#the translation of the text seems a bit clunky in some parts

[argyrocratie]

"The darkest hour is before the dawn?"

Assembly's view on another year of trench warfare in 2024 (december 2023)

"War is a kind of action, thanks to which people who do not know each other kill each other for the sake of glory and benefit of people who know each other very well, but do not kill each other." (Paul Valéry)

(...)

Stalemate. This word began to appear in almost every analytical material of the Western press about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Since the retreat of the Russian army from Kherson in November last year, the front line has frozen almost without movement, despite the bloody attempts of each side to achieve a turning point in their favor and gain operational space. After the new Verdun – the winter-spring meat grinder near Bakhmut – came a new battle on Somme for a dozen villages in the steppes of the Azov Coast, which from October smoothly turned into another Verdun/Bakhmut around Avdeevka. If it falls, the same will continue on new frontiers a little further. Meanwhile, the mess of mud and corpses in Krynki, perhaps, is already looking like a new Passendale.

If the current positional balance is not compared to the First World War only by the lazy, its finale is not yet remembered so often. It was disrupted by the workers of the warring countries:

“The war did not end in 1918 because of the military defeat of one side or another. The generals would have happily spent a few more years killing millions of people to achieve their goals. It ended because it was against the various armies and populations of Europe took action. Most people know that Russia emerged from the war in 1917 thanks to the Russian Revolution. One of the key factors in the revolution was that the workers and peasants of Russia rebelled against the war and against their own ruling class. What is less known is that that there had been major mutinies in the French army, as well as smaller but equally significant mutinies in the British army, in 1917. The key uprising ended the war was the Kiel mutiny of the German navy in 1918. The High Command, in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war, ordered bring the practically intact fleet to sea. However, the naval underground organizations, which included anarchist sailors, were already expecting this. In response, they formed the Soviets and seized their ships, surrounding ports and barracks. This caused a wave of military mutinies and workers' strikes, forcing the panicked ruling class of not only Germany, but also Europe as a whole to sit down at the negotiating table and work out a peace treaty.”

By the time of the probable arrival of Trump or another isolationist candidate for the presidency in the United States, the Russian-Ukrainian war will rage for 3 years already. This is approximately the same amount of time it took for the revolutionary situation to appear then. Neither the barrier detachments, nor the military tribunals, nor the hordes of street screamers for “until the bitter end” helped.

The very threat that those celebrating 2024 in the trenches next New Year will meet on the neutral land, drink 100 grams each and go home with weapons, can become a powerful incentive for the Kremlin and the Ze-Office to begin to negotiate in order to prevent something much more dangerous for both of them option. But even if the scenario of the last century beginning is repeated – instead of, for example, the story of Iran and Iraq, which got stuck in the same massacre for 8 years and then both declared it won, that only strengthened the two regimes – this means that the next year will bring many more rivers of blood. According to BBC News Ukraine, with the new bill on mobilization Ukrainians may be required to appear at the recruitment centers within 48 hours after receiving a summons by email or registered mail. Death postmen will receive more tools to check the military registration documents of citizens on the streets, deliver them to enlistment offices, and put them on the wanted list. For ignoring of summonses, the terms of arrest and fines will be increased, it will be possible to prosecute violators in absentia, and the circle of those entitled to a deferment will be narrowed. It is also proposed military registration for those in prison. Will prisoners want to go to the front, knowing that even law-abiding people, to put it mildly, are not very well trained and equipped – a big question that could threaten prison riots. It will be especially hard for draft evaders who prefer to go to prison rather than fight. When the “Assembly” began to sound the alarm about the fact that Kharkov courts stopped issuing suspended sentences for failure to appear to a unit, many local readers brushed it aside like it is “better to jail than to the grave.” Well, let's see how soon the first will cease to be an alternative to the second.

(...)

According to counting by “Mediazona”, released on the anniversary of the start of Russian mobilization, over the year in the Russian Federation there have been almost four times more sentences for unauthorized leaving of a unit and desertion than there were annually in such cases before the war: since July 2023, courts have handed down more than 500 of them every month.

(...)

It should also be taken into account that the motivation to desert is reduced by the European borders closed to Russians, the social control system in Russian cities, unprecedented in the history of wars, and the predominantly open terrain of south-eastern Ukraine, where it is difficult to hide from the military police.

The decay of the Russian army is also hindered by Ukrainian propaganda, which portrays as enemies all Russian citizens who are not lacqueying for Ukraine, even if they refuse to fight (they say, these are the same “orcs”, only funky). This is being done for the same reason why in the defense of Ukraine the emphasis is on driving people under pressure instead of developing voluntary initiative: horizontal ties at the grassroots are dangerous for anyone holding power. But this same barrack slavery can contribute to the fraternization of yesterday’s workers in camouflage uniforms, quickly making them understand that forced people have nothing to share, and the enemy is those who drive them to slaughter.

Almost right now, was published a statement of Russian soldiers from the Moscow and Ulyanovsk regions about monetary extortions and beatings from the command. Servicemen of military unit 41680 stated that two weeks after signing the contract, they were sent to an assault on the Avdeevka direction without training or preparation. From their words, most fighters are “beaten and kept in basements” before a mission."

...

[writingquestionsanswered]

I have character’s speak in different languages. But I’m don’t know how to format them speaking in the language.

I don’t want to do a language tag like: He spoke to her in Russian “where are you?”

But I also think it looks clunky to put in something like: “Γεια σου λιακάδα!” [character shouts] to me it looks jarring and doesn’t seem to fit.

I see a some writers put the words in italics to indicate a language change but I want the actual language in my book and not just a cop out.

How would you recommend writing dialogue in a different language?

Dialogue In a Different Language

For the most part, you don't want to write all of a character's dialogue in a language other than the one your story is written in, and certainly not in a different alphabet. You can have little bits of dialogue in another language to add flavor to your story, but most of it will need to be translated. And dialogue needs to be written in the alphabet of the language the story is written in. However, if your character is reading text, such as on a sign, you could use the language's alphabet and translate it both phonetically and into the language of the story.

If you're writing your story in English, you can assume that the majority of your readers don't speak Greek. So, having a line of dialogue in Greek does nothing for the reader. It serves no purpose and pulls the reader out of the story. Furthermore, readers who aren't fluent in reading and writing Greek won't even be able to sound out a sentence like "Γεια σου λιακάδα!" so, again, there's no point in writing it.

So, at the very least you need to translate the language phonetically to the alphabet of the story you're writing. If a Greek character shouts, "Geia sou liakáda!" at least the reader can do something with that... it adds something to the story.

Ideally, you would do something like:

"Geia sou liakáda!" the old man crooned as he pulled me into a warm embrace. Hello, sunshine.

However, you don't want to have a character whose every line is in another language. Instead, you can alternate through different means of translating. For example:

Stepping back from the hug, the old man said, "It's been a long time. Too long." At least that's what I think he said. My Greek was a little rusty.

You can read more in the following posts:

Character Speaking Another Language (Without Actually Writing It…) Using Another Language in Your Story Dialogue Scenes with Language Barriers 

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

See my ask policies

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

[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��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.

[eloquent-vowel]

I have had a few bucky x read fic ideas bouncing around in my head and i cant write! So here is one,

Sam find a person who stairs and doesnt talk a whole lot because they uses ✨telepathy ✨. So Sam think they would be a good fit for Bucky, but he doesn’t know they have that power he just thinks they are mute. Then there is a thing where the reader is telling Buck how it works and they if they have something to connect them together like an object *reader motions to dog tags* they can have an unbreakable mind link. Then they fall in love or something. This is dumb, thank you for coming to my TedTalk

Hey! Thank you so much for this request, it wasn't dumb at all. I really enjoyed writing this. I may have gotten a bit carried away, this may sit close to 4000 words but we vibe. I hope this is what you had in mind! Please enjoy! <3

Click here for my masterlist of other fics and check in my bio for requests if anyone wishes to ask!

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

Bucky had been enjoying a moments peace, he loved working with Sam but sometimes all he wanted was to put his feet up, put on some vinyl and enjoy a good cup of coffee all while reading a brilliant book. He had been trying to get into Game of Thrones lately, on Sam’s insistence, and he had been enjoying it. With the crackles of Glenn Miller from the turntable he missed the clunky footsteps coming up the stairs.

The sight that greeted Sam needed to be photographed. Bucky was lounging back on his ‘old man armchair’ feet up, hair in a towel, in a bathrobe, coffee in hand and facemask on, this was definitely one for the family album.

At the sound of the phone shutter Bucky practically launched himself out of the chair.

“Oh, you are never gonna live this one down old boy, it’s going to haunt you.” Sam almost cackled evilly as he began to email the photo to himself- he had learnt the hard way that Bucky was very proficient at breaking phones.

“You better not upload that photo anywhere, Wilson, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Pfft, reputation, that’s funny.”

Bucky scoffed as he stood up, placing his book carefully on the side table, “Big scary super soldier, people hardly run-in fear from a guy in a bathrobe.”

“I disagree, a man in a bathrobe is definitely something you should run from. AH NOPE!” Sam jumped backwards, on top of a nearby chair, as Bucky lunged for the phone, towel turban falling off in the process. “You are not breaking this phone as well.”

“Fine. But you gotta promise not to post that anywhere.” Bucky huffed.

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

“As long as- “

“Oh no, I’m not doing anything for you.”

“Think of it as payment for the last phone you broke and insurance for this picture.”

There was silence for a moment as the two friends eyed each other up. Sam raised his eyebrows, Bucky’s eyes narrowed. It was an intense staring match between a guy in a bathrobe and a precariously balanced man. A clock ticked.

“Fine.” Bucky conceded. “What do you want?”

“For you to come to a meeting.”

“The families of Veterans ones?”

“Yeah.” Sam slowly started climbing down from the chair. “And before you get your old man pants in a twist, I’m not trying to force you to talk or anything, kinda.”

“Kinda?” Suspicion laced through Bucky’s voice.

“You know sign language, right?”

“Which kind?”

“American? I think?”

“Yeah, I know ASL, might be a bit rusty but I’m sure it still holds up. Why do you ask?”

Sam shifted slightly on his feet, “There’s this person, they come in every week and listen. I tried to talk to them, but they communicate through sign language, and I don’t have anyone there to talk with them.” He cast his eyes to the floor, “I feel bad. They were brave enough to come to the group only to basically be ignored ‘because we didn’t plan well enough.”

Bucky smiled, face mask crinkling around his smile lines, “You could have just asked me to Sam. You didn’t have to blackmail me into this, of course I’ll help. When’s the next meeting?”

“This evening. You gonna be ready or do you need some more ‘me’ time.”

Bucky simply chuckled at Sam’s teasing tone, patted his shoulder making sure to squeeze just a bit too hard before retreating to his room.

“I’ll be there, Wilson, and I will look so much younger than you!”

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

It was frustrating to you, going along to these meetings and not being able to communicate. You could always speak into someone’s mind but all that usually accomplished was a very paranoid person. But just listening to other’s stories really helped the grief from losing someone so close to you. You related to most of the people there and even though they didn’t understand you a lot of the time, you were always made to feel welcome- with friendly pats on the back and the odd tissue thrown your way.

You bustled into the familiar building with a new sense of excitement as Sam had promised to bring a translator for you this week. It was finally time to say your thanks to some of the people there and finally let the group know about your brother, so that it wasn’t only you that remembered him.

You all but ran through the hallways until you caught sight of a familiar smiling man. Sam was facing you, talking animatedly to another man, the strangers back was to you. He was tall, broad shouldered and dressed in a vintage looking leather jacket and rather well fitted trousers. Now the debate was: does the tailoring make the ass, or does the ass make the tailoring. You were halfway through the arguments on either side when Sam shouting your name disrupted the intense debating in your mind. You blushed at being caught, then blushed some more when you caught sight of the stranger’s face. Twinkling blue eyes under a deep-set brow should have made him intimidating, but he was smiling, and his face was dazzling. There was an immediate fluttering in your stomach.

“Hey, I’m Bucky.” Dear lord even his voice was nice, what made you smile even more was the fact that he signed as he spoke. Well, Sam certainly knew how to pick them well. “Sam introduced me; said you wanted an interpreter.”

You nodded as you signed back, “Nice to meet you, thank you for helping out.”

“No problem, Sam has told me a bit about you.”

“Good things I hope.”

“Okay I recognise my own name, you two better not be conspiring against me.” Sam piped up, to be honest you had forgotten about him for a moment.

Bucky laughed, and it sent a little thrill down you, he really was adorable.

“No worries, Wilson, just letting them know all your dirty little secrets.”

“Right, you two get in there, before you make me sleep with one eye open.”

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

You and Bucky caught each other’s eye, his eyes were twinkling with mischief, and you couldn’t help the smile that overtook you. You had a feeling that the two of you would get on just fine.

The meeting passed easily. Bucky translated your signs and you finally felt like you could actually take part in these meetings. Everyone listened intently when you spoke of your brother and when you had thanked the whole group for being so open to you a couple of people shed a tear. By the end of the meeting though you were tired and very accepting of Bucky’s offer to walk you home.

It was a lot of side glances and hidden smiles and you walked side by side. Drawn to each other under the moonlit sky, it was nice to just be in the presence of someone who had such a kind aura. You spent the walk trying to work up the confidence to sign something, anything but nothing came to mind and Bucky seemed quite content to just walk in comfortable silence.

You soon reached your home, you turned to Bucky with a smile on your face and signed,

“Thanks for today, Bucky. You were really helpful.”

“No problem.” He signed back,

You hesitated slightly before signing, “Would you be happy to have a coffee with me, tomorrow?”

Bucky went a little red in the face, and chuckled, “I would love to, I know a nice place, real cosy. I’ll text you the details.”

“You know how to text?”

“Hey! I get enough stick from Sam, don’t need you getting on my case too. I’ll have you know that I am very adaptable.”

“Sure, Sure.” You smiled at his flustered tone. “I’ll wait for your text then, have a good evening.”

“You too.”

The two of you stared slightly awkwardly at each other, neither wanting to be the first to turn around. You shuffled your feet away slowing, smiling awkwardly once more at Bucky before turning. You heard his footsteps start to fade away as you walked towards your home. You were but three steps to the door when a large figure in a hoodie slammed into you, you raised your arms instinctively to block them when you noticed your shoulder was lighter. The bastard had stolen your bag.

You immediately took chase, chasing around the corner you just walked down but they were fast, faster then you at least. As you rounded the corner you caught sight of Bucky walking ahead. The thief wouldn’t stand a change against him. Without a second thought you cast your thoughts towards Bucky,

“Bucky! Thief! My Bag! Behind you!”

You saw Bucky flinch slightly then turn bewildered, his eyes widening when he saw you hurting towards him, chasing the hooded figure. He caught on and launched after the thief as well, with barely any effort he knocked the thief to the ground, grabbed your bag and whipped out his phone to call the cops.

Well, that was hot.

You took your bag back, immediately checking that you brother’s lucky coin was in the zippy pocket, to your relief it was still there. You looked up to see Bucky staring at you with a very puzzled look on his face. You sighed before casting your thoughts to his head once more,

“I’ll explain later.”

Bucky let out a strange, decompressed noise of shock, it made you giggle. The two of you waited in silence until the police came and took the thief away. The police car had barely driven away when he turned to you.

“Did you just, talk in my head? Or did my conscious just suddenly get really loud.”

“I did. Hi. Sorry about that.”

He waved his hands dismissively. “Believe it or not, not the weirdest thing I’ve encountered.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.”

There was an awkward silence.

“So,” You started, resorting back to sign language, it felt less invasive, “Still down for coffee?”

Bucky smiled, “One hundred percent. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Bye Bucky. Thanks for getting my bag back.”

“No problem, see ya.”

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

The coffee shop that Bucky invited you to, was tucked away, it was the kind of place that you would stumble over on accident. With a simple door and a big window out the front, that lead soft orange light filter out onto the alley. There was the faint sound of jazz leaking out of the building, you smirked. It was such an old fashioned place, of course this was where Bucky frequented.

The bell tinkled slightly as you entered the café, where you were greeted with the smell of fresh coffee and baked goods. You caught sight of Bucky’s broad shoulders sitting in the corner, and you made your way over to him, smiling at the barista as you passed.

As if sensing you, Bucky turned to smile and wave. He was dressed in casual clothes like last time, but this time his hair was loose around his shoulders. You smiled back before settling into the seat opposite him.

His hands moved hesitantly as he signed, “What would you like? I can recommend their hot chocolate, its very warming/”

“Hot chocolate it is.”

You could tell he wanted to ask you a million questions but to his credit he walked slowly to get the drinks, he even took his time carefully carrying the tray of drinks back to your table. He placed a delicious looking hot chocolate in front of you. You watched as he took a sip.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1-

“So,” Here we go, “What is it you can do, you can speak in peoples’ heads, can you,” He lowered his voice and leaned in, “Can you read people’s minds?”

You giggled slightly, his eyes were basically sparkling, he was definitely nerding out about this.

You set the hot chocolate down before casting your thoughts to his head, “I can speak in peoples heads relatively easily, it’s how I talk most of the time to people I know. I guess you could call it Telepathy.”

Bucky’s eyes were as wide as saucers, “So you can’t read thoughts, only… speak them?”

“I like to call it casting, makes me feel like a sorcerer. I can read thoughts, but it takes a lot of energy. I used to be able to talk with my brother from across the house. That usually requires some kind of connection.”

“Oh, so like a blood or family connection? Do you have to know the person very well?”

“That certainly helps but it’s not always necessary. If I have a personal object that belongs to that person, something I can hold and connect to them it isn’t hard to make a two-way connection. Especially if that person is willing to open their mind.”

Bucky seemed to be caught in thought for a second. “So, if I were to give you something of mine, we could both talk in our… heads?”

“Well yes, but Bucky we have only just met. Letting me into your head is a lot. I try not to pry but sometimes I’ve found that thoughts just burst through. Let’s get to know each other a before that happens.”

Bucky smiled at you before speaking and signing, “You’re right. Let’s get to know one another. I find you fascinating.”

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

It happened on the fifth date. Bucky was just walking you home after a lovely dinner at a small Italian that he claimed he went to back in the 40s. Just outside your door, under the glow of a lamppost he turned to you and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I know this may be a lot, but I wanted to give you these.” He reached around his neck and pulled off something silver. You gasped slightly as he held out his dog tags, immaculately preserved after all these years.

“Are you sure, Bucky? This is a lot.”

“I know and if you aren’t comfortable with it then just let me know but I want to give them to you.”

“You know what this means Bucky?”

“Yeah, I know, I just figured that you’re already in my head all the time anyways, just can’t seem to get you out of it.”

“You cheeseball.” You smirked at him before taking the dog tags and placing them around your neck. You gripped the cold metal for a moment, concentrating on the man in front of you. Taking everything, you knew about him and stretching out a connection, like a hand reaching out to clasp another.

“Testing, Testing, Testing, one two, one two, can my Telepathic partner hear me?”

You laughed, “Yes I can Bucky, you big dork.”

Bucky whooped out loud before sweeping you up in a big hug. The two of you laughing under the lamp light. His joy was infectious, and you couldn’t fight the smile off your face.

“Oh, we are going to have so much fun messing with Sam.”

“You’re evil.”

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

Of course, the two of you made a pact not to tell Sam until he worked it out, which wouldn’t be anytime soon according to Bucky. It led to some very memorable moments and Sam refusing to play any form of card or board game with either of you because you always managed to win, somehow. Not to mention all the times you had spoken in eery unison around him.

“I swear, its like you two can read each other’s minds sometimes.” Sam threw his hands up in frustration at another lost game of charades.

You smirked at Bucky across the room, “Should you tell him, or shall I?”

“I think he’s been through enough, I got it.”

Bucky cleared his throat, “We can.”

Sam whipped around to face Bucky, a look of sheer disbelief on his face, “Seriously Bucky-boy, if you think I believe that after all-

“Hello Sam.” You cast your thoughts to him, in the creepiest old lady voice you could muster.

Sam yelped, before turning accusingly at you, “You better be joking around with me right now, I am not dealing with any kind of ghosts in this house.”

“Sorry! Surprise I’m telepathic!”

“You’re serious.”

You nodded.

Sam put his head in his hands and sighed, “Not the weirdest thing ever. Wait, does this mean you have been cheating this entire time.”

You both looked guiltily at one another.

“You owe me. That poker night, void.”

You both laughed, “We’ll have a fair rematch this time Sam.”

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

It had been close to a year since you had made it official with Bucky and you were now much more comfortable around one another. He no longer just dropped you off at the lamppost but cam inside with you. You had spent many lovely mornings together sharing glances over steaming cups of coffee. Fighting each other for who got to spread their legs out on the couch, there wasn’t really a loser though as it usually ended up in sofa cuddles for both of you, while watching a film.

Life was pretty great, you thought, as you smiled down at the sleeping Bucky beside you. Finally reaching over to turn off the lamp and put your book down, you were finally reading the hobbit at Bucky’s insistence. As you clicked off the light beside you and settled down you noticed the faster than usual breathing coming from beside you.

“Bucky?”

You reached out, thinking he was awake but instead as you opened up your connection you caught flashes of night terrors. You were falling indefinitely, snow all around you, and in the distance, there were cries of pain, people pleading for their lives, there was gunfire and explosions. You gasped and took off the dog tags. You only gave yourself a moment to breathe before trying to shake Bucky awake. When it became clear that he wasn’t stirring you steadied yourself and settled your hands on his temples. You didn’t care you tired this would make you, you just wanted Bucky to stop suffering. You focused, offering out that hand of connection again, this time picturing it in the shape of a fist and, although it wasn’t subtle, you tried to shake Bucky’s brain awake. You forced your way into his dreams, punching through the dark fog that clouded his thoughts and almost screamed at him.

“Bucky! Bucky wake up! You’re dreaming my dear!”

Bucky woke up with a start. Tears flowing down his face, he stared at you blue eyes shining. No one spoke as he pulled you into his arms. You just breathed together for a moment, counting the breaths and the spaces in between. When he finally pulled back, you saw his eyes flicker with concern before lifting a hand to gently wipe under your nose, it came back red with blood.

“You, okay?”

You smiled sadly, reaching out to put the dog tags back on.

“I should be asking you that.”

“But you’re bleeding.”

“Occupational hazard.” You tried to subtly get rid of any of the extra blood. “That was pretty intense. Wanna talk?”

Bucky looked down to the sheets and shook his head. You smiled at him, tilting his head to yours.

“That’s fine, want me to go? Or would you like to cuddle for a bit?”

Bucky didn’t talk again, just pulled you gently down to the bed once more. Snuggling himself under your chin, resting his head on your chest. You felt his arms draw tightly against your waist. You pressed your lips into his hair.

“May I help you go to sleep? Keep the bad thoughts at bay for at least one night.”

You felt Bucky nod and let out a little sleepy hum of agreement. You closed your eyes, focused on your connection setting up a golden wall against the dark fog at the corners of his mind and settled into a deep sleep.

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

You woke to the smell of fresh coffee and the clinking of cups.

“Morning.” You opened your eyes at Bucky’s voice and took the offered cup greedily. Your mind still felt hazy from the energy you used last night.

You felt the bed dip beside you as Bucky sat and sipped at his cup as well, hair a bit of a mess from bed. He had evidently only just woken up as well.

He took a breath, “I had some pretty interesting dreams, sweetheart.”

You stiffened, “Good ones I hope.”

“Don’t worry, they were good. If a little strange.”

“Strange?”

“I was watching myself most of the time.”

You snorted into the coffee, “Sounds creepy”

There was a slight chuckle, “Nah, I was watching myself build a home, a family- “

“Oh God Bucky.” You snapped your eyes to his, you knew what had happened. “I am so sorry my dreams must have stuck in your head.”

“Those were your dreams?”

“Yeah, its only happened once before but when the connection between two people is very strong, it can happen- I call it bleeding. Perhaps we should- “

“If the next words out of your mouth are take a break, I will spill your coffee.” You clutched your cup closer to your chest, “Truthfully, those were some of the beset dreams I have every had. I really loved them.”

You looked back up at him, hesitantly “You did?”

“And I love you.”

“Huh

There was silence as you stared at him in shock. His face as nothing but adoration as the sunlight filtered over his face.

“I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you too.”

Coffee cups were cast aside as you both collided. Giggling and joking, radiating happiness as the two of you shared the sweetest kiss. Your feelings merging together, amplifying one another until they shone brighter than the sun.

[beewolfwrites]

And When I am Formulated, Sprawling on a Pin - Chapter Twelve: And We All Fall Down

I know I say it every time, but thanks for all the support for this fic so far. It means a lot :)

As usual, you can find this fanfic in full on AO3 here. 

And if you’re reading this for the first time, hello! This is a Chishiya x OC/female reader fic, and I hope you enjoy!

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

That evening, I didn’t leave my room. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Niragi’s face, the glint in his eyes as he turned on me. The image flashed in my brain over and over until I felt sick. He would try to kill me out of revenge. That was a fact. And that night, I drifted in and out of sleep, trying to stay awake just in case he burst through the door to finish what he started.

But he never did.

And then there was the marks he’d left. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, I flinched back, seeing another girl’s face. The skin of my neck was purple and red, like splotched lily pads of bites, marks and bruises. My cheek was blue and cut from the way he’d backhanded me, and my ankle wasn’t much better.

If I left my room, people would stare. They would know. Some of them had seen me being dragged into Niragi’s room.

As the alcohol wore off, it became easier to realise how stupid I had been to get drunk enough that I could barely form proper sentences. The way he’d been pretending to listen… how he’d kept refilling my glass… even how he’d licked my cheek right before he had pulled me away from the bar. The scared faces in the hallways, they knew what was going to happen.

They pitied me.

And now, if I left my room, they would know.

The morning after the incident, I stayed holed up in my little cave, drinking water from the bathroom tap in a poor attempt at curing the intense hangover that was turning my mind into slush.

I didn’t have any knives or items I could use as a weapon, but I did manage to find a screwdriver that somebody had left in a drawer. It wasn’t exactly much protection against a rifle, but it was all I had.

But this wouldn’t last. I would have to face them eventually; my visa was due to expire. For now though, I passed the time by translating what I could of The Metamorphosis. The kanji seemed simple enough, but some of the clunky phrasing threw me off.

‘“気がかりな夢. That must mean anxious dreams.’ I followed the kanji closely with my fingertip. ‘But where’s the bit about the cockroach?’  

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

I held my breath, clutching my screwdriver until my knuckles turned white.

There was another knock.

Oh god, this is it. I’m going to die.

And then the person called out. ‘It’s Kuina!’

The relief I felt was a cool breeze, washing over me. ‘Come in.’

The door opened and Kuina entered. She took a seat on the end of the bed, but she wasn’t smiling. Instead, she was looking at me in the same way my mother used to at times.

There must’ve been a full minute where neither of us spoke, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject.

Then at last, she said quietly. ‘Apparently Niragi’s been throwing a fit. Someone scratched his face… and I’ve heard some rumours.’

I tried to swallow against the lump in my throat. ‘What did you hear?’

‘People say they saw you drunk, that Niragi took you into his room.’ She paused, tentative. ‘Did he—’

‘No,’ I interrupted. I could feel my upper lip beginning to tremble. ‘I got away before he could. He was going to though. He said it was because of Chishiya. He wanted to… you know, get back at Chishiya. Not that he would care, anyway. We had an argument.’

It was that part that upset me more than I thought it would. The fact that no matter how many times he had helped me or saved my life, he wouldn’t give a damn about what Niragi did to me. If Niragi wanted to get back at him, he’d chosen the wrong method entirely.

‘Ah…’ Kuina tilted her head back. I could feel the questions just threatening to spill from her lips. She wanted to know, but she also didn’t want to ask.

I didn’t want to talk about it, or even think about it. ‘Can you see anything that mentions a cockroach in here?’ I pointed at the line of text I had been studying.

She seemed visibly confused by the sudden switch in subject, but she still walked across the room to peer at the book. ‘I can’t see anything that mentions a cockroach.’

I raised a brow. ‘That’s hard to believe. The cockroach is the main character.’

Kuina squinted, then nodded. ‘It says “匹の巨大な毒虫” instead’

‘What does that mean?’ I asked.

‘Giant poisonous insect.’

Snapping the book shoot, I tossed it onto the table. ‘I want words with whoever translated this,’ I said, laughing harder than necessary.

Kuina smiled awkwardly, unsure. I didn’t know what was so funny. There was nothing especially funny about the words. In fact, they were utterly devastating. I was devastated. Then I realised I wasn’t actually laughing at all. Kuina’s arm made its way around my shoulders, as her fingers brushed through my hair comfortingly. She didn’t speak, but just having her there was enough.

‘I’m sorry.’ I wiped at my face with my sleeve. ‘I just, I don’t know what to do. Or even how to react.’

She shrugged. ‘How you’re reacting is fine as it is. There’s no one way of going about it.’

‘Maybe,’ I said, sniffing. I probably looked a sight for sore eyes, and my hangover was still raging. ‘I’m scared of running into him, Niragi, I mean. And Chishiya too, I don’t want to see him.’

How I’d behaved back then was shameful, the way I’d snapped and screamed at him, even though he was stating things I already knew deep down were true. He had been right, but I hadn’t wanted to hear it. Yet despite that, I was still hurt. Right off the bat, he’d dismissed everything I felt, smiling as my anger only grew stronger. He had been in control of the entire conversation, and I’d walked right into his web.

Kuina played with her quit-smoking aide sheepishly. ‘Well, actually, I admit, I didn’t just come down here to see if the rumours were true. I also kind of need to speak to you about something… we both do.’

This was the last thing I wanted. Facing Chishiya again was bad enough after our argument, but now that I was covered in Niragi’s pawprints, it was much, much worse. ‘Kuina, I really don’t want to see him.’

She held up her hands, and bargained, ‘you don’t have to speak to him, or say anything at all. I’ll even talk to him for you. Just hear us out.’

The thought of seeing his smug face again sent dread through me. He’d probably take one look at these bruises and call me pathetic. I knew I shouldn’t care what he thinks, but I really did, even if I didn’t know why. But since it was Kuina who was asking, it was hard to refuse.

‘Fine.’ I nodded stiffly. ‘But I’m not speaking to him.’

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

The rooftop burned under the glare of the sun, the heat radiating through the soles of my shoes. I had to squint, as the brightness clashed with my awful hangover. Standing at the edge, looking down on the patio, Chishiya had his back to us. However, there was something off about his appearance that I couldn’t place at first. Everything about him seemed as normal, except it didn’t. He was wearing the white-grey hoodie that I had painstakingly washed and dried.

Is he trying to taunt me? I wondered.

But the thought flew out of my head as he turned around. When his gaze fell on me, his expression changed. It was one that I had never seen before, as his eyes narrowed, lips parting slightly. It was completely unreadable, and it lasted no more than a few seconds, before he looked away.

He doesn’t look too smug… unless the hoodie’s an apology? I dismissed the idea immediately. I can’t see him doing that.  

He kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke. ‘Before you storm off again, there’s something you probably want in on.’

I glanced at Kuina, and she nodded reassuringly.

‘We’re leaving the Beach,’ Chishiya said.

My stomach fell. Was I was hearing this right? He couldn’t leave, neither of them could. It would only end in disaster. And Kuina… she was my only friend here. What would I do without her?

‘Things are getting tense between Hatter and the militant faction.’ He continued. ‘It’s only a matter of time before Hatter dies and this place turns to chaos. That’s why we plan on stealing the cards and leaving before that happens.’

What?

My head spun and Kuina’s hand came to rest on my shoulder, steadying me. ‘It’s a lot to take in,’ she said, ‘but we’re telling you this for a reason. We want your help… and we also want you to come with us.’

‘We’?

I swallowed, my eyes darting to Chishiya. He was finally looking at me. But it was strange. His expression was unusually guarded, suddenly more serious than I had ever seen it before. I couldn’t see any of his usual slyness, nothing to suggest he was telling something other than the truth.

‘We’d be killed immediately,’ I whispered to Kuina. ‘If something goes wrong, they’ll shoot us on the spot.’

She smiled bitterly. ‘With Hatter gone, we’ll be killed anyway.’

‘Niragi approached you before the Two of Spades game, didn’t he?’ Chishiya said. ‘I’m sure it was about me. As was this.’ His catlike gaze brushed over my skin.

He wasn’t wrong. Niragi had his eye on Chishiya, and given the slightest opportunity, he wouldn’t hesitate to have him captured, tortured and eventually shot. And after yesterday, I had a target on my back too.

I have nothing to lose.

‘Okay,’ I said, at last. ‘I’ll go with you. But first you need to let me know what the plan is.’ Stubborn as ever, I directed my words at Kuina. I still wasn’t prepared to deal with Chishiya just yet.

He seemed to notice this as he stepped away from the roof edge and walked to the door. He kept his head down as he passed, avoiding all contact with me. ‘You’ll have to talk her through the details. I’ve got something I need to do.’  

And with that, he left us alone on the rooftop.

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

Kuina and I must’ve spent at least an hour up there, sitting and watching the other residents flirt, drink and splash around in the pool below. She walked me through the basis of their plan. It wasn’t complex or particularly detailed. Once Hatter had been murdered, the militants would likely force the other executives to put Aguni in charge, at which point there would be a speech with all the Beach members to announce Hatter’s death. The speech would keep the militant faction distracted, and we’d use the opportunity to break into Hatter’s room and steal the cards from the safe. Chishiya had assured Kuina that he knew what the code was. How he knew was still a mystery.

It would be dangerous, but I wasn’t worried for myself. I was worried for Kuina, and dare I say it, Chishiya too. Even though he made me so mad and so hurt, I didn’t actually want anything bad to happen to him. It was hard to admit, but I actually cared. Perhaps more than I wanted to.

What a shame he doesn’t return the favour, I thought glumly, as I made my way back to my room after parting with Kuina.

The Hunting Season game had only given me a two-day visa, meaning mine was due to expire tonight, and knowing how nervous I was, Kuina had promised me she’d meet me down in the lobby.

Let’s hope I’m not put in a group with Niragi.

When I opened the door to my room, it took me a moment to realise that something was off. The air felt different, like someone had been in here.

And then I saw it. On a chair by the window was a stack of books, and as I approached them, a heaviness inside my heart lifted. The first book was an intermediate Japanese language textbook, seconded by an English-Japanese dictionary. The third was the battered, well-read copy of Wuthering Heights. But that wasn’t all. Tucked beside them on the chair was the Walkman-turned-taser that I had last seen in the Tag game. It had a small post-it note stuck to the top.

“For Niragi, next time.”

I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as I clutched the taser. With the edge of my sleeve, I wiped away the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I wasn’t sure why I was crying, whether it was the shock of Niragi’s attack finally catching up to me, or the knowledge that Chishiya actually did care, even if just a little bit. It was a small gesture, his coming into my room and leaving these items, but it meant the world.

Part of me wanted to go and find him, ask him about it, and even thank him. But I didn’t get a chance, as the announcement for the games sounded throughout the hotel.

[rottenappleheart]

I finished “Heaven’s Vault,” that archaeology/alien translation game that everyone was so excited about before it came out, and then I never heard of again. I think I know why. 

Short version: it seems as though it was made by people who were very good at the worldbuilding/linguistics parts, and not very good at making a video game.

Long version:  I did enjoy the game, eventually.  Beat it in just under 20 hours, feeling fairly good that I hadn’t missed anything major and had done everything I could find to do before the end. I also see now that there’s a New Game+ which gives the opportunity to spin things out again in a different manner, with more information, and this really neat article (spoilers ahoy) talks about how the mere concept of a NG+ is part of the worldbuilding (the Loop religion centers around the idea that everything that has happened will happen again.) 

The learning curve was very steep at the beginning, because of the aforementioned gameplay problems getting in the way of the “meat” of the game. Some low points:

The controls are extremely janky and remained frustrating throughout. I had to turn the mouse sensitivity to its very lowest setting to avoid spinning like a top, and the restricted camera angles often send you walking off in a direction you never meant, leaping back and forth through doorways when you just wanted to enter (or exit) a room, etc. 

The mandatory and constant “sailing” minigame, while beautiful, is aggravating and not as fun as I assume the developers thought it would be, given how much you have to do it. Whereas Wind Waker’s equally mandatory and equally constant sailing is a feature of the game, here it was mostly a lengthy interruption between the snippets of actual content. Except that bits of the story are also spun out in conversations between Aliya and the robot Six on these sailing interludes, so you’re encouraged not to skip them, the few times you are even given that option.

The graphics are... odd and awkward, unfortunately. The developers tried a very neat thing with (beautiful and detailed) 3D rendered environments, populated by (also beautiful, but jarringly animated) 2D hand-drawn characters. Who don’t have feet, but kind of fade into invisibility just below the knees, so as to avoid rendering walking animations, I guess. It’s very strange. There’s also no “collision sensor,” so your 2D player character is constantly clipping through other 2D NPCs, which sometimes interrupt everything you’re doing for a 15 second animated scene where they greet you, then walk away. There’s no way to avoid this. And when that happens, it overrides and cancels any ambient but plot-relevant discussion you were having with Six, which was deeply frustrating.

Speaking of which - there are a lot of strange, time-consuming transitions. Walking out of one section of the Elboreth marketplace into another takes another 10 second scene triggered by you entering a doorway, just to show you walking through a side alley. Every single time. When you show artifacts to a colleague, he will walk all the way to the other side of his office and walk all the way back before offering the same dialogue as every time before. Realistic, to grant him time to check his data? Yes. Extremely frustrating as an element of gameplay? Also yes.

Also, my game glitched multiple times, everything slowing to an infinite limbo as a triggering event failed to trigger, requiring a full reset. Any interaction with Oroi, for whatever reason, had a 33% chance of glitching. 

All of this adds up to a game that creaks and clunks, and is deeply frustrating to play. These are all things which seem fueled by bad design/poor planning, and it takes away from the GOOD parts of the game. Namely:

It’s really beautiful (once you get over the 2D/3D intersection.) The music is lovely, and all the designs are top notch. I really enjoyed spending time in these various worlds and discovering their history. (Actually WALKING through the worlds, less enjoyable, but...)

The development of the story and the character interactions is mostly organic and nuanced. Like a Bioware game (I’m sorry to reference them but it’s the easiest comparison), your responses to different plot events and side characters, and the order in which you discover things (or even what conclusions you draw! there isn’t necessarily a single right answer!) shapes the narrative. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes obvious when the NPCs have run out of interactions for you... such as when you take a twenty-minute sail to revisit your home planet, suffer through endless clipping issues and mandatory transitions, only for your contacts there to have zero dialogue options. (Whoops, this was supposed to be the “good” section.) 

The translations, which are the heart of the game, become really fun after the first few. Initially, you have ZERO information when you are given your first line of text to interpret, and have to guess blindly. In a little bit, you are given more information to determine whether that first guess was right or wrong. It’s a little frustrating, but I think what the developers were going for is that Aliya is already roughly familiar with Ancient script, and whatever initial guess she makes is about 50/50 correct. Each new line of text you uncover builds on the glyphs you already know. It became very fun to make more educated guesses - ah, I recognize the symbol we identified as “Gods,” so maybe combined with this other symbol, it might be “Prayer” or “Temple” - something related. Or when you start breaking down the “me/you/we/my/your/our” glyphs, it all makes SENSE. That was the fun part I eventually couldn’t get enough of - parsing out what Ancient meant, and piecing together the story behind the Nebula.

I genuinely did gasp when I figured out A Big Thing about the world story.

I really love stories about robots. Long-suffering, mildly sarcastic robots who are trying very hard to keep you alive while you do stupid things like climb down cliffs they can’t follow. I am very glad I was warned about the risk of losing Six forever and could avoid that particular path, because I think the last third of the game would have been a real bummer without Six as a companion.

Do I recommend it? Yes... mostly. Yes, with the caveats above about how clunky and frustrating the gameplay is. I probably will replay it in a while, taking advantage of the NG+, but not right away - I need to play something less inherently frustrating.

I wish there were more games like this, but I also wish it had been better developed, so that the good parts of it could really shine.

[detectivejigsawpines]

Relatively Relativity-part 5 (Ford gets forcefully decaffeinated and Dipper gets chest hair)

Seeing how freakishly big and hairy his arms were (at least compared to how they were just yesterday) told Dipper that no, it wasn’t a dream, he really was an old man now.  Great.

Mabel was already out of bed, so Dipper started to sit up-and immediately tried not to groan as he realized that Stan’s comments about how much your joints ached first thing in the morning at this age had not been exaggerated.

Oh man...I hope my body’s not going to be this badly in shape when I get old for real.  Is my back supposed to make that kind of noise?

“Ow, ow ow ow…”  Dipper swung his legs around to the side, and went through the arduous process of standing up.  Once he was actually on his feet, he felt more or less okay.

Until he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sounds of yelling from downstairs.

Dipper sprinted downstairs as fast as he could (again, not as fast as when he was thirteen), following the sounds of yelling towards the kitchen.  A million horrifying scenarios flitted through his thoughts as an explanation.

Had a monster broken in and attacked?  Was something on fire?  Worse, was someone on fire?!

He skidded into the doorway-and saw Mabel standing with a hand pressed flat against one of the cupboards, keeping it shut, while Grunkle Ford appeared to be trying to climb her, and Grunkle Stan stood at the stove looking far too amused at the level of conflict that was taking place (then again, this was Stan we’re talking about).

“What in the heck is going on here?!” Dipper demanded.

Ford finally seemed to manifest how undignified his current behavior was; he immediately let go of Mabel and hopped away, attempting to smooth down his clothes.  “Ah-good morning, Dipper.  We-were just-having a small disagreement on proper morning sustenance-”

“Mabel wasn’t lettin’ him have coffee,” Stan translated.

“He’s too young for it!” Mabel retorted.

“Oh for-we are not actual children, Mabel!  In case you’ve forgotten, I am more than forty years your senior!”  Ford looked a little like he was about to stamp his foot.

“Not right now, you’re not!”

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to side with Mabel on this,” Dipper reluctantly admitted.  Immediately he found himself having to shrink away from his mini-grunkle’s withering glare.  “Considering what you guys were like with the Mabel Juice yesterday, it’s probably not good for you to get high amounts of sugar or caffeine in your systems!”

Ford looked like he was about to snarl out something indignant-but then the truth of Dipper’s words sank in, and he slumped down in reluctant acknowledgment.  Grumbling wordlessly, he stomped to the fridge and yanked out the carton of apple juice that was in the door.

Stan snickered-and then swore when he realized that the batch of scrambled eggs he was making had started burning due to his not paying attention.

“Language!” Ford scolded.

“Sorry.  Guess I’ve spent too long away from kids.”

Mabel blinked.  “Wait.  Since we’re the grownups now, does that mean we can use those words?”

“No!”  Stan hurriedly shuffled the eggs around until he’d gathered the blackened ones into his spatula, allowing him to shake them into the trash.  “I don’t wanna haveta explain ta your mom why you came home with a bad case of sailor mouth!”

“We’re in junior high now, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper reminded him as he sat down, “We already hear all of them several times a day.” “No excuse.”

Dipper was tempted to try figuring out how to make coffee just to see what it tasted like (okay, and maybe to annoy Grunkle Ford a little).  But he decided he wasn’t ready to try experimenting with the process yet, and so he just had juice along with eggs and cereal.

“Where’s Soos?” he asked as the rest of his family sat down.

“They got some early tourists, so he’s showing them around the exhibits while Melody runs the gift shop,” said Mabel.  “And it’s shopping day, so Abuelita’s getting groceries.”

“Hope they weren’t freaked out by all the racket.”

****

Elsewhere in the Shack

Soos nearly jumped out of his skin at the sounds of yelling, which could be heard from all the way on this side of the house, but he rolled with it.

“Whoa, sounds like the Summerween ghosts have started up early this year.”

A small child at the front of the group raised her tiny hand.  “What’s Summerween?”

Soos knelt and put a large hand on her tiny shoulder.  “We have much to discuss.”

****

For a little bit everyone ate in relative silence; finally, though, Dipper cleared his throat.  “Melody suggested we should try wearing some kind of protective gear in case the flowers act up again.”

“I made us all masks!”  Mabel held up four strips of brightly colored cloth with elastic straps at the ends, and their names stitched onto them surrounded by rainbows and flowers and stuff.

“That probably depends on whether it was just ingestion of the pollen that changed us, or if they needed to make contact with us,” Ford mused, rubbing his chin.  “We should probably prepare for both outcomes, just in case.  I think I have what we need in the basement.”

He hopped off his chair-and paused to give himself a slightly annoyed/confused glare at having done so, before shaking his head and making his way out of the kitchen.

When he returned, it was with a large, clunky-looking watch thing strapped to his wrist.

“This generates a small force field system that can completely envelope the flower and prevent the pollen from spreading; it also makes things levitate.”

“Whoa.”  Stan’s eyes grew ridiculously big and shiny.  “Can I use it?”

Ford narrowed his eyes at his brother.  “Are you planning to try and pick pockets with it?”

“...No…”

“Uh-huh.  I think I’ll hold onto it for now.”

“Hmph.  Whatever.”

****

The mini-grunkles were still in their clothes from yesterday, which were kind of filthy, so at Mabel’s insistence they changed into some of Dipper’s spare things.

Stan held up a blue-and-white striped T-shirt, tilting his head quizzically.  “If you got all these clothes, why the heck do you wear the same outfit every day?”

“And when do you take time to wash it?” Ford asked, wrinkling his nose.

Dipper flushed.  “Don’t you guys start!”

“HA!  See, I’m not the only one who thinks your hygiene practices are gross!” Mabel crowed triumphantly.

Dipper shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked out of the attic.

****

Eventually everyone took the time to get dressed before their new expedition.

Mabel had made herself a brand new sweater (purple, with “HOT GRANDMA” written on it in sparkly bright blue letters), and borrowed one of Abuelita’s old dresses to wear under it.  Dipper, meanwhile, had pointedly put his clothes in the wash, and borrowed a pair of Stan’s khaki shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt.

Well, at least I finally have chest hair, he thought as he buttoned up the shirt, examining his torso in the mirror.  At least there was one thing to enjoy about old age.

Unfortunately, it was accompanied by a large quantity of stomach hair...and arm hair...and ear hair...basically a lot more hair than he’d been expecting.

He was only stopped from seeing if shaving some of it off would be more effective than it had been for Stan by the realization that his family was probably waiting for him.

“Took ya long enough,” Stan scolded when he returned to the kitchen.  “C’mon, let’s go already!”

They headed out the door-and immediately ran into Wendy, who had at last showed up for work.

****

Aw, crap.

Dipper realized he had forgotten to text her about what had happened.

“Uh-hey, Wendy.  Believe it or not, it’s us.”

She did a long, slow blink.  Then, raising one eyebrow, she asked, “...Do I want to know?”

“We had an accident with a magic flower,” Mabel explained.  “So now we gotta get another one to figure out how to change us back to normal.”

“Ya wanna come?” Stan asked.

Wendy smiled at him.  “That’d be awesome, Mr. Pines, but I got work.”

Stan’s face contorted into an expression of shock.  “Wait, what?  You’re passing up a chance ta slack off work?!”  He reached up a tiny hand to feel Wendy’s forehead.  “Are you feeling okay?!”

She snorted and shoved him off.  “Soos pays me extra if I stay through a whole shift.  And I’m trying to save up for a car, so I need all the help I can get.”

“...So the secret to keeping you from slacking off was to pay you more?”  Stan pondered this for a bit...and then shook his head.  “Nah, it’s not worth it.”

Wendy laughed and punched his shoulder.  “Later, dorks.”  She started to walk past, before spinning around on one heel.  “Oh, Dipper-loving the new hair.  Gives you a kinda silver fox look.”

...Despite himself, Dipper couldn’t help blushing and grinning as he ran a hand through his hair.  And then he sighed as he ignored a smirking Mabel and headed to the car, ready to share joint custody of the driver’s seat with Stan again.

The fact that Wendy only ever saw him as attractive when he was way older than her was probably a sign that he’d made the right choice in stopping pining over her.

Heh heh...pining.

Because he was a Pines.

...Oh crap, now he was starting to think dad jokes were funny.

We gotta get changed back soon.

********

...Sorry, Wendip fans, but I just don't see it happening.

It's not even the age difference, so much as that personality-wise, she strikes me as just staying a "cool big sis" figure to both him and Mabel.

(Also I'm kind of biased towards Dipcif-)

Nothing, you didn't see that.

Moving on.

[robynmarkius]

Language Differences

So I have a bit of a long ramble, which involves Spoilers for the end of 5.3; obviously. Some of it’s already out there as I replied on mobile while half asleep, but it led to talking to the lovely @shiro-from-cafeberry​ about the German text. (Once again, thank you so much! I enjoy talking to you! :D <3 I have discovered I have even more questions for you to help with. lol) I then bothered my friend and co-writer @xehniscreations​ about French and she said it’d be a good practice to shake off the rust. (She ended up translating the whole ending scene for practice! <33 lol )

This all started because I am married to a man who has a degree in Linguistics and a simple questioning of one line/part led to hours of jokes and discussions. Which then turned into me putting my game client into two languages that I don’t speak a word of just to see what a character said... XD And! And! Learning a few other things along the way. I’ve been having so much fun with this and I hope you all can too. Plopping a cut here so as not to completely destroy anyone still trying to avoid Spoilers... or those who want to prepare some tissues. lol

I have cried a lot in the process of this entire Translation, and keep crying. lol As long as this post/translator ramble got, I made sure to post the ‘screenshot comic’, “Remnant” [as its own post] for the sake of focus. That was the scene that started this trip down the rabbit hole, after all. xD

After three days of editing this post, I decided to split it, so that this was just the ending scene. There’s flashbacks I also covered, but this was getting extremely long and I realize that I had not asked Shiro about the first flashback at all! So I still have things to finish and more to talk about before I have more.

For now, though, let’s talk!

Part One: Elidibus’ Explanation

The lines in question came from when Elidibus picked up the crystals, then told us he heard the voices of despair/cries and lamentations of his friends. After which there’s a slightly awkward explanation about how there were lots of opinions and thoughts about the world/star, which led to Elidibus pulling himself free of Zodiark in order to help his friends. It bothered Hubs because it felt kinda “clunky”; he explained:

“I think it’s because of a general norm of Japanese society we hear so much about. That it’s important to have a consensus and not to stir up trouble or stick out too much; which is how that part kind of reads. Your direct Translation is fine. I just feel like the localization team just kinda gave up when they wrote the English version. They could have give a little more context on it when they wrote it. Instead, what happens is, it feels out of place and awkward where it is. It also doesn’t give the context of when Elidibus freed himself from Zodiark. Is there any context that says that wasn’t when Hydaelyn shattered the star into the reflections or Shards?”

Putting aside his question about when Elidibus actually separated from Zodiark for now; as that’s a whole ‘nother discussion that’s rather interesting; I finally understood what he meant by my Translation felt clunky. It was accurate to a “direct translation” versus a “localization”. I re-translated the whole part just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and made sure that the final lines I wrote in English still made sense. lol

First, I wanted to note the differences in terms; in case I slip when putting this together. ^^; The literal translation of 「十四人委員会」 would be "Fourteen-person Committee"; but in the context of FF14, (at least in English,) we call it the "Convocation of Fourteen", so I try to stick with that for final translations. What makes anything with the Ancients more difficult, is that they're not speaking a language that we can immediately understand, but rather making sounds that our Echo/超える力/l'Écho/Kraft des Transzendierens interprets into words we/the WoL/WoD can understand. The downside is lack of clarification for actual translation if you don't fluently read or speak another language. lol

For example, when Elidibus speaks, we hear the words spoken, so if there's a kanji that's said more than one way, I can hear which definition is correct by listening to the sentence. But the Ancients' "woop woop wop wah wahp woo" is harder to interpret... but, at least it's the same in every language, right? XD For German, they have “The Convent”, and French has “The Council of Fourteen”.

Second, in English, we called him “The Emissary”, which is another term for “Mediator; Arbitrator; Go-Between” which is the definition of the term 調停者 [shouteisha] , his Japanese title. When translating from German, Shiro used the term “The Advocate”. His French title is “le Médiateur” His role seems to be the same, at least, he settled disputes, found the facts, kept things in check, and generally maintained balance. That was the seat of Elidibus; which is necessary to understand why he said what he said about being needed. (Those titles come from the first flashback as well as the second one; which I’ll get to in the next post. <3 )

The English lines that started this conversation are: “Divided -- over the fate of the star. A rare occurrence, always fleeting. But not this time. Not this time... Reconciliation. Elidibus. I was needed. I withdrew myself from Zodiark. For them...”

Japanese: 世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

Final Translation: (after edits and all this discussion) "A great many opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone in the Convocation was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.

That being the case, I could not go help them in my role as Emissary. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I pulled myself from Zodiark.”

In French, from Xehnis: "Le Concile avait perdu sa cohésion...Face à l’anéantissement, les avis divergeaient sur la marche à suivre pour sauver notre planéte…

Ça ne leur ressemblait pas...Plus que jamais, ils avaient besoin d’Elidibus...Ils avaient besoin de moi...Alors, je me suis détaché de Zordiarche pour voler à leur secours…”

Her final translation: “The Council had lost its cohesion...In the face of annihilation, opinions differed on the way to save our planet…

It does not resemble them...more than ever, they needed Elidibus...they needed me....so, I detached from Zordiark to fly to their aid…”

The German lines, from Cafe Berry’s Shiro, along with the explanations: "Die Zukunft der Welt hing in der Schwebe und Chaos machte sich breit. Die Ascians waren zutiefst gespalten. Der Konvent uneins..."

Here, they are talking about how the Ascians, and most importantly, the convent is divided. How the future of the world was not clear and with that chaos spread.

"Elidibus, der Fürsprecher, musste etwas tun. Ich musste etwas tun. Und so spaltete ich mich wieder von Zodiark ab ..."

Here, Elidibus says that Elidibus, as the Emissary, had to do something. HE had to do something. So he split off from Zodiark.

Their translation they gave me then, was: "The future of the world hung in the balance and chaos spread. The Ascians were deeply divided. The convent divided ...

Elidibus, the advocate, had to do something. I had to do something. And so I split off from Zodiark again ... "

This was the part that my husband had called into question; with my original translation to:

"Many opinions and thoughts came forth, regarding the fate of our world.... The Convocation was worried, as such a thing was unusual."

世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

The literal translation of it all, would be: "The world's future/fate concerning/regarding, a great many/a lot (of) comments were brought up/expressed......

such thing(s) are/is curious/rare/unusual because/since, committee of everyone("Everyone on the Committee") (was/were actively being) troubled/worried.”

There was also the lines that followed, which were also rough to word in English, so the whole section had felt awkward.

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

“if that's the case, Elidibus (from) assistance (as/in the role of) to go/to do (could not),

so/appearing that/seeming that considered/believed/reckoned/judged/decided/desired, Zodiark (from) spilled over/scattered from (n'da - 'no desu' / 'no da' used to add emphasis)"

I had tried: "I decided that they needed Elidibus, but as I was I couldn't help them, so I pulled myself away from Zodiark.

Which was another way to put the idea of: "That being the case, Elidibus could not go rescue/help, I believed, then spilled and fell over/scattered from Zodiark."

It ended up: "A great many thoughts and opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone on the Committee was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.If that was the case, I could not give them assistance in the role of Arbitrator. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I fell/scattered from Zodiark."

In the end, for this part, it really helped to learn what was said in French and German, because it helped solidify more what was trying to be said, and that there probably is at least a little societal influence in the Japanese text. If it hadn’t been for Xehnis and Shiro’s assistance, I probably wouldn’t have landed on something that felt comfortable enough in English. <3

They all feel different, but have the same general idea: that even after Zodiark was summoned; and Elidibus became his Heart; things hadn’t been fixed. Things continued to grow worse, and they began to fight, and have conflict. As Arbitrator/Emissary/Advocate/Mediator, Elidibus’ job was to maintain balance, and settle disputes, but he could no longer do the job of his seat as the Heart of Zodiark, and it seemed to be destroying the Convocation; making things worse; so he yanked himself out of a Primal to go tell everyone to SIMMER DOWN, NOW.

Sidenote/Side Question here... I wonder what happened with Venat and Hydaelyn...? Perhaps we’ll get clarification in the future, as the only person who’s become/been anything like Elidibus has been Minfilia as the ‘Words of the Mother’, then sent off as an “Emissary” of sorts to the First. lol

This all led to wondering about the last line; as it was clearly different in the Japanese Audio than the English Text. I do want to state that I think what they did in English worked just as well for the emotional gut punch intended from Elidibus’ last words; but it’s very different. It did lead to looking at the flashback in Anemnesis Anyder where we heard the line about the rain, which will be in the next post.

English: “The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

Japanese: 私が最後に残ったって……仕方ないじゃないか……。 Translation: “There’s nothing for it then, is there? I’m the last one left...”

French: Je devais partir en dernier... Comment aurais-je pu abandonner mes amis, esseulés en ce bas monde? Translation: “I had to leave last...how could I abandon (forsake) my friends, lonely in this lowly world?”

German: Es ist vorbei ... Alles verloren ... Ich bin der Letzte ... Translation: "It is over. Everything lost... I am the last..."

Japanese can also be read as “I’m the last one left... I guess it can’t be helped, huh?” but even in context, it didn’t flow quite as well as I’d like.. but that doesn’t take away from the crying, does it... ; A; I got the term “Remnant” from Japanese, where “watashi ga saigo ni nokotta tte” would literally translate to “I’m the final remnant”/”I’m the last leftover”, which I did word as “I’m the last one remaining/left.” (It is also 'Sumo term, cried by the referee to indicate that a rikishi is still in the ring’, but that didn’t quite feel right here, however, you can take the sumo joke if you’d like. <3)

I’m going to repeat that I think referring back to the line he was told back when he’d gotten the title of Elidibus wasn’t bad, and it did still work very well to convey that lost, lonely, longing he was left with as a remnant; what little was left of him, lamented the loss of his beloved people; people that he’d just wanted to save. This is evidenced in French and German; where he states that he’s all that’s left, everything is lost, it is over... that he had to go last, so he wouldn’t abandon his friends.

I appreciate that we gave Elidibus all the constellation stones, which, in a way, let him finally be with all of his friends once more. All the stones, except for ours; we kept that, because Hades made it for us. He made it for us to remember, so that the story of the Ancients wouldn’t be forgotten; the ‘truth’ he made sure he told us when we asked about the past.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe for now.

[Next Post >>]

[schleierkauz]

Is it me or does The Color not only have inconsistencies, but is it much weaker than the other three? I mean, there are hardly any descriptions, for example. Everything seems summarized, without delving into anything; and it seems there is no development in the characters, they seem a bit... robotic. After Dustfinger's ambivalence in Inkheart and Mo's double soul conflict in Inkdeath (especially Inkdeath is a jewel), and the melodic prose that Cornelia had then, maybe The Color falls short?

I mean, the Violante thing, for example. Violante being a better mother and suddenly overcoming her traumas just by... the intense therapy with the Prince, it seems to me a way to pave the pitfalls without real development. An easy and schematic way, avoiding the conflict. It's like to subtract depth from the characters. And the Violante we knew in Inkdeath didn't need a man to overcome anything! 

VERY interesting message, and you mention some things I’ve also been thinking about, Anon, so this response will probably be pretty lengthy. Edit, yep, it was - I’ll put it under a cut. :D

Alright, so first of all I agree that so far the whole story seems... rushed, especially compared to the very detailed descriptions of the first three books. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’ve spent very little time with our actual heroes thus far-

There were chapters 2 and 3 from Fenoglio’s perspective (which... not to drag Fenoglio but I think most of us would have preferred a look into someone else’s head), chapter 5 was from Meggie’s perspective but dealt mainly with her love triangle with just a dash of magical exposition, chapter 6 was mainly about trying to find Ironstone (again) and then in chapter 8 everyone vanished and we didn’t get a whole lot of detail there, either. Now, I love chapter 8 and it was very painful to hear, but I think it’s a strange choice to give us so little time with Resa, Mo and Roxane. Especially Roxane, goddamn, she didn’t even get to speak! Just give me a normal day of her peaceful life with Dustfinger and her son, just one, I don’t care if nothing exciting happens, Cornelia.

... But that brings me to my next point. You mentioned how Violante changed and while, yeah, it is a huge thing... I really loved the latest chapter (those descriptions of the red sky, red pages and the red blood on that girl’s hands... loved that), including that part where her whole therapy process was described. It reminded me of the earlier chapters, when Fenoglio cannot believe an actual plot is happening again.

Because it really feels like... yeah, everyone got their Happy Ending. Mo and Dustfinger both have their happy families living peacefully together (even though I really really wanted to see how/if Brianna and Dustfinger repaired their relationship and I think there should have been a spotlight on those two ages ago and it’s really frustrating to me but that’s a post for another time), Elinor and Darius are doing their thing, Violante brought peace to Ombra, loves her son and got to hook up with the Prince, who’s also presumably doing wholesome robber things... you get the idea. It’s this borderline unrealistic fairy tale ending, and everyone thought the story was over - we as the readers, they as the characters and Cornelia Funke as the author.

And then Orpheus set it all on fire.

Personally, I really like that, because now everyone has to figure out how to continue a story they clearly weren’t prepared for. I was actually very sceptical when Fenoglio described Dustfinger as this perfectly calm unafraid best version of himself because, well... good for him, but a character like that isn’t very fun to read about. But seeing how quickly that seemed to crumble when Orpheus’ plan continued, I think things are going to play out in interesting ways from here on out.

Regarding readability, sentence structure and melodic prose... 

Um. Honestly, that’s probably my fault? Cornelia’s writing style has definitely changed and evolved since she wrote the first three books, but as someone who’s read Dragonrider II (which was written like 20 years after the first one) as well as that Pan’s Labyrinth fanfiction that came out last year, I honestly don’t think it’s... less pretty. She still tends to use a lot of metaphors and similes and flowery language. The one exception I can think of is Reckless, and TCoRs style doesn’t remind me of that at all. I really try my best over here but this is the first time I’ve ever translated a longer text from German to English (and not the other way around) and it’s an ambitious project. Think of my versions as, like, the prototype of the prototype. I’m sure the official translations will flow a lot better.

So... Yeah. I agree that parts of TCoR seem strange and clunky, but overall I really enjoy it and I’m looking forward to hear more. Also, keep in mind that these chapters aren’t the finished versions, who knows how much things will change until the final release? 

(Oh, and as for Violante not needing a man in the other books - I disagree, actually. While she has always been a strong character and I love her, she was very much just trying to appear strong in order to defeat her father, and Mo saw through that facade fairly easily. He kept having to remind himself not to dad her... and by the end she was trapped in a hole while her son saved the day. If anything, she’s a stronger force in this book, since she worked through some of her issues and I can’t wait to see her throwing shoes at Orpheus)

[aqvarius]

HLITF: This is not the Story of your First Night: Soma  - otona love - chapter 2 summary/translation

so i decided to spend the 700pt to buy all 6 chapters of this lol. my love for soma crosses all boundaries and languages and i decided i will get through this no matter how long it takes me. i find it kind of hard to translate sometimes because i have to figure out a lot of context re: pronouns/who’s doing what and also there’s a lot of like ‘vague’/euphemistic language when it comes to some of the more graphic bits haha. also i’m swapping into a primarily second person format because writing about “them” makes me feel weirdly voyeuristic (and somehow writing about “you” is less voyeuristic? makes no sense but i like it more lmao).

i’ve chosen to title this as “this is not the story of your first night” and have gone back and retitled the first chapter post which you can find here. 

i’m thinking of shortening it to “not your first night” but please let me know if there’s a less clunky title that would work.

anyway i’m going to put this under a cut because it is really image heavy! this is a looong chapter and i ended up taking a lot more screenshots because there were so many moments i wanted to showcase. 

click below to read my summary/translation of chapter 2!

soma: “i’ve been looking forward to this day with you”

anyway i just had to share how google decided to translate this next slide bc i’m screaming it’s so funny. 

this is the original slide, which i think is basically saying: smiling as he’s about to make me cum with his fingers, kyokan [the instructor] casually/nonchalantly puts on a condom (😲)

you think, “i was hoping that this day would come too”

((alskdjflsdj they are SO CUTE together))

anyway you get really nervous and there’s a heartbeat sfx which is so funny because there has been no music in this story but there’s suddenly this loud thumping noise. 

“with a whisper [of my name], kyokan slowly sinks himself onto me”

i think this means he’s lowering his weight onto you, sinking onto, rather than into - you at this point.

you moan his ‘name’ (kyokan/instructor) and in response he slowly but firmly spreads your legs and then sinks deeper onto you. 

“ah... instructor’s ..... is getting really hard”

he rubs against your entrance* and your heart is pounding again. also the heartbeat sfx comes back lol. 

*i don’t really know how to translate this part because it seems to be a really evasive way of talking about like “receiving parts” if i’m reading it correctly lol

“n-not there...!”

“his hard, hot tip touched my sensitive bead, my body trembled” 

soma: “does it feel good here?”

((of course it does!!!!!! you know it does!!!!))

you respond affirmatively, and he says:

“harder? or more gentle?”

kyokan you are SUCH A TEASE!! omg i can’t believe this is all happening on the very night he confesses ahhhh. no wonder everyone always says soma is good with women laskjdfla

he tells you not to lose energy this time lol. your sensitive parts are being stimulated and your breaths become shallow... his hot mass, coated in your nectar, slowly enters you. quietly, gently and caringly... he gradually goes deeper and deeper.

“aah... i can feel kyokan’s heat in the core of my body...”

soma: “does it hurt?” 

he is such a gentleman i’m swooning~

so anyway you say you’re okay so he says he’ll give you a little more (!!) can’t believe he’s saying that with that smile ugh my heart can’t take it.

you moan in response and in contrast to your soft voice, his cock [they call it his “that” lmao] powerfully pushes even deeper inside you. 

“sugoi.... it’s so deep....”  

i think that deep down we all knew this, but it’s official that soma is packing lol.

“finally, with the instructor... i’m one with my beloved instructor soma...”

“my heart is feeling as full as my body is feeling pleasure”

this is all so steamy but these two lines made me so emotional~~~ ((they’re so in love ahaslfkjsl my heart can’t take it)) i can’t quite yet figure out how to phrase that second line in as pretty of a way, but basically it’s saying that your heart is feeling full to the same extent as your body is feeling pleasure. 

you both moan each other’s names and you wrap your arms around his back and you’re being embraced, holding on tight to him, and he holds you tightly in return. feeling his pulsing heartbeat, you instinctively become happy. by the way there’s also this random rustling sheets sfx that sometimes pops up that i also find really funny. 

“the instructor’s thrusts gradually speed up to the rate of his heartbeat.”

you start moaning more and he asks:

soma: “too fast?”

you just respond in moans like “nn, ahh” lol, so he asks you again if it hurts, and then his movement slows because he’s worried that you haven’t answered him.

something that i’m learning about soma (as if i didn’t already know) is that he’s always checking in with you. in this case it’s because it’s your first time together but it’s something that he always seems to do and he loves teasing you so i wonder if in the later cases it’s more like light 言葉責め (verbal humiliation?) lol.

you respond no (that it doesn’t hurt) and he says

 soma: “sorry, i don’t mean to be rough-”

but you’re like “no!! don’t stop yet...!” ((she’s having such a good time lmao)) but you can’t say it so you just bite your lip and shake your head

soma: “so it’s like that, is it?”

he’s guessed what you mean and starts thrusting rhythmically again. his long hair sways with each movement of his hips, making your skin tingle even more.

you feel embarrassed that you want him so badly right from the start, but even though you’re embarrassed, you can’t escape the pleasure dominating your entire body. in fact, you want even more. you don’t want him to see your lustful face so you cover your face with your hands, but soma takes your hands and laces your fingers with his. 

soma: “show me the face you make when you feel me”

((!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can’t handle this, i had to take a short break bc my heart is about to explode)) 

you note that you’re still unaccustomed to this instructor who refers to himself as “俺”** in bed, and then once again he pushes deep into you. 

**俺 (ore) is a more informal/manly way of saying “I”. soma normally uses keigo/polite language when he talks so he tends to refer to himself with 私 (watashi) but when he’s in bed his speech pattern and language changes to be more aggressive/manly.

this is just soma panting/moaning but i love his blush sprite and i always include it wherever i can lol.

anyway, you have a glorious orgasm (which i was too lazy/noob to translate properly) and that concludes the flashback. ((also i'm probably wrong but i feel like the text implies that it’s her first, which means that sex with the ex hajime was... not that great lmao?))

the music comes back now as we return to the present which is nice haha. you reminisce that soma wasn’t as mean/teasing as he is now ((lmao!!!! i knew it)) and feel nostalgic thinking back to your first night. 

you were so embarrassed at him asking you all those questions, but that’s just soma’s kindness.... or so it should be. with that, you get out of bed, reminding yourself that soma is always kind, and go to the bathroom to wash away the remnants of last night ... 

anyway i thought that was the end of this chapter bc i’ve literally been sitting here translating for ages BUT IT’S NOT. 

kurosawa: “nooo~ S [sadism] is sugoi desu ne...!”

it’s jarring to go from super steamy and emotional reminiscing about your first time with soma to suddenly kurosawa lmao. i also finally figured out that the ‘present’ (i.e. not the flashback) is set after graduation when you are already working as a full fledged public safety detective. anyway he tells you that he went to an SM bar yesterday and he was blown away by how amazing S is. only then do you realise what he means by S. 

kurosawa says that the most amazing thing is that their kotobazeme (verbal abuse/humiliation) is no joke. 

i just want to interlude here and say that i wrote this entirely summary completely chronologically and never went back to add anything retroactively and yet i was already talking about soma’s kotobazeme ages ago (and how on their first night he was probably genuinely checking in to make sure she was okay but now probably does it to tease her). i know my man so well lol 

anyway, toru tries to give you an example of kotobazeme and gets all up close and is about to whisper in your ear and then ishigami is like “that’s enough”. 

ayumu: “any more than that and it’ll be sexual harassment” 

soma: “that’s right”

seeing my #1 and #2 faves together is giving me palpitations. 

luckily, kurosawa backs off but then he says that ishigami is good at it (verbal abuse) ... and so is shusuke... and goto... 

goto interrupts him and says “shut up” which immediately proves toru’s point lol. there’s some banter between goto and soma vs toru which i’m too tired to translate bc it’s 2am and i’ve been doing this for hours but anyway goto grabs him by the neck and drags him off. 

you’re left wondering if the public safety division are all like the S types you get in SM bars... and that includes “shusuke-san” too. you ruminate on the word “kotobazeme” and then the next line is maybe my favourite line in the entire chapter script:

“no way... do we naturally do SM play now?!” 

BECAUSE HE’S ALWAYS TEASING HER AND EMBARRASSING HER VERBALLY IN BED!!!!! I KNEW IT LMAO AND IT’S ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT SOMA 

just as you’re realising this, you feel a tap on the shoulder. smiling as you turn around, you get a chill down your spine as you are faced with a slightly chilly 菩薩顔 bosatsu face. i have no idea how to translate this lol it’s like a buddhist thing. i guess it would be that really like... serene face?

soma: “we’re not like that”

he whispers in your ear and..... that’s the end of chapter 2.

wow that was a RIDE. i really hope you enjoyed this super long and fangirly/low quality summary! i really loved this chapter because we get to see that first night where soma was so sweet and caring and loving (although still a bit of a tease), but also we know the theme of this story which is about soma’s verbal humiliation which i’m sure you all know i just adore. and we also get to see some of soma’s moves in bed haha. i’m hoping that in the future chapters we’re going to get some more kotobazeme from soma which i’m so excited for lfakjsdlk what kinds of dirty things is he going to say!! and more importantly, what kinds of embarrassing things is he going to make YOU say?

ANYWAY this took me hours to do this lol and it’s 3am now and i’m so excited to post this and get some sleep. please reblog/like if you enjoyed. furthermore, i’ve set up a ko-fi page here and would be incredibly grateful if you would like to support me for translations and being able to purchase more routes to summarise in english! there’s one where kazuomi from masquerade kiss watches you masturbating which i really want to read and summarise/translate if i have the time/energy. 

click here for chapter 3

[kaialone]

Spirit Tracks Translation Comparison: Zelda’s Body Taken

This will be a comparison of the original Japanese version and the US English localized version.

Specifically, this will cover the cutscenes in which Princess Zelda’s body ends up being stolen.

You can also watch these cutscenes for yourself in English and Japanese. If you want, you can check out the EU English version, too.

For the comparison, the usual points apply:

Bolded is the original Japanese text, for the reference.

Bolded and italicized is my translation.

Italicized is the official NOA translation.

A (number) indicates that I have a specific comment to make on that part in the translation notes.

As you read this, please keep in mind that with translations like these, it’s important not to focus on the exact literal wordings, since there is no single “correct answer” when it comes to translations.

Rather than that, consider the actual information that is being conveyed, in which way, and why.

--

Cirokuni = Alfonzo, Kimaroki = Cole, Dego = Byrne

--

After Link’s Train Derails:

Alfonzo:

姫さま あれを！

Your Highness, look over there!

Your Highness! Look over there!

-

Zelda:

…なんということでしょ 一刻も早く あの塔に行かないと

...My goodness, we have to reach that tower as soon as possible.

What's happening to the Tower of Spirits?

-

Cole:

…困りますねぇ 姫さま お忍びで散歩などされては…

...Now this just will not do, Your Highness. Going out for a little secret stroll like that...

Out for a leisurely stroll, Your Highness?

Tsk, tsk, tsk! You know that's not allowed!

Zelda:

大臣?

Minister?

Allowed by who? You, Chancellor Cole?

Cole:

ガキはおとなしく城で王様ごっこ してりゃいいんだよ!!

You brat should've just kept playing pretend-monarch at the castle like a good girl!!

Who else? Who do you think is really in charge?

Zelda, Link and Alfonzo:

!!

!!

…

Cole:

我が名はキマロキ…

長い間 人間の振りをして いたので肩が こりましたよ

My name is Kimaroki...

Pretending to be human for so long has taken its toll on me.  (1)

My goodness, pretending to be human is exhausting.

Who knew that chancellor was just another word...

for royal babysitter?!

Cole:

まあ もう少し大臣で いるつもりだったのですが…

予定を早めました

Well, I had actually intended to keep being the minister for a while longer, but...

We ended up going ahead of schedule.

I had meant to keep up the ruse a bit longer.

Cole:

姫さまが悪いのですよ ? 余計なことを かぎ回るから

The fault is yours, Your Highness, is it not? You and your unnecessary meddling.

But you pushed me to this, Princess.

Cole:

しかも そんな小僧や機関士 なんぞに手を借りてまで…

Moreover, you even went as far as to call a mere boy and an engineer to your aid...

Bringing in the boy and the engineer didn't help either.

Zelda:

あなたは… 一体?

What in the world... are you...?  (2)

What are you talking about?

Cole:

おぞましき神の遺物…

The relic of that repugnant god...

I'm talking about your infernal meddling!

Cole:

忌まわしい結界が消えうせ 今 時は満ちた…

Now that this repulsive barrier is vanishing, the time is at hand...

But now that those vile tracks are disappearing,

the time is finally at hand!

Cole:

あと必要なのは…

All we need now is...

All we need now is...

Cole:

あなたの… カ ラ ダ

Your... b o d y.  (3)

A little help--hee hee--from you, Your Highness!

Alfonzo:

何者か知らねえが 姫さまに 仇なすってんなら…

I dunno who you are, but if you harm Her Highness in any way...

I don't know who these two are, Your Highness.

But with your permission...

Alfonzo:

このシロクニ 容赦はしねえぜ？

I, Cirokuni, won't hold anything back against ya.

I'd be happy to teach them some manners.

Cole:

かっかっか… 人間ふぜいが

Ka ka ka... Typical human.

Nyee hee hee hee hee! How gallant! How brave!

How incredibly foolhardy!

Alfonzo:

なめんなよ こちとら先々代から 王家に お仕えしてんだ

Don't you underestimate me! My folks've been serving the royal family for generations, you know!  (4)

Enough out of you!

My family has served the royal house for generations!

Cole:

!… ディーゴ様…

...! Master Dego...

Melodrama bores me.

Byrne, would you kindly dispose of this fool?

Byrne:

この男の言うとおりだ… かなり 腕に覚えがあるようだな

It's like this man said... He certainly seems confident in his own strength.

This man speaks the truth, Cole.

His movements are not those of an amateur.

Byrne:

だが 私の敵ではない…

But, he's no match for me...

But he is only human.

Alfonzo:

…なあんなって言っただろ？

...I told you not to underestimate me, didn't I?

I told you, I will defend the princess at any cost!

Byrne:

こちらも言ったはずだ 我が敵ではないと

And I told you. You are no match for me.

And I told you. You're only human.

Cole:

キキキッ さすがディーゴ様！ お強に！イカス！

Keekeekee, I expected no less from you, Master Dego! Such strength! Tubular!

Nyee hee hee hee hee!

Oh, Byrne, you do know how to put on a show!

Byrne:

しょせんは人の技だ

あの程度で私の前に 立つことは かなわぬ…

That's just the extent of human skill.

One can't hope to face me with something that meager...

It was hardly a fair fight, Cole.

Zelda:

あ… リンク…

Ah... Link...

Help me, Link!

Zelda:

こ 来ないでください… それ以上 近づかないで…

P-please stay away... Do not come any closer...

No! Don't come any closer!

Cole:

…まあ良いでしょう 必要なのは王女の体…

...Ah well, that should be alright. We just need the body of the princess...

Good work, Byrne.

That takes care of the first step of our plan.

Cole:

さあディーゴ様 参りましょう くっくっく…

Now, let us depart, Master Dego. Ku ku ku...

Nyee hee hee hee hee! Our work is done here.

Come now, Byrne!

Translation Notes:

What I adapted as “taken its toll on me” more literally translates to “made my shoulder stiff”, but from what I've seen, this is a generic phrase characters sometimes say when they’re exhausted? In any case, I adapted it the way I did because I thought it sounded a bit better. The English version likely did the same thing.

In this line by Zelda it’s not exactly clear if she is just supposed to be saying “What in the world are you...?” or if she means to say “What in the world are you talking about?” but doesn’t finish the line completely. The response from Cole makes the latter seem plausible though, which is probably why the English version went with that.

In Japanese, the word for body is 体/karada, but in this line here Cole drags it out for dramatic effect, saying it syllable by syllable as “ka ra da”, which goes along with the animation in this scene.

Alfonzo uses a somewhat informal word to refer to his family, so I translated it as “my folks” here, in case you were unsure what he meant.

--

Comparisons & Thoughts:

In this part, we are formally introduced to our main antagonists, as well as the central conflict of the game, which gives us a lot to go over.

Some of the changes to Cole in particular also become more apparent here, so I will start off with those.

-

A strange difference between versions is when and how we first learn Cole’s name.

In the English version, he was named right when he was introduced, but in Japanese it’s only at this point in the game right here that his name is revealed.

And the way he introduces himself with “My name is Kimaroki...” raises some questions. He’s using a rather dramatic way to say it in Japanese, too.

Since he was the minister, it seems unlikely that Zelda wasn’t aware of what his name was, so why would he need to say it like that?

Perhaps he was only introducing himself to Link and Alfonzo? But that's also kinda unlikely, since he doesn’t really address those two directly, he mostly speaks to Zelda.

Alternatively, this could imply he was actually working at the castle under a fake name, so this moment is him revealing his true name for the first time.

I think this would make the most sense from a story perspective, given how this dialogue flows.

But, we aren’t really given a clear indication of either option, so it’s also possible this was just a result of clunky writing.

Given this, I can understand why the English version changed it up so that Cole was already referred to by name at the castle.

Since it’s not really clear what, if anything, the Japanese version was trying to imply here, it's easier to go with something else that simplifies the issue.

As a fan, I am still interested in the potential implications of the Japanese version here, assuming it was intentional, but the change makes perfect sense from a localization perspective.

-

In the Japanese version, Cole says “You brat should’ve just kept playing pretend-monarch at the castle like a good girl!!”, when he reveals his true nature.

This calls back to what has been established back at the castle, namely Zelda being more of a figurehead ruler, with seemingly only Cole holding any real authority.

But it also shows us more about how Cole regards Zelda in this version. Whenever he addresses her, he scolds and berates her like one would a misbehaving child.

The English version does include these bits of information, with lines like “Who else? Who do you think is really in charge?“ and “Who knew that chancellor was just another word…for royal babysitter?!”

But I personally feel the Japanese version does it a bit better. It just feels slightly more natural, whereas the English version has Cole spell it out a bit too directly.

It’s not much of a difference right now, but the English version eventually drifts further from the Japanese version’s portrayal of how Cole talks to Zelda.

-

At this point, we also see more of how Cole’s general characterization has been tweaked in English.

Like I mentioned when he was first introduced, Cole has a formal and technically polite manner of speaking in the Japanese version, even if he is still condescending, of course.

But, that’s only half of it.

He actually has this character quirk where he flip-flops between that formal speaking style, and a very informal style, to the point of being almost crude sometimes.

And it’s not just him being insulting, he genuinely goes to talking more like a goon, no hint of class, not even ironic.

It’s different from the way Alfonzo switches up his speaking style, too. It’s a fairly normal thing to speak differently depending on the social context like Alfonzo does.

I’ve seen Cole’s flip-flopping being compared to the Happy Mask Salesman, who has some memorable outbursts in Majora’s Mask.

But with the Happy Mask Salesman, those are always caused by anger, whereas with Cole they don’t happen every time he’s angry, and can also happen when he’s delighted.

In any case, there is this clearly deliberate duality to Cole’s personality in the Japanese version.

In the English version, this aspect was dropped.

Here, Cole’s speaking style doesn’t really change, it’s always technically formal, but in a smug, more openly insulting manner.

It’s almost like a merging of Cole’s formal and informal sides from the Japanese version, slightly leaning more towards formal.

Compared to other characters, Cole’s lines will also see more rewrites from this point on, usually to make him seem more pompous, toning down how goony he can get during his informal moments.

Which characterization you prefer is up to you, of course, but it's arguably one of the bigger changes when it comes to the characters.

Though this change with Cole here is probably related to the next one I want to talk about.

-

Something that might have caught your eye is Cole referring to Byrne as “Master Dego” in Japanese.

Specifically, he uses the very respectful suffix 様/-sama when addressing him.

And yes, in the Japanese version, Byrne is presented to us as the leader of this scheme the two of them have going on, while Cole is his underling.

This is reflected by their interactions as well.

You could read them as equals, since Byrne doesn’t give out any orders, but Cole definitely addresses Byrne like one would a superior.

Of course, Cole doesn’t exactly come off as trustworthy, but still.

In English, this dynamic between them is completely turned around, so Cole is now implied to be directly in charge of this duo, with Byrne being an underling who does his bidding.

I’m guessing this is also part of the reason why Cole’s characterization was altered, or perhaps the other way around?

Since Cole is in charge now, he’s portrayed as less goofy, so to speak.

Most of Cole’s dialogue addressing Byrne in this cutscene has also been changed to reflect this change in their dynamic.

In Japanese, Cole acts subservient and flattering to Byrne, to an almost silly degree.

In English, Cole will flatter Byrne too, but in a way like a master would flatter an amusing servant of theirs.

-

I probably don’t need to go over each line between Cole and Byrne in detail.

But as a quick example, Cole’s reaction to Byrne actually stepping forward is completely different between the versions.

In Japanese, Cole says “…! Master Dego…”

Here, Cole is surprised about Byrne stepping forward like that, and seems a bit nervous, almost like he’s worried Byrne is getting impatient, or something similar.

If you pay attention, you’ll see his animation reflects the tone of this line, too.

But in English, he instead says “Melodrama bores me. Byrne, would you kindly dispose of this fool?”

In this version, Cole continues to be condescending, and dismissively summons Byrne to take care of the situation for him.

This also means that in the English version, Byrne presumably wouldn’t have acted on his own, while in the Japanese version he fought Alfonzo because he himself wanted to.

The latter is more consistent with how we see him act later.

It’s kinda interesting though that Byrne’s own dialogue remains mostly the same, despite these changes.

The way the dynamic between Byrne and Cole was changed between versions really does affect Cole more than it does Byrne. It’s really more how Cole plays off of him, and the implications of that, which are different.

There isn’t much of a direct difference to how Byrne treats Cole in Japanese compared to English. The implications are more those between the lines - Byrne working with a guy who acts more like a bootlicker to him in Japanese, while in English he works with a guy who treats him like a lackey.

One could speculate that the Japanese version of Byrne would have been too prideful to work with someone like the English version of Cole, but we have no way of knowing for sure.

-

Alright, so in my translation notes I already mentioned that during the line “Your… b o d y”, Cole is slowly dragging out the word 体/karada in Japanese, which goes along with how the camera zooms in on his face.

The English version adapted this with “A little help--hee hee--from you, Your Highness!“, which the last part is dragged out as “Your-High-ness”.

This is a clever adaptation, especially since you need to think outside the box a little here. A literal translation like mine wouldn’t work at all in-game.

Still, maybe they could have gone with something shorter like “your-bo-dy”?

-

Minor difference, but when Alfonzo steps forward, he directly talks to Cole and Byrne in the Japanese version, but in the English version he is talking about them to Zelda.

This could have been an oversight, or a deliberate change to give Zelda more authority in this part.

If it’s the latter, I’m not sure if it works, since it’s not like Zelda responds anyway, so it doesn’t feel any less like she’s being talked over.

-

I want to talk about the line “But, he’s no match for me“, because here we got a prominent example of the EU English version actually getting it wrong by being too literal.

In actual Japanese, Byrne says “だが 私の敵ではない”/“Daga watashi no teki dewanai“, which literally translates to “But, he’s not my enemy”, and the EU version went with that.

However, that was a bad call on their part.

Because “He’s not my enemy” is a Japanese figure of speech which means “He’s no match for me”. As in, not being strong enough to even be considered an enemy.

Therefore it should not be translated literally like that.

The US English version adapts this line as “But he is only human”.

This makes use of information Byrne originally gives after the battle in Japanese: “That’s just the extent of human skill. One can’t hope to face me with something that meager…”

In turn, that bit is then streamlined in English as: “It was hardly a fair fight, Cole.“

I am impressed by the way they spread around the information they needed to convey in a manner that allowed them to use less text here.

But it also changes up the flow of this scene, as in the Japanese version, we don’t get the confirmation that Byrne is not human until after Alfonzo is beaten by him.

It’s an easy guess of course, but there is that initial bit of tension.

-

As Alfonzo and Byrne fight, Alfonzo’s dialogue is changed from “ …I told you not to underestimate me, didn’t I?“ to “I told you, I will defend the princess at any cost!”, kinda shifting the topic of this conversation, which was originally about pitting their strength against each other.

This is notable because Alfonzo has been built up for the audience as being one of the strongest people in the land.

And without confirmation that Byrne is not human, there is this illusion of hope that maybe Alfonzo can match his strength.

The power of regular humans compared to beings of demonic or divine nature is one of the themes of this story, so this fight is part of the audience’s more personal introduction to it.

I do think the English version does a good job of setting this theme up in its own right, it’s just done differently.

-

And lastly, Cole’s comment after Zelda’s spirit is expelled from her body and flies towards the castle differs between versions:

…Ah well, that should be alright. We just need the body of the princess…

Good work, Byrne.

That takes care of the first step of our plan.

In the Japanese version, Cole acknowledges the fact that he just saw Zelda’s spirit fly away, but brushes it off as being unimportant, openly dismissing Zelda as a possible threat at this point.

But in the English version, that part isn’t mentioned.

I feel this was probably an oversight due to lack of context.

In the actual cutscene, we see Cole watching very closely as Zelda’s spirit emerges and flies away, so his comment follows up on that animation in Japanese.

But translators are rarely able to see the visuals of what they are translating, as they are usually only given the text itself.

And if that was the case here, the translators would have only gotten to see what amounts to Cole saying something along the lines of “That’s alright, we just need the body of the princess”, without any additional context.

If we assume this is what happened, it makes sense that they adapted the line the way they did in the final version.

I don’t know how the translation process was handled in Spirit Tracks, but I do know that with many game translations, you will usually have a first translator doing a more literal, rough translation draft, and then a second translator who rewrites that raw translation into the final text.

And if that second translator is unable to check the Japanese version to clear up any potential confusion, you can end up with even more deviations from the original quite easily.

This is just some possible examples of how various factors can affect text translations in ways the translators themselves have little control over.

-

Overall, this batch of scenes is interesting when it comes to the localization.

They’re rather faithful for the most part, outside of general slight differences I mentioned previously, like Alfonzo’s speaking style. The dialogue is mostly the same, though.

The biggest difference is really Cole’s characterization and dialogue, particularly in regards to his interactions with other characters.

Especially the flipping of his dynamic with Byrne is a notable change to the story from a character perspective.

But this part is already pretty long, so I won’t dwell on it more than that for now. Feel free to check out the next one!

--

< Previous Part | Start | Next Part >

--

[kattahj]

Thoughts on The Last Wish (the first Witcher book)

Fair warning: this is decidedly mixed and with plenty of show-book comparisons that aren't always in the book's favour (though sometimes they are).

I wasn't at all sure that I wanted to read the Witcher books. I may love the TV show, but the question "Would I like to read a version of this written by a dude in the 80s and 90s, with less focus on the female characters, and the kind of fanboys who throw a hissy fit when black people appear on screen?" was answered with "well, maybe". Especially when I started The Last Wish and got anonymous boobs (in the faaaaace) on page 1.

But I kept reading and I kind of enjoyed myself.

See, I'm a sucker for twisted fairy tales, and a large portion of this book consists of such twisted fairy tales. We get full chapters for Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Hans-My-Hedgehog, as well as nods to Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, The Billy Goats Gruff, and probably more stuff that I've forgotten.

And yeah, it's action-heavy to the point of stupidity, and there's a lot of casual misogyny, but it's still fun. Even if it's fun I sometimes hate myself for having.

Take the Beauty and the Beast chapter as an example. On one hand, the Beast is cursed while he rapes a priestess, and his true love is a homicidal vampire who has to die (graphically, with a stake between her breasts) for him to turn back. On the other hand, there's a lot of fun anecdotes about how merchants send their daughters to the Beast's castle as a way for them to earn some money before they marry someone else, and it's also fun to read about what a loser Beast is. But I do think there's a reason this one was the only adventure not to make it into the TV show (yet).

And Renfri may be an uncomfortable mix of murderer, victim, and fuck buddy, but I can't help it, I still enjoy reading about a Snow White who curses every other sentence and shacks upp with robbers. (I'm really sad Marilka isn't in the book, though. I liked that cheerfully psychopathic little girl.)

It's interesting that the circumstances around their battle are different from the show. Stregobor has locked himself away, and through stuff people tell Geralt about Renfri's gang, he realizes that she means to capture people at the market and give Stregobor an ultimatum: come down to be killed, or she'll murder the civilians one by one until he does. So Geralt kills off her entire gang to protect the town, and then Renfri returns, saying that Stregobor just laughed at her and wouldn't come down. The two of them fight, and as she dies she tries to trick him into holding her so she can kill him. So, yeah, book Renfri is a piece of work and Geralt's moral dilemma is a little bit lighter on him.

In general, the tone is a lot more outright humourous than in the TV show. There are still serious moments, but they're fewer and further between. It's also a lot chattier. There is a LOT of dialogue - Geralt is more talkative, and so is everyone else. It works fine for written text, but so much of it is exposition or random jokes that I understand why they'd cut it for the screen.

The stories are more expanded upon than they are on screen, which of course in many cases lead to much needed and appreciated context. In others, I quite like the changes made for TV. The situation with the elves, for instance, originally depend on a rather Deus ex machina type of solution - I prefer the way the TV elves and Geralt talked things out. (Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the way the book has the Sylvan and Jaskier playing music together afterwards. That was cute.) But then, the scene in the show is more hopeful that there can be a way for the elves to survive and both species to coexist. In the book, it's more, "Yup, you're all going to die, and that sucks, but humans are racist fucks and there's nothing to be done about that."

The stories are still told non-chronologically, though the system of doing so is a bit easier than what the show does - there are standalone adventures and then a frame story inbetween of Geralt recuperating at the temple, with each adventure tying into some aspect of his stay there. I quite like these slower parts, they're much needed between all the monster fighting. But as I understand it, the first four adventures were originally published in magazines, and the frame story and final two adventures were added later. I do think it shows, as the mood is different, and the last two adventures also more tied into Geralt's background and relationships than the others.

It does get a bit weird that Geralt's relationship with Yennefer, and her desire to have a child, are detailed at length through dialogue with the priestess Nenneke before we even meet Yennefer in the final chapter, but I guess this is an effect of how the stories were published. This part of the book was published after Sword of Destiny, and I'm assuming we get more of Yennefer there, and that most of the readers would already have encountered her by the time we get this. Nevertheless, when read like this, it's clunky.

OTOH, there actually isn't an orgy going on when Geralt meets Yennefer, so I'm not sure why the show added that. In the book there are only erotic statues, and a very naked, very seductive Yennefer. I still got a bit of a "yikes" vibe from the scene, though, especially since it's the first introduction in person to her (after the exposition), while in the show we've already known her for several episodes at that point. And then we get a bit about how as a sorcerer she can be attractive but never truly beautiful, because sorcerers are ugly women who are made pretty by magic and thus she has "an ugly woman's evil and cold eyes". Double yikes.

Interestingly, where show Yennefer hates that Geralt has tied their destinies together, book Yennefer is totally charmed by it.

Jaskier is even dimmer than he is in the show and not half as endearing. His second wish to the djinn is another "yikes" moment. In the show he wishes for his lover to return to him "with open arms, a cheerful heart, and very little clothing", which is already a bit iffy, but in the book he wishes that a countess who rejects every man will let him fuck her, which is... oy. But that's par for the course for these stories, unfortunately. :-(

I do enjoy the gentle ribbing Jaskier and Geralt have going on. Their relationship feels a lot more mutual. I hope to see more of that in season 2.

I also hope to see Nenneke, who is a matronly priestess from the frame story who treats Geralt with a combination of contempt, tenderness, and medical care. 

I don't know what could be made of Iola, who is, as it later turns out, the owner of the anonymous pair of breasts on page 1. She's a younger priestess who has given a vow of silence, which means she gets to fuck Geralt and listen to his tales without ever interrupting by telling him anything about herself, or indeed having any sort of personality. I honestly don't know if that character could ever be made palatable, but I kind of half want to see them try.

And yeah, it IS pretty noticeable that the three female characters in the book who are most unambiguously good (Iola, Lille, Pavetta) have next to no dialogue.

The Swedish translation mostly works well. Sometimes there's dialect and/or archaic language, usually for humorous effect, not enough of it to be irritating. (And I'm guessing that's in the original as well.) Jaskier is called Riddarsporre (Larkspur) in translation, which I'm sort of fine with. It's certainly better than them ignoring diacriticals and thus calling the horse Plotka, which means rumour - the original name is Płotka, which as we all know means Roach. Different words! (Translated to Swedish, Płotka would be Mört, which isn't a GREAT name, admittedly.)

I can kind of see why these stories, testosterone-laden as they are, would have a bunch of annoying fanboys. At the same time I find their "but people CAN'T be black, it's SLAVIC FOLKLORE!" whining even more annoying now. Grimm Brothers aren't Slavic folklore, and without black people we wouldn't have my favourite Cinderella film (dude, the conniptions they'd have over the genetic mix in THAT royal family). Furthermore, Skellige in this version is ridiculously Irish. Like, so Irish I'm surprised it's not populated by leprechauns. Though they also have bagpipes, so maybe Gaelic is a better term. The Elvish language seems to be a mix of Romanic, Germanic and Gaelic languages. (Their name for themselves, Aen Seidhe, is of course related to the Irish aes sidhe, and the Sylvan is Roman.) And of course djinni and ifriti are Middle Eastern (though Aladdin is set in China in some versions). So it's pretty much "put all myths and fairytales in a pot and stir." And that’s fine, but you don’t get to be all “MINE! NO ONE CAN HAS!” about it.

To be fair, I can also see why people who AREN'T annoying assholes would be fans of these books. Especially if they can compartmentalize the sexism, alternatively lived in the 80s when even children's shows had lots of bikini babe extras. There's a lot of rather rowdy fun to be had, and some tenderness.

And yes, I have ordered the second book from the library. (Ebook sadly only available in Finnish. So if you live in Sweden and speak Finnish, you're in luck!)

[kloxbian]

Throw me to the crows (I prefer them to you) by @fellowlesbian​ (@clexa-infinite​) for @strangerthanx​

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Fandom: The 100 (TV)

Characters: Fox (The 100), Minor Characters

Additional Tags: Character Study

Language: English

Words: 4,584

Synopsis:  A character study of Fox, from life on the Ark to life after the mountain.

Notes: 

Trig translations:

Ouskejon Kru - Blue Cliff People

Branwoda - idiot

Au! Fou ai sen yu ona pou! - Out! Before I put you on a pole!

Set daun setnes ausad - Stand guard outside

Kongeda - coalition

Before people yell at me: I adore the grounders, I don't consider them savages, brutes, anything I used in text, that was just to keep Fox in character because, well, she has no reason to think them otherwise.

-

You promised.

Her body felt like it was burning alive.

You promised!

Savage roars echoed through her head, followed by a sick rip.

YOU PROMISED!

~

Fox had never had an easy life.

She grew up in the Peda Station, headquarters for education and rehabilitation. Both of her parents were teachers, all of her neighbors were educators, childcare workers, or the likes. Through school, she knew almost every teacher. Which would seem like a good thing. Teacher-student relationships are important, after all.

Well. Not good for your social life.

Fox wasn’t hated, but she wasn’t liked, either. She wasn’t very present. The other kids overlooked her. Her friends were made up of the other kids from her station, and that was it. Nobody else really knew anything about her. She was just another face in a crowd; people knew she was there, but never really cared.

Being a part of Peda Station had other negatives. Such as instilling Fox with a complete lack of independence.

Part of that was her parents. They always pushed for her to have good grades, to be an obedient student, to be better. They pushed this same ideal onto the other teachers as well. Her instructors, knowing her, would pamper her. Make sure she did the best she could. Favor her over the others.

As a child, this was wonderful. She loved being the favorite. She thought it was the best thing.

Then she hit middle school.

And she learned that it was not the best thing.

She figured out the reason why no one ever wanted her as a friend. They thought her privileged. Childish. They mocked her innocence; they mocked her dependence; they mocked her lineage. In their minds, not being like them was to be wrong.

She cried about it to her parents. They told her to not listen to the others.

She tried.

It didn’t work.

She reached freshman year. It was that year she decided that she would try to be like the others. To fit in with the crowd. Because you’re supposed to be like everyone else. That’s why they teased her. Because she wasn’t like them.

So she denied help. She started pushing away her teachers, her neighbors. She hated it. They were nice people, they didn’t deserve to be pushed away like this.

But nobody else liked them. And she was supposed to be like everyone else.

The change in her concerned them. Some of the teachers tried to talk to her about it, to figure out what was wrong, why she was suddenly acting like this. She refused. Screamed in their faces when they kept pressing her, talking to her like she was no more than an innocent child who can’t function by herself. Talking in soft tones, like she was a damn toddler. She wouldn’t have it. So she fled. Skipped her classes, curled up at home, and felt sorry for herself.

Fox’s parents tried as well. They weren’t so nice about it.

But she still hated it. Why can’t she change? Why can’t they let her be? Why does she always have to fit into their expectations of being the perfect child? Smart, dependent, in need of them. She loathed it.

She ran.

Curled up in a dark corner on the Ark, somewhere far from Peda, she cried. Messy and shaking, she cried until she felt empty, felt hollow. It was horrible. It was perfect.

The guards found her three hours after curfew.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing? Get home. Scram!”

Fox squeezed her eyes closed and buried her face in her knees. 

“Kid, you listening? Get out of here!”

Silence.

She heard him muttering quietly. “I’ll force you if I have to. Drag you home by the hair.”

Fine then. Do it. It’s not like her life could get any worse.

“Listen, kid, the policy here is strict. You know that. I could put you in prison for this. Let’s go.”

Prison? That didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

She thought bout it. If she went to prison, she’d remain there for the next four years, until she was reassessed and either let free or floated. But maybe then she wouldn’t have to deal with the bullying. With her parent’s pressure.With the constant babying of all the adults. Maybe the other kids would actually respect her for once.

Fox made her decision.

“Kid, come on. Don’t fight me. We can do this easily.” The guard grasped her wrist, pulling her up.

She curled her free hand into a fist, arm tensing.

He pulled her to her feet with enough force to have her teetering.

She swung.

The guard cried out as her fist connected with his nose. It didn’t break, she wasn’t strong enough to do that, but blood began to leak out of it. He sputtered. Swiped at his nose, and looked at the blood smeared across the back of his hand.

He lunged forward, grabbing her by the shoulders hard enough to bruise. “Then you give me no choice,” he growled, shoving her forward. She tried to break from his grasp but was far too weak.

She was going to prison.

~

Fox stared at the blood on her hand.

They’d thrown her into a cell last night. After her adrenaline rush faded, it hadn’t taken much for her to pass out, but now that it was morning and the lights lit up her room, she could clearly see the smudge of red on her fingers.

She had done that.

God, she had done that.

She didn’t regret her decision, but holy shit, she had done that. She’d punched a guard in the face. Openly rebelled against the Ark’s laws. She’d never rebelled against anything. This was a first. She didn’t know what to do with herself.

A loud alarm blared, and her cell clicked open. The other prisoners flowed out, all moving in the same direction, wherever it was. She pushed herself up, feeling a bit woozy. 

She followed the pack.

That was all she’d ever done.

~

Fox was sixteen when she was sent down to Earth in a metal pod of death.

She didn’t really expect to make it past the first day. She thought she’d die when she was hurtling down to Earth. She thought she’d die of toxic air. She thought she’d die of starvation, of thirst, looking at their pitiful rations.

She listened to the blonde one, Clarke, talk about the supplies at Mount Weather. At a mountain that could only be seen far in the distance.

It felt hopeless.

It didn’t help that criminals surrounded her. Some were down there for crimes like stealing food or medicine, or, like her, punching a guard. Some were down for murder or arson. She felt afraid. Alone. Like she always did.

When Bellamy started taking off wristbands, everyone seemed so excited. So happy to be rid of them.

So hers was popped right off.

Most people didn’t seem very concerned. The blonde and her group were the only ones really trying to survive, and Fox could respect that, but no one else cared. They shunned them. Made fun of them. And yet still they stood strong, pushing their point, trying to gain support. 

Fox envied that strength. That confidence.

She wished she had enough of it to actually support the side she was rooting for.

But she didn’t. She went with the pack like she always did.

It was the only way to stay safe.

~

A loud bang and an explosion shook the floor.

Fox looked up from where she sat, shooting to her feet. All of the forty-four readied themselves, weapons ready. She looked around desperately, jogging over to Jasper. “We’re not ready for this!”

Jasper looked at her from where he was watching the cameras with Monty. “Yes, we are. Just follow the plan. We’ll be okay, I promise.”

She let out a breath, nodding shakily. “Okay.” Jasper’s attention turned back to Monty, and Fox scampered away. She hefted her makeshift-sword, entire body quivering nervously. This was it. This was their stand. If they failed, there wouldn’t be another chance.

The door shuddered. The clinging thunk of something hitting the door made everyone flinch. It came again, and again, and again until it ripped the doors off their hinges. The pile of furniture they’d made wasn’t moved, but instead, grenades leaking red gas were thrown over. Fox took a deep breath, holding her nose closed as the grenades were quickly dunked into buckets of water. She collapsed onto the floor in mock unconscious.

The chairs were easily discarded and guards stormed the chamber. Guns were pointed every which way, and she couldn’t prevent a shudder when one was pointed directly at her head. She watched through slitted eyes as they walked around, one picking a grenade out of the water, and that was when they struck.

Fox slammed her clunky weapon into the head of one of the guards, knocking him back enough for someone to put a bullet in his chest. She spun, smacking another in the chest, and then swiping two more off their feet. She gasped as someone grabbed her by the shoulder, turning and hitting his head hard enough to make an audible clang. Someone else got her elbow and pulled hard, making her stumble. They ripped the metal out of her hands and another set of hands grabbed her free arm, rendering her defenseless.

She kicked and screamed as they dragged her out the door, Mountain Men guards rushing out. Jasper roared in victory as they took her away, taken, caught.

He promised. He promised.

He promised!

Her eyes caught on a camera in the corner. “Jasper!” She screamed. “You promised! You promised! You-”

A hand covered her mouth, muffling her screams. She sobbed, body sagging as she realized that there was nothing she could do. This was it. This was where she died.

She gagged as they dragged her into a room with another delinquent on a table, strapped down, torso bloody. The room stank of death and decay.

They threw her into a cage.

Her death was set in stone.

~

Pain.

That was all she could feel.

Her entire body throbbed, fire burning her skin. She couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel, only knew pain.

A loud buzzing filled her ears.

Something split her skin, spinning, digging deeper and deeper into her flesh.

She screamed.

Pain.

~

Fox awoke to loud roars and a sick rrrrip.

She jerked, holding back a scream as her torso ignited. She clutched her waist with one arm and used the other to sit herself up. She was in a rickety cart, smeared with a brownish substance that she didn’t really want to think about right now. What she couldn’t ignore, however, were the bodies.

They lay all around her. Bodies of grounders, tattoos lining their dirt-stained bodies, and the bodies of delinquents. The expressions on their faces were nothing short of pure terror. Fox saw one body twitch, the head rolling to look at her with blank, dead eyes, and she lurched to the side, emptying her stomach.

The feral cries filtered back into her ears. She looked over the edge of the cart and immediately ducked back down. Reapers. She’d seen a few of them, but never so close, and not like this. Not crowded over the body of something vaguely human-shaped. 

I have to get out.

She scrambled to the other side of the cart, ignoring all her senses in favor of one simple prospect: staying alive. She glanced back at the reapers, focused on their meal, and hopped the side of the cart, crouching low behind it. She was shaking so badly, her instincts telling her to run, to run and never look back, but she didn’t. She glanced around the cart and watched the reapers toss the remains of the body to the side, roaring as a couple held up blood-slick bones.

One meandered over to the cart, pulling another body out by the leg. He held it up and bellowed, the others echoing his excitement. The reaper ripped a piece of the arm out while another charged over and grabbed it by the head. Soon it was an all-out brawl over the body. Fox watched until they ripped the first limb clean off and had to stop. It was too much.

Not knowing what else to do, she crept toward the nearest exit, staying low. Her breath was loud and heavy but she tried to keep it contained. This was not her forté. She was a follower, not a leader. She wasn’t the one who dictated survival. Not even over herself.

She’d always said that she was alone.

And now she really was.

As soon as she reached the opening she bolted, racing down the corridor as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t know if there would be more reapers, mountain men, grounders, her own people, but she hoped. Each turn lowered her spirits even more. What if she got lost in here, could never find her way out? The reapers would get to her for sure. She wouldn’t even get the blessing of being dead first, either. They’d tear her limb-from-limb while she was still alive and screaming.

The pain in her hips had died to a low throb while she ran, too high on adrenaline to notice it. As soon as she burst out into the forest, though, it returned with a new passion. She cried out and stumbled, almost collapsing onto the ground. But she couldn’t. Not here, where the reapers might find her, even if they had food for days. She shuddered at the thought. 

Fox stumbled maybe thirty feet away before tripping and falling into the rock. She let tears spill from her eyes curling up into a ball to protect against the ever-colder night. Dawn was rising in the distance, but she couldn’t care less. It wasn’t as if she’d be able to do much, daylight or not.

She weaved in and out of consciousness for who knew how long, but when she finally fully woke, it was dusk. Her hip had died to a slow pulsing beat, enough that she could pull herself up using the earthen wall to her back. Her stomach ached in hunger, but she’d paid enough attention in Earth Skills to know that water was more important.

So she set off. Traveled away from the mountain; to where she’d no idea. Each step sounded loudly through the trees, making her isolation even more apparent. No doubt it scared off any animal in her area.

Fox found the river, the one she assumed Jasper had gotten speared at. Which side of it she was on, she didn’t know. But it was water, however unsanitary it was. She tried scooping some fish out, too, but they always slipped out of her grip.

So she started to die.

The irony was almost laughable. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. She almost wished the reapers had killed her, or whatever procedure they had her doing had. At least then she wouldn’t have to slowly die of starvation. The nights were getting colder, too, and she had no idea just how cold it had to be before frostbite would start to set in.

Fox curled up under a tree, nestled comfortably between the roots. There was a little warmth there, though not much, and she almost considered gnawing on the leaves to see if those could feed her. Her body, shivering and exhausted from - what was it, four, five days without food? - shut down almost the moment that she settled.

~

The next she knew, Fox was tied to a pole in the middle of a tent.

It took some time for her situation to catch up, but once it did she began to thrash. Pull against the ropes binding her wrists behind her, looking around desperately for anything. The tent wasn’t very large, maybe ten feet wide, and it was made of shabby red fabric that looked far too tattered to possibly be of good use. The only thing inside, other than her, was a single chair which held a grounder man. His face was streaked with blue paint, set in a grimace as he stroked a whetstone over his blade.

Fox was hyperventilating at this point. “Who are you? Where am I?”

The man chuckled, looking up at her. “Why, you’re a prisoner now. Since the damn commander refused to let annihilate you, we’re doing it ourselves.”

“We? Who are you?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

Fox was panting, wrists starting to be rubbed raw. She needed to get out of here. How? She had no weapon, no strength, no wits, dammit, she wasn’t the one who made these decisions! She didn’t know how to outsmart a grounder, how to escape from capture, not even how to sneak out of a tent! She couldn’t do this. There was no chance. She thought the forest would kill her? These stupid grounders would do it instead!

She hung her head low, thinking, hoping something would come, something that could show her the way. But she knew there was nothing. This was all on her. If she wanted to live, she’d have to do it herself. But there was no way.

Then her eye caught on a glint of silver.

A dagger! The man had a dagger in his belt. If she could just get it from him, somehow…

Useless. He’d never give her a weapon. That would be supremely stupid.

Unless…

When she next spoke, her voice had a bit more of a rasp. “You want to annihilate my people?”

The guard looked up at her. “We can and we will. You may have your guns, but even one clan has more than enough people to get past that. We are many. We can overthrow you and then force Heda to accept it.”

Fox pursed her lips anxiously. “We brought down the mountain when all twelve of your clans couldn’t.”

The guard laughed. “No. If Heda hadn’t retreated like a coward, we would have won. We’d have stormed that mountain and murdered every person inside. All Skaikru did was sneak around and wave their guns. Well, guess what - Skaikru has no fortress. Skaikru has no acid fog or missiles that would hold us at bay. We’d slaughter you.”

“You’d never make it past the gate.”

“Why? Because we’re savages?” He stood, sword swinging in his hands. “How many of you are there? A thousand? Ouskejon Kru has over ten times that number in just warriors, not to mention the other clans that would also like your blood.”

Fox was shaking at this point, but now that she’d started, there was no turning back. “You grounders are all brute. The reason you couldn’t defeat the mountain without us is because you don’t have the brains. You’re all strength, no wits. Just because you have the numbers doesn’t mean you can outsmart us. We can handle a few barbarians.”

The guard roared. “You damn bitch!” The sword sliced through her bonds, a knife slamming into the wood above her head. He sneered. “If you’re so much better, than fight me! Prove to me that you’re superior! That you’re the better warrior!”

Fox let herself feel a moment of pride for being able to get a blade, but it would be for nothing if she couldn’t keep it. She yanked it out of the wood, holding it unsteadily in front of her as the man tossed his sword to the side and charged her. She ducked, trying to aim a hit on his side but he grabbed her by the waist and threw her to the other side of the tent. The fabric rippled and the entire tent shook with the force of her impact. Before she could do anything, the guard grabbed her by the leg, pulling her toward him and landing a punch to her stomach that had her gasping for breath.

Before anything else could happen, the fabric was thrown to the side, three more guards marching in. The one at the head, a dark-skinned woman, took the guard by the arm and pulled him up. Fox discreetly slid the knife into her pants. “Branwoda!” She hissed. “Au! Fou ai sen yu ona pou!”

The guard hissed but left the tent. The woman gestured to the others that came in with her. Fox was promptly tied back up, this time with a knife tucked into the hem of her jeans.

The woman scowled at her before speaking the guards. “Set daun setnes ausad.”

The guards nodded. All three exited the tent, leaving Fox alone.

~

It wasn’t hard to see when night had fallen.

Inside the tent, it got so dark that it was almost pitch-black. There were no lights, no candles, no torches, the only light coming through the tatters in the tent fabric, and even that was very little. It was the perfect cover.

Fox shifted, reaching as far around the pole as she could, fingers fumbling for the hilt of the knife. She brushed fabric, just barely getting two fingers around the hilt before pulling it out, careful not to drop it. Now she just needed to break the ropes without cutting off a finger.

Twisting it around, she maneuvered the knife until it rested between her skin and the rope, not without gaining multiple gashes on her palm and wrist. From there, it was a matter of strength to push the blade through the thick lines. When it finally burst free on the other side, the knife flew from her grasp and clattered to the ground, but it didn’t matter, because she was free. Fox took the knife anyway, just in case.

The tarp at the back of the tent easily slid up, either from poor design or just from how ruined the fabric was, she couldn’t tell. Whatever the reason, she wasn’t complaining. The tent seemed to be on the outskirts of a small camp, maybe ten or fifteen total housings. The largest one waved a white flag with a black circle and two arrows crossing each other atop it. The clan symbol, probably. Not like she knew enough about the clans to recognize which one it was.

The outside guards seemed more focused on keeping things out than in, so slipping away wasn’t hard at all. The trees covered her in shadows so dark no one would be able to tell she was there, as long as she kept to them. Her heart was pounding, and without another thought, she ran.

Fox ran and ran until she couldn’t run anymore, and then she collapsed against the thick trunk of a large oak. Her chest was heaving, eyes closed, hand clutched to her heart. 

She did it.

Holy shit she did it.

The shock electrifying her body reminded her of when she’d got thrown in prison, that same jolt of oh my god oh my god oh my god. The situation wasn’t too much different, either, if you didn’t could that one was for not going to bed and the other was ‘I’m going to die.’

It was the feeling she got when she took control of her life.

Up until now, she’d had people to lean on, people refusing to let her leave their grasp. When she escaped that grasp, she didn’t know how to move without support, and so she found others. In the prison, she relied on the guard’s instructions and the pack-like elements of the prisoners. At the Dropship, she’d relied on the leading powers, like Bellamy and Clarke. At the mountain, she’d relied on Jasper and Monty. Now, she was alone, and she was finally standing by herself.

Fox whooped loudly, a laugh cracking through her throat. Eventually, she was giggling crazily, thrilled with herself because she’d actually done it. She’d done it. God, she couldn’t get over the fact that she did it.

Well, couldn’t until a rustle in the brush silenced her.

The deathly quiet, especially in the dark, was quite frightening even after days of having experienced it. Fox didn’t dare move a muscle. Was it one of the grounders, come to take her back? To kill her? Or was it an animal, like that panther they’d ate at the dropship?

Turns out, it was neither.

Someone stepped out of the shadows, revealing a young boy who couldn’t be older than ten. He stared at her with wide eyes, quivering, just standing there watching her. Fox was in a similar state. What was this boy doing in the middle of the forest? He couldn’t have been with the grounders she’d just came from, could he?

She didn’t get the chance to ask him. He fled.

There was silence.

~

Come dawn, Fox awoke again to sunlight streaming through the trees. She was greeted with a face far too close for her liking.

A gasp escaped her, flinching back. The young boy, the same as last night, drew back a little but remained in front of her. He hesitantly held up a wrapped leaf. When he unveiled the meat inside it, Fox couldn’t bother with manners. She devoured it as quickly as she could.

The boy grinned toothily and offered her another. That one disappeared as quickly as the first. “Thank you,” she mumbles around bites. He beamed.

“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your appetite.” Her head whipped to the side to see an old man, likely a grandfather, hobbling over. “I was worried you might have been too far gone.”

Fox tried to get up, only to sag back down, the boy reaching out to help her. “Where am I?”

The man smiled. “You’re among one of many nomad groups. My grandson found you here and said you looked deathly sick. I imagine you haven’t eaten in a while, yes?”

Fox nodded, smiling when the young boy held out another piece of meat. She took this one more slow. “It’s been a week.”

“Then it’s good we found you. You may have stayed alive for another two weeks or so, but your body would’ve collapsed from exhaustion very soon. The spirits smile upon you, my dear.”

Fox swallowed another bite of the meat. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because we are not like the kongeda. We do not care what clan you hail from, whether you are a warrior or not, nomad groups exist to live outside that discrimination. We accept all that we can, no matter how strong.”

Fox perked up. “Really? You mean…”

The man chuckled. “Yes, I am inviting you to come along with us. At least until you regain your strength.”

Fox looked at the young boy in front of her, smiling from ear to ear. She smiled shyly back at him. “I’d love to.”

The boy clapped his hands, grasping her arm and pulling her up. She laughed, stumbling up after him as he tugged her deeper into the trees. Her body was still weary from so many days without food, but she felt happy, at least for now. These people would help her.

Smoke rising in the distance let her know that they were approaching the nomad group. Voices reached her ears through the wind, laughing, children shouting with joy, and the smile on her face only grew wider.

Fox hadn’t been truly happy in years.

She hoped it would never end.

[risingwinter]

Final Fantasy III Unused Text Translations (part 1)

So this is taking longer than expected and because I have a life, I can’t knock it out all in one go. But I wanted to share what I’ve figured out so far and once I’ve got it all done and smoothed over, then I’ll compile it into a master post.

I wanted to include the original Japanese so it’d be easier to compare, but it got hard to keep the formatting sane with it. Compare with https://tcrf.net/Final_Fantasy_III_(Nintendo_DS)/Unused_Text.

(I only lived in Japan for a year and some of these didn’t translate quite as well, so I’ll take any pointers. I settled for summarizing in some cases because it felt translating it all across. Accuracy vs. natural-sounding is a constant struggle.)

Translations below the cut.

Shuyaku = leader. The % look like code placeholders. As shown, 1 ~ Luneth, 2 ~ Arc, 3 ~ Refia, 4 ~ Ingus. I went ahead and replaced the names further down.

%shuyaku1% Luneth

Can't go that way...

 %shuyaku2% Arc

That rock's in the way...

 %shuyaku3% Refia

That big rock's blocking the way...

 %shuyaku4% Ingus

That is an impasse..

   Obtained the summoning spell, Bahamur!

(original note from the wiki: Seems to relate to the rock blocking the way to Canaan. It is used in the Steam version. Also Bahamut for some goddamn reason.)

Floating Island(?)/Flooded Surface (f02_01)

Arc: We’ve finally reached land!

Refia: How’s your seasickness, Luneth?

Luneth: Hm? About that…I’ve been so excited that I haven’t noticed any seasickness.

Ingus: Well then, let us find the trail.

Arc: Finally, land.

(They repeat Refia and Luneth’s exchange, but this time with Aria present)

Refia: How’s your seasickness, Luneth?

Luneth: Hm? About that... I’ve been so excited that I haven’t noticed any seasickness.

Refia: You’re acting all strong because of Aria, aren’t you?

Luneth: Am not.

Ingus: Aria, isn’t that the temple of water?

 Aria: Ah, yes, we must get the shard to the Temple *cough cough* With that, deep in the temple, we can enter the cave of water.

Refia: Alright! Then we’ll find the crystal fragment!

 Aria:  Please don’t say it like that… The crystals kept this power from humanity for a reason. (Note: This one got really clunky. She said something about hiding world-governing power for the sake of humanity’s heritage, but I didn’t get how it connected with the situation.)

 Refia: Oh, sorry…

 Aria: Let’s go. *cough cough*

Luneth:  Aria, don’t push yourself.

Aria: I can walk on my own.    Please, don’t worry.

Refia: Ouch, rejection!

 Luneth: Oh, shut up.

 ---

Luneth: (no Japanese text)    Is this the surface...? It's so...big!

 Refia: An ocean?  But with no waves?

Ingus: It doesn’t look like Earth.

Arc:The waves are stilled…? It looks like time’s frozen…

Refia:  How did we  find ourselves on such a different world?

Ingus: The tales from the Floating Continent were right all along

 Luneth: A whole other world… and it’s so big.

Ingus: Ah, so the place we lived in was but a piece of a greater whole. I understand now.

Arc: Looks that way. And I thought Kazus and Sasune were far…

Refia:    But we came this way for a purpose, didn’t we?

Ingus: It appears so.

Luneth: We can figure out why! Let’s find out why!

---

Aria: The temple of water is south-southeast from the boat. Speaking of, where does everyone come from…?

Luneth: From above… we come from the Floating Continent.

Aria: The Floating Continent… from  somewhere unfrozen in time…

Arc: Speaking of… how is the Floating Continent still okay?

Ingus:  We might learn eventually, but we should focus on reaching the temple.

Aria:  The temple of water is likely accessible south-southeast of here. 

Arc: Um, I’m Arc. Nice to meet you.

Aria: Oh, I’m sorry. We haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m a priestess of the water, Aria Benett. I was fifteen when time stopped.

 Arc:  Um, isn’t that your age, too, Refia? That’s weird to say, isn’t it… (Note: I think that’s what he’s saying about it being weird. It sounded like “that’s not very atmosphere of me” which is funny, but illegible. I’m assuming I’m missing something cultural here...) 

Aria: … (laughs)

Luneth: Aria… How’re you feeling? (Note: he asked about the “tune of her body.” That’s how I will now ask people about their state of health.)

Aria: I’m okay. Don’t worry about it.

Luneth: That’s okay, but…

Refia: Leave her alone. She’s stronger than any of us.

Luneth: …

(Original comment from the wiki: This is honestly a bit absurd.)

[annabelleswife]

Would It Be a Total Cliche If I Put on Asleep by the Smiths Right Now? - Seth x MC

Word Count: 2,672 Rating: SFW besides a very brief mention of a past intimate encounter that isn’t described in detail at all whatsoever Warning: mention of attempted sexual assault/sexual harassment Notes: Takes place right after Book 2, Chapter 6. I liked the scene in Chapter 7 okay. But I just couldn’t get the idea of MC going back to her old apartment for comfort out of my head. I haven’t written fic in years, so sorry for the clunky grammar. I’m only on Chapter 8 of Book 2 so please don’t tag with any spoilers, thanks!

It was quiet in his apartment now. Which wasn’t really true. Like, at all. Seth still had Gloria’s old records warbling from down the hall, the incessant slamming of brakes and cursing drivers from outside his window--oh, and how could he forget the helicopters flying overhead? Things weren’t quiet at all, not even in his professional life.

Still, his head craned towards Olivia’s door every single time he walked past it.

This was his place long before that sunshine girl from Iowa moved in. So why did the hallway feel so empty now? Really, it was pathetic. Not that pathetic wasn’t practically his everyday cologne, but honestly Seth needed to get a grip. 

If he wanted to talk to her so bad, he could take his cellphone out of his pocket right now. Text her. Shit, call her even. That is 100% a thing he could be doing. 

It’s not as if she moved to Antarctica. Olivia was still here. Just not here here. 

(Which is where he imagined she’d pipe in with a, “hear hear,” with the dopiest grin on her face. Then he’d mockingly say something like, “sheesh, Iowa, don’t quit your day job,” and she’d tease back, “at least some of us have day jobs.” To which he’d respond by rattling off all of his side-hustle gigs prior to rewriting an actual honest-to-goodness Hollywood script, thank you very much, causing her to laugh so hard she snorted.)

Right. Back to the ‘not-moping’ bit.

Seth finally reached the roof. He somehow didn’t feel strangled by memories up here. Although, uh, he did occasionally get flashes of a particularly steamy sort, though that was neither here nor there. They were keeping it casual. No strings. No labels. No sending of text messages at 3 a.m. asking, “what are we,” in fear of accidentally pushing the other one away.

Toootally not a thing. At all. Nope. Nuh-uh. Definitely not going to break out into an off-key rendition of Hercules’ I Won’t Say I’m in Lo--

“Seth?”

His train of thought crashed in a fiery blaze killing thousands. He jumped a bit at the unexpected voice and found the source to be none other than the woman of the hour herself. 

Olivia Flynn. Her windswept curls were pushed back over one of her bared shoulders, exposed by her off-kilter sweater.

Seth didn’t consider himself much of a magician, but how else was he to explain her sudden appearance here of all places other than to say that he must’ve willed her here with a spell?

(Bah. Coincidence, schmoincidence.)

“Huh, funny. Hadn’t realized there were any cows on this roof to be tipped,” he replied, making a big show of actually looking around the rooftop. They were blissfully alone. “That’d be the only reason you’d come back to a dump like this, right, Iowa?”

Olivia smiled. It didn’t quite reach her eyes. Immediately, he felt a drop in his stomach like he was on the world’s worst roller-coaster.

Seth gingerly took a step closer to her. “Uh, sorry. That joke wasn’t exactly researched. For all I know, Iowa’s not even cow country. Maybe you all tip pigs out there? Chickens?”

Translation: I can tell you’re not alright, but I don’t want to assume. Please throw me a lifeline here before I drown myself with worry. Also your hair smells really nice.

That last bit might’ve just been a translator’s note, actually.

She shook her head slightly. This made her curls tumble even further over her shoulder. “I--It’s fine.” Though her trembling bottom lip strongly begged to disagree with her statement.

He felt lost. Normally, Olivia was a straight shooter. She was almost too honest at times. So the fact that she was clamming up here made Seth worry that whatever happened must’ve been bad. Really, really bad. And, oh god, he didn’t know how to handle really, really bad. He was, at best, the guy you called on a ‘big oof’ kind of day.

Seth wanted to ask her what he should do. The irony was not lost on him.

“Hey, c’mon. It’s me.” He took another step towards her, close enough to feel her body heat without having to touch. “It’s just me.”

Just as he was about to work on figuring out how to ask if she was really okay, Olivia leaned on him. Well, more like fell on him. Her entire weight seemed to press down on his front like her knees suddenly gave out and this wretched sob landed somewhere in his neck. Instinctively, his arms came out to steady her. Which then morphed quickly into a full-fledged hug as she cried on his shoulder.

It was important for him to stay calm here. Logically, he knew that. But Seth’s heart was an entirely separate entity from his brain. His emotions flitted between all-consuming fear that something awful happened to Olivia that he wasn’t there to prevent and rapidly stoking rage that anything could have happened to Olivia in the first place.

He did his best to keep all that to himself though. Instead, he murmured consolations in her hair. “It’s alright,” and “I’m here,” etc.

Eventually, her sobs died down. His knuckles rubbed what he hoped to be a soothing pattern on her lower spine which seemed to help. Her breathing seemed more even now, at least.

“I’m sorry,” she finally broke the silence with.

“Don’t.” Seth disentangled himself from Olivia enough to tilt her face up to his. It physically pained him to see her red, puffy eyes. “Don’t you dare say that to me, alright? There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“But your shirt--”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Liv.” He’d repeat it a hundred times over if that’s what it took.

She looked down before giving the tiniest nod of acknowledgement.

They stood like that, locked in a half-embrace with his thumbs cradling her cheeks and her arms around his waist, for a moment. He wanted to ask what happened. He didn’t want to make it, whatever it was, anymore real for her.

And then she said, “I went there, you know?” like they were already in the middle of the conversation and Seth understood what had gotten her so upset.

His eyebrows knotted together. “Olivia--”

“I went there. Willingly. I walked right through the front door. I saw the five-course meal and knew it wasn’t a spontaneous offer on his part. I knew he wanted me there all along. I thought it flattering,” she spat-out like the word itself was acid.

Her tumbling explanation only made his dread grow worse and worse by each passing word. “Liv, what are you talking about? Who’s he?”

She laughed, bitterly. “Oh, just the man who owns me and all of Hollywood.”

Seth’s blood ran cold.

Her brittle laugh turned into a sob.

“Liv--”

“I walked right into it, Seth. I sat at his table. Oh god, I--” and she made a sound caught between a cry and a gasp. It was the most awful sound Seth had ever heard in his whole life, and he had just had to listen to her sobs.

“What did he do? Did he--” He inhaled sharply. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. Continued to do so even when Seth repeated his question.

“Olivia--” but she cut him off yet again with, “He just wanted me to sleep with him. Said he’d take care of me. Make sure I had all the best roles, best publicity. Just offered me everything I ever thought I wanted in exchange debasing myself.”

Her words were so matter-of-fact. All the near-hysterical laugh-sobbing of a moment before was gone and Olivia just seemed deflated now. Like a balloon caught in slow-motion the instant it pops.

Seth felt too many things to count. Too many emotions to even begin to name. His hands moved from her cheeks to her back as he pulled her back into him. He wasn’t met with any resistance. Olivia melted into him as he squeezed her tightly.

“I shouldn’t have went. I should’ve insisted we meet at a restaurant. I should’ve read my contract more closely. Seth, how am I supposed to live with myself knowing everything I could’ve done--”

“There isn’t anything you could’ve done,” he interrupted firmly. Seth forced himself to breathe through his nostrils before continuing, forcing his voice to be gentler. “You need to understand that. There isn’t anything you could’ve done because you did nothing wrong. He’s the one who did this, Olivia. He would’ve done this no matter what you did or didn’t do. He’s a...”

Seth wavered here. He knew what he wanted to say, but didn’t want to upset her further.

“A predator,” she finished for him. He had never believed in Gloria’s claimed ESP powers, but in this instant he felt Olivia’s to be real.

“A predator,” he repeated.

Olivia began to pull away from him and he let her go though every fiber of his being was urging him to keep her close. At least here on this rooftop no slimy movie producers could touch them.

Her wide dark eyes were still a bit puffy but they still crinkled at the corners when she smiled at him. Not quite where he wanted her smile to be, but he’d gladly take it.

“You’re right. Seth, that’s why I... I was so scared and felt so alone and I just didn’t know where else to go.”

He put his hand on her forearm to give a reassuring squeeze. “You’re not alone. You’re never alone.” Seth waited until she nodded to continue. “But why... I mean, why didn’t you knock on my door then if you wanted to see me? I would’ve answered.”

“I know. I wanted to. But then I was standing there, on the verge of crying, and I--I chickened out. I thought if I said it, that somehow would make it worse.” Olivia latched on to his hand and intertwined their fingers. “But I needed this. To--to tell you. To get it all out. I--thank you. Seriously, I--”

He was already shaking his head no before she could finish. “You don’t owe me anything, Iowa. Not a damn thing.”

They stayed holding hands on the rooftop for a long while. Seth wanted to tell her his idea of burning Viktor’s house down. Wanted to call in the cavalry and sick Victoria loose on the bastard. But he could tell that wasn’t what Olivia needed right now. She needed time to process. And he was glad to give it to her. Whatever she needed. Even if he had to smother his own feelings of anger towards the piece of shit for the time being.

Again, as if reading his mind, she said, “I know I’ll have to figure out my next step. And it’ll be scary and complicated and just...” Olivia sighed an exasperated sigh. “I just want to sleep right now.”

“Yeah, of course. But, uh--” he started, but at the exact same moment as he began speaking, she also had as well.

They both laughed awkwardly.

“Sorry, you first,” Seth encouraged.

Her cheeks flushed. “No, uh, I mean, I was just gonna say that my new place is kinda far and, uh...”

“Iowa, what kind of a man do you take me for?”

Olivia’s eyes widened. Oh ho ho, man, was it good to get her. “N--no, um, that’s not--”

“To think I’m not the sort of gentleman prepared for a sleepover at any given moment is just plain insulting. You have wounded me deeply, madam,” Seth sniffled, throwing in a head toss for good measure.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was smiling. Finally, a genuine one, the first real one of the night. 

Good. He was glad. 

Tomorrow, they’d discuss how to properly rake that disgusting cat turd over the coals. 

Tonight, he was glad to make her forget it.

“My apologies, my good fellow. I hadn’t meant to imply that whatsoever. Shall I write you an apology note?” Olivia joked along, breaking their hand hold to link her arm around his.

“In your own blood as opposed to ink should suffice.”

“Perhaps attached to my left ear so you know I’m truly, truly sorry.”

“Now you’re talking,” he teased before leading them back downstairs to his apartment. “Since you’ve made such a good show of apologizing, I shall give you the bed and all the extra marshmallows in your hot cocoa.”

Olivia stopped walking. Which, since they were linked at their arms, meant he stopped walking too. Seth craned his head down to her, confused. Had he already stuck his foot in his mouth? They hadn’t even made it over the threshold yet.

“You don’t have to give me the bed.”

Seth started to argue that point, but she beat him to the punch. Or rather gave him a punch. Metaphorically. Though it might as well have been physically since it would’ve shocked him almost as much.

“I want you to sleep with me.”

He blinked in response.

Olivia animatedly began explaining herself. “In the same bed, I meant. Together. In your bed. Me and you in the same bed at the same time. Fully clothed! I didn’t mean to--”

A door opened nearby and out popped Gloria’s head with her hair all up in curlers.

“Oh dear, it’s just as I thought. The spirits warned me you’d be back and now here you are, rousing me from slumber at 2:30 A.M.”

Seth sheepishly smiled at his neighbor while Olivia asked her, “Wait, how did you know that I’d be here?”

“It’s just as I said, dear. The spirits. That, and the thin walls,” Gloria nodded sagely.

He stifled a laugh.

“Sorry, Gloria. We’ll get out of your hair now.” He figured if he hadn’t stepped in now, that Olivia would just be content to stand here in the hallway shooting a puzzled look at Gloria all evening long.

Gloria moved back into her apartment, mumbling something about ‘being able to cut it with a knife,’ whatever that meant. And Seth guided Olivia to his apartment as quietly as possible so as not to wake anybody else up.

Once inside, he fumbled for the light switch. He quickly realized that Olivia had never actually seen his place before and would’ve probably been embarrassed by the clutter if this had been different circumstances. Okay, maybe he was still a bit embarrassed by it even under these circumstances. If he rushed her past the unwashed dishes in the sink, who would really blame him, huh?

“I just don’t think I can fall asleep alone tonight,” Olivia sighed.

It stopped him in his tracks.

“I know I’m already being an imposition--yes, I am, please don’t argue, I’m too tired to argue--and I know it’s a silly request, but please can you just sleep with me so I don’t have to sleep alone?”

Seth nodded, adding, “It’s not silly. C’mere,” as he hugged her again. The hug turned into a sort of half-drag as he helped her into his bed. She seemed like she was already half-asleep. Olivia slipped off her shoes and so did he. That was about as much as they had energy for before she curled up in a ball at his side, head buried in his chest. Then it hit him like a freight train just how drained he was. His eyes were already fluttering closed almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Her warmth beside him didn’t help.

“Seth?” she asked, her voice sounding so small like he imagined a fairy’s would sound like. Well, if that fairy was also on the verge of passing out.

“Hm?”

“You called me Liv tonight.”

Oh, shit. He had. Like multiple times. He’d never called her that before. Oh, fuck, was that weird? That was probably weird. That’s what she was gonna say was how weird that was. Oh, shi--

“‘s cute. You’re cute.”

It was quiet in his apartment now.

[professor-tammi]

dimensionslip replied to your post “In other news, today I scoured Twitter for FE content and, to my...”

I played through FE3H with EN text, JP audio precisely because I am curious about localization differences, and from what I've experienced, there really aren't many gross differences between English and Japanese as you mentioned. I did hear about some censorship, but that aside, I love how Felix is quite rude and brusque in Japanese... It's very charming to see, and all things considered, I think the localization did a good job of carrying that over.

yes, for the most part, the game’s translation stays fairly close to the original Japanese. at times the translation is a bit too literal imo, which makes it feel kinda clunky, but it’s fine overall! which makes the few instances of censorship rather strange. the fact that the F/F content seems to be what gets changed when the M/M content is mostly left intact strikes me as especially weird?

I think, amusingly enough, the biggest difference between JP and EN Felix lies in his voice acting, and not so much his dialogue! his JP voice makes him sound a lot older (it’s a surprisingly deep voice?), whereas his EN voice seems more age-appropriate to me (and also has quite a bit more bite :D)