#so i'm just kinda boggled looking at all this

[tiredandoptimistic]

I have retrieved my annotated copy of the Marvin Trilogy from my parents' house, I feel a great peace in my soul. I know I love to get academia-brained about all of my interests, but I genuinely think I have a better understanding of the characters in Falsettos than anybody else in fiction. I can and will lecture about any and all of them.

Anyways, here's a little look at what I dedicated like a week of my life to.

(Yes I did go through and mark up every song in the trilogy like that, because I think about these characters a normal amount).

[sanflawoah]

Black Myth: Wukong ramblings because I'M GOING INSANE.

FOUR YEARS. I. DID. MY. WAITING. WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO EXPRESS MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS GAME.

(Lengthy words and massive spoilers below!)

First minutes into the game I was all chill expecting the opening to be a long prologue cutscene about JTTW, explaining core things you need to understand, a helpful guide for those unfamiliar with the lore beforehand. But NOOOOO....we jump straight ahead fighting ERLANG SHEN AND THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS. We're WIDE AWAKE.

About gameplay, the devs stated repeatedly that it's not a souls-like game, and more like a God of War ish. Yet so many still questions whether it's a souls-like and then went into the game just to say "meh not souls-like". Amazing density of head.

I really don't demand much for whatever mechanic they serve, I'm really just here for the monkey smash experience and the childhood nostalgia and the fresh aesthetics.

The character design?? The environment?? The architecture?? The statues?? Soooo beautiful oh my god you really need to stop and admire these things (when you don't have a boss shredding you) up close. Look up their inspirations and concept arts, some statues and buildings exist in real life and it's really mind boggling how they incorporate it into the story. The part where you fight with Yellowbrow at Thunderclap temple, what a creative choice, the idea of "miniature fight" on the temple altar. I'm farming so many screenshots for art references. 10/10 visuals, graphics will definitely fry your PC.

Again with the character designs. I'm really loving the absurd looking bosses one, really fresh take. Then to the celestials and yaoguais, I just..... OH they're ALL hella gorgeous. I've seen some people going "WOULD" towards Wukong or The Destined One and I don't blame you. I've had my fair share of neuron activation moment.

Erlang yoo, I was stunned at first with the way they present his personality during the opening, but turns out we got the reason for it near the ending :"(((. He was helping us all along ughsjsjsjsksdsd. Also, they know EXACTLY what they're doing by casting Andrew Koji as the english VA.

White Clad Noble? Half snake man hissing at you to get off his lawn. I feel kinda bad for him lmao, dude was just minding his business and we go monkey smash all over his place.

Keeper of Flaming Mountain? Neat hat and cool makeup bro, awesome yin yang palette and battle area design. BANGER THEME I'll get to it.

The Third Prince in Pagoda realm prison, why does he looks so good, you encounter this guy in his cell just suffering, and somehow he's still serving looks.

The girlies damn, the spider sisters are gorgeous, and YES even madam violet spider, come look at spider granny serving fashion and arachnophobia.

At first I was scared that they're going to sexualise the hell out of the spider sisters or any of the female characters, since the book itself tells their trait as luring men with their beauty (to be eaten though). But actually?? They're a lot tamer than I expected? I mentally prepared myself for the worst, like racy sexualised outfit and personality, but turns out they're all very normal. Like how you would see Tang dynasty inspired ladies. I braced for GTA or cyberpunk-like explicitness but thank god it's not the case, not at all.

Rakshasi and Pingping having the relatively "sexy" look, but then both of them had a moment where they're not actually their real selves, but rather a transformation of Zhu Bajie and Red Boy LMAO. Funny boner killer.

Talk about this boi, our Destined One. To be honest I was kinda disappointed when I found out he doesn't speak at all. Banters, insults, cackles, anything you would expect a Wukong-like personality, he doesn't have it.

I tried to think of a reason, and I think the dev's choice of making The Destined One silent kinda has a root to it. Our MC is NOT the Wukong himself, we are literally just some monke, and we're tasked to gather the six relics Wukong had scattered by retracing his journey. Also, I think it's a funny thought that probably it's just their personality difference, Wukong the loud, Destined One the quiet. Wukong sometimes does chaos for shits and giggles, our Destined One does chaos because we have to.

My theory: our Destined One is just non-verbal! Zhu Bajie even acknowledged it. When we first met him after defeating Kang-Jin Loong, he bantered "A furry coat and a pinched face, luck's all you've got", and he looked confused when we don't say anything back because Wukong would've returned the favour, "Great, another mute. Let's not dally". So the game actually acknowledges it, it's not like they intentionally muted us and have the NPCs acting as if we talk back to them all the time.

Non-verbal and asexual coded? I'll take it.

THE ANIMATED CUTSCENES??? OH MY GODDD. Impossible to put ALL the epic frames here. I really don't expect this from a game at all, real time cutscenes are great, but a WHOLE 2D AND STOP MOTION ANIMATED SCENE?? No wonder the full development took SIX years. You could pause the scenes at any frame and it's worthy of analysis.

The stop motion one really surprised me, how are they that dedicated. The plot as well, it started out romantic and escalated into HORROR real quick. Batshit insane, love it.

For many players, the animated cutscenes may be confusing on the first watch. So many references to JTTW, metaphors, mix of Chinese Taoism and Buddhism. I personally encourage people to look around in forums for explanations, plenty of the Chinese words are untranslatable into English, but it's all so worth the knowledge.

Enjoying the JTTW shows and contents as a child is all about the fun and giggles, understanding the lesson of it all as an adult hits me like bricks, especially with the way they're adapted in this game.

I CRIED?? A LOT??? Of all characters I could cry for, ZHU BAJIE?? Man is literally a nasty pervert in the book, living to the pig form indeed, but in this game he's a bit better. Sure he's still his natural pervert self, but since the game took place after JTTW, he surely had some character development. His animated love story cutscene, loorddd they have no business making it so full of freshly diced onions.

Love how each character in animations have different styles. Erlang's design in particular are different in each scenes. Most of the time he has dark hair, in others he has white hair and different armor, same goes for Wukong's design. I'd imagine the devs struggled to choose for one consistent design and decided to just fuck it and put them all in lmao.

And then THE SOUNDTRACKS, THE SOUNDTRACKS YALL. Love love love it when they incorporate buddhist prayer chants flawlessly into the soundrack. The soundtrack during the chapter one ending animation caught my attention with it, I asked around what mantra is it and they say it's probably Cundi Dharani? Please correct me if I'm wrong. The track is called "I See" in the official playlist. The lyrics too, my god, the way they narate the animations.

During the fight with Keeper of Flaming Mountains, IS THE SOUNDTRACK A RENDITION OF "FISHERMAN'S SONG AT DUSK"? IS IT? Losing my mind because it's my favourite chinese traditional piece. Half expected him to pull out a guzheng and blast me with phantom blade from the strings, IYKYK.

And of course, a new rendition of the classic JTTW theme. This will be my neighbour's favourite music for a while.

Some tidbits I like, apparently if you're idle for a while and Zhu Bajie is with you, sometimes he'll start to talk about past stories or lectures you. If you push him around for a few times he'll get annoyed, if you keep pushing him then he'll struck you with his rake lmaoooo. Perhaps we weren't so different from Wukong after all.

Another insane stuff is the headless singing guy. GoW has a talking disembodied head, now BMW has a HEADLESS singing man, literally a reverse Mimir.

The rematch with The Four Heavenly Kings YOOOOO I love their design so much. They look like statues from temples jumping straight to life. The stances! Throwing hands with them is the true Monke of War experience. The East King with his Pipa literally playing the background music, excellent touch.

This has been an insane scroll of yappings, I'll stop here (for now) and take a moment to touch grass. If you've been reading ALL THE WAY to this line, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to harm your braincells.

[smusherina]

bridges burnt - chapter 1 [epilogue series] (regina george x reader)

fandom: Mean Girls (all media)

pairing: Regina George x OFC/Reader

summary: When an invitation to Gretchen Wieners' wedding ended up in your mailbox, you'd been sure it was a mistake. Only, it read your name in neat, swoopy calligraphy. It was addressed to you. And Regina George, whom you hadn't spoken to in years.

additional clarification: This is set in the universe of yard work, a series of mine that can be found on my page! Reading this one might be a bit challenging without the context of the series :)

very necessary note: Okay, fuck, it was supposed to be a one shot. Then I got excited. So have another freakin' Regina George series. Set in the same universe as yard work! Reading that provides some essential context, but you do you! I don't think it's unreadable without it. chapter 2

You adjusted your tie for perhaps the millionth time. It was a silky blue, befitting your navy suit. You fiddled with your cufflinks, silver like all your accessories, then pulled out the baby blue handkerchief to wipe down your glasses, then folded it pack into your pocket, then bent to redo your laces, then-

"For fuck's sake, the ceremony hasn't even started yet!" Amanda nudged you violently.

"Ow!" You hissed, elbowing her back. She slapped your knee, hard.

"Get yourself together." She glowered, pointing a manicured finger at your nose. "It's worse enough I have to be here at all. You're not gonna ruin this for me."

"You're here for the open bar and free food. I paid for the flights, the room, the car." You bit back. "I'm allowed to be nervous."

"There's nervous, then there's this." Amanda looked you up and down pointedly, noting your bouncing knee.

You squeezed at said knee, trying to calm down. Like you'd been trying to do since hours ago. No results so far.

"Look, buddy, it's just a wedding. You don't even really know her. I get you... Have a history with the bride, or whatever, but it's gonna be so fine."

"It's not Gretchen I'm worried about." You mumbled.

"Whoever. It's gonna be fine." Amanda said, flippant as ever. How she was so carefree all the time was mind-boggling to you.

"This place is filled with people from high school. God." You looked around. "That guy over there, don't look, with the receding hairline- I said don't look!"

"Be more specific, every man here has a receding hairline. The demographic is excruciatingly pallid."

"Shut up, girl," You shook your head but couldn't help but laugh. It was mostly white people here. "The one with the wife that looks exactly like him, unbelievably blonde, kinda mousy," You waited for her eyes to latch onto the man you were talking about. "He used to buy weed from me, like, every week, and then went around spreading rumours about me."

"Ungrateful." Amanda scoffed. "And look at him, a wife, child, and probably a 401k. That's how it goes for boys like them."

"Yeah." You sighed. "How's the salon doing, by the way?"

"Thriving. Thanks to you. But I worked my ass off." You lifted your arms in surrender. She had worked hard to keep the place afloat for as long as she had, so even if you hadn't invested she would've found a way.

Amanda cast you a meaningful look. "You're doing better than ever, aren't you? Financially speaking. How's everything else?"

"Well, y'know..." You shrugged. "It's complicated." You looked down. Amanda patted your knee, a sympathetic smile on her face.

"You got a nice suit, though." She pointed out.

"Oh, for sure. Look at these, custom cufflinks." You showed off the silver bits. "Do you think these rings are too much?"

"Don't you usually have an ungodly amount of them on?"

"I usually just have these three." On your right pinky was your Engineer's Ring. On your left thumb was an embroidered steel band and on the pointer of that same hand a ring with a big emerald embedded in a bed of crystals.

"It's not too much." Amanda took your hand and inspected the rings. "More like sexy." She grinned at you, all sorts of innuendo right on display.

You scoffed and turned towards the altar. The pews were getting fuller by the minute. You were sitting far enough from the front to show you weren't important but not too far as to hint you didn't want to be there. You were on the bride's side, though it didn't matter much. You didn't know Gretchen any better than her husband-to-be.

Amanda had come with you for moral support. You'd been roommates in college and you hadn't been able to shake her off since. She'd grown on you, though you often acted more begrudged than you felt. She'd helped you out a lot over the years.

She'd been there when you couldn't leave the dorms, trapped in the vicious clutches of paranoia. She'd been there helping you get back on your feet when dad's businesses started going, one by one, each more explosive than the last. She was there when you moved back to that little town in Illinois, where Northshore still stood.

You liked to think you'd been equally as integral to her, but that was perhaps a reach. She was fiercely independent, resourceful, and charming enough to make friends with anyone. When the first chance to help her came, you didn't hesitate to take it. She'd opened up her salon right after graduation, staying in New York while you moved back home, and had been doing well until now. Unexpected costs and a wicked plumbing bill had landed her in some hot water.

For the small price of one favour and eternal bragging rights, you'd shoved your newly acquired wealth at her. Dragging her to Vermont in October to attend Gretchen's wedding was you cashing in on that favour.

Eventually, the proceedings began. The groom and his men walked in with little fanfare, mild music playing as they went. Most faces you did not recognize, but there was one back of the head that seemed eerily familiar.

The groom, a classically handsome man, a boring prince type, went to stand at the altar. He had an expectant glimmer in his eye. At least Gretchen's taste in men had improved. Then again, anything beat the scrubs she'd used to keep around.

Behind the groom, his line of groomsmen settled, the best man fronting the crowd. The man of the hour was in a classic black tux while the others flanking him were dressed in different shades of brown. The whole shebang was sort of beige with a little bit of burnt orange thrown in. Amidst the shades of umber, russet, and sepia, stood a familiar face.

Aaron Samuels. You didn't have much time to agonize about him being here before the bridesmaids were stepping through the aisle. Similar dresses but in lighter shades, clearly made to match a certain groomsman. You didn't recognize any of them.

The maid of honour was a little odd. Her makeup seemed to be a lot thicker on one side, like there were several layers of foundation caked on. Her eye makeup on that side was a little heavy also, but she was past you by the time you could wonder why.

"The maid of honour totally has a black eye," Amanda whispered to you.

"No way," You hissed back, trying to get an angle where you could see her face. As she settled in place, facing the pews, even moderately far away you could see that, yeah, she totally was covering up a black eye. Wild bachelorette party, then.

Coos and aws resounded through the church as the flower girl and the ring bearer came toddling down. A little girl, cheeks all red, and looking like she wanted to be anywhere else, and a slightly older boy with an almost manic look in his eye. The girl was in no mood to be tossing petals, so the boy reached into her basket and threw a big fistful of them in the air. The rings rolled off of their pillow but found their way back.

"Oops," The boy said, smiling sheepishly right as the photographer came in to capture the moment. Chuckles echoed through the space.

By the time they reached the end of the aisle, the little girl was dutifully carrying the pillow on which the rings were and the boy was joyously tossing flower petals everywhere. As god intended.

Then came the bride. Escorted by her father, who was beaming with a mouth full of veneers, Gretchen Wieners made her appearance.

It wasn't disappointment that you felt. Not relief, either. It was hard to describe. You'd been expecting anger or some catharsis. This was the person who'd outed you to your whole school, who'd been the catalyst to the worst year of your life, why didn't you feel more?

High school had been over for almost ten years. You carried scars, deep ones that still ached on bad days but at the end of the day, they were just scars. You were doing better than ever. Gretchen had been a bully, had brought you to ruin once upon a time, but who was to say it couldn't all be built again?

You smiled. She looked beautiful. A white dress, a long veil, hair done big, bigger and more grandiose than you'd ever seen, and looking like, well, a bride.

You'd moved on. Considering how she'd invited you too, and knowing Gretchen she was acutely aware of every person in attendance, she had moved on too. You could recognize an olive branch when one was given to you.

That didn't explain the invitation, though. Maybe it was a mistake. Gretchen wasn't known for making those, but she was human too. Right?

"Look, they're totally enthralled by each other. You're gonna be fine." Amanda whispered, ignoring the elderly lady seated next to her shooting daggers through her eyes at you two.

"Yeah. It's gonna be fine."

Notes: Got really ill at the beginning of this week, which delayed this chapter quite a bit. You don't realize quite how awesome breathing is until you can't do it properly. Getting better slowly, it's nothing serious, but the cough is lingering. It is what it is.

This chapter was mostly setting up the narrative, no Reggie and Jorts interactions as of yet. I'm not making any promises because I'm so shit at keeping them, but hoping that this series will be shorter than the original one.

Taglist posted seperately!

[fillinforlater]

Monday of Appreciation: Part 100

Hello everyone, Smite here!

100

Let's celebrate this big number and even bigger achievement with a massive a mount of stories that I have compiled over a bunch of weeks now. 10 in total by 9 writers including all kinds of idols (most are meta, sorrry (not sorry)).

However, first off, I want to say thank you to the interest in support this series has gathered. Thank you all very much for liking and reblogging and sometimes even commenting, it means the world to me. Most of the times, I regard this series as a big success.

I need to say it again though that this is the final regular MoA post. For 100 weeks straight I have gathered between 3 and 11 stories from our community, the only reason/motivation being: Appreciation to those that I really like and want to support. Sadly sometimes, MoA has been seen as something like an seal of approval or rather the "not-inclusion" as a seal of disapproval. This has never been the case or my intention.

With that said, MoA is not dead and will never be dead until I'm dead. New parts will randomly pop up and I will gush over another way idol X has been... written. Until then, stay awesome and feel free to go back to the older parts of this series.

These are the final 10 stories on the regular series of Monday of Appreciation:

-1-

@gangplanksorenji: Do you think you are forgiven? ft. Sakura

Reading smut like this and knowing it was written by Orenji of all people still makes my mind boggle. This is unfiltered smut, set up perfectly (especially with the homage to LSFM's latest comeback). All in all great, especially with the non-focus then back-focus on Sakura.

-2-

@coldfanbou: Culmination ft. Somi

This fic is the finale of the ultimate Somi-bimbo-self-sex-slave series. No, I'm serious, you couldn't go further if you wanted to. It also explains why OC is so hesitant to go after her. Also, NTR, but it's so over the top that it kinda flew under my radar. Somi's hotness is melting our minds, isn't it.

-3-

@lustspren: California Love ft. Soyeon, Minnie

The first time I saw these outfits, I kneeeew someone HAD to write a fic about them, either idol x idol or include an OC and oh boy, lustspren delivered. This has quite the excessive set up, all edging leading up to that hotel room scene that does it all justice. To say it with the words of Mister Smith: "That's hot."

-4-

@smuttysabina: Owning Aespa: Chapter 1 ft. aespa

Exquisite! Charming, funny and utterly drenched in lewdness while also shoving absurdity in your face the entire time. This perfectly encapsulates @smuttysabina's writing style. It's blunt yet still a bit teasing and I like how the descriptiveness is subtle enough to keep you on edge. Literally.

-5-

@ggidolsmuts: Xiaoting's Shouting ft. Xiaoting

This fic has a chinese version and though I cannot speak of the quality of that version, this one definitely has it. One of the many, many great stories you can find in Ddeun's masterlist. Damn, now I can't decide if I want an obedient plaything Xiaoting or a demanding loud Xiaoting (haha, Xiaothing or Loudting (I'm so funny (right?)))

-6-

@tothosewhoyearnforit: A Million Dollars ft. Karina

Ah, the great switch life. Though you might not have a million dollars (sadge), the ability to switch around your behavior to accommodate to your partners wants and needs in the moment... man that is everything. Okay, no, someone incredible hot like Karina, now that is everything. Just like the OC in the next story, I'd pay more than a million to get Karina.

-7-

@smuttysabina: Owning Aespa: Chapter 2 ft. Karina

Oh, look! It's the second chapter to the story we already had! This time we get the bouncy girl in the shower as she bravely strikes a deal with us. Will she succeed though? You better find out yourselves (no really, this will be in the test tomorrow).

-8-

@existslikepristin: Sowon's gig ft. Sowon

Sorry, ELP, I had to put a name on this hilarious mess of a fic. Maybe it does not really deserve a name, but I'm all for it to get one. Hell, even my name is terrible (at least it does not spoil the twist). So yeah, if y'all have like 29,4 seconds on your hand, this is the stuff for you. Damn, why do I love your writing so much?

-9-

@okaylikesmomo: Chapter 4: Sauna ft. Chaewon, Kazuha, Sakura

I love how unhinged this is if you ignore all the context and previous chapters. It makes me think if my multi-chapter series' feel this crazy if one just starts in the middle. Crazy or not, sex sex sex. Although it is okay (writing) sex, neither the writing nor the sex are just 'okay'. LSFM really is that hot and makes us crave for more steamy sex sex sex. What a mess (-.-).

-10-

@iznsfw: Above the law, (under you) ft. Tzuyu

What else can I say except: IZ GOAT?! I guess so, every angle, idea, set up and kink this incredible qt has written has worked flawlessly. I rule that you are guilty of being way too fucking good at this and sentence you to write more sentences to make your sentence longer so more sentences lead to new masterpieces. Please.

Guys, that's it. With a final bow the curtains fall. Until next time. Ciao!

[jiyeonnnn]

pawn, jsc

pairing | j. sc x m!r

synopsis | years after your debut, you've finally reconnected with someone you once adored. this is the night you re-tie the broken strings of your relationship.

cw | sub!top sungchan, dom!bottom reader, masturbation, dacryphilia, praises, implied fwb to lovers. 680 words (kinda short, but meh)

note: im back

"you're so tense, channie~ relax~" a cold gust of wind ran through sungchan's body pleasantly as you whispered to his ear, fans of your hot breaths hitting his face pulled him to his senses of how close you both are to each other.

he squirmed as he felt your thumb rake over his sensitive, leaking tip. you spat once again on his cock and started jerking his shaft at a seductive pace that left him fucking your fist in a matter of seconds.a chuckle escaped your mouth upon seeing his reaction. he's so goddamn needy.

"you're so fucking needy, y'know, puppy? do those pathetic members of nct not take care of you very well?" a whimper came out of his mouth as you had tightened your grip around the base of his length. your action immediately sent the younger jung into an overdrive of thoughts— failing to form coherent words that only a series of disordered nods were sent to you as a response, afraid that he'll get deprived of his most awaited orgasm since earlier. and it is damn well true, shotaro, ten— heck even the most precious taeyong— weren't enough to satisfy his needs for a warm sheath around his dick.

their moans, actions, and expressions were nothing to sungchan. to him, it all seemed like a disarray of greedy sluts that want nothing from him but his cum. the only thing that kept him going were the imaginations of your poetic, melodic and alluring voice filling up his ears every time he hears those "pathetic sluts", as he'd like to call them, moans every moment he thrusts into them. the curves of their bodies weren't quite well-fitted to his calloused hands that did nothing but hold you anytime back then. it drove him crazy that no one has ever leveled to your craziness of making him feel satisfied every night. you're all that he needs, and vice versa.

"i'm always right here, y'know~ always ready to take care of my precious lil mutt~" his skin crawled the moment your salacious lips went into contact with his jawline, trailing down a path of kisses down to his neck and shoulders, claiming and putting your marks to what belongs to you. jung sungchan is yours and no one else's.

your words have always worked on him, causing an unseemly amount of cum to spout from his tip and coat his belly as he leaned his head on your shoulder for support and murmured your name in a low voice.you chuckled at him. pumping him exquisitely through his high, as a poem of sweet nothings fell out of your mouth before leaving a little kiss on his forehead. "that was quick, my prince," you cooed as sungchan could not hold his embarrassment back; cheeks flushing with a very red tint, soft tears brimming his eyes as he looked at you ever-so-loving.

he, of course, did.

you shifted, and sungchan felt his heart drop to his stomach for a brief moment. his fears were allayed as you began to strip off each article of clothing from your skin, exacerbating his cock to clench erected as you straddled him bare.

"i'm not gonna leave you here like this, hyungie~ y'know i care about my puppy so much~" you cared for him, genuinely. you care about him enough to occupy his thoughts every moment he wakes up, leaving him boggled if he has captured your attention for the week or if you've moved on to another, stringing them along like you've done him.

however— every moment that you're with him, making him the center of the universe that you've both created together, even if it's just for a weekend, a day, hours or an inebriated night at a music platform— he swears it's love. sungchan is deeply in love with you. he doesn't care about his broken pride, his ruined reputation, or even his better judgment; he's happy to be a recurring pawn in your game.

"i love you, channie~ and we have all night for me to prove it to you."

[splitster]

answering more asks!!

featuring pom wraith, pingo, ocs?!, and older art check it out (three's some art 💖)↓↓

THANK you!! ohhh i do have old pikmin ocs... i actually revamped my old captain a while back, i can share him:

i had a whole crew of pikmin ocs who were a part of the S.S. Harmony, they were gonna be SUCH a nuisance to everyone they ran into...

i thought about making a rescue corps oc for fun. hrmm! maybe...

AHHH thank you!! i've seen a shocking number tags and asks from people saying that I'm apparently the reason they like Dingo now? and i have to say that is so mind boggling to me, because when i first played Pikmin 4 I didn't care about him at all!! he was a nothing sandwich to me... but then i drew him a few times... and started thinking... and then things went downhill and now i REALLY like him...

(referring to this post) i think dingo is better when he's withered

(referring to this comic) I HEAR YOU... I HEAR YOU... but if any tear at all would cause oxygen poisoning, i wouldn't be able to draw them all battered and cool :(

i imagine that there's a seal around the neck in case there's a breach in the suit's lining. so as long as their backpack (life-support) works and is connected to their helmets, then they can breathe✨

(referring to this post) Olimar would be horrified because he knows Louie, and if he sees that note there's only one thing it could mean! his coworker tried to eat pom!! if pom hasn't been outed as wraith and Olimar is questioning her, she'd just say Louie bit her and then refuse to answer any follow up questions 💖

Shepherd would be... concerned. she might think they have a weird fling going on and louie's talking about a kiss? she probably wouldn't realize Louie quite literally means he ate something from pom. oops!

that's a really good question... I'll be honest, with a lot of the "when and how did x happen" questions, there's not an official timeline or anything; the pom wraith au is sort of an umbrella with a bunch of different stories and what-ifs underneath it. although there was one story where louie does find out her secret!

louie and pom end up bridging their differences (with the help of olimar), and become good friends while pom is continuing the rescue effort. then there's a very unfortunate incident where pom and louie are away from the base and they're attacked... pom has to reveal herself to defend them and she accidentally hurts louie :(

its fine though, louie doesn't care what pom is. they're both freaks in his mind and that's all that really matters. he does end up having to defend pom from olimar (who's been made vindictive through his trauma with the plasm wraith) sometime later!! here's some older art:

sure

me too! they do NOT get along... louie's kinda pissed at her for chasing him around on PNF404 and beating him in dandori battles when he just wants to stay there and vibe. pom meanwhile doesn't understand him, he pisses her off too! she likes olimar a lot, and as an outsider it looks like louie doesn't appreciate the friendship olimar offers him. to someone who's trying to understand and participate in this whole friendship business, she thinks he's ungrateful and weird. they do not get along!! at the beginning at least...

AHHHH!!! THANK YOU!!! WAHH...🥺💖💖 i'm very glad you enjoy my silly little art style!! i want to make things very squishy so i appreciate that 💖

i don't think that man is going to live!

wait actually if you eat enough maybe you just turn into a wraith. that'd be scary! hopefully olimar's there to stop him

that's a fun thought! he would probably be able to sense that something is off about her. but he'd also probably just think "she's weird like me." honestly, the whole wraith thing doesn't really matter much to him -- the only thing it changes is that pom can now offer her tendrils as a skewer for his cooking at any time and location!

i think i'm gonna call her rose wraith!! and ohh, i didn't know that... i was just gonna call her rose wraith since she has a rose head. i'm creative i promise

(referring to this post i think) AHHH hehe... honestly, when Pom first learns about Dingo's fear of blood, she only tries to keep him from it because it's really annoying dealing with your coworker when they faint. he's like a sack of potatoes when he's knocked out. but yes, as they become actual friends pom will (subtly) do her best to keep blood away from dingo. it's fortunate she doesn't have any!

she might not get phobias, but she understands what its like to have a crippling fear, so she's empathetic!

THANK you. he has sunglasses. he's pretty cool

AHH THANK YOU... i like them a lot... 👉👈

let the marching pikmin give you the energy you need to practice🫡

[lunerna21]

I FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO THE UPDATE FOR BOOK 7 AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED WITH HOW MUCH I ENJOYED IT

***SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7 JPN SERVER AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!***

***ALSO SLIGHTLY LONG POST AHEAD! MY APOLOGIES!***

UM CAN I MENTION HOW HARD I LAUGHED WHEN SILVER WAS TELLING THE STORY ABOUT FLOYD GRABBING RIDDLE'S HAIR TO SEE IF IT WAS HOT?!

AND JADE HYSTERICALLY LAUGHING WHILE AZUL IGNORES THEM!!!!

If they ever animate that scene, I'm gonna hurl from seeing Floyd just being catapulted off screen and Jade enjoying himself 😂

Floyd being so bored of his dream and just him swaying like the seaweed was freakin hysterical 😂

It just reminded me of this for some reason:

I mean it makes sense since Floyd is always up for a challenge and isn't afraid of basically anything, so of course Malleus's vision for Floyd's dream wasn't going to be very exciting

ALSO WE CAN TALK ABOUT FLOYD HAD THE BALLS TO FIGHT MALLEUS, LEONA AND EVEN FUCKING CATER?! CATER WIPED THE FLOOR FIGHTING FLOYD BUT I WASN'T EXPECTING CATER TO KICK ASS

HELL YES CATER!!

.......And then we jump into Jade's dream...

....The moment I saw how Jade imagined both Azul and Floyd...

AND THEN SOMEONE POSTED THIS ON TWITTER AND I ABSOLUTELY LOST IT

JADE BY FAR IS THE MOST HYSTERICAL CHARACTER IN TWST AND I CAN'T BELIEVE FLOYD HAD TO SEE HIS DOOFY LOOKING FACE LIKE THAT

I don't blame Floyd for duking it out with Jade I would feel the same if thats how my siblings imagined me lol

And finally, Azul's dream!!

First of all, AZUL WAS SOMETHING ELSE DURING HIS DREAMS

Azul being a coral rush player?! AND KINDA BEING JOCKY?! I wasn’t prepared for that! 😂

(special shoutout to Idia for throwing shade at his first image of a cocky player, that was 👌🏻)

JADE JUST GRABBING POOR IDIA'S TABLET AND GETTING AZUL'S SIGNATURE ON IT 😂👏🏻👏🏻

AND IDIA JUST SLOWING MOVING OFF TO THE SIDE THIS POOR GUY HAS BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH 😂

When the mermaids started harassing everyone and knocked us over, I WASNT READY FOR AZUL TO CARE WHEN WE GOT HIT

I WAS A FREAKING MESS IM SO DELUSIONAL AND I KNOW HE'S NOT ALWAYS NICE BUT AHHHHHHHH HE WAS SO CUTE HERE (Ignore me I'm delusional and I've missed Azul so much 🥺❤️)

It was so bizarre to see Azul playing a jocky player and being popular in school, but once Idia explained that any negative moments or lessons Azul had to face (bullying, losing the contracts) were no longer a thought because of it only being a dream with no negative emotions

It’s still mind boggling how detailed everyone’s dreams are but terrifying like damn Malleus has so much power and yet he can juggle so many of them

After Azul invited us to the party and was INCREDIBLY NICE for someone like him, and Idia got suss:

I knew something was up, especially after he made everyone wear the anenomes for the party AND GRIM SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER HE WENT THROUGH THIS BEFORE WHY DID HE BELIEVE THIS

Floyd and Jade bouncing off Azul being a bully was soooo worth it

It's kinda scary how I preferred the old Azul, considering he wasn't a cocky jock straight from a manga/book ICK ICK ICK

AND THEN AFTER AZUL FELL INTO THE BLOT, HE WAS A PAIN IN THE BUTT TO CORNER I WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH THE PLANNING AND HOW WE HELPED DESTROY THE CONTRACTS ONCE AGAIN

But this devastated me 😭

It still must've felt pretty shitty having to go through that again, but I started to cry I'm just so happy Azul woke up from his dream 😭❤️❤️❤️

Azul's battle with himself! *chefs kiss* I love how they reference it similar to the battle from The Little Mermaid and how Azul's blot form began to grow

But let me tell you something:

I WOULD DIE IF I COULD FRAME THIS!! JUST SEEING THE GLOWING EYE AND AZUL DOING THIS POSE! PERFECTION!!!

ITS SO GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK AZUL!!!❤️

This chapter was such a fun trip, and I'm so glad we're slowly getting closer to releasing everyone from their dreams

BUT ONE LAST THING! TWST INTENTIONALLY DID THIS TO HURT MY FEELINGS!

HOOOOOWWWWW DARE TWST FOR SHOVING THIS IN MY FACE I WANT MY BEST FRIENDS BACK SO BADLY AND THE FACT THAT THEY DO THIS CONSTANTLY AND ALSO GRIM BRINGING THEM UP IS JUST AWFUL

I MISS THEM SO MUCH I NEED TO SEE THEM AGAIN

NEXT UP, SAVANACLAW!! (RUGGIE I MISS YOU SO SO MUCH!!)

Enjoy the weekend~~!!!❤️

(Screenshots from https://youtube.com/@gasmask01?si=lpin67yaOvHDdg_c )

[hurpdurpburps]

A Casual Comparison Between The English vs Japanese (and a bit of Chinese) Versions Of Otherside Picnic

Just a ramble on my thoughts as someone who buys and reads both the English and Japanese versions of all the novel and the manga volumes.

Some of my commentary might come across as a bit too pedantic but it's coming from my thoughts as a current formal translator and former manga scanlator.

Spoiler Warning: events up to Vol 8 are mentioned.

Overall thoughts

Generally, I quite like Sean McCann's translations of the novels. I think his style strikes a nice balance between the need for needle-sharp accuracy and smoothness that localisation brings. He seems to have quite a mind-boggling amount of experience under his belt according to Kindle, and also translated Side-By-Side Dreamers (another fantastic read that I will fangirl here about one day!!!), which is a standalone novel by Miyazawa.

On the other hand, the English version of the manga feels rather clunky from time-to-time. Kindle doesn't credit anyone for the English translation of the manga and I don't think it's McCann. Redrawing is also pretty lazy, with English words often simply slapped on next to the original Japanese SFX, which is kinda terrible for an official publication.

Another aspect of the English manga I don't understand is why they chose to flip the reading sequence of the Kozakura POV short stories at the end. After reading through dozens of pages of the manga right-to-left I don't think it's any more difficult to read the story in the same direction. Having to skip to the very last page then resume reading left-to-right in reverse page order is so mindbogglingly tedious and unintuitive.

Dialogue, Nuances and Characterisation

A big issue with translation is the difference in how many words it takes to convey the same sentence in different languages. Extreme cases can call for bolder deviations from the original to maintain some semblance of narrative flow.

Here's a minor example - the following lines are from Vol 3 (File 9 - Yamanoke Presence), when Toriko is slapping the shit out of Sorawo's back:

“Ow! That hurts! [1]” “Suck it up. [2]”

「いった！　痛いって！ [1]」 「我慢して [2]」 　

The more literal translation of [1] would be "I said that hurts!" but I guess the translator opted for something that's shorter and more natural-sounding.

There's also the issue of characterisation stemming from dialogue style. Sometimes I feel like Toriko comes across as slightly more aggressive in English than the original Japanese version.

[2] in Japanese is simply and most accurately translated as "bear with it."

There's a similar scene in Vol 6 (File 20 - T is for Templeborn), when Toriko sticks her fingers inside Sorawo's right eye:

“Whoa! Hold up! That’s my eye!” “Suck it up.” “You’re kidding me, right?!”

「ちょ、ま、そこ目！」 「我慢して」 「噓でしょ!?」

Personally, I feel that "suck it up" should've only been used if the original text said "我慢しろ", which implies a more callous or harsher, commanding tone. To me at least, "我慢して" is pretty neutral.

Here's another example from Vol 6, when Sorawo begrudgingly compliments Toriko for having a pretty smart idea:

“Why do you always sound so frustrated when you compliment me on that, Sorawo? [1]” “Urgh.” I hadn’t expected her to call me out on that, so I didn’t know how to respond. “Well, I’m nice [2], so I won’t get mad at you for thinking I’m an idiot.”

「その褒め方するとき、いつもなんか悔しそうだよね空魚 [1]」 「うっ」 　思わぬ指摘をされて言葉に詰まる。 「鳥子さんは優しいから [2]、バカだと思われてても怒りませんけど」

[1] is more of an observation and not a question in Japanese. "You always look kind of frustrated when you compliment me like that, Sorawo" feels perfectly serviceable and fits with the line that comes next, so I'm not quite sure about the reason behind this translation decision.

As for [2], Toriko actually referred to herself in third-person ("Toriko-san is kind") in the Japanese version, which is supposed to a convey a sense of satirical self-grandiosity. Without that part, I think Toriko comes off as more direct and less playful in the English translation.

That said, there are also positive examples of localisation in the series. Take a look at this conversation from Vol 5 (File 16 - Pontianak Hotel):

“Why would they go to all the trouble of decking the place out in Balinese style, then go and push honey toast, of all things?” I asked, but Toriko had a simple answer. “It’s honey in Bali [1], right?” “Wait… That’s it?! Because they rhyme?! [2]”

「なんでこんなにバリ島モチーフなのに、フードはハニートースト推しなんだろ」 　 私が何の気なしに疑問を口にすると、鳥子がさらっと言った。 「バリ島でハニトー [1]ってことなんじゃない？」 「……えっ、そういうこと!?　駄洒落!? [2]」

[1] actually says "Honey toast in Bali", which can be romanised as "bari-tou de hani-tou". Sorta catchy in Japanese but doesn't swing in English, so the rationale for the change is fairly obvious.

[2] literally means "pun", or I guess it's supposed to be slightly more loosely interpreted as "wordplay" in this context, but that too has to be altered so that the earlier changes to [1] make sense.

We opened all the bottles and had another toast of the not-bread variety [1]; there was a loud clinking of bottles [2].

ビール組の小瓶の栓が全部抜かれて、改めて乾杯した [1]。グラスと瓶の触れ合う音が高らかに鳴り響く [2]。

[1] can be read as "we made a toast for a change", which without alteration can be fairly confusing so the translator seized the opportunity to add a little funny spin to it.

A more literal translation of [2] would be "The sound of glasses and bottles touching rang loudly". I suppose the localisation here could be considered as a minor but factual mistranslation, as cocktail glasses were actually present in this scene, in addition to beer bottles.

For our final example of missing nuance, here's a quick glance at Vol 6 (File 20 - T is for Templeborn), where Sorawo and Toriko went for a quick builder's lunch after a morning of breaking concrete:

Settling on a place that served Western-style dishes, we joined the salarymen and construction workers for a hearty meal.

あんまり気取らない感じの洋食屋を選んで、スーツ姿のサラリーマンや工事の作業員に交ざって、がっつりボリュームのある定食を食べた。

The bolded part roughly translates to "We chose a rather unpretentious Western restaurant...", with "unpretentious" in this context referring to a place that doesn't feel very conscious/fussy about attire/appearances.

I don't think it's a big deal per se, but it's the inclusion of small details like that which adds flourish to Miyazawa's writing, and it's kind of a pity for them to be missing when they don't have to be.

Prose and Structure

Japanese is a high-context language, so writers often take it for granted that their readers can intuitively grasp who's saying what, which is not very helpful for English readers. There are certain parts of the Japanese version that is just a whole dozen lines of uninterrupted dialogue. The text below from Vol 5 (File 16 - Pontianak Hotel) is a very good example:

“Phew… Toriko, did you eat your share?” I asked. “Yeah, I sure did. It was delicious.” “Is that really true…?” “She does seem to be putting on an awfully calm face,” Akari agreed. “I feel like she was just eating the ice cream on top,” Kozakura interjected. “See, I knew it!” “Hey, hey, don’t worry about it,” Toriko tried to mollify us. “You’ve all finished your drinks, right? Let’s have another toast.” “Whose is this one, with the orange and… blackcurrant?” Akari asked. “That’s mine,” said Natsumi. “Pass it here.” “Everyone else ordered beer, huh?” Kozakura noted. “Which’s yours, Toriko?” “The Bintang.” “I had one of those too,” Kozakura said. “Well, I guess these must be for Senpai and me. Bali-hai?” “Yeah, I’ll pass around the bottle-opener,” I said.

Note all the speaker names bolded above... and how they completely don't exist in the Japanese version below:

「ふー……鳥子、ちゃんと食べた？ [1]」 「食べた食べた [2]。おいしかったね」 「本当かな」 「それにしては涼しい顔してますよね [3]」 「そいつ [4]、上に乗ってるアイスばっかり食ってた気がするな [4]」 「ほらやっぱり！」 「まあまあ [2]、いいじゃん。みんなお酒なくなったでしょ。もっかい乾杯しよ [2]」 「このオレンジ入ってるやつ、カシスかな？誰のですかー？[3]」 「それウチ [5] の。ちょうだい」 「ほかみんなビール頼んだんだね」 「鳥子のどれ？ [1]」 「ビンタンとかいうやつ」 「あたし [4] のもそれだ」 「じゃあ、センパイと私がこっちですね [3]。バリハイ？」 「うん、栓抜き回すね」

You might be wondering how the hell Japanese readers tell apart who's who? Thanks to the Japanese language's rich vocabulary of personal pronouns, 'tiers of politeness' and three different writing systems, personalities are easily demonstrated via dialogue.

For example, the most common personal pronoun, "watashi" (meaning "I" or "me"), can be expressed in kanji (私), hiragana (わたし) or less commonly katakana (ワタシ). The kanji form is considered "true neutral" and also used in formal contexts such as emails, while the hiragana is more cutesy.

In the case of this specific conversation, we can roughly tell the speakers apart using the process of elimination via each person's relationship with the others:

[1] This is clearly Sorawo, as she's the only one apart from Kozakura who addresses Toriko without any honourifics, and her tone soft and casual.

[2] Toriko says "食べた食べた" and "まあまあ", which translates to "I ate it, I ate it" and "Oh well, oh well" respectively. A common speech pattern of Toriko's is to say things twice, representing her casual and chirpy demeanor. Toriko also likes to contract her words. The line "Let’s have another toast" is written in Japanese as "もっかい乾杯しよ" (romaji: mokkai), which is a shortened version of "もう一回" (romaji: mou ikkai).

[3] Akari is the only one who uses polite language (the -masu form) in this group of misfits, and also the only one who addresses Sorawo as "senpai", notably in katakana (センパイ).

[4] Interestingly, Kozakura uses "atashi" (あたし), which is considered less neutral/softer/more feminine than the standard "watashi", but the rest of her speech style is consistently rude and masculine, such as addressing the rest as "お前ら" or Toriko with "そいつ", which has a "top-down" tone.

[5] Natsumi uses the personal pronoun "uchi" (ウチ), which is sorta a gangsta/delinquent stereotype.

Mistranslation

Translation errors are for the most part very rare, minor and always come across as a case of careless misreading rather than a lack of fluency.

Apart from the ones already mentioned in passing above, I'll list two more such examples below (taken from my OP Pilgrimage List Pt. 1):

Example 1: Vol 7 (File 22 - Toilet Paper Moon)

“I hear there’s a lounge on the fourth floor here.” “A lounge…?” “It’s got a night view and you can drink there.”

「ここ、四十五階にラウンジがあるんだって」 「……ラウンジ？」 「夜景が見えて、お酒が飲めるとこ」

Here, the Japanese text says 45th floor, instead of the 4th floor.

Example 2: Vol 6 (File 20 - T is for Templeborn)

I ordered tonkatsu curry with a black roux and lots of cheese, while Toriko had roasted flounder with ginger.

私は真っ黒なルーにチーズのたっぷりかかったカツカレー、鳥子はヒラメのカツと生姜焼き。

The bolded part states "flounder katsu and shougayaki", which actually means a piece of breaded, deep fried flounder, with pork stir-fried in ginger sauce on the side.

Chinese Censorship

As most would know, censorship is heavy-handed in China, so how does a certified Yuri series get processed over there?

The Gay™ parts get re-written or entirely scrubbed and replaced with something more 'innocuous'.

I don't read OP in Chinese, but I stumbled upon this tweet by a professional Chinese translator complaining about the censorship in the Chinese version of the novels.

In Vol 5 (File 19 - Hasshaku-sama Revival), Toriko gives Sorawo a surprise kiss after they escape Hasshaku-sama:

“With no time for me to close my eyes, our lips touched… then parted again [1]. Freed from her hands [2], I stumbled backwards. As I covered my mouth and stared at her [3], Toriko said, “Let’s call it even with that.”

This is the original Japanese:

目を閉じる間もなく、唇と唇が触れて……離れた [1]。 しつこい両手から解放されて [2]、私はよろよろと後ずさった。 口を押さえる私と目を合わせた��ま [3]、鳥子が言った。 「これでチャラにしてあげる」

Translation: "With no time for me to close my eyes, our lips touched... then parted again [1]. Freed from her stubborn arms [2], I stumbled backwards. As I covered my mouth, Toriko's eyes met mine [3], and she said, "Let’s call it even with that.""

Here's the Chinese text:

我甚至来不及闭上眼，只见鸟子弹了下我的额头。 [1] 好痛！[1] 抓紧不放的那双手放开了我 [2]，我趔趄着后退了几步，捂住嘴巴。 鸟子依然注视着我的眼睛 [3]，说道：“这样就一笔勾销了。”

Translation: "With no time for to close my eyes, Toriko flicked me on the forehead. That hurt! [1] Her arms that were gripping strongly released me [2], and I staggered back a few steps, covering my mouth. Still looking into my eyes [3], Toriko said, "Let's call it even with that.""

As you can tell from [1], the Chinese version replaces the kiss with a flick on the forehead, but keeps the part where Sorawo covers her mouth. You can think of it as the translator screaming "it's NOT her forehead and it's NOT a flick" with their mouth taped and their hands tied behind their back.

Honestly... I can't wait for the Chinese translation of Vol 8 to come out, if it ever does. I'd buy a copy just to see how they deal with censoring the entire book LOL.

I also bolded [2] and [3] so you can compare/contrast how the same scene is written across three languages. Apart from the censored kiss, the Chinese translation actually follows the Japanese text more closely than the English version.

Classification

A pet-peeve of mine is people calling the books light novels. OP is not LN!!! It's a bona fide novel series under the banner of a respected major publishing house which is also the largest sci-fi publisher in Japan. Don't let the illustrations on the cover fool you.

[sparrow-in-the-field]

I finished watching lady baseball show last night and I have a lot of thoughts!! Some of them controversial?? Perhaps lol. Let's see!

First and most importantly, I really enjoyed the show! Anything critical I say is said with love lol. Overall it was a good show!

I loveddddd Clance. Clance and Max's friendship was everything to me (probably a post of its own but straight/gay friendships hold such a special place in my heart). I love them, they were so so so good I want to protect them at all costs. Clance was so wonderfully witty, she was cracking me up the whole show.

I also adored Lupe and Jess. If it was up to me Lupe would have been the mc of the Peaches. She was such an interesting and complex character who exhibited growth throughout the season and I loved every scene with her. And she's hot but that's not the point.

Jess too! I would have loved more time with Jess, I also ate up all of her scenes. And she looks like a butch version of my wife so she was also hot but again not the point. I'm not saying for sure that some Jess/Lupe fics could be coming, but... I'm not not saying it either.

Alright my controversial (or maybe not idk) take: I wasn't a big fan of Carson/Greta...whoops. idk I just didn't think they had great chemistry, it felt like a lot of telling rather than showing. They were supposed to really like each other but a lot of their scenes together they kinda just seemed annoyed/mad at each other 😬 idk sorry to my fellow lesbians I have failed you.

My conspiracy theory is that if the show was supposed to be multiple seasons then Greta/Carson was never meant to be end game and it was actually Carson/Max end game but idk that's probably not realistic with the times but I mean. At least they seemed to actually like each other don't kill me lol

Another big reason why I think Greta/Carson doesn't work well is because their relationship isn't reflected in the game. A huge component of sports shows/films is the sport being a reflection of real life, especially the relationships of people involved (see for more: my obsession with tbitb coxstroke). Baseball is the perfect game for this because it has an incredibly important dynamic/relationship within the game: catcher and pitcher. It absolutely baffled me that they didn't have the main couple be the catcher and pitcher (cough Carson/Max, cough). And tbh? Maybe not romantically, but Carson and Lupe's dynamic was far more interesting to me than Greta and Carson, because I got to see how it matter on the field. Greta and Carson barely played off each other in the sport, it was mind boggling to me.

On a similar note, I loved whenever the show was focused around baseball. I feel like they kind of lost that in places, and whenever we'd get back to an actual game where we'd get to see them play I'd be like "man I love this!" What can I say, I love a good sports film!

Sometimes the pacing of the show felt off to me. Like certain plot points they'd squeeze in and resolve pretty quickly even if they felt like a big deal, while others felt drawn out longer than they needed to be. Idk, writing a first season of a show is probably hard so I get it, just something that bugged me in a "I see so much potential, it just needed a little more tweaking" way.

As a fan of the og movie too, it was cute to see the little nods they made to it throughout the show. I kept having to explain them to my wife cuz she hasn't seen it lol (like when they started singing in the last episode my wife was like "...what is happening" lmaoo)

I think those are my main points. Anyway I enjoyed it and I'm sad it's over. Mwah I love you lesbian baseball show, I wish you had lasted longer so I could find out if my conspiracy was right. The end.

[rottenpumpkin13]

Pumpkin! Thoughts on the First Soldier pt. 1 finale? What did you think? Rosen’s death? Miniroth? The locket? Adult Seph? Glenn?

Thoughts on getting young Angeal and possibly Genesis? 👀

Also Hojo…

(I didn't play the First Soldier 🥲) But I do have thoughts! Wall of text incoming

It was really good to see Sephiroth form a bond with Matt, Glenn and Lucia, since everyone kinda had the idea that Sephiroth didn't have any friends before Gen and Angeal came along. But the trio were his first real friends :') Uncle Glenn was the best older brother figure, and it sucks that they didn't have that much time together.

I like the glimpse we got into Sephiroth's personality/life as a youngster, especially since it confirmed things like him wishing he knew more about his mother with the photograph, his reaction to being called a cyborg hinted at a possible struggle with his humanity from a very early age. Overall he portrayed the lack of experience and awkwardness you'd expect from a teenager who grew up isolated from kids his age, trained to be a weapon. I saw people on Twitter say they woobified him in FS, but he's literally just being a child?? A child who didn't have any experience interacting with the outside world at that.

We got confirmation that Sephiroth was abused by Hojo, and the teaser we have for chapter 2 kinda leads us to believe we're gonna see more about that. It feels like I'm strapped onto a rollercoaster going 200mph in the "Hojo is a creepy abusive bastard" direction and I don't like it.

Another thing I noticed is that Sephiroth's tendency to prioritize the safety of those he cares about over Shinra's orders was evident even from a young age. I'm curious to see how this trait will unfold when Angeal (and hopefully Genesis) roll around.

The thing with Rosen's death: Sephiroth was ultimately cornered into an inescapable situation, but I think what happened in Rhadore could've only ended in Sephiroth's losing his friends or them all dying. Glenn's unwavering determination to save Rosen and leave the island likely would have overridden any attempt to listen/adhere to Rosen's wishes. It's doubtful he would've even considered Rosen's reasoning, which could've ended in disaster.

It's still mind boggling to me that it was Glenn of all people who ended up being responsible for losing the locket again lol. I think we're gonna see it resurface again but this time without Lucrecia's photo. (because that would be mean to Sephiroth) (Square loves torturing Sephiroth 🙃)

Speaking of which, what really stuck out to me about the cutscene with adult Sephiroth is how— despite his involvement in Shinra's war crimes and every vile thing he did for them—he still tried to do good in his own way. AND THE WAy he mentioned Glenn when he was going on about compassion being able to counteract evil, hinting that Glenn planted that seed in his heart....🥲🥲🥲💔💔💔

Sephiroth never aspired to be a hero, he was forced into it, but he had a deep desire to help people, and it makes his pre-Nibelheim personality as a whole so bizarre. (Bizarre in a good way because he was a cinnamon roll stained with the blood of Shinra's enemies). Despite Shinra's (and Hojo bitch ass) attempts to mold him into a weapon, he retained that genuine kindness within him. When he saved the troopers you could see the genuine pride he felt in his actions. But the moment a camera appeared his joy was shattered, I guess because he knew that his act of heroism would be twisted into Shinra propaganda, and he would once again be celebrated not for the good he did, but because it played into this untouchable celebrity image they stuck him with.

I hope we see more Glenn in part 2 (before he dies) (ouch). I wanna see how his, Matt's and Lucia's desertion unfolded and how he ended up joining Wutai's side. Another burning question I have is whether Glenn and Genesis ever crossed paths. Considering Glenn's comment to Sephiroth about "looking for a friend," it seems he knew about Genesis' desertion in Wutai. But I wonder if there was an interaction between them where Glenn shared his own experiences of desertion and possibly even encouraged Genesis to do the same. It's just a theory I have that won't even be touched on BUT I WISH, OKAY? A Glenn + Genesis interaction about Sephiroth is all I ask for lol.

I'm dreading Glenn's death because it's going to be utterly heartbreaking for Sephiroth, especially considering he's already grappling with Genesis' desertion based on the timeline.

Another mini theory I have is that the introduction of Angeal and Genesis could mirror Sephiroth's initial encounter with Glenn, Matt, and Lucia, who eventually deserted. It seems like a parallel storyline, and by the end of chapter 2, we might dive into the Crisis Core storyline that explores Angeal and Genesis's desertions. Idk it's just a theory, since Sephiroth befriending people who later abandon SOLDIER is a pattern 🙃

That coupled with Glenn's death sets up a scenario where Sephiroth loses everyone he cares about in a very short span of time.

Also,

FUCK HOJO

No actually don't fuck Hojo, fucking Hojo and people in white coats is what lead to the entire FF7 storyline.

Thank you for letting me rant lol ❤️

Btw the thing I'm most excited for is Baby Angeal idc. If you couldn't tell already by this blog, I'm a Crisis Whore big fan of Crisis Core :)

[izpira-se-zlato]

Munich, 26.03.24

Gig report! Can’t believe this tour is almost over :o In true Joler Ot fashion I am writing this while our train is losing a broken carriage so we're picking up delays. Fun.

The queue was. Insane. I just. Boggle at how we went from the chill Berlin and Hamburg and Leipzig queues to this.

The actual queueing was pretty chill regardless, thankfully

There was a whole-ass. Like. Tumblr meetup? Not like, planned, but I met (at various points) @occhi-verdi-come-il-mare, @nyx-aira, @itskrejsaitsparty, @j-restlessgeek, @lovvecherrymotion, @thisismyobsessionnow, @zadig-fate, @mogoce-nocoj and probably more because my brain is a sieve. So wild to just meet these people irl, you know?

My place in the queue was right in front of the person who sold Kris and me our EA tickets, which I thought was super funny

Kris was technically way further ahead of me but traded her place with a teenager whose only gig on this tour was this one and who was super bummed by someone cutting in line in front of them, and instead joined me further back and jfc we had so, so much fun. So glad I didn't have to be all alone. Gigs are more fun with friends, as it turns out (who woulda thunk)

I got a lot of short messages for my gig memory book 😊

I'm actually out of I 💛 Hojan and medium Hojan stickers. And I think tall Hojan stickers? So there's an end in sight 😂

super late gig start (EA doors was at 19:00)

The Munich venue is tiny and so Kris and I were… 7th or 8th row Jance side. I saw pretty well for the soundcheck, but after general doors a tall girl with two friends pushed her way in front of us (cutting in from the side) and severely limited my view… until a queue friend asked if we wanted to swap places bc she's taller and also wanted to be next to her friend (who was another tall person in front of us). So Kris and I went on Jan-side kinda in front of the speakers and it was a really great view 😊(thank you again)

We got NGVOT (no Kris version) and Vem da greš for soundcheck

Jance played each others' instruments (again). Well. I think Jan played Nace's bass while Nace either touched the dials or the tremolo. I hate them

there was also another Jance moment that got such a homophobojan from Kris I had to laugh. I think Jance were playing their instruments at each other at that moment? Kris was just "jfc guys" from his expression

Sector 5 were so, so good from our spot. Finally heard the lyrics again (I heard only the drums and maybe a bit of the guitar in Cologne). Sound-wise, our spot was excellent ngl.

I'll definitely miss them. If they have a concert in Berlin I can swing (or come by where I live), I'll definitely go. But yeah, I really grew to like them! (also they're babies. like. 21. They all studied music in Berlin, which is where they met. And the guitarist used to do parcour for several years which is why he did a backflip on stage each show)

they were definitely adopted into the family with glasses given to them (they kept falling off Mika's face so the guitarist, Johann, put them on and looked slej) and people singing along and just. The vibes were great. You could also definitely tell they'd settled into the stage compared to Berlin (which was their first gig for JO)

JC Stewart 🥰

I really grew to like his set, if he ever comes near where I live, I'll go for sure

I still don't understand the timeline of the boys meeting JC tho. It doesn't make sense. According to JC, Conor introduced them at the end of last year, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have time to be in the UK. At least not all five of them

Kris and I attempted to speak JC's jokes at the same time as him. It worked worryingly well

Actual gig was Katrina opener

Jan in only a leather jacket, worn open?? Maybe Bojan was right and they did run out of shirts xD boys have you heard of the concept of a laundry machine?

Nace in a simple white shirt, tucked into his pants. Jfc. Truly starting to be Nace girlie (gn) period

Kris wore a half collar underneath a sweater vest which was a look. What kind of look? I'm still not sure, if I'm honest

Jure in the sleeveless jeans vest and otherwise topless. I caught glimpses of him and hnnng

Bojan was also there ig

well. There was a small girl in the audience (on her mom's shoulders) of around. 7 or 8 years? So we got a whole lot of heart-eyes-Bojan

the girl sang UM and Bojan pulled her onto the stage (no Bojan in the audience bc of the speakers)

no idea how long UM lasted bc I put stuff on Instagram in the meantime

we got Barve 😭 I screamed so much and was so happy and gaaaah. I love this song so so much. And of course Bojan did the Ju-re Ma-ček! (and so did the audience)

we got Schlager 😭 Bluza my beloved where are you

tho tbf they look so fucking happy playing that song

Nace almost went to his knees in front of Jan twice (at least)

they also did that "leaning against each other"-thing again

I didn't film a lot bc I was too busy vibing, though I did take a bunch of pictures

Fairy!Bojan. Or as @itskreisjaitsparty put it on tumblr: Prinzessing Lilifee at home

People threw stuff on stage like a crown with a veil attached and sparkly glasses and so Bojan went, "Kris, you have to put on everything they've thrown at you!" and Kris did

Nace got heart-shaped glasses with rainbow studding and tried to show Jan immediately but Jan was busy 😂

The atmosphere of the gig was really, really good

The girls next to us started bawling during Barve iirc and just. Didn't stop. The cute security guard near us (who I think recognised me from the December Strom gig) shared amused glances with me bc the girls were kinda adorable. At least that's how I chose to interpret their expression

someone fainted ahead of us. Though not badly enough to be removed, just sat down for a while while the security guard stood, well, guard and had the girl drink something

It was actually so freeing not to be not in the very front but off to the side. We had space to dance and make snarky/funny comments at each other and just laugh

I got a Vita wave! She was shooting from behind the merch table, which was up two stairs from where I was, and so I kept glancing back, and just before she made her way into the crowd to shoot from there, she waved at me :D

They got food (Trolli gummi bears 😂) and Nace fed Kris two of them. I didn't catch the moment on video but it was so cute

After the gig, we talked a bunch to the Sector 5 guys. They're kinda adorable

JO left immediately without even saying goodbye to the Sector 5 guys. Guess Bojan wasn't the only one out late last night (it was a bit disappointing because Munich didn't get them last time, either)

we still stayed and talked to each other a whole bunch well after it was clear JO had left -- chatted with Mika (Sector 5 singer) a bit more, and then just the tumblr girlies

as we turned to leave for Astrid's hotel room (just like last time) well after the band had left (just like last time), I said, "well, at least this time they won't have reason to tag me on IG" (unlike last time), only to open my phone to a tag from Jan bc he restoried my pic😂 collecting yet more twinning moments from Jance ig

[the-algebra-thing]

ok so if you couldn't tell I'm rewatching the howl's moving castle movie bc I want to be reading the book but I have crafts to work through for decorations for my friends bridal shower in two days. so I haven't got past chapter 5 in my reread but I put on the movie—in subtitles, which I've never done before, bc it was all I could find for free—and I am just a little mind boggled. firstly I didn't realize how staunchly on the side of the book I had become despite loving this movie so much for so many years, and secondly . I'm feeling. I don't know.

like I don't want to cry misogyny but it feels kinda shitty that while the book was about secrets and truth and selflessness and knowing yourself and trusting yourself and all that shit right, because. in the book sophie's image of herself as incapable and unworthy has little to do with her looks and a lot to do with her birth and her responsibilities and what she sees as her lot in life. and howl's image of himself as capable and worthy and beautiful and a lady-killer is part of a web of lies he layers on top of one another to keep himself from being afraid, which ends up leaving his conscience wrapped up in countless layers and barely visible to the naked eye. and eventually sophie learns she has innate magical power, embraces this and strikes out on her own, and comes to love howl in spite of what she tells herself is supposed to happen to her. and all of howls lies eventually run themselves out, and at the end of the book he's stripped of his defenses and has to learn to stand in one place and take what comes anyways. and he comes to love sophie without even thinking much about it, without his beauty spells at all.

in the movie howl is still a self obsessed freak but his Heart Of Gold is put on display immediately, and sophie's self-worth issues are displayed almost exclusively in her bitterness at not being beautiful while her unshrinking personality that's supposed to show itself when she gets spelled is completely back burnered. she has very little presence compared to the captivating and hilarious personality she has to offer in jones' book. in the movie she's very anxious following the transformation, instead of it registering mostly as the weight of the life she had assigned herself off her shoulders, and the complexity of her motivations that you experience through the internal monologue in the book is almost completely flattened into aw man . I sure wish I was beautiful. this is really scary that there's a spell on me. her bold temperament is displayed as somewhat of a second thought, while we get to watch howl be full of righteous indignation and tired wisdom at the state of the warring world outside. to be fair I'm only halfway through the movie but in terms of the books contents we're actually right where I left off in chapter five out of twenty one, and jones had no trouble at all establishing a really good framework for all that I've described by then. I'm so much more disappointed than I expected to be goddamn

[thesunfyre4446]

I really don't get why people are so obsessed with viserys naming rhaenyra his heir. Frankly speaking, the moment aegon was born his words lost their meaning almost entirely since westeros is a medieval society. If we look at the real world actions that inspired the dance (the anarchy) we will see that not only Matilda (the ONLY heir, to whom nobles swore not once but TWICE) was challenged but she was challenged by her first cousin whose claim rose from female line (and he wasn't even the eldest). imo it's the biggest flaw of the dance bc rhaenyra's claim is so weak from medieval point of view that the fact she was supported by so many nobles is what truly makes asoiaf fantasy lol (and don't get me started on a general political side of the dance, bc it's a mess and f&b in general always looked to me like a soap opera rather than a history book about politics and stuff). And considering she also wanted her illegitimate child to succeed her it should've literally stripped her of any remaining support as well, her only advantage should've been in dragons and possible political alliances/marriges.

The other thing that kinda bothers me is that aegon is called an usurper even in universe which considering the rules of the realm is mind-boggling tbh. I feel like the fans (and grrm himself or maybe he just wanted something cool) don't grasp that feudal society (like in asoiaf) and centralised government (like absolute monarchy which is what many fans believe targaryens to be) are two completely different beasts.

Sorry if it's a bit messy, English is not my first language and I write on my phone

i could write you a 100 page essay about matilda's (yes, i'm a huge history nerd) tragedy of eventually realizing that she will never be able to sit the english throne as a woman and starting to fight for her son to be king instead (and he ended up being a horrible horrible man that abuses women f*ck you henry ii justice for eleanor) ]

yeah the houses that supported the greens claimed that the oath they swore to rhaenyra lost it's value the second the king had a son. in ep 3 the lords all assume that aegon is now the heir without viserys even making an official announcement , it's that obvious to them. it's very problematic when the lords believe that aegon naturally has a stronger claim then rhaenyra - the chosen heir - that's a succession crisis. aegon's claim is based on precedence & the andal law and rhaenyra's is based on the king. (that's the problem, rhaenyra's whole claim & political power are completely dependent on vis, the second he died - she was pretty much doomed).

yeah nonnie F&B politics are messy and illogical lol, but i will say that the lords who supported rhaenyra didn't do it in the name of feminism, most of them did it for personal gain or because they believed the blacks had a better chance of winning. (like jayne arryn that was worried that her own claim to the vale will be challenged if the greens won).

[drawbauchery]

ok i was thinking about it, and if the events of the bus au is post all three killing games, then how are the memories and physical bodies not syncing up?? i feel like it’s a relatively fair assumption to make that the bus au is a simulation, given well, the lore hints, but also with how physical features don’t entirely match? (i.e. missing tattoos, scars, hajime’s eyes, hair length, nagito’s hand going from robotic to synthetic or sm??, etc.) but like. in that case, how do they retain the complete memory of the killing games? in sdra2, the character’s appearances matched with how they looked when they were in their pre despair trauma state, and when learning more about everything it was through either indirect (non memory) deduction like with nagito and the book, or in hajime’s case, where memory was more at play, izuru/his despair state, does actually pop up??? so if the three states of these characters is pre despair, despair, and post despair, if everyone mentally is post despair but appearing pre despair on the bus, it kiiinda makes me wonder about how the space of the bus au dimension works 🤨🤨🤨 sorry for the ramble the lore to this au is boggling my mind i don’t know what this means

WELLLL what i CAN answer is that i'm kinda ignoring some of the memory stuff from dr2

the survivors seemed to remember the sim after waking up so i'm just applying that to the whole cast. the remnants remember the game and everything they did as despairs. some stuff might be spotty though.

but you are mmmmmmnoticing things :3c

[zoeykallus]

Hello you incredible creator and congrats on the 2k followers!! That's kinda mind boggling, but you totally deserve it🥰

I wonder if I might ask a bit of a needy request: I pulled something pretty bad in my back on Friday, and, despite doing everything from cold and hot packs to getting a massage gun, I'm still pretty near cripplesmd from it. But life goes on - still have to work and cook and do all the normal life things.

Could I request the batch and maybe Fives and Wolffe helping a fem reader go through something like that?

All the love ❤️ ❤

Aloha!

So sorry I'm so late with this one, hun! I hope you are doing much better by now! Let me see what the guys can do for you....

The Bad Batch/Wolffe/Fives x Reader HCs - Love And Care

Fluff/Taking Care Of Hurt Reader

__________

Hunter

He is very considerate and empathetic, so until you get better, you won't have to do anything on your own. Hunter will take over all of your duties that he can, and possibly divide the rest among his brothers, depending on how busy he is in general at that time.

"You will see a doctor, and I will take you there. After that, you will rest until you are better. If you don't take it easy, I'm sure it will only get worse," he says gently but firmly.

Don't worry, Hunter is organizing everything and has it all under control, so you can sit back and relax and take care of yourself for now. He's calm and collected, and even if your current condition complicates things, that won't discourage him in any way. There is always a way to keep things working, and he'll find one.

Hunter doesn't complain, all he wants is for you to recover, it doesn't matter how long it takes you.

Massages and meals in bed are not uncommon, he spoils you whenever he can.

Echo

Oh, dear… Echo scurries around you like a headless chicken at times. If it were up to him, you wouldn't do anything alone anymore. He takes over your duties for the time being. Woe betide you if he catches you doing something in the household!

"Cyare! You should rest!", his voice rumbles sternly through the room.

You flinch, startled. Echo takes the duster from your hand and gives you one of his famous, lovingly stern looks.

"You're quite a handful," he grumbles, rolling his eyes with a gentle shake of his head, "Can't leave you out of my sight for five minutes!"

"But-"

He shoots you a reproving, stony look, and you fall silent, before you really start your protest.

Echo is stern, very much so when he needs to, especially when he wants you to take time to recover. But he's also thoroughly loving and caring. He doesn't just push you onto the couch or bed. Echo makes sure you have enough entertainment media, books, holo movies and the like at hand. And of course, very important, food and beverage. Echo is a damn good cook, and he'll do it twice as much for you.

He smiles and says, "You will see, if you listen to me, you will be back on track sooner than you think".

Wrecker

Wrecker looks at you scrutinizing, concern in his gaze.

"Are you in pain?"

You think about downplaying it, you don't really want him to worry, but the piercing look he gives you stops you. That look feels like it could instantly debunk any lies.

As if reading your mind, he says, "The truth, please."

"Well…" you begin uncertainly.

His brows go up questioningly.

"Well?" he asks.

When you finally nod and your hand automatically moves to your aching back, his critical gaze collapses and his expression softens, even if you were a stone, that look would cause you to melt.

You smile lopsidedly, and he finally returns the smile.

Softly he says in his deep, heavy voice, "Okay, Mesh'la, you make yourself comfortable, I'll take over the rest of your duties for today and tomorrow I'll accompany you to see a doctor."

"But-"

He gently but firmly raises a finger and playfully taps your lips.

"No buts. I'll take care of everything today, and tomorrow and the day after if I have to"

Tech

"You need to rest"

He won't take no for an answer, not in this case. He examined you himself because he wants to play it safe, as always, and he is determined to force you to recover if he has to.

Tech has everything under control, already included your tasks in his daily routine. It doesn't matter how long you have to take it easy, Tech takes care of everything, including you.

You are always provided with all you need, and of course he likes to keep you informed about what's going on. When he sits down with you, he tells you everything important and, Tech being Tech, a lot more.

"I have everything under control, there is no need to feel uneasy, and a guilty conscience is just as inappropriate, Cyare".

He brought food from the road, cooking is not really his forte, and he just has too many other things to do at the moment. But he sits down and eats with you in the evening, among other things, to make sure you eat something.

Crosshair

He's not the caretaker type. Crosshair is still worried, of course, and tries to relieve you, among other things, by taking over your duties as much as he can and bringing food home, so you don't have to cook.

Other than that, though, he won't coddle you or openly pity you.

"How are you today?"

"Unchanged, so far."

He nods, throws in a holo movie, and orders you some food. His care is rather without comment and far less tender than, say, Echo would do. But you can still rely on him, he won't leave you alone with your pain.

In his own way, he takes the pressure off you and always checks to see how you're doing. With him, you don't have the feeling of being a burden to anyone, Crosshair somehow has a talent for taking away exactly that feeling.

Maybe because he's rather quiet and doesn't express his concern so loudly. Or maybe it's just his quiet closeness and casual way of tossing you a pillow for your back, throwing himself next to you on the sofa, and just pretending you're just having a relaxing movie night. It's probably a little of both.

As cocky as he is sometimes, he doesn't complain.

Wolffe

"The doctor said you need to take it easy. I'm not going to argue with you, just listen to what me and the doctor say".

His piercing gaze is stern on you, his arms crossed in front of his strong chest.

"And don't even start trying to tell me what else you need to take care of, it can either wait or I'll take care of it."

You have no choice but to surrender, no one is more stubborn than Wolffe…. Well, Rex maybe, sometimes.

With a surrendered sigh, you finally give in.

"Okay"

He's built you a camp in your living room, one with a support pillow and blanket, so you can sit back and listen to music or watch holos.

He covers you up and says, "I'm going out again to get some stuff for you, when I come back we'll order some food, you'll stay in your sick bed until then"

Wolffe looks at you, expecting you to confirm his order.

You look up at him and say dryly, "Yes, sir!"

He raises his eyebrows briefly, but then nods and goes on his way. Wolffe may be a little rougher around the edges, but he cares, in his unyielding way.

Fives

He is trying to take over your duties, but it is quite possible that this will create more chaos than anything else. Fives provides you with entertainment media, watches movies with you and discusses with you again and again that you should take it easy.

However, when you see the mess he leaves behind, sometimes you can't help but sneak up and do a few things he's only done halfway or not properly.

Fives often catches you doing this and scolds you, gently, but he makes very theatrical gestures, which sometimes just looks hilarious and makes you laugh.

Some days he'll come storming into your apartment with your spare key, exclaiming, "Gotcha!"

Then, as you lie or sit dutifully on your bed, he pauses and his eyes narrow critically.

You say, "Nope"

"You've already done everything, right?"

You smile wryly at him, whereupon he sighs in surrender, throwing his hands in the air theatrically.

"You'll never get better that way!"

Fives is messy but loving, he cares for you, he does his best. He likes to do it with a lot of love and a lot of chaotic energy.

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

@rintheemolion

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@meshla-madalene

@chxpsi

@thebahdbitch

@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri

@darkangel4121

@ttzamara

@arctrooper69

@padawancat97

@agenteliix

@allsystemsblue

@palliateclaws

@either-madness-or-brilliance

@ortizshinkaroff

@andy-solo1

@hunterssecretrecipe

@heyitsaloy

@greaser-wolf

@extrahotpixels

@hated-by-me

@hunterxcrosshair

@malicemercy

@bebopsworld

@echos-girlfriend

@cpnt616

@dangraccoon

@starwarsnerd111

[bookwyrminspiration]

okay wait your lady gisela/alicorns post is circling my brain because i am thinking So Hard about just. the implications of being a polyglot in general Elf society. because reading clarette’s wiki page — and also her very brief profile in unlocked — and i’m just. consider my mind boggled. the Fitz Gets Stabbed scene is so core to my memory because i remember reading it and going woah. what about the language lady though. like obviously fitz Gets Stabbed. that’s very important. but also this councillor shows up and she can talk to the bugs???? that was everything. and it’s like!!!! polyglots usually have a second special ability, according to keeper canon, but i Distinctly Remember reading that and going “woag. that’s so cool. i’d kill to Just Have the Language Magic though.” and then you look at gisela and it’s like!!!! what is the extent of her Language Magic!!!

anyway i mostly rambled here but!! i think it’s rambling you’d enjoy, so. Polyglot Thoughts be upon ye 🫡

I was debating its uses in the alicorn hostage scene as I wrote that post. Because there's an alicorn language Sophie can translate--but is that applicable to all polyglots or because she's alicorn based? And even if it's widely applicable (Clarette demonstrates the ability to commune with animals), we've only seen the alicorn language mentally--in which case Gissy would have to rely on what Enlightened Silveny knows.

Polyglottism in broader society is so interesting though because how applicable is it? Most elves aren't encountering anything but Enlightened, and each species appears to only have one species/dialect/accent (which is highly likely just for the sake of simpler worldbuilding). So that's what, 5 other languages they might use?

If there was more contact with humans/the human assistance program continued I could see more of a use. They say telepaths were monitoring humans, but who they'd actually be able to effectively monitor is quite limited--you'd need a polyglot in there.

And then there's the whole thing with mimicking? It's not limited to polyglots (Keefe mimics prior to manifesting), but it's more associated--I wonder why they can do that. What they've used it for. Kinda like how vociferators don't seem to have a very practical application in their society. In what situation would an elf need to be able to perfectly mimic another person's voice. I'm sure there's some, but it seems rare

Would also love to know more about other double manifesters. Sophie's an outlier so she doesn't count, but we've got Cadence. And I'd like to know beyong that.

Of course from the human perspective we're all over the idea of polyglotism, but the linguistic worldbuilding of the Lost Cities is a little lackluster (to me), so I'm curious about it in-world. Anyway, woe, only slightly related response ramble be upon ye!