onto his back; his hands coming to grip your hips on instinct. seeing you on top has never made him teeter on the edge of creaming in his boxers so quick— he almost has half a mind to feel embarrassed before you’re pulling them down and lining himself up with your entrance. as soon as you’re sinking down on his cock, his poor little brain is turned to mush.

so much for that.

“fff-fuckkkk….” the haze in his mind swirls like leaves in the wind as he thrusts up into you; helping you bounce on his fattening cock; wandering hands groping at your tits before he’s gripping your hips and speeding up his movements with a gutteral growl. “gotta breed you. gotta fuckin’ breed you so bad— please, baby, please. please, please, please—“ he feels like he’s losing his mind. as soon as you give him the okay, he’s rutting up into you like a man starved and you’re the closest thing to a full course meal he can find. “gonna fill you up until you can’t take anymore. you want that? yeahhh, you do. want me to knock you up until you’re swelling with my brood. god, you’d look so—“

with a hoarse whine, he can’t keep himself from panting before he’s painting your insides with a thick, creamy white; letting you milk him dry before your tight pussy leaves him dead to the world. huffing, his chest heaves with every ragged breath as he absentmindedly rubs your hips; nuzzling his face into your chest as he peppers sweet kisses across your sweaty flesh.

“…that’ll teach anybody from tryin’ to steal you away again. so… how about a round two, hm?”

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

hey in DRDT if eden does end up being the mastermind like some theories say i can see her having actually killed arei for whatever reason and pulling a tsumugi shirogane and framing ace for it. like ace sees ppl will vote him guilty anyway so he pretends to have done the murder to get everyone killed out of spite. but then monotv says everyone voted right and he is the killer and he's wrongfully executed. then the others discover that in chapter 6 when they pin it on eden or whatever.

it would play into teruko's decision to trust eden. since teruko didn't pursue eden when she was suspicious, she would have let the real killer and mastermind get away and it would play into the theme of ppl betraying teruko, if that's what the dev is going for.

more interestingly for me rn though, it would play into ace's persecution complex he has this chapter. like imagine everyone ganging up on you and deciding you're the killer, so you lie that you are, expecting to get them killed. and then you're told that, nope, monotv has arbitrarily decided that you ARE the killer when you're clearly not. and everyone else survives but you and ONLY you are executed. for something you didn't even do. that's just confirms to ace that everyone, including the ppl who run the killing game, hates him, specifically.

[fromtheseventhhell]

I can tell I'm Arya-pilled to the max because I'll see other Arya stans talking about the questionable morality of her executing Daeron and I'm just like "That was so Lady of Winterfell-coded"

[itti-the-mouse]

Uh oh! Mousegirls aren't allowed inside the building because...

You have to hide your mousegirl, quick!

[chillingxy]

I feel normal about them

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

so i've been watching/making gifs of the donghai fight for the usual reasons (love to cry and overthink media) and i noticed that li xiangyi has an injury that comes from nothing. close eyes will catch it in the first gif, but let's slow it down.

ok so it opens with li xiangyi turning around, and if you look closely, you can see that he's uninjured, at least on his torso.

he swings at di feisheng, who blocks him with an upwards movement that's well clear of li xiangyi's body, and it's clearly a block—it doesn't connect. we can be sure of that because li xiangyi swings his arm up and out, giving us a very good look at his uninjured chest.

he swings widely at di feisheng and is diverted, and then goes to block di feisheng's blow, and even as he moves in to block, you can see that he's injured, now, that there's a not (yet) terribly bloody slash above his heart.

it is, in fact, the injury that di feisheng gives him a minute later, di feisheng's moment of victory before he realises that li xiangyi means for this to be a duel to the death.

(the range of colours in this means the gif isn't as good as it could be, but you get the point.)

on one hand: continuity errors happen to the best of us

on the other hand: soulmark au in which you're scarbonded, in which some of your soulmate's worst injuries will appear on your body days or moments before they actually receive the injury.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

You used to be my rival!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

I do think it’s quite interesting how GRRM’s ideals of a good king are confronted and challenged in Jon’s storyline.

Jon is undoubtedly a good person. And he has the capability to be a good king. But being a good person in the world of ASOIAF is not always rewarded. And being a good king is easier said than done.

“They say the king gives justice and protects the weak.” She started to climb off the rock, awkwardly, but the ice had made it slippery and her foot went out from under her. Jon caught her before she could fall, and helped her safely down. The woman knelt on the icy ground. “M’lord, I beg you—”

“Don’t beg me anything. Go back to your hall, you shouldn’t be here. We were commanded not to speak to Craster’s women.”

“You don’t have to speak with me, m’lord. Just take me with you, when you go, that’s all I ask.”

All she asks, he thought. As if that were nothing.

“I’ll … I’ll be your wife, if you like. My father, he’s got nineteen now, one less won’t hurt him none.”

(Jon III, ACOK)

The situation with Gilly at Craster’s Keep is a perfect example of how difficult it is to give the king’s justice in certain situations. Jon wants to help Gilly, he even feels guilty and horrible for choosing not to, but he cannot so easily offer his help because he is a man of the Night’s Watch.

What’s interesting about this conversation is that Gilly addresses and appeals to Jon as she would a king. She places herself as the weak party and Jon as the king who is expected to protect the weak. She kneels to him, as one kneels to a king, and addresses him as “M’lord”; ironic because Jon is just a bastard, who is now a member of the Night’s Watch. Much has been said about this exchange, and fandom often gives Jon a lot less empathy than he deserves. The truth is that he is in a very terrible situation, notwithstanding the character development that is to come regarding his perception of the wildlings.

But I’m looking back at GRRM’s quote about how being king gives one wealth and power and ability to do something, anything. This is something that Jon absolutely lacks in this situation. He may have been symbolically positioned as the rightful king by the narrative, but that doesn’t mean he has any actual power to enact change within the narrative itself. If Jon were nearly as callous about this whole situation as this fandom wants us to believe, he wouldn’t feel so guilty about refusing to help Gilly as he does later on. P.S: I also want to note that Sam is often lauded for being the one to help the girl, “unlike Jon”…except, Sam only does so when the chaos that follows the mutiny and Craster’s death gives Gilly the opportunity to flee. Sam understood that he had no power to help Gilly early in ACOK and that’s why he sent her to Jon. But he also overestimated just how much Jon would be able to do at that moment. Jon may have been the Lord Commander’s steward, but that didn’t give him the ability to go against Mormont (especially when the LC himself was turning a blind eye to Craster’s vices).

It’s then interesting how this situation of a young girl trying to flee a precarious situation is repeated later on in ADWD and this time, Jon manages to help her. Except the difference is that Jon is the Lord Commander now, not just the LC’s steward. What he couldn’t do for Gilly in ACOK, he can do for Alys even though that too places him in a tough situation.

“Why not the king? Karhold declared for Stannis.”

“My uncle declared for Stannis, in hopes it might provoke the Lannisters to take poor Harry’s head. Should my brother die, Karhold should pass to me, but my uncles want my birthright for their own. Once Cregan gets a child by me they won’t need me anymore. He’s buried two wives already.” She rubbed away a tear angrily, the way Arya might have done it. “Will you help me?”

“Marriages and inheritance are matters for the king, my lady. I will write to Stannis on your behalf, but—”

Alys Karstark laughed, but it was the laughter of despair. “Write, but do not look for a reply. Stannis will be dead before he gets your message. My uncle will see to that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Arnolf is rushing to Winterfell, ’tis true, but only so he might put his dagger in your king’s back. He cast his lot with Roose Bolton long ago … for gold, the promise of a pardon, and poor Harry’s head. Lord Stannis is marching to a slaughter. So he cannot help me, and would not even if he could.” Alys knelt before him, clutching the black cloak. “You are my only hope, Lord Snow. In your father’s name, I beg you. Protect me.”

(Jon IX, ADWD)

We’re seeing a repeat of Gilly and Jon here. Alys is now the weak and helpless maid and Jon, who is still a brother of the Night’s Watch, is once again made to play the role of a king.

Obviously the narrative, as it was with Gilly’s situation in ACOK, is saying that Jon is the king because while Alys could’ve pinned her hopes on Stannis Baratheon (who is actually titled), she chose to flee north to Jon the bastard. And what’s interesting this time is that Jon actually helps Alys in whatever way he can. He uses his status as Lord Commander and his dealings with the Thenns to secure Alys’ marriage. He oversteps his bounds as Lord Commander, and the irony is that he starts to act more as a king would.

So it’s interesting to see how the character often marked as the true king by GRRM’s narrative handles the moral obligations that come with kingship. And GRRM is putting Jon through these tests when he doesn’t even have a crown of his own. GRRM often makes Jon prove his worth as a king despite thinking of himself only as a bastard. We see this best when Stannis comes to the Wall.

Surprisingly, Stannis smiled at that. “You’re bold enough to be a Stark. Yes, I should have come sooner. If not for my Hand, I might not have come at all. Lord Seaworth is a man of humble birth, but he reminded me of my duty, when all I could think of was my rights. I had the cart before the horse, Davos said. I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne.” Stannis pointed north. “There is where I’ll find the foe that I was born to fight.”

(Jon XI, ASOS)

It is true that Jon and Stannis are in very different situations. Stannis is aware that he is the rightful king (as Robert’s heir), and he has also heard from Melisandre that he is the prophesied prince. Jon, on the other hand, is a bastard boy completely unaware of his royal birth or his magical destiny. Yet it’s so interesting that it’s Jon the bastard who was actually doing his duty as the king (without even knowing it) whereas Stannis had to be reminded of it. So despite his failings every now and then, Jon does live up to the author’s ideal of a great king.

[v7n5]

Tyler, I'm grateful to you; for everything that you've done for me.

These lines from the movie gave me the idea of Narrator conjuring up Tyler wayyy before the fight at Lou's tavern, the initial introduction on the airplane, and even before them checking each other out at the nude beach. It's pretty interesting to think about, and I found a Reddit post discussing this theory too.

I can imagine Tyler helping Narrator stand up to his bullies not through the classic savior type of way but through the Tyler Durden method. He'd tell him something like "I'm gonna beat the shit out of you, you're gonna fight back, and we're gonna keep doing this until you've gathered up enough courage to do the same to them, because the adults in your life aren't doing jack to put an end to this", basically turning a portion of Narrator's childhood into a more messed up version of Karate Kid (i suppose it's kinda like a manifestation of Narrator's self-loathing early on.)

After that Tyler went into hibernation for 20 years or so, then made a comeback because he could sense the Narrator was turning back to being spineless and feeble and becoming the kind of grown-up that they both hated. Narrator got a gut punch from Tyler as a coming-back-home gift and he was like "this feels oddly familiar" lol

Essentially, the whole thing happened because Narrator never grew out of his imaginary friend phase.