#this is double the length of the chapter's I've already posted

[lemon-mint-writes]

Well at least the fluff chapter is long to make up for the angst that follows.

[themirokai]

Never say never on returning to wips you love.

In late 2020 and through 2021, I was writing a Mystrade series called His Professional Capacity in which Mycroft is a spymaster. I had the first chapter of a sixth (and probably final) story for the series written, but I never quite figured out where to take it and I moved on to other fandoms.

Now, three years later, I’ve written a five chapter story that nearly doubles the length of the series. It’s getting proofread and beta’d now, but I hope to start posting it soon. Because the vast majority of you followed me after 2021, and I want to entice as many people to read this as possible, I’m going to start posting the stories in the series here. First up:

What He Does

Greg encounters Mycroft's security detail and comes to understand the reasons for it.

~ 2,601 words. I've tweaked some minor things from the AO3 version, which was not Britpicked, but kept the rather American conception of when someone might be carrying a gun, since it's integral to the plot. Please enjoy despite inaccuracies.

Read it below or on AO3.

~*~

Greg pondered whether he should take Mycroft’s arm. Or his hand. Or offer Mycroft his arm. Or put his hand on Mycroft’s back. This whole “dating” thing was confusing. Greg hadn’t dated for decades, and back then it had been women. Not a mature, somewhat intimidating, incredibly posh, devastatingly gorgeous man. He wasn’t quite sure how to act.

Greg would admit that dinner had been a success. The conversation was comfortable, interesting, and somewhat flirty, just as it had been for their previous two dates. And the several meals and drinks they’d shared before that - before Greg had gotten up the nerve to ask Mycroft on a real date. They had chemistry. That was certain. And when the meal ended and Mycroft had suggested they go for a walk to enjoy the fresh fall air, Greg had jumped at the chance to keep the date from ending.

He pondered the possibility of a good night kiss, but wasn’t sure if that should come before or after holding hands or linking arms on a walk. What were the procedures for physical contact with a man who made your stomach do somersaults every time you thought about him? How were those procedures different when the man in question held a highly secretive and incredibly powerful government position? Were they different? Greg settled for moving a little closer to Mycroft as they walked along, allowing the sleeves of their coats to brush against each other.

Mycroft finished the anecdote he was telling about Sherlock as a child, and Greg turned to smile up at him. As he did, movement caught the corner of his eye and Greg glanced behind them. There was a man walking half a block behind them. Greg frowned.

“Shall we take this left?” he asked Mycroft.

“If you like,” Mycroft responded with a soft smile.

They turned and Greg waited about half a block before glancing back. The man behind them made the turn as well. Greg risked a slightly longer look this time and realized with alarm that he recognized the man from the restaurant. His mind immediately ran through possibilities. Mugger. Someone after Greg because of a case he’d worked or was currently working. Someone after Mycroft for whatever shadowy reason. Someone after either or both of them as a way of getting to Sherlock.

“Gregory? Is something wrong?”

No sense in worrying him. Greg could handle this. “No, uh, no. Let’s just - do you mind if we turn down this alley for a moment?”

Now Greg did take Mycroft’s elbow to guide him into the small alley, mentally kicking himself that the first time he touched the man was out of fear and necessity.

“Gregory, what-”

“Please, just stay here a moment and keep quiet, I’m sure it’s nothing, I’ll handle it.”

“Gregory!”

But Greg was not listening, he could hear the man’s footsteps speeding up and getting nearer, and drew his gun. From his peripheral vision, he thought he saw Mycroft reaching for him, but he was already committed to whirling around the corner and slamming the oncoming man against the wall, holding him with an arm across his chest and leveling the gun to his cheek. “That’s far enough, mate. Who are you and why are you following us?”

The man slowly raised his hands, but a female voice suddenly cut in. “Drop the gun! Now!”

Greg did not drop the gun, but turned to look down the barrel of another weapon held by a well-dressed woman who Greg was also fairly sure he had seen at the restaurant. Before Greg had a chance to respond, Mycroft stepped out of the alley.

“Stand down, Ms. Bell.” Mycroft sounded tired.

“Sir, please stay back!” the woman responded.

“Ms. Bell, Inspector Lestrade is not a threat.”

“Respectfully, sir, then why is he hustling you into an alley and drawing a gun on your security?” Ms. Bell kept her own gun trained on Greg, who was frozen.

Mycroft pinched the bridge of his nose. “Because he did not know that I have security and thought Mr. Spooner was following us with malicious intentions.” Mycroft squared his shoulders, and put the tone of command into his voice. “Stand down, Ms. Bell. That is an order.” The woman grimaced and holstered her weapon. “Gregory, kindly unhand Mr. Spooner.”

Greg stepped back, but was not quite able to pick his jaw up off the floor. “They work for you?”

“Indeed,” Mycroft said, as Mr. Spooner, with a face like a thundercloud, started brushing off his clothing. “Mr. Spooner and Ms. Bell are … associates of mine and - for the time being at least - they have been charged with ensuring my safety.”

Greg holstered his gun. “Do you always have security?”

“Yes,” Mycroft said simply.

“So the other times we’ve been out together?”

“They were there and you did not notice them. Which is how it should be,” Mycroft lowered a meaningful look at Spooner, who squirmed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Greg asked, still wrapping his mind around the fact that he was apparently trying to date someone who merited two armed guards at all times.

Mycroft sighed. “In retrospect, that was clearly a mistake. I-” he paused, looking at the three of them, then shook his head. “The bar in the hotel across the way is nice and quiet. May I buy you a drink, Gregory? I’m afraid the walk has been a bit ruined.”

“Sure… yeah, a drink sounds good.”

Fifteen minutes later they were ensconced in a booth at a swanky hotel bar. Greg had a single malt Scotch, and Mycroft was twisting the stem of a glass of red wine in his long fingers. Beautiful fingers, Greg thought. Spooner and Bell had taken a table on the other side of the bar where they were too far to hear the conversation, but had clear sight lines to Mycroft.

“So how long have those two been your bodyguards?” Greg asked, nodding at Spooner and Bell.

“They’ve only been on this rotation for about a week. They’ll spend a month with me, before moving on to another assignment and being replaced by another two. And I wouldn’t call them bodyguards. They are field agents.”

“Ms. Bell sure seems like a bodyguard.” Greg took a swig of his drink.

“Ms. Bell knows that she will be held partially accountable for Mr. Spooner’s carelessness. This assignment is meant to give a more experienced agent - in this case, Ms. Bell - an opportunity to train a less experienced agent - Mr. Spooner - in the field. It also allows me to observe agents in the field to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. I’m afraid tonight revealed some weaknesses.” Mycroft sipped his wine.

“It’s not their fault you decided to go out with a cop,” Greg grinned.

“Yes, but-” Mycroft stopped himself and smiled. “Yes, you’re right.”

Greg narrowed his eyes. “You expect them to be better than me. It’s alright, you can say it.”

Mycroft considered Greg for a moment before responding. “I expect them to be able to follow their mark unnoticed, even if their mark is accompanied by a particularly intelligent and observant detective.”

“Fair enough, and I’ll take the compliment,” Greg chuckled. “So is that the only reason you have security? For training and observation?”

Mycroft twirled his wine glass in his fingers again before responding. “Gregory… I have enjoyed our time together, and if you are willing I would like to continue to see you.”

Greg grinned. “More than willing.”

Mycroft smiled. “Thank you. There are many things I am unable to talk about with you, for your safety, and mine, and that of others. And even with this I must tread a bit lightly, but … I would like you to go into,” he gestured vaguely between the two of them, “this, with your eyes open.”

“I’m listening.” Greg sat a little straighter.

“The work I do, the work I have done in the past, has risks. I… have enemies. Enemies who would prefer that I were no longer operating. While I am generally able to take care of myself, I am not as young as I was and there have been … close calls, as it were. And so now my security detail is part of the field agents’ rotation.”

“How close were the close calls?”

“Too close.”

“How too close?”

“A few centimeters from a major artery, too close.”

“Ah.”

“Yes.”

They both sipped their drinks. “Well then I’m glad Ms. Bell pulled her gun on me. She was probably right to,” Greg said after a minute. “Don’t be too hard on her tomorrow.”

Mycroft smiled and hesitantly reached across the table to touch Greg’s hand. Greg immediately took the opportunity to grab hold of the long, slender fingers. “You don’t… mind? That I live a life that requires that I am under surveillance?”

“I mean you have some privacy, don’t you?”

“Yes!” A blush was climbing up Mycroft’s cheeks. “Yes, of course! I - um - they - well, I mean-“

The sight of Mycroft Holmes stuttering like a schoolboy melted the last of Greg’s discomfort and he grinned, then squeezed Mycroft’s hand. “Can I safely assume that if I go to kiss you when we leave here that I won’t end up looking down the barrel of Ms. Bell’s gun again?”

Mycroft gaped at him momentarily before recovering. “No - um - no, that would be fine.”

“Just fine?” Greg cocked an eyebrow, leaning in to the newfound confidence.

A slow smile played over Mycroft’s features. “More than fine. Welcome.”

Greg settled back into his seat with a grin. There was one thing sorted.

Greg squinted across the restaurant. “Is Bell wearing a wig?”

Mycroft took a sip of his drink. “Gregory, kindly do not peer at her. She is more effective if it is not clear that there’s a connection between her and I.”

Greg turned his eyes front, but not before he saw Bell glower at him. “Sorry,” he grinned at Mycroft. “Is it a wig though? It’s awful. Don’t you all train in costuming or something?”

Mycroft coughed and wiped his mouth carefully with his napkin, avoiding Greg’s eyes. “I believe she dyed her hair.”

Greg’s jaw dropped. “No. Mycroft, no. Not that colour.” Mycroft cut another bite of his meal without looking up. “Did she do it because of me?” Greg asked, astonished. When Mycroft neither confirmed nor denied, Greg clapped his hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh.

“You’ve been… a little too good at spotting her,” Mycroft said after a minute. “But her new assignment starts in a few days. I believe the change in hair colour is more related to that.”

“There is no way that shade is good for any kind of undercover work, darling, you’ve got to get her to change it. It looks like it doesn’t know whether it’s red or purple.”

Mycroft started a bit at the pet name, and watched carefully as Greg applied himself to his meal. After a moment, he relaxed with a smile. “I’ll speak to her.”

“Mycroft.”

“Mm?”

“The chap on the bicycle.”

“What about him?”

“Is he your new security?”

A heavy sigh, then, “Kindly leave your gun holstered, Gregory.”

About a month, a number of dates, and many quite pleasant kisses after their first, Greg and Mycroft lay naked in Mycroft’s bed following their first time having sex. Greg was gently tracing his fingers over one of the several scars that broke the plane of Mycroft’s pale skin. He had seen the scars when he had undressed Mycroft - a lengthier affair than he was used to, with far more buttons - but had been preoccupied at the time. Now he took his time to study them.

“More of these than I was expecting,” Greg said, tracing what he suspected was the remnant of a knife wound to Mycroft’s side.

Mycroft started moving away from him. “I’m sorry. If it bothers you I can-” He was stopped as Greg wrapped an arm around his waist.

Greg pulled Mycroft close. “Don’t be daft. You’re beautiful and I want to see all of you. It’s not like I like the idea of you being stabbed,” he touched the knife scar, “or shot,” his fingers found the scar from a bullet wound on Mycroft’s shoulder, “or shot again,” the scar on Mycroft’s left thigh, “or burned,” the matching marks on the forearms, “or … what is this?” Greg fingered the vaguely triangular scar just above Mycroft’s right hip.

“Stabbed, I suppose you could say,” Mycroft replied quietly. “It was an ice pick.”

“An… ice pick.”

“Indeed. The result of an error in judgment of a much younger man.”

“Just to be clear, you were the younger man with poor judgment, right? There’s not some young tosser running about who caused you to get ice picked?”

“That’s correct. I read a situation erroneously and suffered the consequences.”

“With an ice pick.”

“Just so.”

“Any chance I could get more of the story behind that?”

Mycroft considered for a moment. “If two governments were to permanently fall… no, even then it wouldn’t be unclassified in either of our lifetimes.”

Greg leaned up to kiss Mycroft’s chin. “You’re fascinating. Does anyone actually believe you work for the Department for Transport?”

Mycroft chuckled. “Yes, Detective Inspector Lestrade. People from whom I have not had to take away investigations, and who have not had to deal with my brother, and who have not seen me in a state of undress - essentially everyone in the world who is not you or who has not otherwise encountered me in my professional capacity - generally believe that I am a minor government official.”

Greg planted a kiss on his chest. “People are daft, then. You dress too well to be a minor anything.”

Mycroft’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Thank you. I think.”

“Anyway,” Greg picked up his prior thought. “I don’t like the idea of you being hurt. I hate it in fact. But the scars are part of you. And I like you. I like all of you. Very much.”

Mycroft drew Greg up so that they were face to face and kissed him deeply. “I also like you very much, Gregory,” he breathed when they finally broke apart.

Greg pulled himself tight against Mycroft’s side and rested his head on the other man’s chest. The angle put the bullet wound on Mycroft’s thigh in his line of sight. “This is the newest one,” he murmured, touching it gently.

“Very astute, Gregory.”

“Not a youthful error of judgment, then?”

“No. That one is the reason I have a security detail.”

Greg covered it with his palm. “A few centimeters from your femoral artery.”

“Mm,” Mycroft acknowledged. “The circumstances were such that if my assailant’s shot had been better - or worse, I suppose, given your perspective - I likely would have bled out before assistance could reach me.” Greg hugged him a little tighter. “That caused my superiors to insist that I be under guard,” Mycroft finished.

Greg frowned. “You have superiors?”

“One or two. It’s a bit … complicated.”

Greg huffed. “I bet it is.” He planted a kiss on Mycroft’s chest. “You’ve certainly led an interesting life.”

“I believe the corollary to the traditional curse is ‘may you live an interesting life.’”

“Do you feel cursed?” Greg asked, craning his neck to see Mycroft’s face.

“On the contrary,” Mycroft smiled, “the fact that in spite of all this, or perhaps as a result of all this, I have ended up here, with you, has me feeling incredibly fortunate at the moment.”

“Me too,” Greg grinned.

~*~

Thanks for reading! The next story is now up over here.

[dracarialove]

📄 F it, I'm posting my finished fics here, too 📄

*Check the 'rouge's heart' tag if you haven't read previous chapters

[Chapter 5: Violence]

Blaze was clipping up her hair in her signature ponytail when the doorbell rang; before she could call out to Silver, he was already telling her he would answer it. The white hedgehog opened the door and greeted Rouge, inviting her inside.

"Lookin' sharp," she said, pointing to the teal blazer and black bowtie he was wearing.

Silver tightened his tie and smiled. "Thanks. Blaze should be out in a minute."

They chatted briefly until the lavender cat walked into the room, her slim figure presented in a knee-length magenta dress with a single ruffled strap crossing over to one shoulder. Red strappy heels covered her feet, and she had applied a nude gloss to her lips.

"Wow, Blaze!" Rouge exclaimed, impressed. "I've never seen you so stylish."

The princess shot her a sly look as she slipped one gloved hand around Silver's arm. "It's not often that I get dressed up. Besides, we're not all like you, hoarding outfits for every occasion!"

The bat rolled her eyes and swatted the air, grinning as she turned back toward the door. "You guys ready to go?"

The couple followed, Silver grabbing his keys. "Let's hit the town!"

***

Shadow's stint at the coffee shop was almost over, the grumpy hedgehog having worked a rare morning shift. His mood was sour as he and his coworker blasted through a rush of customers. The hour of repetitive labor left him irritated and ready to clock out, continuously checking the time once his coworker had gone outside for a short break.

He let out an aggravated sigh when another customer walked in only a few minutes after the rush had subsided. The red echidna stomped his way over to the counter, a steamed expression plastered on his face.

Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the angry patron approach the register. Knuckles stopped at the counter, staring across at Shadow with an unflinching frown stamped across his tan muzzle.

Hyper-aware of the echidna's hostile body language, the neutral hedgehog remained on his guard as he held eye contact, then dully mustered a customer-friendly phrase. "Can I help you?"

"Stay away from Rouge," Knuckles growled.

Shadow responded with the furrowing of his brow and a quiet scoff. "You're looking for trouble, threatening me. I don't care who you are – if you think you can scare me, you're sorely mistaken."

"I'm not trying to scare you, tough guy. I'm warning you. You back off of my woman if you don't want a problem!"

Knuckles raising his voice set off Shadow's growing frustration, the dark hedgehog refusing to accept the disrespect. He replied in a sharp tone, "You're the one who needs to back off. You must have a death wish – or maybe you're just stupid – to challenge someone whose capabilities go beyond your comprehension."

The echidna started to ball his fists, the two men staring each other down. Shadow continued, "Besides, if Rouge is 'your' woman, and she's taken a liking to me, what does that say about your inability to keep her interest?"

He didn't know if it was true, if Rouge really was in a relationship with the angry stranger in front of him; but he hated being talked down to, and had easily pegged Knuckles' weakness when it came to insults. The redhead's frown turned into a toothy scowl as he suddenly raised his fists and swung.

"Chaos Control!"

***

The telekinetic hedgehog was the driver for their night out, all three of them hopping into the silver Camaro that boasted two bright teal stripes down the hood. They headed downtown, soon being surrounded by countless bars, clubs, and restaurants – all brightly-lit with energetic music pouring from the windows. Per Blaze's suggestion, they pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant bar, Silver scooting his car into an empty corner spot.

A human hostess met them when they walked through ruby-colored double doors, then led them past a number of tables filled with a mixture of diners; some human, some Mobian, all enjoying their meals and drinks with their personal groups.

She sat them at a booth near the back, Blaze and Silver sitting on one side while Rouge took the other. The woman handed them menus and offered to provide a pitcher of water for the table, which they graciously accepted before she left them to decide on entrées.

"The salmon sounds good," Blaze commented, drawing Silver's attention to her menu, "but it's kind of expensive."

He skimmed the price and smiled up at her. "Get whatever you want – it's a special occasion. I think I'll have the pasta salad. See anything you like, Rouge?"

"Hmm..." the bat wondered, tapping an index finger against her chin. "Maybe fettuccine, that's always a safe choice. Although, it might be worth it to try the grilled chicken."

Blaze perked up as she closed her menu. "Oh! I can vouch for the chicken. Certainly worth it."

"I'll take your word for it, then," she responded, snapping the menu shut with one hand.

When the waitress came by to place their pitcher of water on the table, the triad put in their orders and each poured a glass for themselves. The uplifting orchestra music playing through the restaurant's speakers coupled with the soft orange lights to set a positive mood for their evening, even as Silver brought up a subject that was still considerably sore.

"Hey, so, I know it just happened," he started, addressing Rouge, "and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to... but I wanted to ask how you're holding up since the whole debacle with Knuckles."

Blaze lightly slapped his arm, but the strong-willed bat was determined not to let the breakup get to her; if she was going to get over him, she did need to talk about it. No amount of crying alone would help her completely heal from the pain, so Rouge smiled and made eye contact with Silver.

"You know, it still stings – and maybe it will for a while – but I think I'm coming more to terms with it as the days go by."

"I don't think I've ever met another woman as emotionally strong as you," Blaze commented, picking up her water. "Already starting to get over Knuckles, when Amy bursts into tears every time Sonic doesn't answer her calls!"

Silver chuckled and Rouge shrugged. The bat didn't want to mention her new love interest just yet, thinking it would be better to get her frustrations out first. She could save the good news for last and close out their dinner with happier thoughts.

So, while they waited for their food to arrive, she recounted the hurtful events while sprinkling in complaints about both Knuckles and Julie-Su. A cathartic experience, it allowed the treasure hunter to fully enjoy her meal once their waitress came around with the dishes and drinks.

***

Time was frozen, Knuckles' balled fist hovering in the air above the coffee shop counter. His mouth was agape, canines exposed in a display of aggression, fierce eyes alive with rage. The powerful hedgehog walked around the counter, trying to remember if he'd seen the echidna before.

The only instance he could pull forth was a mere possibility; a red BMW speeding down the street as he and Rouge enjoyed warm beverages outside the shop. Although it could've been anyone driving such a vehicle, it was the only conclusion he could draw, as there hadn't been anyone around the first time he'd spoken to her.

"Pathetic," Shadow mumbled to himself as he rolled along his skates to stand behind Knuckles.

As time began to speed back up, the Ultimate Lifeform hooked one foot under the echidna's legs and pushed them out from under him. Knuckles dropped, the forward momentum of his punch slamming his jaw onto the countertop as he fell. He let out an agonized shout as he tumbled to the floor, then clutched his muzzle and grabbed the counter to pull himself up.

Shaking, the echidna's eyes watered and he continued to groan in anguish. A splitting headache shocked through his skull and he remained kneeled on the floor while Shadow stood away from him, his baritone voice cutting through the otherwise quiet coffee shop.

"Get out of here. I don't want to have to expend any more energy on you."

Knuckles turned and glared up at him, attempting to speak but immediately clutching his mouth again before finally standing. Shadow remained on the defensive as the echidna chose to leave, his crimson gaze following the attacker until he was out the door.

He watched Knuckles climb into the same BMW that he had seen the evening before – initially invisible as he had parked in the farthest spot from the entrance – and made a mental note to speak with Rouge about the enraged echidna.

***

As the three of them were eating their respective meals, Blaze prodded Rouge about where she had run off to the previous day. "You said it would be good, so let's hear it."

"I met someone interesting the other day," the bat answered, trying to keep her smile from turning into a grin.

Silver's eyes widened a bit. "Woah, already? I knew you were quick about picking up new guys, but that has to be a record."

"Hey!" she retorted playfully, stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork. "This one doesn't count, okay; probably the first time I wasn't trying to find a lover after a breakup."

The hedgehog argued through a mouthful of pasta salad, "Well, it's extra impressive, then."

He covered his mouth when Blaze made a disgusted face, using his telekinesis to pull a napkin from the dispenser. The lemon-eyed cat turned to Rouge and said, "So, tell us about him."

The bat swallowed her food as a faint pink shade flushed across her cheeks. "He's this hedgehog who works at a coffee shop in town; small place, never been, so I'd never seen him before."

"Right, because you only go to clubs," Blaze interjected, chuckling.

"Exactly," Rouge smirked. Her gestures became more expressive when she started describing Shadow. "Anyway, he's kind of mysterious and moody – has 'grump' written all over his face. But he seems like a quiet guy, sort of reserved. Black hair with bright red highlights, the most striking cherry-red eyes I've ever seen; and handsome like you wouldn't believe!"

"Aw," the princess piped, her expression softening as she placed a hand on Silver's arm. He continued eating and nodded along to Rouge's story.

"I met him right after I dumped Knuckles. Just stopped at a random shop for a cup of tea." She purposely lowered her energy and took a sip from her champagne glass, then chuckled a little. "He made the most awkward small talk while I was sitting there; just had my heart broken, and there was a guy I would've never expected to approach me, talking so calmly that I actually felt like the world was slowing down. He had invited me to go back, so that's where I went after Knuckles picked up his stuff."

"Sounds like a connection to me!" said Blaze, returning to her meal. "Are you going to see him again?"

Rouge couldn't stop herself from grinning while she stabbed another chunk of chicken. "We have a dinner date tomorrow. It would've been tonight, but I already had plans with you two."

"Well, Rouge, you could've gone out with him tonight!" Blaze protested supportively. "We would've completely understood."

The bat shrugged and rolled her eyes in lieu of a response, her mouth full. Silver took the opportunity to cut in with a comment of his own.

"I'm glad things are looking up so quickly for you. You really deserve it, after the shit Knux pulled?" He shook his head. "Man, I'm just glad he got double-dumped."

Blaze laughed, making the hedgehog smile and chuckle as well. Rouge thanked him earnestly, then the three of them finished the last bits of their meals. They decided to order dessert, and the jewel hunter shifted the conversation over to Silver and Blaze. They discussed new developments over tiramisu, talking about the renovations they were making to their home, as well as a trip they were planning.

At the end of the night, Silver brought them home again and made sure Rouge was alright to drive. Her single glass of champagne hadn't impaired her enough to crash, so they said their goodbyes and the bat drove home with the window down. She enjoyed the rushing wind flicking through her hair as the radio played a smooth jazzy beat accompanied by inspirational lyrics; and when she arrived home, she pulled out her phone and quickly deleted every picture of Knuckles from her gallery.

[turtles-allthewaydown]

4, 14, 28, and 30 for the ask game!!

4. How do you know when a chapter is done?

It's a combination of word count and pacing.

When I first start a fic I just start writing without worrying about chapter breaks. Eventually I hit a point where I've written enough to figure out what the fic is about, and then I can outline the rest. At that point I usually figure out the general shape of pacing, scenes that can mirror each other, recurring themes, etc. Then I look at what I've already got written and what I've got planned and figure out what the first chapter should be. That generally determines the size of later chapters. All of my fics have a general rule-of-thumb for how long a chapter should be, which I freely ignore when I feel like something needs to be included.

For example a chapter of My Body Is An Orphanage (Hazbin Hotel) is 6-8k, except the latest chapter is actually over 9k because I wanted to reach a certain point in an emotional arc. Nothing Ventured (Dungeon Meshi) has much shorter chapters, generally 2-3k, but I know there are some that are a bit longer because a scene just wasn't finished in fewer words.

The point of having a word count goal for a chapter, for me, is to 1) keep things approximately the same scale so readers aren't surprised, 2) keep things moving, and 3) give myself a goal to aim for, so while I'm working I can say "I just need 500 more words before I can post this chapter, maybe I'll write that scene now so I can post tomorrow morning!" The goal is never to make myself stretch something longer than it needs to be or cut something short to make it fit an arbitrary length. Sometimes it does help me realize when something is dragging on for too long, though!

14. What's one word you can never spell/use properly, no matter how hard you try?

Oh, there are so many. I'm hopelessly reliant on spell check, which is unfortunate since a lot of them are getting worse with AI ;_; Brainstorming some words, one of my big struggles appears to be with remembering whether something uses c or s (license, spouse, sauce, etc.) and single vs double letters (below vs bellow, apologize, etc.)

28. How do you make sure your plot points are there while also making them blend in with the story?

My fics tend to be more about character arcs and emotion than about plot, but I do have a method here. It's all about outlining -- it's way easier to reach your destination if you know where you're going!

When I outline a story, I'm essentially writing bullet points of the major plot and emotional beats, plus any side scenes that I know I want to write. Generally one sentence summarizing a scene, with a line break to indicate moving on to the next part of a scene and two line breaks to indicate shifting to a new scene entirely. I then bold my outline and gradually replace the bolded sentences with the scenes they describe. For example, at one point a portion of To The Dogs (Dungeon Meshi) looked something like this (italics instead of bold because I bolded the questions lol):

Meeting the orcs pt 2

[flashback scene]

Traps are always dangerous, keep your guard up and don't get cocky

He gets cocky [partially written scene]

Then as I worked I figured out what "traps are always dangerous, don't get cocky" would be, and made sure to end it with that sentence so that I could start the next one with "he gets cocky" and keep the flow I wanted to have when I was outlining. (To The Dogs was a really important fic to outline because I was blending three different timelines. As I wrote I was constantly jumping around the outline, sometimes adding new scenes or rearranging them, making sure things made sense and that Chilchuck's emotional journey tracked within each separate timeline.)

What this effectively means is when I sit down to write a scene, I'm starting with a focus on the major plot points or emotional beats that need to happen. Everything else springs from there. So I'm not writing aimlessly hoping to get to a plot point or trying to cram a plot point into a scene, I'm starting from "okay, I know this scene needs to end with Chilchuck telling someone not to get cocky and warning about traps, how can I get there?"

Sometimes after I write all the bits I'll go back and realize there's some connective tissue missing and write something to link two scenes together, but generally I find jumping straight from important part A to important part B works fine, and readers can be trusted to follow.

By the way, those of you waiting for the next chapter of Nothing Ventured? There's a little bit I've already written and then the next line of the outline just says "Chilaios in the Dungeon"

30. How do you edit your stories?

hahaha edit? nah

In all seriousness, this is the thing I am weakest on. Once I've written the scenes my outline told me to write I want to be done! I did the thing, time to post it already and get to those lovely comments!

Generally I skim over whatever I've decided is a chapter to make sure it all connects, do a spelling/grammar check, and then up on AO3 it goes. Sometimes I re-read my fics and will go back and edit typos and formatting errors if I find them.

In the case of something like My Body Is An Orphanage, which recently got a partial re-write, I knew some of the changes I wanted to make so I went in and did that first, then I read the whole thing from start to finish and made smaller changes as I went -- fix the phrasing here, add a little extra detail there, correct the spelling of a character's name over there, etc. The sort of thing I should probably do with all my works, but just don't have the patience to.

[kelyon]

TMI Tuesday!

Hello Tumblr!

It's been a while since I had actual expectations for a TMI Tuesday. I guess since I finished up Dark Mistress last June. Don't get me wrong, people were great about asking questions for my fics from the Summer of WIPs, but it's different when I'm doing a long-form serial story. It'll be especially interesting to see what the reaction is when I'm posting every week.

Yes, Courtship: A Golden Rings Story is going to get new chapters every Friday from now until the end of May. This was supposed to be a shorter fic. I thought like 10 chapters or something, but so far it's double that length. I've been looking forward to telling the story of how Lacey French became the Mrs. Gold we see in Golden Rings. This Friday I'm posting chapter 2 ("First Date--Restaurant.") If anyone wants a snippet, I'm more than happy to provide.

(I really am looking forward to seeing what questions you guys have for Courtship, and what I've already planned to answer in future chapters.)

Finally, on a wider Rumbelle note, the Chipped Cup Awards are in full swing. They are accepting nominations for fics written in or before 2023. I made a post of what fics of mine are eligible. If you read any Rumbelle this year that you think should get recognized, send in a nomination.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Let me know what you think of my writing or just anything you want to know from me. Take care and stay warm!

Courtship is here

My inbox is here

[bigfrozenfan-fanfics]

About tough decisions to use the right music track to a specific scene

Not all readers of "The Broken Bridge" listen to the hand-selected music tracks for my scenes(*), but I want to go into a little more detail in this particular post so you can see how much effort can go into just one scene.

As you may know, HeinrichVSA, my beta reader and friend, and I work closely together to select certain music tracks. I write and he finds the music tracks that I end up choosing to use. It's not always easy, because on the one hand the length has to fit the scene and on the other hand it has to support the mood as perfectly as possible. I listen to the music while I read the scene at the same time, checking whether the dynamics match certain actions precisely and then I determine the sentence in the story where exactly the music should start. A perfect result would be if the track stops exactly at the end of the scene and the dynamics in it can emphasise certain actions. This doesn't always work, but sometimes it is desirable for the music to cover several scenes.

I can't use many titles simply because they involve singing or speaking, or because there is clapping from the audience at the end. This distracts from reading. So far I've only used two songs with vocals in "The Broken Bridge", but only as bonus tracks at the end of the chapters. With the exception of titles where the vocals are untranslatable and part of the music (Sámi Joik, for example). Watch a film and see how the score is used in certain scenes to heighten the drama, then you'll understand what I mean.

In the last chapter, "Corona", I wanted you not only to read about Fabian's joy at being back home and reliving a childhood memory, but to literally feel his emotions. Everyone knows the scene in Tangled where Rapunzel dances with joy in the square in front of the church and draws other people around her into it. In my opinion, it's one of the best scenes in the film and I love this song.

My only problem with it was how to integrate the relatively short song into the already written scene in such a way that it both emphasises Fabian's thoughts and feelings on the way through the town and ends exactly when the dance is over. The increasing speed of the dance also had to fit in as closely as possible with what had already been written. So I started looking for alternatives over the next few days after finishing the chapter. Some YouTubers extended the song, but either it lost its original dynamics, or you could hear too clearly where the song was edited or it was simply extended in the wrong place. There were also two very well-made remakes from fans to choose from, but either just as short as the original (2 min 20) or unfortunately with adverts at the end. In the end, I decided in favour of an extremely well-made extended version that met all my criteria.

(*) Many Frozen fans on Tumblr don't read fanfics on a computer, but on their smartphone. Tumblr unfortunately has the stupid habit of simply stopping embedded songs in posts when you read with the app. This doesn't happen if you read my chapters in the blog on a laptop, for example.

Here are the songs from Tangled Fans that I sorted out, but which are still great:

Heinrich's 1st choice, the Tavern Edition:

My find, as a violin duet, unfortunately with adverts for more of their videos at the end:

My previous favourite to use song in the chapter, 16 seconds longer than the original, but still extended in the wrong place:

And an alternative track that would have worked in theory, but was unfortunately too long and had applause at the end:

The remaining alternatives with edited originals are only given here as links:

youtube.com/watch?v=d6o9u0a3GJ8 (Kingdom dance (extended, doubled and tripled chorus)) youtube.com/watch?v=81GocqvwTMg (Kingdom Dance crossover with "How To Train Your Dragon" at the end) Someone even came up with the idea of editing this track for a real dance with a length of 4:02, but the dynamics are totally lost in the process: youtube.com/watch?v=cGnhmA3BNbI

The following were also up for selection:

youtube.com/watch?v=VI-JynUarrs (Rapunzel's Exordium by Frostudio Chambersonic) youtube.com/watch?v=sMCwW0TcBYk (Reels, irish dance music, good but far too long) youtube.com/watch?v=u9veEEnax-k (Reels traditional, by Katie Grennan, same as above) youtube.com/watch?v=tIQjHeMYBfg (Slip Jigs, by Katie Grennan, too long, wrong instruments for the scene) and a few others This one is funny for the dance performance starting at 4:19 (Apollo's Fire - O'Carolan Dance scene), but too long as well, laughing in the audience plus applause and too slow over all: youtube.com/watch?v=1OD4jAOp5So youtube.com/watch?v=givlwY9d9UQ (animated movie excerpt, but sadly with spoken words in it)

Last find for the Tangled fans here, a video with animated Corona scenes for relaxing Tangled music to study & relax, with a length of nearly one hour!

[neon-hell]

Alright, I've been planning out the chapters of Alastor's Aroace Adventures (The Murders) (title pending) and I already know if I commit, this thing will be the longest thing I've ever written (my personal record is just around 30K and I feel like this will end up at least double that). And, Tumblr likes clicking buttons, right?

I see this fic divided into two or three "arcs". The way I work is that I usually don't post anything until I'm at least halfway done with the final edit (I'm a control freak). But considering the length of this thing, I'm starting to think I'd write and edit each "arc" separately and posted them in waves, each wave being a period of weekly updates of the finished arc followed by waiting time until the next arc is written and edited. Or... I could just write the whole damn thing and post weekly as I do the final edit of the entire fic.

[d6b-onion]

(thanks duo for finally making me take the plunge and getting an account on here)

That means I can talk about writing even when I'm not publishing anything! I'll take the opportunity to talk about my current plans and ideas. Right now I have two projects I actually have stuff written for.

The first is a continuation to A Void in a Mystical Land, my lipogram collection (that means it never uses the letter E). It's an intermission about mystia that is lighter in tone. Haven't touched it in a bit, and I'm considering writing in some RiguMysti because I know how much y'all love that. However, it's tricky writing without E's, all the more so when there's a character named Wriggle.

The second is a crackfic. The good stuff. I want it to be a surprise so I won't say too much, but I assure you, you cannot remotely guess what it is. I already have one chapter written, but I'm waiting on the second chapter to publish it, you'll understand why.

As for stuff I haven't begun yet, I do want to continue "Sometimes All it Takes..." at some point in the future. However I've written myself into something a bit complicated and I don't exactly know how I'll resolve it. That's what a lack of forward planning does to you. It started as a short oneshot idea and it's now 2 chapters and 13k words long and might double in length before it ends.

I want to write about Momiji some day. I really like her character (and design), but she gets so little representation in writing, and zun doesn't seem very willing to give her a single line of dialogue anywhere.

I also want to do more character study stuff in the future. The character I'm most interested in writing about is Junko. My pipe dream is making a long, psychological and progressive exploration of her character that has her grow out of her constant fury, and perhaps find more at the end. But after taking a look at canon, that's a monumental task.

And hey, some other random idea might just pop in my head, so this isn't exhaustive. Be also aware that I write in bursts and that I don't hold myself to any form of schedule, so all of my writing has a permanent lack of ETA.

don't worry the silliness comes back after this post

[tripstitan]

It's All a Haze During Demon Daze

... Yeah I can be more than a little bit corny. I'm an author who's been writing a series for years that's nearing 6000 pages in length. Come on, have a laugh, live a little. Hm, you don't suppose the Gorillaz would be upset about my vague reference/nod through the chapter title on my latest chapter of AAoMM would you? I'd rather not upset 'em. I still listen to half of their discography every few months.

Chapter art's getting harder and harder to get accurate depictions of my goobers from AI, so I'm probably going to cut back so that I can go back to focusing on writing, since it's my writing month. I've already got #NaNoWriMo2023 finished(and have since the 6th of the month), but I like to aim for 5x the challenge, and haven't been writing at all the last two days trying to create chapter art. Just Writer Things, I guess. Oh, anyway, yeah, double-length chapter posted up over at RoyalRoad, free as always!

(Grumbling, apparently Tumblr can't be trusted to link via tinyurl, full link at: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/50464/an-age-of-mysterious-memories )

[fragmentsofsorrow]

2, 4, and 9 for the fanfic asks?

2. What fanfic do you wish you got more response on?

I'm gonna have to go with (Nothing Is) Whole; not that it's been ignored or anything—it's honestly been pretty well received—but I have to pick something. I've put a lot of work into both this fic and the much larger AU it belongs to over the last four years and it's definitely the favorite child, so I'm always going to want to share it with more people

and yeah, when all there is so far is a single introductory chapter posted just shy of a year and a half ago, it's understandably not gaining much new attention, but also consider: I love that AU so much

4. Do you prefer writing multi-chapter or oneshot fanfictions?

in general, I prefer writing multichapters. I like to write scenes and even lines out of order for my multichapters, and I really enjoy the whole planning process for my larger AUs

but it also depends on what works best for any particular story. if I have a fic idea and it works best as a oneshot, trying to write it as a multichapter regardless is not going to go well for me

9. What’s your favorite line(s) or scene(s) that you have written?

okay, look. I'll be honest, the entire 2000 word Memory's Skyscraper scene in the first chapter of Not Your Sacrifice is my favorite thing I've written. there's a lot of different things I love about it and I'm not about to quote the whole scene to talk about all of them

but that's a short and boring answer, so I'll talk about one of them!

there are two parts of that scene that involve Xion summoning a keyblade; one with Oblivion, and then another one later on with Oathkeeper. taken individually each one is some of the best writing I've ever done, and I'm really proud of having written them

but they're also intentionally very structurally similar to each other and are meant to mirror each other in a few ways. I'm really happy with how well it turned out

I'll throw the two excerpts under the cut because they about double the length of this answer and it's long enough already (plus, y'know, the fic link is right there anyway)

the Oblivion part:

There was a flash as Xion summoned their keyblade, and moments later one of the heartless exploded into darkness as the black blade cut an arc through them. Oh. That was new. Xion looked down at their keyblade, taking in its unfamiliar new form. Instead of the silver coloring they were used to, this one was mostly black, though some silver remained in the handle and at the tip of the keyblade. Two bat wings served as the guard, with a purple gem inlaid where they met at the base of the blade. A chain ran the full length of the blade, which ended with ornate teeth more detailed than the ones on their Kingdom Key. Somehow, they knew this keyblade was called Oblivion. A fitting name for a keyblade wielded by someone who wasn’t supposed to still exist.

the Oathkeeper part:

A flash of light accompanied Xion's last few words as they readied Oblivion, and when it faded, Xion held another keyblade in their hand. In their left hand. It wasn’t Xion’s keyblade. That was still in their right hand and once again pointed at Riku. In several ways it was the complement of Xion’s keyblade. While Oblivion had a pair of bat wings, the wings that made up this keyblade’s handguard were feathered. While Oblivion was primarily black, this one was mostly colored a silvery white. And while Oblivion had a single blade, the blade of this new keyblade was split into two. The name Oathkeeper came to their mind, but Xion barely registered it over the realization that this was Roxas’s keyblade. It was all they had left of him; a reflection of who he was, one last echo of his— They let out a pained scream, both keyblades falling to the ground and dematerializing, as the realization from earlier that day finally caught up with them. Roxas had a heart.

[sw1mmingfoolz]

A SLIGHTLY DISJOINTED LIST OF WRITING TIPS

hey peeps 😌 a whole zero people asked or showed interest and true to my style I'm posting anyway lmao :) this is a collection of writing tips I remind myself of all the time! some are from online (mostly reddit), some are from writing workshops and classes i've taken, some are just commonly traded around by famous writers and some come from my own experience! i've been writing for 15 years, since i was a literal child, and i think it's safe to say i've learned a lot since i wrote 15 pages of what i was absolutely sure would be my debut novel "The Ratticator" when i was, like, 6. so i think ik what i'm talking about 😎 without further ado, here is the list!! it isn't very organised, for which i do apologize :')

If you have writer’s block, change your document font to Comic Sans. No idea why this works, but it’s a known tip and it really does!

DO NOT edit as you go. If you just can’t seem to stop yourself, set your document to Wingdings. This is especially helpful in your first draft. I personally call my first draft document WORST VERSION JUST PURE GARBAGE or some variation to take the pressure off.

Treat all writing as practice. It’s better to write pages and pages of pure garbage than to be too paralysed by fear of failure and not write at all as a result. At least with garbage you can edit it, see what issues you have with your writing, etc.

If you struggle with editing, try writing everything longhand on paper or printing out a particularly hard chapter (double spaced so you can annotate it) and rewrite it. Also, run your work through text-to-speech to catch typos or little errors you might otherwise overlook!

Google “filter words and how to avoid them”, especially if you write in first person. Focus on showing and not telling, and be wary of using too many adverbs (I’m so guilty of this) and verbs after dialogue. Also avoid epithets! By all means necessary! For example; “the short haired man”, “the brunette”, “the [job title]”. These are common in fanfiction but do not sound good or flow well. They’re often used by novice writers. (I’m guilty of this too! Again, these kinds of things take practice).

If you’re struggling to plot, it can help to write “draft zero”, in which you write out chapters in the least words possible without needing it to sound good. This can give you a skeleton to fill out. You also don’t have to write chronologically; write the fun scenes first or whatever scenes you already have in your head out and build around those!

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it doesn’t flow well, it doesn’t read well either.

Similarly, come back to a chapter / work after a minimum of a day has passed. Looking at it with fresh eyes after a break away can help immensely with weeding out awkward parts, errors or parts you’d like to change.

“Said” is not a bad word; don’t go to insane lengths to avoid it!

Not every piece of dialogue needs a tag; trying to add one to everything without having dialogue by itself makes writing clunky.

For both dialogue and inner monologue, have your characters miss the mark just slightly on what they're trying to say. In reality none of us express ourselves perfectly off the cuff, and you can even communicate a lot about a person through what they omit or avert or misread. (from u/frozenfountain on Reddit)

Usually when people talk, they’re not just talking. What facial expressions are they making? What are they doing with their bodies? Are they just ‘saying’ something or are they stuttering, shouting, or whispering (don’t go overboard with this kinda description, though). You also don’t always have to specify who is speaking; you can establish the people initially and, especially if they speak in distinct ways, it should be clear. Also, learn correct grammar for dialogue. A new speaker should be on a new line.

Vary sentence structure. This is probably the main cause of people feeling that their writing feels "off." A lot of people try to solve repetitive sentence structure with epithets or with unnecessary synonyms, but it only masks the problem, it doesn't solve it.

For example:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said Abigail.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," said Bob.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," said Abigail.

It's boring, right? How NOT to improve it:

"What's going on?" said Bob.

"I don't know. Jill just stormed out of here," said the blue-eyed woman.

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning," pondered the older man.

"I think the stress is finally starting to get to her," surmised the greenette.

Instead maybe something like:

Bob looked around at the confused faces in the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," said Abigail, fidgeting with her necklace. "Jill just stormed out of here."

"That's weird. She seemed fine this morning."

Abigail shrugged. "I think the stress is finally getting to her."

The other problem I see: unless you understand what third person omniscient is and are using it intentionally, it's probably best to pick just one point of view per scene and stick to it. (u/DemyxDancer on Reddit)

Don’t focus on stuff your character wouldn’t just to fill a word count.

Try not to use the same word twice in a paragraph unless they’re connecting words or names/pronouns. At the same time, try not to overuse the thesaurus and use a million synonyms for something - find different ways to describe things. 

Write as though there is no formatting available to you. Adding bold or caps or images or footnotes is cool, but the story should be understood exactly the same without them. This is also an accessibility consideration, since screen readers will miss this extra context if it’s purely visible.

Localised spell check! I use British spell check on Google Docs because I am British but sometimes accidentally use the American versions of words. This can also be immensely helpful if you’re writing dialects / a different form of English than what you’re used to. 

Let go of perfectionism before it kills writing for you. Coraline took Neil Gaiman over a decade to write. Ursula K Le Guin banged out three Earthsea books in 4 years before taking a 12 year break between the third and fourth books in which she took a big interest in feminism and entirely changed the way she wrote female characters. Nothing is going to be perfect initially, and expecting it to be so dooms you before you can start.

Paragraphs!! Punctuation!! So many times I have clicked on a promising looking fanfiction but backed out because I couldn’t read it properly - commas, semicolons and hyphens (and em dashes!) are your friends :)

If possible, shut out everything else during a designated time period and just write. I know this isn’t possible for everyone but should you be able to set a window and have a schedule you’ll find writer’s block to hit you less!

Starting with a lot of exposition can be boring. Short, snappy first lines and/or coming right into the action at the beginning can help hook the reader better. Or alternatively, have a prologue if there’s important exposition that needs to be established at the start!

Writing is inherently hard, even for well established writers. Accepting that will help you more than you’d expect.

Read as much as you write, if not more! Reading makes writing a lot easier. A lot of writing is being inspired by other writers. NOT copying, or plagiarising, but drawing inspiration from them. For example (as we spoke about a couple of days ago), my lovely mutual Livvie @greenlivvie has a colder, more direct and more formal writing style as a lot of what she reads is nonfiction, whereas I read so many gooey romance webtoons and poetry anthologies that my style is extremely warm, probably too descriptive, and rather poetic.

Find the joy in writing! I know engagement is extremely important, especially in fanfiction, but if it’s your only drive you’re destined to burn out. You should write first and foremost for the love of writing. That’s not to say you shouldn’t want engagement, however, and that readers should not give it (PLEASE readers, learn that likes on Tumblr are absolutely useless compared to on other platforms and start reblogging, tagging, and commenting! Here are some relaged posts with creators expressing their frustrations (x) (x) (x) so you can understand WHY it matters so much to us. On AO3, comments mean the world!)

Bad writers tend to think they are amazing and infallible, while good writers tend to think they are terrible. It’s about not letting that self doubt stop you from creating entirely! Also, if possible, find someone to beta your work and give their concrit, especially if you find yourself hating your work but not knowing why.

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day. It helps.” - John Steinbeck

Write through the eyes of the character, not the lens of a camera (for third person).

“No matter how worried you are about that chapter, no matter how badly you think you botched something, do not tell your readers this, and if you can't help it, put your notes/concerns at the end of the chapter. If you tell a reader at the beginning of a chapter "this chapter is not my best", they will read it in a different light than if you had said nothing at all. If you're looking for feedback on the chapter, put your notes at the end. Let the reader read the chapter "fresh". They'll form their own thoughts and opinions, and then only after that, they'll read your comments/concerns/questions and are more likely to respond to them candidly, rather than having the chapter flavoured by worry or doubt. Your work is good, don't tell people otherwise.” (from u/Panoramic_Vacuum on Reddit)

Don't write your scenes/chapters differently than you originally wanted just for the sake of ''censorship'' to be able to maybe target a larger/different audience! Always write stuff exactly the way you always imagine(d), no matter how dark, bloody, sexual, whatever it might be. A story that is deliberately ''pruned'' will never have the same significance an ''uncensored'' one has. And for characters, always remember the one tenet:

''It doesn't matter how small or unimportant a character might seem at first, they always should be interesting and compelling in their own right, not just be means for the purpose of another character.'' (from u/JokeyZockey on Reddit)

Always remember the five senses as you write

Note down ideas or lines you think of when you think of them. You will probably forget them otherwise. I am totally not talking from experience 😭

In writing fanfiction, you’re writing for free! No apologising for slow updates, no apologising for hiatuses, again Coraline took OVER A DECADE to be finished and published yet you feel bad for not pumping out work every day? Readers do not get to be entitled, they are consuming free content from you and that in itself is a privilege. Readers, please be mindful that we are regular ass people with school and work and other commitments, and also be mindful that if you do not interact with our work that’s only going to serve to motivate us even LESS.

Reward yourself! Wrote a chapter, or hit a word count goal, or finished a plot? Watch a film you like, or buy your favourite snack, or have a long ass bath with a bunch of shit from Lush that makes your house smell like a perfume shop for years afterwards. Rewarding ourselves pleases our primal little monkey brains and makes it a lot easier to get past writer’s block, knowing there’s something in it for us at the end. 

AND FINALLY! Ignore everyone as much as you want to. You should be writing for fun, for yourself - hell if you wanna ignore these points that’s entirely your prerogative. People will tell you not to write certain tropes, or leave unnecessary criticism, or be demanding when they could totally just go write the fics themselves if they care that much. Write because you like to, and you will find your audience :)

i hope you could find even one tip in this list helpful! reblogging with your own tips is encouraged actually :) much love to my fellow writers, it's thankless sometimes and difficult basically all of the time but it's fun and i meet absolutely lovely people on here doing so 💞

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

I just got into the Lego Monkie Kid fandom recently, and I must ask. How do you feel about the Wukong/Macaque shipping? I've seen a lot of people say it's inappropriate because they're commonly interpreted as brothers. But others say it's okay cause it's not set in stone and lmk has changed some details on the original story, including Wukong & Mac's relationship.

I will be frank and say that Sun Wukong x Liu'er Mihou (Six-Eared Macaque) shipping grosses me the hell out, and it is one of the biggest reasons I'm hesitant in involving myself with the Lego Monkie Kid fandom, due to its domination of the fandom.

This will be a long post, so here's a bulleted TLDR:

I feel it is unfair to consider LMK independent from JTTW, given just how much LMK draws from JTTW.

I feel that the fandom's earnestness to detach LMK from JTTW does not consider how LMK is a Chinese piece of media and is thus insensitive of JTTW's place in Chinese culture.

JTTW functions as a Buddhist allegory. Within this, Six-Eared Macaque represents Sun Wukong's flaws and strife, and is literally created from him. Therefore sharing the same DNA while being two separate people, functionally siblings. Which is what has led Chinese popular culture to commonly interpret these two as such.

That being said, even if LMK makes them beyond a shadow of a doubt not siblings, I still think it's gross to ship people who were siblings in the source material. Shipping is not the only way to interact with media.

Why It's Important to Consider JTTW in Relation to LMK

While Lego Monkie Kid has changed details in the original story, I do not think it's fair to consider it as independent from Journey to the West. As a Chinese person, I feel the fandom's earnestness to separate JTTW from LMK is insensitive at best.

Journey to the West is one of the 四大名著 [Four Classical Novels of China]. Not only that, it is arguably the most accessible of the four, and as such, it occupies a very special place in Chinese culture. JTTW is a story everyone grows up with, whether it be the actual text, adaptations, or even just a bedtime story from a family member. Nearly everyone can name the main pilgrims, notable antagonists, chapter titles, and weapon names. The story is basically a backdrop to everyday life due to how much it's casually referenced, whether it be in pop culture or even food names. As such, much of the story is considered general knowledge. Changing details and rewriting parts of JTTW for an adaptation is expected because everyone's already so intimately familiar with the original story. It doesn't make an adaptation any less of an adaptation. With the case of LMK, I don't think you can reasonably consider it independent of JTTW. Not only are the majority of the cast lifted directly from JTTW, but Qi Xiaotian makes a point to directly quote chapter titles in the literal first and second episodes. If you want to call LMK anything, it's honestly a fan continuation.

Similar to how I've spoken on my discomfort regarding people using the Arthur Waley names for the pilgrims, I'm uncomfortable with people detaching LMK from JTTW because it feels like an avoidance of the original Chinese culture and context. LMK was originally produced with a Chinese audience in mind. As such, the target audience would have gone into LMK with the cultural context JTTW holds. Detaching JTTW is insensitive to the original intent of the producers, insensitive to the fact that LMK was produced for an audience that isn't just white westerners, and insensitive to JTTW. Therefore I think it is disrespectful to consider LMK without considering JTTW.

It will take time to understand Journey to the West, especially if you're not a fan who grew up with the story. However, I believe that if you're interacting with media from a culture not your own, you hold a responsibility to take measures in order to interact with said media and its culture respectfully. If creators are going to share an important part of their culture with you, then it is common decency and courtesy to interact responsibly. It's better to expend the effort to familiarize yourself with JTTW than to act insensitively, watering down its significance for the sake of digestibility.

Sun Wukong and Six-Eared Macaque within JTTW

Before going into my JTTW-grounded reasons for being uncomfortable with Sun Wukong x Six-Eared Macaque, I'd like to make a point in bringing up how JTTW is, at its core, a very Buddhist story and that you cannot, in good faith, separate the religious aspects from this story. JTTW is often read as a Buddhist allegory, and as with any allegory, thoughtful analysis and interpretation is a must.

(Chapter 58- Photos from my copy of 西游记 and screenshots from Vol. 3 of Anthony C. Yu's translation)

Please note the title of Chapter 58 uses the wording 二心 for "two minds" and that these are the same characters for 二心, the Buddhist concept of double-mindedness referenced in the screenshots below.

(Screenshots of Anthony C. Yu's JTTW footnotes regarding the Buddhist thought behind Six-Eared Macaque, provided by my friend @uwukong -who has xyr own post with further reading on interpretation of Six-Eared Macaque functionally being Sun Wukong's brother)

It is commonly accepted that Six-Eared Macaque was literally created from Sun Wukong and is a personification of his strife, his flaws, and the things generally holding him back from the true path to enlightenment. Some adaptations go as far as to depict Sun Wukong in genuine pain when killing Six-Eared Macaque since the act of killing Six-Eared is actually hurting a part of himself. While "sibling" may not be the completely technically correct term for their relationship, Six-Eared Macaque shares DNA with Sun Wukong, since he was created from Sun Wukong. However, as a separate person with identical genetics, Six-Eared Macaque is functionally his sibling. If you have to pull the "technically it's not incest" card, then I don't really think there's ground to stand on. The "grey area" this ship resides in is too thoroughly debunked by the text.

That being said, even if LMK decides to change Sun Wukong and Six-Eared Macaque to be explicitly, unequivocally, undoubtedly unrelated, I still find it really uncomfortable to ship characters who were brothers in the source material.

Please don't go through such lengths to ignore the original text and its significant Buddhist context just to justify a ship. There are other ways to interact with media other than shipping. I'm a gay Chinese man and I too want to see more gay rep in Chinese media, but let me tell you, the monkey brothers are not a healthy place to look for them.

[punkgrogg]

Doorway Duo pt.5

Pairing: Hybrid!Taehyung x Reader, Hybrid!Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Hybrid!BTS, Non idol AU, fluff

Warnings: Pregnancy

Summary: Y/n was abandoned by her long time boyfriend and moves back home to help prepare for the baby. She’s surprised to find two unfamiliar hybrids at her house.

Length: 3,085

Notes: Lol sorry it took so long to post, I thought I did like two weeks ago but I apparently did not. Well anyways I'm thinking a spicy chapter might be joining us soon but I've never written that kind of stuff before so I'm a little hesitant. Also, I have a lot of School shit piled up but I hope to write another chapter within the next two weeks.

Date Posted: 10/14/2021

Seokjin was staring at me with a mildly amused expression from across the dinner table. Jungkook was leaning his head on my left shoulder, his eyes closed as he waited for Taehyung to bring us our dinner plates- something the snow leopard insisted on even more vehemently after our talk a week ago. I knew what he meant by the staredown- he wanted to tease me for going from a single mother who swore off men to turning around to fall in love with the two hybrids being housed with our parents. The day after the big talk was a bit awkward for us all as we decided to break the news to my parents who were wholeheartedly accepting and my mother was downright giddy at the fact that her daughter now had two men to take care of her. My father on the other hand had thought we were already together and merely shrugged at my announcement. They both helped me file the paperwork for adoption and helped me with breaking the tension between my brothers and my boyfriends.

You see, Hoseok and Namjoon were very upset with both of them for ‘taking advantage ’ of their pregnant little sister. While that is probably the farthest thing from the truth it had been the source of some tension in the family but a couple of days was all it took until everything settled. It was a big help that the twins’ confirmation was probably the most exciting news in the house and they all seemed to use the excitement as a way to bridge the gap. Well, that was with Seokjin’s exception. Jinnie didn’t bat an eye at the news of my love life but instead doubled his texts when he found out he was getting both a niece and a nephew.

We were having a celebratory family dinner- all thanks to Mom who was excited that the two were officially adopted by me yesterday but Namjoon, Yoongi, and Seokjin weren’t available to come until today. Hoseok sat to Seokjin’s right and was animatedly talking to Dad about his favorite show that had released another episode that morning. Dad was nodding along to the chattering with an endearing look on his face. Mom sat at the opposite end of the table, at the head, Yoongi at her left and Namjoon at her right. Hoseok sat sandwiched between his two brothers and dad occupied the other table head.

Taehyung finally made his way into the dining room with Namjooon on his heels, both balancing two plates in their hands. Namjoon set a plate in front of Yoongi who sat next to Jungook and was silently observing us all. Taehyung laid both plates in front of Kook and me before rubbing his cheek on top of my head at my soft thanks. He happily trotted back to the kitchen to retrieve his own plate. With all the seats filled Tae had to pull up a mismatched chair to sit on my right side.

“Darling we’ll need to get a new table by Christmas.” Mom commented as Taehyung made himself comfortable at the table.

Dad surveyed us all before nodding along at the request. “Especially if Hobi finally confesses to that boy by then. Maybe we could get matching high chairs for the twins.”

I choked at that comment, I wasn’t used to the idea of twins even though it had been confirmed several days ago. Apparently, they were laying back to back and it was hard to detect her, especially her heartbeat that was quieter than the boy’s own. She was smaller than him too, something that concerned me but the doctor said that it wasn’t uncommon with fraternal twins. He did say that while I was carrying large for one baby, I was smaller than average for carrying multiples. He advised me to take it easier though, something that the family had come together more forcibly than before to enforce.

Jungkook patted my back softly as I chugged at my glass of water. Seokjin broke out in laughter across the table. “Y/n, you good?” he asked with yet another teasing smirk.

“Yeah, just went down the wrong pipe,” I bit back, tonight I will not let him get a rise out of me. But when Seokjin got it into his head- it was practically impossible to stop him.

“Now that we’ve mentioned it, how are the twins today?”

“They’re good, been kicking a lot today.” My responses were perfectly monotonous, something that will instead get a rise out of him.

“Ah, you pick any names out yet?” At my silence he continued, “for one, I think having a niece or nephew named after me would be so endearing. How else would you show your appreciation for your eldest brother?”

“Good thing you’re not on the naming committee,” Namjoon chimed in from down the table, my eyes darting to the speaker to convey my gratitude at being saved from his trap answer. Knowing him I would be tricked into committing to whatever name he suggested. ‘It’s just how older brothers work,’ he would repeat growing up whenever he weaseled his way into getting his way.

“Mom, don’t you think that another little Seokjin would be adorable? Imagine another Jinnie running around.” He pouted at Mom who laughed at his pitiful expression.

“When you have my next set of grandbabies you can give me another Jinnie. For now, Y/n is still figuring out what sounds good for them herself so don’t give her a hard time.” She then turned back into conversation with Yoongi and Namjoon, asking her oh-so-typical motherly questions about their new romance. She was insatiable when it came to getting the answers she wanted from us. Jin didn’t look like he had been subdued though and he quickly turned his attention away from me and to the man on my right.

“What about you Taehyung? You got any names you’ve brought up to Y/n?” His tone was verging on accusatory, what he was accusing? I hadn’t the slightest clue of what went on in the drama queen’s head.

“Well, we talked about the name Minseok but Jungkook vetoed it.” Taehyung shrugged and shoveled another bite into his mouth. He was more focused on the turkey leg than any conversation Seokjin could provide.

“Minseok? What’s wrong with that name?” Dad asked while Jungkook and I shared a look at the can of worms Tae just opened. I had been clear to everyone that I wasn’t ready to settle on a name just yet and they all respectively had kept their distance from the topic until the shit-stirrer across the table finally showed face.

“Y/n wants the names to match and we didn’t like the options for a girl. Taehyung also suggested Yongsu go with it. Of course, I vetoed.” Jungkook explained as he pointed a fork at the said name murderer.

My Dad nodded along at the explanation before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Oh gee, I could feel his brain churning out a million names before he opened his mouth. “What about Yoomi?”

“That’s worse than Minseok Dad. Have we considered Soohyun?” Hoseok butted into the conversation, and I couldn’t help but grimace at the suggestion. I knew a Soohyun, she was the girl Mark was cheating on me with. I’d rather not recall walking in on infidelity every time I called for my daughter.

“How about they have renditions of the same name? Like Joohyun and Hyunjoo? Those would be hella cute.” Namjoon was the new naming murderer and he seemed to be proud of his contribution. Even his boyfriend grimaced at how cliche the names were for twins.

I shook my head and leveled them all with a lifeless expression.“This is why I never talk about names with you guys.”

Joonie took that personally and he frowned at me before exclaiming: “Hey I picked out your name!”

“Out of a list we gave you Namjoon,” Mom reminded him quietly with a sofy pat on his arm and he scoffed at it before turning back to his plate with a grumble.

“Speaking of, I was the one to come up with all of your names.” My dad supplied before turning his attention to me once again and mouthing ’Yoomi’ at me.

“What about Minso and Chunso? I saw those names on a tv show before.” Said Yoongi, his face showing apprehension.

I could tell the apprehension was twofold- he hadn’t been able to establish his place in the family and I was shutting down every suggestion so far. I made sure to smile at him softly as I replied; “You know what, I actually kind of like that. Thank you Yoongi.”

“I like the name Minso. It’d be lovely for the little princess.” Dad spoke around a mouthful of broccoli and quickly held a hand up at Seokjin’s disgusted face. Minso for my little girl? It didn’t feel quite right for her but it was a good suggestion and I hadn’t the heart to negate him.

“Chunso is kind of a mouthful though,” Hobi interjected and proceeded to mutter it while exaggerating the lip movements. I knew I could count on Hoseok to be on a similar wavelength as me so I wouldn’t feel guilty for eventually brushing off the names from the list. Jungkook and Taehyung kept quiet when we’d discuss names, claiming I got the biggest say and they didn’t want to discourage any exploration. With that, I knew they wouldn’t dare speak out against any names I complemented halfheartedly.

Joonie leaned out to the center of the table and turned his phone to me. “I’m looking it up now and Minso means one of a kind.”

Wanting to distance myself from the conversation at hand, I glanced over at the thorn juxtaposed to me before suddenly recalling another name suggested by Taehyung the night prior. “Well, I was thinking of naming her Duri, since it can mean two. She just so happens to be labeled baby number two on the ultrasound.” I smirked at the pun enthusiast across the table to watch his face morph into one of horror.

Mom clapped her hands at the joke; “Then what are you thinking of naming him to match?” Her genuine excitement at me finally picking a name made me feel a little guilty. Naming a small human is hard and nothing has really felt close to ‘it’.

“That is such a pun- you can’t name my niece after a pun.” Jin slapped his hand down on the table before I could respond to Mom and I had to fight myself to keep from laughing at his expression. Never had I seen such pain on him but before I could tease him some more mom was snapping for our attention.

“As the matriarch of this family- I have lovingly thought of two names that could be cute for the babies.” She declared proudly as she crossed her arms in front of her.

“Oh, you have?” Jin stole words out of my mouth but unlike me, he had tangible doubt laden throughout his words. She nodded at the snarky man before turning her attention to me.

“Yes, and since you’re forming your own family with those two lovebirds then I would like to suggest Taehee and Junghee.”

Jungkook had been silently observing the discourse amongst us all as he rested his head on my shoulder but perked up at Mom’s words. “Those are beautiful names Mom, I can't believe we hadn’t considered those.”

“Because it’s insane to name them after you both.” All eyes slowly turned to Seokjin in various degrees of anger and shock. Hoseok had leaned away from him at the comment and Namjoon was coldly staring at him.

I was one of the shocked, what could he possibly mean by that comment? Was it a racist implication? From our family? We have a hybrid brother and both of his human siblings were dating hybrids. Was it against the polyandry? The monogamous-centric views were a bit dated even for our parent’s generation so it wouldn’t make sense. Was it because Mark was their sperm donor? Seokjin hated their biological father so that didn’t make much sense either. In the tense air, I leaned into Jungkook’s side- almost as if I was trying to hide in his embrace.

“Seokjin. I would carefully watch your next words.” My mother’s voice was cold and you could slice cake with how sharp her words came out.

The offender held his hands up in surrender before defending himself. “It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s because Jinhee is obviously a better name and should be considered first.”

The room was eerily silent for a hot minute before Hoseok turned and almost shoved Jin out of his chair. There was a playfulness that masked the lingering bits of anger in his face. Mom let out a breath of relief at the joke before going back to her dinner.

There was an almost silent scoff from down the table on my left, I turned to see Yoongi pushing his food around on his plate. “If we’re taking their dads’ names into consideration we could go with Yoontae or Yoonjung.”

“Those both have a part of your name in it too.” Hoseok pointed out with a small pout.

“That’s obvious, since I got invited to this family dinner, I’m now part of the family. I’m obviously going to be the favorite uncle.” He dramatically shrugged his shoulders and flicked his hair out of his face. I couldn’t help but smile at the declaration.

“Oh hell no you’re not, I’ve been vying for that spot since she told me,” Jin argued, his cheeks puffed out in anger.

“Must suck to have that spot pulled out from under you. I’ll make sure to send my condolences to your place later.” Yoongi shrugged yet again with a smirk before taking a big bite of the broccoli.

Namjoon gently reached out across the table with a placating expression on his face as he placed a hand on top of Yoongi’s upturned one. “Honey, I love that you’re feeling comfortable enough to joke with my brothers but I need you to know that it’s literally impossible to get that title while I’m still alive. I am the favorite brother so I will be the favorite uncle.”

Hobi’s ears perked up atop his head, he turned to Joon and shoved his harshly at the self-proclamation of the favorite brother. “Oh hell no you’re not. I AM.”

“Oh, Nams I’ll make sure to let your doctor know that you’re going senile.” Seokjin snarked from behind the angry canine hybrid, he too looked insulted at the prospect of not being the favorite. Mom and Dad both joined in the bickering to try and keep them from bursting into a full-blown brawl.

“I like the idea of the name Sujung,” I commented quietly and only the two hybrids glued to me noticed. Jungkook perking up visibly at the name suggestion. Tae leaned into my side more and I could feel his warm tail wound itself across my lap.

“It’s very pretty love, have you thought about one for the boy? I know you’re always tied up with the names for him.” He complimented me with a blindingly bright smile and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek.

I could help the blush that was threatening its way across my face so I pressed more into his touch. It was nice to have them both curled around me, especially now that it was growing colder. “Well, if I name her after Kookie, wouldn’t you like to have him named after you?”

Tae shook his head quickly at the question before resting his chin on my shoulder so he could talk to me in an almost whisper. “ I’ll love them no matter what we name them. You could name them both after Jungkook and I’d love them all the same.”

“I know you’ll love them, that wasn’t the question.” I reached a hand out to lace out fingers together.

“Baby, in the end, it’s your choice, maybe I’d like him to be named after me but if you choose otherwise then I wouldn’t care.”

“What about Taewon? I knew a man with that name before and he was very kind.” Jungkook decided to suggest suddenly making me jump slightly at the surprise. His mouth was centimeters from my ear and I could feel his warm breath fanning its way down my neck.

“I used to know a Kitae. What about that instead?” He suggested when I didn’t respond fast enough for his liking. I guess my hesitation spoke volumes.

Kitae was much cuter, cute enough to rival Sujung. “I like it, Kitae and Sujung. How cute.”

At my grin, Taehyung pulled away with excitement, “So we’ve settled on their names?”

“For now, they may change. Mom said she changed her mind a couple of times throughout her pregnancies.” I reminded him as I pulled him back into my embrace.

“For now, they’re perfect. They are going to be so cute! Now I can use their name when I talk with them.” He was almost shaking with excitement at the prospect. I didn’t know he’d be this enthusiastic about their names. “Love, we can use their names in their bedtimes stories from now on.”

I nodded at the exclamation and smiled as he rambled on about how he was going to write out the classics with their names so they can be the heroes of their stories. While he continued to chatter Jungkook curled an arm around my waist- well as much as he could with my growing stomach. I glanced over at the rest of the table and couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my face, My family was all happily broken into small conversations and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jin and my dad were chatting and Jin was obviously fighting back his laughter. Hoseok and Yoongi seemed to be talking about Jimin if the raging blush on Hobi’s face was anything to go by. Mom and Joonie were quietly talking before she reached a hand out to ruffle his hair while he whined at the action. I turned my attention back to my still rambling boyfriend to catch on to the tail-end of his rant.

My family was here, together and happy. And my newly forged family unit fit in perfectly- something I was ever grateful for.

Hi! if you want to be added to the taglist lemme know!

@jelly-fishy-babie @nomimits7 @littlewolfieposts @fangirl125reader @xeirisarax @ghostkat23 @gayitachiuchiha @forever1313 @nellaphine @kooky-mysterious @rainbow-realm @xanny91 @demonslover @inumorph @uraveragefangirlsposts@alex–awesome–22 @akacamiworld @fangirling-all-the-way-tbh

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[other-peoples-coats]

Mando'a in BTMYBW part 3

Ok! it's been a little while (turns out moving house is a pain in the ass and takes up like, so much time? quelle surprise), but welcome back to made up Mando'a. The next chapter of be that monster you been wanting is about to go up, here's the post where I talk at length about the specific word choices etc I made regarding the mando'a in the chapter. 

None of this is actually required to understand the chapter; this is, as ever, just navel gazy extra detail stuff for those what like that kinda thing. Previous posts are here and here; perennial disclaimer that I'm not a linguist, don't play one on TV, and also that Mando'a is a nonfunctional conlang that I'm using in ways it was never ever meant to be used, as well as spot welding worldbuilding dialectal differences onto because I can and also because I make questionable choices.

Spoilers for the chapter contents, obviously; I'd recommend reading this after the chapter, but that's kinda up to you. Also, teeny tiny spoilers about what happened the last time there were jedi on Mandalore. teeny tiny.

Like previous posts, I'm gonna do mando'a - literal translation - functional translation, and then break down choices as they're relevant. My sources are, again, the great big spreadsheet and mando'a.org; at this point I've done a couple of these, so I'm gonna be skipping some stuff that I've already covered unless there's a specific reason to talk about it.

This chapter of btmybw has a fuck load of mando'a in it, btw; also, I had to make up so many fucking words, so. Brace yourself, I guess.

Phrase one: Ni re'sirbur'an haa'banar kaysh hiibir jekai.

Literal translation: I said come to pass they take bait.

Functional translation: Told you he'd take the bait.

We know ni at this point (or, at least, you should, it's come up enough), but there's the new-comer re'sirbur'an, which is just sibur (say) in the past progressive tense, which becomes said or told. This is playing a little loose with the translation there, but the meaning's the same, it just flows nicer in english like that and is clearer about the emotive state. The joys of translation, right?

Next up, return of the haa'banar! Again, this is happen (banar) + the emphatic the, which takes it from this thing [might] occur to this thing [will] occur. Again, Satine is being smug because, well, she said the Jedi wouldn't be able to resist the enrichment puzzle they set up!

The rest of this sentence I've already covered in earlier posts, nothing new there. On the whole, Satine's a little off strict kalevean, but not that far; she's also just very smug. (I mean, can you blame her?)

Phrase two: 'Lek, suvar, mayen, sharalne kaden'loras bas ven'nari epa'an agol meh gar gotal'ur bic skraan'linne'yc munit luubid

Literal translation: Yeah, acknowledged, whatever, laziest(superlative) angry-meat animal will eating meat if you make it hungry(superlative) long enough.

Functional translation: Yeah, yeah, whatever, even the laziest reek'll eat meat if you starve it long enough.

So, if you've read, uh, like any star wars fic with mando'a, you know what 'lek is, but this is where I got to start playing, once again, with how much mando'a leans on military words to do double duty. Suvar is, literally, acknowledged, but here Bo's emphasising that yes, god, her big sister was right, whatever. The english equivalent would probably be more yeah, uhuh, rather than yeah yeah, honestly, but since one of those isn't actually a word, we get suvar and yeah. It also means that Qui-gon's not familiar with the word; Kalevalaen wouldn't use this, since it's far more military and hasn't quite generalised to the extent that 'lek has. If I had to say the evolution of the two words, I'd probably say that it went civilian/general use->military for 'lek, and military->civilian for suvar. 

Mayen is literally whatever! straight off the sheet.

sharalne is lazy (sharal) + the 'ne suffix for superlative — so, laziest. Oddly, mando'a apparently doesn't give a shit about the standard adjective endings when it comes to comparative or superlatives, one assumes because no one put much thought into consistent grammatical structures or even places that it intentionally breaks them.

 kaden'loras bas - reek! this is a kitbash, in the style of other mando'a animal names - literally, it's angry-meat herbivore. Given that reeks apparently go batshit (ie, angry) when fed a diet of meat, this is actually a pretty logical name, as far as Mando'a animal names go, which tend towards the more poetic. 

Qui-gon misses the angry-meat and gets bas, but is misunderstanding bas as being specifically referring to a bantha — which is another herbivore! He's kind of right! — rather than, well, a herbivore or any random animal. Basically, at some point when he was on kaleva learning mando'a, someone pointed at a bantha or picture of one, said bas, and he took that to be, y'know, what we call banthas in mando'a instead of that's an [animal]. I'm trying to put in enough places where it's reasonable for Qui-gon to fuck up, based on what common langauge fluencey issues tend to be in my experience, and misunderstanding one word as referring to some other attribute of the thing in question is super common. 

(I mean, think about how many places we have that are just [the hill][hill] in multiple languages, because someone came up and was like 'hey what do you call That Place' and got an answer of 'it's a mountain, dumbass', and then put it on the map as Mt 'it's a mountain dumbass'.)

Also, it's just funny. 

ven'nari epa'an - future progressive of eat (epa). Just grammar, here; bo's fairly kalevean in phrasing, because, well, she's annoyed with her sister but like, sibling annoyed, y'know? thus, kalevean, rather than anything more towards the deathwatch (and less complex grammar) end.

agol this is meat! Specifically, this is meat in the sense of flesh or muscle, rather than the more poetic loras, which is…also meat, but like, different. Bo's emphasising that even the laziest reek will eat living tissue (ie, bait) if it's hungry enough, satine's not so smart for tricking a jedi into investigating a mystery, because, well, even the least curious jedi is still a jedi and will eventually fall prey to 'hey what's that shiny thing' or 'better wander into danger'.

next few are pretty much straight from the sheet, plus or minus some grammar — there's that superlative 'ne again, on hungry (skraan'linyc), making it into starve — and all in all this is mostly a fairly basic sentence.

It does contain a fun little bit of worldbuilding though! even the laziest reek will eat meat if you starve it long enough is very much a proverb that I, obviously, made up. It's pretty much the 'even a worm will turn', filtered though star wars and then further filtered through mandalorian emphasis and cultural specifics. Funnily enough, it does overlap significantly with Qui-gon's even a choreamnos has horns in general meaning, but given the shades of nuance, it's less 'this super mild tempered thing will bite if you push it far enough' and more 'even the laziest creature will do the thing you want if there's no other option for long enough', given that reeks are fed meat for gladiatorial matches. 

Phrase three: Suvar, ibic kaden'loras bas shi'jii cuyi skraan'linyc

Literal translation: acknowledged, this angry-meat animal finally is be hungry.

Functional translation: Well, this reek finally got hungry

Not a whole lot here!  We get Suvar again, this time functioning as a 'running with the metaphor' kind of placeholder word — like, yes [bo katan's sentence], [satine's response].

Functionally, this is satine just being like 'well, he took the bait! (finally. Like I said he would.)'

Phrase four: Mm. Tion'meg banar projor? Kih'umaan davaar ruug'la tion'aliit nekebi'dajun ti jetii.

Literal translation: Mm. What happen next? small difficult carry out old who's family fake-plan with Jedi.

Functional translation: Mm. So what now? Bit hard to do the old 'who's your family' trick with a Jedi.

So, once again we have Qui-gon thinking a sound is actually a word — there's that non-fluency coming to bite him in the ass. Not that it makes a huge difference here, honestly, but I am trying to walk the line of 'understanding enough for the plot' and 'not understanding enough to make the mando'a pointless'. Having him miss sounds or mix up sounds for words is an easy way to emphasise that he's not fluent; also, having sounds like that makes the dialogue feel more real, in my experience. Two birds, one stone.

Tion'meg banar projor? is all straight from the sheet; Tion' is, of course, the prefix for a question. This is technically a sentence fragment, I think, rather than a proper sentence, but, again, kalevean, also that's just how people speak in real life. The functional translation here is mostly just making it…well, more like how people talk. Joys of linguistics, right?

Kih'umaan is a kitbash of little and difficult, because mando'a lacks any sort of phrase for [a little hard] or similar. Not really that  much of a kit-bash, honestly. Bo's understating it, of course; it's actually literally impossible to ask a jedi [who's your clan] and get the sort of answer that a mando would want out of that. 

Mostly, the following phrase (bar the whole, uh, trick part) is a very quick way to work out allegiances, status, all that — being able to reply 'clan kryze house kryze' or, like, 'clan wren house vizela' tells you if the person in question is both highly placed in their clan/house, what alligences they (probably) have, and even who might care (and retaliate) if you, say, kill them, while, for obvious reasons, a jedi doesn't work like that at all — their lineage (and the Order at large) would care, obviously, if you killed them, but they wouldn't, y'know, go scorched earth on your clan in revenge. If you wanted to map it across, you're probably have to be like, 'my master/(or grandmaster) is [x], jedi order', but uh, that's stretching it, like….a lot.

Of course, in Qui-gon's specific case, that's… Dooku. So. Probably that's fine and will not cause any problems at all!

davaar is carry out or execute, like execute a plan — in this case, it's execute a con.

ruug'la is old, and here is mostly just, y'know, in the sense of 'the old [bait and switch trick]' or 'the old [one two pennywacker]' or whatever other phrase you want. A well known trick, as were.

tion'aliit nekebi'dajun kitbash! also, I indulge myself with some worldbuilding via cons.  

tion'aliit is, of course, the question of who's your family — as in, what clan are you from.

nekebi'dajun is fake+plan (noun'd), and is probably more accurately translated as con rather than trick. 

So, the phrase is the 'who's your family' con! which I envisioned as the sort of thing where you have a captive (like qui-gon) and you don't intend to do [whatever] to them, but you want them to think you're gonna [whatever]. Thus, you ask them 'what's your clan [before we x you]', and if they say 'oh, I'm from shit-no-name-clan', you say 'haha you're not even worth [x-ing], and let them go, or, if they say 'I'm from Big Deal Clan', you say 'ok, well, since you're Such A Big Deal, we'll let you go, and you'll owe us for not [x-ing] you'.

Of course, it also works the other way; you can be like 'well, since you're from shit-clan/Awesome-clan, we're gonna [x] you', and then you bank on your prisoner being like 'no wait don't [x] me, I can give you [information/payment/whatever]'.

This feels like the sort of face saving thing mandos of a certain stripe would be into; it also allows for a level of public image management, if you apply it judiciously, because you come off looking strong and/or generous, because you didn't [x] whoever you had in your power. You can also use it to get someone in debt, by setting up the whole thing, like satine did — tricking someone into overstepping, and then being like 'well, you owe me for not just killing you for your insult' is very much a mando feeling sort of thing, I think.

Of course, this con works because sometimes it's a con, but often it is, in fact, a 'who is your clan (this will decide if we [x] you)'. So. 

And, of course, this is difficult to do with a jedi, because jedi don't have a clan like that. Bo and satine are aware enough of the order that they know in reality — as in, if they were actually trying to gauge how dangerous or advantageous it would be to do anything to qui-gon — who his lineage is wouldn';t mean jack shit, because the order doesn't work like that. Since they're already set on what they're gonna do no matter how qui-gon answers, however, it doesn't actually matter, as satine says later.

Qui-gon, of course, takes this as a more literal evaluation of 'what's your bloodline', as would be used to scope out if someone's worth marrying (less in this case for, y'know, procreation, and more just as a business merger/hostile takeover) and/or just straight up ransom (can your [family] pay? how much?). He's not….exactly wrong, even if mandos mostly shade more to 'will your family attempt to remove us from the face of existence if we kill you' and/or 'are you part of my clan's enemy', rather than 'can I benefit from association with your [family]'. Sidebar - I'm sort of assuming that bloodline is a less specific thing here, just between the two cultures - mandos, obviously, adopt like mad, and jedi straight up don't operate like that. In this specific case bloodline is really more like 'direct inheritance lineage', but that's a damn mouthful, so bloodline it is. Outside of mando/jedi relations, bloodline would usually have the far more specific 'you are genetically related' meaning, though I guess cases like the Organas are still like 'this is our adopted daughter who is part of the bloodline', so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I'm also not a genealogist. 

Phrase five:Nayc, bic n'cuyi. Ebin kaysh Jetii'cabur cuyi negai lor'birgaan —

Literal translation:no, it isn't. Either their jedi-guardian is no-name meatbag—

Functional translation: No it's not. Either his master's some no name—

Return of kalevan grammatical fuckery! cuyi is the to-be verb that functions as a catch-all is/are, n' is our negative prefix, therefore we get the kalevean isn't, following the straight off the sheet nayc (no) and bic (it).

The next few have been covered already or are straight from the sheet, and then we get to negai lor'birgaan, both of which are from the sheet, but are being used here sort of as a compound phrase. no-name meatbag is functioning as like, some random canon fodder; ie, Qui-gon's master is some Random Jedi they can then be like 'never heard to them I guess you're worth nothing, which makes it pointless to do anything because who cares about you or your lineage'.

Interestingly (frustratingly) mando'a straight up doesn't have a word or phrase for famous, or even anything near it. So we get no-name, as in a name that isn't widely recognisable. Master Yoda — recognisable name, would probably be something like big-name (ori'gai). Master Ma'de-up ex'ampli — not recognisable, or no-name. 

Phrase six: Ret kyrayc, gar cuyi ja'hailir aras sa ni Jetiib ash'amar'solet.

Literal translation: Maybe dead, you be observe same as me jedi's die-count

functional translation:or dead, you've kept just as much an eye on the jedi death toll as I have.

Bo's being an interrupting shithead here — little siblings, right? — but she's also a little, uh, having some feelings about it, so her phrasing's a bit weird.

Ret is literally perhaps or maybe, but given the sentence, I used or, given bo's basically replying to satine's [maybe qui-gon's master is some pleb] with an alternative scenario.

Kyrayc is dead or killed — technically, Bo could be saying, y'know, dead like dead of old age given qui-gon's gotta be like…..fuck idk however old he'd be, but given the context, it's very much a 'or this random jedi's master has already died (in the war)'.

gar cuyi ja'hailir aras sa ni is a mouthful of a phrase, but it turns out — surprising no one — that there's not really a good way to say 'you're doing [whatever] as much as I am' without, well, having a bunch of words there. At least pretty much all of that comes from the sheet, and I've already covered why ja'hailir rather than any other option. Bo's grammar here isn't…exactly kalevean standard, but also, this is really just a very clunky sentence, even if the grammar was better.

(the original sentence, pre-translation, was something like "you're watching the jedi death toll just as closely as I am"; I ended up simplifying it a little because that started getting pretty nightmarish in terms of grammatical structure, because it was [you're doing] [x] [like I'm doing x], and that…seemed very difficult in mando'a without just repeating half the sentence)

Jetiib ash'amar'solet is a kitbash! And also some fun grammar notes.

Jettib is the possessive of jetii (jedi), using the more archaic possessive of 'b as a suffix. This is down to Bo's history speaking a very much non-Kalevan dialect — satine and anyone not using that particular dialect would use [word] be jetii, or just jetii'[word]. The 'b suffix is equivalent to the 's suffix in english; it also places the owner phrase in front of the possessed one, rather than the other way around, which makes it a bit odd, grammatically, compared to normative sentence structure. 

Bo's a little worked up, basically.

ash'amar'solet is die-count, but more specifically is die(in battle)-count. severity in mando'a is badness-count, guess is almost-count, calendar is day-count, etc etc. So, ash'amar'solet is deaths(specifically in battle) count, which loops back around to underline the use of kyrayc as [his master could have died in battle]. 

Also, yes, mando'a has no fucking word for death toll, or even anything like it, but I figure they'd have a number of ways to specify death tolls, given you could have like, deaths via plauge, deaths via random disaster, battlefield deaths, etc. Standard and deathwatch mando'a would specify between those; a pure kalevalan speaker probably wouldn't.

Phrase six point five:kyr, kyr'nuhoy, and mirsh'kyramud

Literally, this is end, end-sleep, and brain-assassin; functionally, Qui-gon is right about the translations of the two words — coma and boring — but very wrong about kyr being the word for brain/mind instead of end.

Kyr actually pretty much shows up in every word about death, to the point it seems to have a double meaning — death-grain (bullet), water-death(poison), never-ending (literally undying, in the derogatory litch sense), etc. So I'm calling it that kyr is, much like in english, a word that very ucch carries the connotation of death in certain contexts (like 'we had to end the billionaire' meaning we killed them, rather than like, we enacted some tax reforms or whatever).

This section was basically there for 1)humour, it's funny that he's like AH I KNOW THAT and gets it completely wrong in the most wrong way possible 2)to emphasise that Qui-gon's not fluent in mando'a, and is very much doing that thing where you sort of know a language and spot something that seems related but very much isn't, like inclement (as in, cold/wet weather, from the latin) and clementine (the fruit, named after a french missionary), and then conclude that the overlap has a meaning in common (so like…clement = wet. Wet weather, wet fruit juice.) This is, again, pretty common in my experience when someone's not quite fluent enough in a language, but is trying to glean meaning from words they don't know.

Phrase seven:— Bal kaysh di'beri'la alii'beri'yaimpar, ashi'banar kaysh Jetii'cabur cuyi ash'ad mhi buyacir, bic cuyi riy'entye mhi ven'as'gaanir ven'jii, ijaat, bal'kebise, bal'kebise.

Literal translation: and they forget-pay family-buy-return, other-happen their jedi-guardian be someone we recognise, it be favour-debt we get(future) later, honour, and-stuff, and-stuff

Functional translation:— and he's not worth ransoming, or his master's someone we do recognize, and it's a favour we'll collect on later, honour, etc etc.

Whooo boy. This sentence is one of the ones that had me beating my head against the wall for like, ages, because you'd think that mando'a, of all conlangs, had a word for ransom but you would be very wrong.

So. Here we go.

di'beri'la is a kitbash of digur (forget, which is a verb, obviously) and berir (also a verb, and then adjectives by the dropping the ir end and replacing it with 'la). Technically, this should be dig'beri'la, but…that looks weird, honestly, and I figure that this particular phrase is old enough it's sort of started rebracketing, so you go from digur beri'la to digur'beri'la to dig'beri'la  to di'beri'la, as people mishear or just rebracket the words, much like how the root of umpire is nonper (old french, literally not a peer, as in an arbiter of higher status in a legal context), which went nonper ->a noumpere -> an oumpere -> an umpire, and then eventually became about sports.

So you get forget-pay, which translates as not worth, as in 'it's not worth the effort to get the pay which is owed', or, to condense that slightly, forget the pay. This is pretty much a word that only would show up in context with something like ransom or a bounty — as in, the job/ransom/whatever pays so little that it's more effort to get it than is worth expending said effort.

Following on from that, we have alii'beri'yaimpar, which is family (aliit, you probably know this if you've read any mando'a using fic ever)+buy (berir, again! this one does double duty as both buy and pay) +return (yaimpar, which, you will notice, has yaim in it, which in turn relates to the home, which is a nice little extra bit of emphasis there). All together, it's ransom, because, well, it's your family buying you back.

Sidebar about the entomology of ransom for a moment — ransom comes from the latin redemptio via the french rançon, and redemptio is also the root word for redemption. Which is sort of funny. Or at least, it's funny to me, someone who went to catholic school and thus covered the whole 'indulgences' thing in somewhat tedious length. 

ashi'banar is just or, again — Satine is using a slightly less slangy version, more grammatically Kalevean version — other-happen, as in [this] or [that] will happen. (contrast to bo's ret, which is a far more DW kind of Mando'a choice)

The next few are all off the sheet, nothing huge there— Satine says recognise, but what she's really meaning, rather than like, Specifically Famous ala Yoda or any of the other council members, is literally any Jedi they can claim to know of. So, if Qui-gon was like 'oh my master is Master Pleb', and Master Pleb had run the blockade of planet Mad'e-upp and got a bit of news coverage about it, Satine would be like 'well I've heard of Master Pleb, since they're a decent honorable combatant whatever whatever news coverage blah blah, we'll let you go and call it a favour from our house to yours we'll collect on later, since you're worth more to us alive than dead'.

Of course, if Qui-gon's like 'my master is dead/is master No'news Covvrage', Satine would be like 'Well I've never heard of them, there's no point in us ransoming you because your house sucks. Fuck off, asshole, and be grateful we're feeling merciful and not just feeding you to the strills.'

And then we get to riy'entye which is, I think, literally the first word that I made up that already had a perfectly functional mando'a counterpart. riye is favour/good turn/benefit, and entye is, as I've covered before, debt/responsibility. Therefore, we get a favour that's owed. 

This also mimics the structure of Mand'entye (the duty a mandalorian owes mando society) and the kitbashed jet'entye (the duty a jedi owes the jedi code), and thus serves to emphasise that this particular debt is one you can't weasel out of (at least, not if you want to keep your standing in society).

So, if this was a real ransom demand, it would be either [Qui-gon's clan equivalent] paid it now, or they would have to pay it later, because otherwise their honor would be fucked.

Next couple bits are again off the sheet, with a bit of grammatical fuckery for future tensing receive. 

ijaat, bal'kebise, bal'kebise. Ijaat is honour, and in this case Satine is using it as a sort of 'on their honour', or rather, that they'd trust that whoever was paying Qui-gon's ransom would do that because of their honour.

Bal'kebise is a kitbash, and it actually mimics the etymology of etc! it's almost a near straight translation, funnily enough — latin (et [and] + cetera [the rest]) ->mando'a (and [bal] + stuff[kebise]) — and is very much functioning the same. Basically, Satine is sort of doing the 'blah blah, we know the rest of this argument/explanation'.  

Phrase eight: Riy'entye mhi n'dajunar venman ven'nari as'gaanir'an.

Literal translation:favour-debt we not-plan genuine receiving(future).

Functional translation:A favour we have no intention on actually collecting.

Ok, so literally just covered riy'entye, mhi is off the sheet, and n'dajunar is just dajunar + the negative prefix of n', which I picked because…it looks better, honestly. Like, that's it, I think it looks better, sometimes there's a lot of thought and sometimes it's just the asthėtiquė.

as'gaarnir'an, similarly, is just the future tense of receive or get; Bo katan's grammar here is again kinda fucked, because it's not kalevean — far too much skipping the joining phrases and grammar tenses — and not death watch — literally any tense work. Bo's still kinda tense; to be fair, they're about to try and bluff a jedi master.

Phrase nine:Shab nayc, tenhaat'la ne'banar. Gar ke'tabalhar kaden'edee gar yam bralir, gar nu'morutar bic ven'yaimpar.

Literal translation: fuck no, Obvious not-happen. You order-patrol angry-teeth your house suceed, you not-welcome it return

Functional translation: Fuck no, obviously not. You get the rancor out of your house, you don't invite it back in.

So! let's talk about fuck. Shab is...probably fuck? honestly, I'm calling it fuck, if it'snot…it is now. That said, this is mostly a point to talk about how Qui-gon translates it as kriff, which I'm using as the sort of baby-cousin of fuck — like the difference between screw and fuck, I guess, for those dialects of english which have that as a stepped sort of insult. (If yours doesn't: uh, idk, I have faith in you working it out). This is one of those things where Qui-gon learnt the polite version of a language, and thus speaks…y'know, very politely, rather than like a native speaker might. 

There's a whole post in itself about mandalorian standards of politeness as I'm sort of thinking of them, but: this is already like 4000 words long, so. Skipping that. Rest of this sentence is off the sheet, plus our friend the negative ne' prefix.

Next up, we have the absolute trainwreck of grammar that is the like, one canonical grammar rule that Mando'a has (ok, there's two, but they're functionally the same). Officially, ke' goes at the start of a sentence, basically no exceptions, and then the rest of the sentence forms after that. Ke' is the imperative prefix; it turns a sentence into an order.

Which means in this specific case, having kitbashed order-patrol to be like, get or move something forcefully, I had to sort of fuck up the rest of the sentce to make it…kinda follow that. Like, I could have not, but I did, because…I did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Satine's also a little nervous! which is pushing her further away from kalevalan dialtecal standards, too.

Rest of the sentence is, again, off the sheet, plus/minus grammar stuff. I will point out that, again, we see yaim in ven'yaimpar, which is because return is literally home-for (yaim - par). (Ven' is the future tense prefix, ofc).

Phrase ten: Banar kaysh nari as'gaanir'an waad'jurkadir, tok'kad briirud jorhaa'urne'tsad sa jai'galaar meg ruu'tabir ori'skraan bal ru'diryc'miit striil.

Literal translation: So they recieves threaten-cost, retreat circle-talkers group like shriek-hawk who snuck big-eats and low-worded strill.

Functional translation: So he gets a shakedown, and then goes home to the republic like a hawk who snuck the prime rib and blamed the strill.

Another few words you'd think mando'a would have but doesn't, plus some world building! that's what we call efficiency, baby.

waad'jurkadir is literally cost-threaten, and technically it should really translate as extortion, but shakedown is just...look, it just fits better. Translator's prerogative. I had considered following the same etymology as extort, actually — out + to twist -> wrested in the original latin — but that ended up being like, dayn'got'ye or something, and cost-threaten felt more…mando. It's threatening someone for a cost, is basically the thinking.

Literally everything else has either come from the sheet or been covered in a past post, so lets talk about the whole phrase itself. Shreik-hawk who got the big-eats and blamed the strill is very much a cat who got the cream and blamed the dog equivalent (Ie, not only got away with something good, but didn't get blamed), just mando-ised; the phrase that qui-gon mistranslates it as is basically bird who went for the cream and found the dog, which is a bit mangled, but is very much the opposite of 'got away with it'.

Which lets me do some fun kind of work where Qui-gon thinks he knows what's going on, and is dead fucking wrong. This whole chapter was a lot of work balancing two very different understandings of what was going on, and hopefully I succeeded.

Phrase eleven:Bal ven'tay'haat val ni di'kut nari ke'gyce'an Manda'yaim at trattok, 'lek, bal naasade tionir bac mhi ganar luubid oyu'galan bah tug'yaim taray'tadyc adate soluur be me'suum.

Literal translation:And reports them I'm idiot ruling mandalore towards collapse, yes, and noone questions that we have enough resource to re-home dozen people amount of planets

Functional translation: And tells them I'm an idiot running the mandalorian system into the ground, yes, and no one questions that we've got enough resources to resettle dozens of planets worth of people.

So! bit of grammar fuckery, words off the sheet or previously covered, etc etc. 

The word I will pull out to talk about before we get to the second half of the sentence is trattok, which is specifically a collapse/ cave in/ major disaster/ etc — Satine is very specifically using that, instead of like, civil war or anything more martial.

And then we get to the second half, which is…grammatical fuckery 2: numbers edition. So all of that is actually pretty standard, but the grammar of possessives means that either you have [object] be [owner], which is more modern but makes the rest of the sentence in this particular case a little weird, or you go archaic. Since Satine doesn't do archaic like that very much at all, we get [people amount, as in population] be (of) [planet].  

The dozen is a literal twelve, but then, y'know, so is dozen in english, so I'm pretty comfortable calling that generalised in the same way. Honestly, it should probably be eight, given mando seems to operate in base eight, but that gets into weirdness with translation and also the english speaking audience, and so, y'know, ease of reading trumps strict internal world logic.

 also, yes, tug'yaim is a made up compound word, it's quite literally re-home.

Phrase twelve:Suvar. Ni ban'tionir kih'aka'daab ibic banar naasade ru'ke'mirshe'jurkad bah din'waadar gehat'ik. Dush'kara'yc mhi ne'ret dinur kaysh kom'rk bal ke'cuyi kaysh ne'sushir ranov'sushur

Literal translation: Acknowledged. I guess small-task-down this happen nobody past-order-mindtrick to sell story. Bad-starry we could-not give them gauntlets and order-be him ignore secret-listener

Functional translation: Well. I suppose at least this time no one had to get mindtricked to sell the story. Shame we can't just hand him over a set of gauntlets and have him ignore the bug, too.

Return of the multi-use kih'aka'daab! and also, bo's grammar is sliding a little in the first sentence, because…well. The last time there were jedi on mandalore went ….a way :)

ibic banar is sort of a vague term of [everyhting happening right now] but also a comparative the last time [we were lying to a force sensitive] vs this time [we're lying to a force sensitive].

Also, there's a reason bo inserts that little ke in ru'ke'mirse'jurkad, (lit: brain-assault, functionally mind tricked as covered in the first post) and it's…well. It happened, but she's sort of acknowledging that what happened wasn't exactly anyone involved's active choice, and more something that had to happen, because of [reasons].

Dush'kara'yc is a kitbash, but it's basically the inverse of jate'kara'yc, which is lucky, and is literally good-stars adjectived. So, unlucky is bad-stars + the 'yc for an adjective.

the next few are either straight off the sheet or grammarised but otherise standard, and then we get to ke'cuyi, which I'm calling a very specifically Kalevalen word, hence why it doesn't get shunted to the start of the sentence despite containing the imperative ke. It's basically a word that indicates that whatever state something is in (so, in this case, the person with the gauntlets ignoring the bug) is something the person speaking has asked or told them to do.

And then we have a secret-listener, which is…bug. It's a bug, like a spy bug, it's a listening device that is secret. Very obvious kitbash here, sort of surprised that mando'a didn't have it before.

Phrase thirteen: Ne'cuyi du'carir 'kay haa'utreekov anay ca'nara.

Literal translation: Not-be delay 'til The-idiot every time

Functional translation: Can't hold out for an idiot every time.

Kalevean influence in the ne'cuyi and also the structure. Pretty much all of that's from the sheet — the one thing is that Satine says haa'utreekov, which is The idiot, using the emphatic the. This is basically specifying the sabacc card the idiot, instead of, y'know, any idiot.

In universe, I figure this is kind of like 'can't wait for an ace every time', but obviously the idiot is really only useful for one specific hand in sabacc - the idiot's array. Which trumps everything else, but does require that extremely specific set of cards, and also is kind of a hand no one ever seems to expect. 

Phrase fourteen: Urakto mar'eyir utreekov sa Ranov'saan

Literal translation: hard find empty-head like secret-reliable

Functional translation: Hard to find an idiot like Ranov'saan.

This is all pretty much off the sheet — the one thing I'll point out is that Bo is dunking on ranov'saan. Affectionately. But she's calling them an idiot, like the sabacc card that satine is referencing, but also an idiot, like…well, a dumbass.

So! that's all of it -- thank fuck, am I right? As ever, not claiming this to be the One True Mando'a, drop a line in the ask if you have questions or corrections, feel free to borrow shit if it's of use to you.

[dp-marvel94]

For the 'fanfic writers asks':

(I tried to ask not so many, but I've got curious :) )

7, 17, 20, 26, 28, 32

In reference to this. Thanks for asking, my friend! I've got a lot to say so see below the cut.

7. What story/headcanons do you feel the proudest of?

I see you picked a hard first question. XD I'm proud of all my stories. Double Discovery is special to me because it's my first multi chapter story. I'm proud of my Invisobang story from last year because I thought the idea was really unique. A lot of emotion went into that story too; it tackled difficult topics for me. I'm really proud of Hope too, because of the thoughtful and careful foreshadowing I put into the story. And of course, Face to Face is really special to me, both for the length and the content. I haven't talked about this a lot but I've drawn a lot from my experiences as a autistic person and dealing with ablest attitudes from my family and internalized beliefs. I wasn't diagnosed until I was almost an adult and it's taken me years to be able to say that I'm autistic and not feel ashamed or like I said something taboo. Writing Face to Face was a big step in getting there.

17. What fanfic tropes do you gravitate to writing for?

I have said that my favorite genre are stories where Danny talks to himself. XD So I'm gonna write all the split Danny/ separate Fenton & Phantom and Clone content I want.

20. What feedback makes you the happiest to hear?

I love hearing if a particular line really struck someone. Also, comments about the characters' arcs. It's really nice to know that the reader can clearly get where I'm trying to take the character.

26. Are titles for your stories easy to come up with?

Generally no. I love events like DannyMay and Ectober because they make coming up with titles so easy. XD But I also use a lot of song titles and lyrics. It's excited find a song who's lyrics or message really fit with the story I'm trying to write. As long as that happens before I name the story at least. XD

28. Is there a part of Face to Face you’re surprised no one has picked up on yet?

So I picked Face to Face for this because it's my darling. It's not a content thing. But I've posted about the song (Face to Face by Wolves at the Gate) that the titles from multiple times and to my knowledge no one's listened to it! I'm really excited about how well it fits, especially now that I'm getting close to the end of the story.

Here's the chorus:

"Listen closely, every seed must die before

Die before it can grow

Sinking slowly, to be planted in the dust

Long before it can grow"

I touched on it in the latest chapter but Danny's really grown a lot over the events of the story. That theme of death and rebirth goes hand in hand with the story I'm trying to tell.

"Standing at the great divide

I fell into the ground and died

The taste of death was bittersweet

I fell into the ground and died

But death made me alive

Death made me alive"

And the bridge! I mean, do I even need to explain?!

https://youtu.be/jN-nfjQA1sg

Seriously, please, I'm begging anyone reading this to go listen to the song. I even posted the link to the acoustic version. 😅

32. What story do you think showcases your signature style the most?

My signature style... well, that's probably a story with lots of crying and hugging. The central conflict is an emotional one and it ends one a happy or hopeful note. And oh yeah, there's probably more that one version of Danny in it. 😅 I've already talked about a few so I'll pick out something that isn't one of my long, multi chapter stories.

From Phic Phight 2021, The First Night.

A sixteen years old Danny Fenton helps his fourteen year old counterpart through his first night as a ghost.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31122332

[eyedelater]

long post about catching up with one piece (with spoilers)

i caught up with one piece...

i caught up on chapter 1043, where luffy seems like a ???% is going to come out... or maybe his power will awaken.

various feelings of reading a comic that makes me feel various ways:

the feeling of rereading what i've already read many times before and almost committed to memory (approximately up to the timeskip) and being reminded of things i forgot

the feeling of rereading what i've reread fewer times (after the timeskip up to dressrosa) and catching things i missed

the feeling of rereading chapters i have Read Closely (i.e. i was caught up to the manga at that time, hungry for more, and Deeply analyzing each chapter as it came out; from dressrosa to around luffy's fight with katakuri) and paying more attention to some things i initially wrote off

the feeling of reading 150 unfamiliar chapters all in a row, trying to read closely but being pulled along by the momentum so much because there's nothing stopping me

one piece has gone on for a colossal 1000 chapters, and when i was caught up and reading weekly, i felt that in its incredible length, it had lost some momentum in the progression of the story, because at that time, luffy was taking a super long time to defeat doflamingo (and the anime was dragging out the dressrosa arc even more excruciatingly slowly). but when you're reading in bulk instead of one week at a time as it comes out, i think you have a better view of how the momentum really carries the story-- your own impatience between weeks doesn't factor into how slowly or quickly things seem to be happening. setting one piece aside and not reading it for 2 or 3 years was a good idea for my appreciation of the story, i think, because it's so much more fun to read it quickly and excitedly than it is to wait week by week. applying this broader perspective, unconstrained by real time, to the chapters where i felt momentum was slowing, i can now see that the momentum has been just as strong the whole time. in fact, the momentum itself pulls you along so strongly that it feels worse when you catch up and have to wait-- your impatience is exacerbated because the momentum pulled you into the wall that is real time. maybe i'll wait a while and only catch up periodically...? (no, i think that's only possible at times when my interest has waned. otherwise, i'm too impatient and will eagerly read new chapters.)

oda-sensei is a genius. i'm not saying he's a god; i'm saying he has an incredible talent that few people have. it is standard for a genius to have some sensibilities or ideas that many or most people will, often rightly, disagree with. because a genius knows they are a genius, they have an ego to match, and they may double down on points of disagreement or ignore even the most justified criticism. because oda is a genius, one piece has some glaring strengths, and because of his weird sensibilities and genius's ego, it also has flagrant and unabashed flaws. i used to be really focused on reading one piece critically, and i still think that's important, but on my latest reading, i lightened up a little and had a lot more fun. i think it is important to understand and criticize those flaws, but also to be able to look past them and enjoy the work as much as you want... i'm not making excuses for oda's bullshit habits and hideous transmisogyny, not at all. i'm saying my own perspective changed a little bit. being frustrated with those flaws was a big reason i stopped reading one piece for so long. but for the sake of my own enjoyment, i found i was able to look certain flaws in the eye, think, "oda, you dumb fucker, i won't forget this," and carry on with the story. because despite the flaws, the story is good.

if you think the flaws of one piece outweigh the story itself, and if it hurts you when those flaws show up, i hope you can peacefully stop reading it. i'm not saying that one piece is so good that you should subject yourself to it if you hate it. and i don't like taking a defeatist attitude in general, but i think it's clear oda will not change his weird and gross sensibilities based on what any reader says. i too have the strong feeling that, for example, i want to push oda down a flight of stairs for slowly turning nico robin into a sameface that matches every other woman in the comic. and that feeling of mine is righteous and true. but nothing productive will come of it, you know? i want to enjoy the comic that is otherwise good, despite robin's plight. so i feel it, and then i let it pass. i read critically and have criticisms and sometimes curse oda's name, but i don't let those feelings consume me, because i want to enjoy the story, because the story is otherwise so enjoyable.

have i hardened my heart? have i lost my compassion in gaining the ability to look past these things? i think that's a personal matter. i think it should be made clear to everyone who might read one piece that there are glaring flaws, there is some truly foul transmisogyny, the way women are depicted is fucked up and bizarre, there are some ridiculously stereotypical depictions of indigenous people, et cetera, et cetera. in terms of the broad public consensus, these flaws should not be overlooked, brushed away, or justified! but you can decide one thing for yourself: whether you want to look these stupid flaws in the eye and move on with the story, or whether you want to look away. every person should pick whichever is right for them, without either choice being right or wrong.

when i started my reread, i got a little ways in and then thought, "i wish i could compare this shit (official) translation to what they're actually saying and see how wrong it is." but i haven't made any effort to read the one piece raws... YET. so i decided to watch the anime and listen carefully to the dialogue and compare the translations that way. so this whole time, i've been rereading one piece AND rewatching the anime (probably for the 4th or 5th time each), but with the anime one or two story arcs behind the manga. i think the true strength of fan translations is that they're willing to put more translation notes explaining the puns behind the attack names... the viz translation just comes up with some bullshit attack name (e.g. appending a stupid alliteration to sanji's series of kicks that includes flanchet). and the anime doesn't do any translation notes either, though they have the excuse of being limited by a time-oriented medium (no margins for notes). so basically... i have been comparing the translations a little bit, but not as much as i want to. at some point, i want to read the entire one piece raws so i can really understand the story. (think about it in this ridiculous way: if you're a serious biblical scholar and want to know what the bible REALLY says, do you read the king james version, or do you learn aramaic and hebrew and read the source material? THE LATTER, CLEARLY!) if anyone happens to be this deep into this post and wants to tell me an easy way to find the entire collection of one piece raws in decent quality, i would greatly appreciate it. if there is a way, you know. i haven't searched yet. and i might eventually want to buy all of one piece in raw volumes, but i don't really have room in my living situation for another 100 books right now... plus i couldn't potentially use volumes to release the master one piece scanlation i've been dreaming about but almost certainly won't ever do...

anyway, was i talking about the anime? so i was watching it every day, and i realized that the true strengths of the anime as an adaptation are the voice acting, the musical accompaniment, the sound effects, and the addition of timing. manga has cinematography, and it can try to guide the timing with the size and arrangement of panels, but ultimately, the reader is in charge of timing. if you get pissed off at a part that seems tedious, you can read it faster. the anime, however, has complete control over timing. this is probably a very basic point to make, but i think the element of timing can be a big strength AND a big weakness of the one piece anime. episodes are a fixed amount of time, but they can cover a varying amount of material from the manga. so it falls upon the anime creators to decide where to begin the episode, where to end the episode, and whether to compress or expand the provided material. (i've talked about squashing and stretching a lot before.) and i think the success of the anime really depends on whether the timing is done well. of course, the animation is important, but if there's a sequence where the animation is bad, it's not that hard to look past. but if the timing is bad and something important happens too fast for you to understand, or something tedious happens for way too long, or god forbid the timing of a joke is messed up, that can throw you out of the moment, i think. and i think the success of the one piece anime in terms of timing varies a lot, but usually, stretching the contents hurts timing a lot more than squashing, because brevity is the soul of wit.

prediction: i think a big component of what they will find on raftel will be a message like, "you must know by now that the real treasure is this world and its people! you had to see most of it to get here!" because i think that would be thematically appropriate and would make roger and company laugh. but i think there will also be some very serious element because the path to get there requires so much sacrifice... it could also be something like, "if you're not joyboy, this message isn't for you, but you can read it anyway, because it won't make a difference. but just so you know, joyboy should get here at some point, because this is for him." that would also have made roger and company laugh. and then the serious part will be something for joyboy to worry about.

i didn't enjoy the character of big mom at all when she was first being slowly introduced, but she really grew on me. her motives are so clear. she is really true to herself. and she fucks

i noticed the official translation has given up and mostly started including everyone's weird laughs instead of abridging them. in fact, the translation seems to have improved somewhat in a number of ways. and i think a lot of the sound effects translations that ended up in the volumes turned out good. (it's hard to translate japanese sound effects.) but of course, it's obvious even without looking at names that the official translator has not been the same person all along, and when a new translator comes along, they have to continue with their predecessor's stupid dumbass decisions for the sake of continuity, so improvement has a limit. ah, wouldn't that be a dream..? to have one dedicated translator, an actual fan of the comic and not someone looking down on it, to lovingly translate with their whole heart the entire series... CONSISTENTLY... and consistently RIGHT? that's what one piece deserves...

note about chapter 1043: i've noticed characters having more Power-Up Events. usopp using haki to snipe sugar was usopp's latest Power-Up Event, if i remember correctly. sanji getting his battle suit... luffy learning to see into the future... zoro swapping out shusui for an even crazier sword... luffy training with hyogoro... nami's clima tact getting pop green and now zeus... sanji's body being altered even without the suit... chopper's extended berserker mode... luffy learning to apply conqueror's haki to fighting... i guess i'm paying special attention to these more than ever because the enemies are so crazy strong that in order to beat them, the straw hats need to be even stronger than just what the timeskip gave them. but for oda to suddenly make them stronger without some kind of Power-Up Event wouldn't make plot sense. so the number of events is increasing. and the fact that luffy had 3 major Power-Up Events in relatively short succession (without a boss in between) and then still decisively lost to kaido is supposed to be jarring. we readers were supposed to be so confident in luffy's power that we would never expect him to lose to kaido decisively enough for the narrator to make an announcement about it. so i think this will end up having been a clever lead-up to luffy's ace up his sleeve, which will be his ???% (?) that is and isn't him (and is joyboy) and/or his power awakening. i have written this all with perfect conciseness and clarity.

i keep thinking back to my posts comparing jujutsu kaisen to one piece and drafting in my head some absolutely scalding comparisons to make now that i have refreshed on the latter. as a courtesy to JJK fans i will let these thoughts simmer unsaid. all i will say is that one piece has glaring strengths and glaring flaws, and jujutsu kaisen has neither. JJK is flat and joyless by comparison and does little for me. i tried too hard to like it because my hopes for it were too high.

i haven't had enough of one piece to just go back to waiting for the next update. in the past, i would go back and reread with the intent to remember absolutely everything of any significance. the reason: i think most readers are keenly aware that oda is constantly planting seeds that don't sprout until hundreds of chapters later. much of my reading and rereading of one piece Last Time (a few years ago) was for the sake of committing it to memory so that i could analyze and theorize with utmost accuracy. i don't know if i want to go back to doing that, even though it was fun, because when i was rereading This Time, i realized that a lot of it was so ingrained in my memory that the jokes didn't land because i remembered them. and i don't have that much free time to analyze and theorize lately. but i can't resist going back and rereading at least what was new to me This Time so i can at least remember the actually significant things that happen. so that's what i'm going to do now.

i bet most people who followed me for mp100 didn't know i was ever in this deep... i wouldn't expect anyone to know that because i'm not that much of an egomaniac. even though i used the word "i" like a thousand times in this post. anyway, one day i'll revisit my mp100 hyperfixation and have a good time with that too.