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kittyt-hexxed · 1 year ago

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Book Two of Hexed - The Fury of Zaun (Vi × POC!Reader) - Ch.21

Next Upload Date: December 29th

Act 2: Chapter Twenty-One - Piltover Gets Jinxed!

Warnings: Bombing, Animals set free, Collapsed building, Vi and Jinx meet for the first time, sister bonding, Jinx’s Birthday

Summary: It’s Jinx’s birthday and she’s celebrating in a way that lets Piltover know that she’s still there. Vi gets to see her sister again, and they have a moment.

The Rapids and the Grotto were buzzing with activity before the sun even rose. Both places were decorated for Jinx’s birthday and people were chatting excitedly. Preparations for the main event are in the process of being completed, with last-minute adjustments being made. Jinx was practically vibrating with excitement and bouncing up and down the place. One moment she was here and the next she was across the way talking off Ekko’s ear. This was her first birthday party in years. Not only is she spending it with people, but she gets to cause trouble in the process. The only person missing was Vi.

You sat perched in the tree, watching as everyone worked together to make the day possible. While it was Jinx’s birthday, it was also the first official move you’d be making towards the war. Jinx had wanted to do something fun so you came up with it. The party involved a couple of fun gadgets, fireworks, a bomb or two, and a target. You’d be using some stolen cameras to broadcast the event to the people of Zaun. Everything had been secured the week before and the hidden viewing rooms were all hooked up to the network. Piltover’s technological genius just so happened to be a Zaunite.

Jinx’s door opened and the blue-haired maniac came staggering out with a big device in her arms. Ekko emerged behind her with a duplicate of it in his arms. They were big rockets that would be launched from atop the Councilor’s Building. True to her theme, they were decorated like sharks with wide grins on their faces. While you were supplying Jinx with the means to cause a ruckus, you didn’t know how she was going to do it. And, you were excited about it. This was part of your plans where you weren’t obsessing over every detail. You get to sit back and watch it all happen.

Jinx notices you in the tree and waves you over. You stand up and jump off the branch, dropping down onto your hoverboard, and make your way to her. She has a huge grin on her face, not too unlike the ones she drew on the rockets.

“I’m officially nineteen today!” Jinx says, hopping in place.

“You are!” You throw an arm over her shoulders, “You’re getting to be old.”

“At least I’m not a grandma yet, like Sevika.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that.” Ekko chuckles, “She’ll turn you into one.” That makes the two of you flinch. You remember the screaming from the last person who cracked a joke like that.

“Right. Right.” Jinx nods slowly. The three of you walk to the main building and a large group of people greets you. They welcome you warmly as they finish connecting the big screen. You grin as it shows you and Jinx standing there.

“Finishing touches are almost done!” Someone in the back shouted, “Going live in ten seconds!”

That kicks up a frenzy in the room and Ekko ducks away to give someone the rocket in his hands. You and Jinx are guided to an empty area with cameras pointing at it. You eye the cameras a little apprehensive. They screamed “Made in Zaun” by the way they looked. You’ve only seen others in front of them. Being in front of them made you feel very out of place. This wasn’t technology Zaun possessed. This was exclusive to Piltover. To be around this stuff was a reminder that Zaun was finally making progress.

“Go ahead and speak, my Lady.” Lizette gives you a thumbs up. You nod at her and face the camera.

“Good morning, Zaun. Today we’re celebrating Jinx’s birthday in the only way it should be done for a demo specialist.” You smirk, feeling excited about what’s to come, “We’re blowing shit up. You got any words before we let you loose, Jinxy?”

“Helloooo, Zaun!” Jinx tosses the rocket to the left and someone frantically catches it, “I’ll be taking you all around Topside, so keep an eye on those screens!” She winks, “I hope you’re ready for Piltover’s Treasury to go BOOM!” She mimics an explosion with her hands and starts laughing. The grin on her face could only be described as deranged as everyone screamed their agreement in excitement. You and Ekko share a look before you turn your attention back to Jinx. It’s going to be a fun day.

Jinx could feel the wind blowing her braids around. She is standing atop the Councilor’s Building and looking out over Piltover. It gave her the best view of the city and she was thankful for the custom hoverboard Ekko had surprised her with so she didn’t have to scale the damn thing. She would have done it, but that didn’t mean she’d enjoy it.

Her target is to her left. It is one of the few notable buildings in the city. The Treasury. She didn’t even want to think about how much money there was made on the back of her city. The people in the mines who lost their lives trying to put food on their tables. The gangsters resorted to more dangerous jobs that would guarantee them a stay in the Hold. Even the Chem-Barons stopped being a point of stability and turned into corrupt bosses scraping for money themselves. And, Vi.

Jinx’s grip on her rocket launcher tightened. Thrown into Stillwater and taken from her before they could even be a family. Who is now forced to side with the people who took their parents from them. She grits her teeth but takes a deep breath to calm herself down. She takes a moment to collect herself, thinking about all of the fun things she’s about to do. Piltover is going to become her playground for the day.

“You look like you’re thinking too much.” Ekko’s voice sounds in her ear.

“Just thinking about the best way to do this.” She responds, her eyes scanning the city below her. “I don’t want to go to the Treasury immediately. I need a distraction.”

“You’ve always wanted to see the zoo, right? You should stop by.”

“Perfect idea!” Jinx grins, running and leaping off of the roof. Her feet hit the hoverboard and she can feel it humming as she travels. She drops down enough so people outside won’t be able to see her. The zoo would be closed by now. They tucked all of the animals away before the snowfall got too heavy. Since it snowed yesterday, the gates were locked and no one was inside.

That made Jinx feel excited as she dropped to the ground. She has the whole place to herself! ‘Since the people of Zaun are watching, I should make this fun for them, too!’ She thinks. She ran around the zoo as if she was a tourist. Reading the plaques they had placed by all the animals' enclosures and sneaking inside of them to get a peek. Her favorite had to be the rhino and she made a mental note to go back to it.

“Now that we’ve taken a tour, it’s time to decorate the place!” Jinx whips out her spray cans and crayons. She cackles as she graffitis the place, making little doodles everywhere without worrying about any Enforcers showing up. Once she was done with the building, she turned her attention to the animals.

“You know… I think they deserve a chance to roam free, don’t you?” Jinx tilts her head in the direction she knew the hidden camera was with a dark grin.

Vi let out a long exhale, watching her breath turn into mist in front of her. She had a love and hate for the winter months. Both she and her sister were born around this time. And, it was her mother’s favorite time of the year. They would leave the fissure to make snowmen until their fingers got so cold they struggled to move them. She could remember the first time she hit Powder with a snowball. Her little cheeks turned pink as she gave Vi a look of excitement. It was a lot of fun until they both fell sick. Yet, their mother continued to do it with them every year.

“You look sad.” Kevin says, his footfall pattern giving him away before he even spoke.

“How perceptive of you.” Vi says without looking at him.

“Oh, come on, Vi. You’re as cold as the weather!” Kevin groans, leaning against the railing next to her. “Warm up a bit, huh?”

“Why don’t you have a smoke?” Gina approaches and holds out the pack. She was alright for an Enforcer. She took the job because it was the only one that allowed her to spend most of her day at home with her kids. She usually takes the night shifts but switched over since her husband lost his job. “That usually warms me up on days like this.”

“I don’t smoke.” Vi shakes her head. That was a lie. She smoked her share of cigarettes when she was younger. She wasn’t a fan of them. She preferred the herb that Sevika had snuck her. It was a purple color and tasted like a smoked fruit. She had begged Sevika to smuggle her in a pack in return for a favor. It was a birthday present for when she turned fifteen. Sevika declined but made her swear to never tell Vander about it. She had a craving for them every once in a while for how relaxed they made her feel.

“You’re better than me.” Gina lights up one, “It’s a habit I picked up from University. Ten years later and I can’t crack it.”

“Don’t talk about classes,” Kevin sighs, “I’ve got a paper due in two days, so I’ll be working on that when I go home.”

“And, you, Vi?”

“What about me?”

“What are you going to do when you go home? I’ve got kids to watch over. Kevin’s got a paper. What about you?”

“It’s my little sister’s birthday.” Vi rubs the tattoo on her wrist, “I’m going to head down and find her so I can give her the gift I got her.”

“You have a sister?!” Kevin gasps, yelping in pain as Gina cuffs him over the head.

“Yeah. I just… don’t talk about her much.” Vi shrugs, “We haven’t talked in a while.”

“THE ANIMALS FROM THE ZOO ESCAPED! I REPEAT - THE ANIMALS FROM THE ZOO HAVE ESCAPED AND ARE FREE IN THE CITY!” Caitlyn’s voice shouts over the comms, “I NEED ALL UNITS WORKING ON CONTAINMENT NOW!”

“What? How’s that even possible?!” Gina furrows her brow.

“It’s not.” Vi says, watching a spray-painted rhino run past them. It was covered in the doodles she knew very well. “Someone released them.”

“SHERIFF IT’S JINX! SHE’S PAINTED ALL OVER THE ZOO WALLS!” Someone shouts on comms with the sound of a small explosion in the background, confirming Vi’s suspicions. But, it made her heart ache. She had planned on taking Powder to the zoo for her birthday before she got taken. It was the one thing she wanted to do for years. Weirdly, she was relieved she had a chance to see the animals even if she released them.

“FOCUS ON CONTAINMENT! WE’LL WORRY ABOUT HER ONCE THE PEOPLE ARE SAFE!” Comes Caitlyn’s response. Vi knew she wouldn’t be focusing on that at all. She was more concerned about her little sister running around Piltover unsupervised. Her releasing the

“You heard the Sheriff.” Gina starts walking towards the rhino, “Let’s get these animals back home.”

“Have fun with that!” Vi says before whirling around and sprinting away. The animals were the least of her worries. She knew the Enforcers would get them back in their pens in time. Her focus should be on her sister. If there was anything that Vi taught her as a kid, was that a distraction should last longer than needed. The amount of time that it would take for the Enforcers to wrangle those animals gives her sister more than enough space to do something. The real question is what is she trying to do?

Vi makes her way to a building she knows has walls that are easy to climb. She needed to get above the streets fast. Her fingers dig into the wall and she scales the side, using her foot to hook the roof and pull herself up. She takes a moment to scan the area, locating where the zoo is, and finds blue indicators filling the air. Caitlyn thought it was a good idea to have smoke signals so Enforcers could find each other when running through the streets.

“Wait.” Vi blinked, turning back to one of the smoke signals. It was a lighter shade of blue than the ones the Enforcers use. Close enough that at a glance you wouldn’t be able to tell, but with so many up, Vi had a comparison.

“Vi, come in.” Caitlyn’s voice comes through their private channel, “...Vi?!” With a huff, she takes her radio off and tosses it down. She took off running, staying above the buildings so she didn’t lose sight of smoke. She knew her sister loved playing games, so this had to be one of them! Releasing the animals would be a distraction but she’d have fun watching them get chased around. They used to do that with some of the creatures in the Undercity. Mylo had managed to get himself chased by an angry poro. They had laughed themselves silly to the point Powder fell off the crate she had been sitting on. Ekko picked it up and scratched it to calm it down. Mylo refused to join them on their adventures for a few weeks after that. Vi’s lips twitched at the memory.

She stopped at the building above the dissolving smoke and looked down. The street was covered in doodles with arrows pointing in one direction along with the words “come find me!” She couldn’t help but be impressed. Her sister must be moving quickly through the streets to be able to release the animals blocks away and still have time to do this. The Enforcers would have found this before the animals were released, so it had to be done after. ‘Alright sis, i’ll bite.’ Vi thinks, grinning as she drops down onto the street.

Vi followed the direction the arrows were leading her which was interestingly toward the center of the city. The next set of arrows was not as obvious as the first few sets. They progressively got more and more hard to spot, at least, for a Piltie. Vi knew where to look. How to spot the design on the windows, in the bricks, and even on a store sign. It made Vi’s eyes sting, being able to see how much her sister really did grow up. She was exactly what Vi had known she’d become. Well, not the murder part, but everything else… Vi came to a stop at the city square and looked around. Something glimmering caught her attention on the white marble of the water fountain. Her brow furrowed as she walked closer and some words slowly came into focus. ‘Look… up?’ Vi’s gaze went up and she saw the Treasury building standing in front of her. Clear as a cloudless day, scrawled on the building was Jinx’s signature monkey.

A loud sound had Vi turning her head to the right where the Councilor’s Building was. Her eyes widened as a group of rockets streaked across the sky leaving colorful smoke in their wake. She didn’t have to squint to see the unsettling shark-like grins decorating them. Vi couldn’t do anything but watch as they headed for the Treasury. A gasp left her lips as they struck, the loud sound of the explosion filling the air and making the citizens scream in a panic. She covered her face as the wind blew toward her and looked to see debris on the ground. The citizens ran past her, some knocking into her in their haste to get away from the area. She stood firm on her feet as they did, not moving an inch from her position.

Vi felt like she couldn’t breathe. Like someone was squeezing her throat and trying to suffocate her. Her little sister did this. She was dizzy with her thoughts. She felt proud. So proud that she wanted to laugh and embrace Powder in a hug so tight it’d leave bruises. At the same time, she knew she was mourning her. Mourning the little girl her sister had been before their family was torn apart. This wasn’t Jinx’s doing. This was Powder. Her little sister who tried to craft her own bombs and wanted to help fight if the Undercity went to war. A war that… seemed all the more likely.

“Enforcer!” Someone ran up to her, “Please! There are people trapped inside the building! Please, you have to help!” They started tugging on her arm and it snapped Vi out of her staring.

“Don’t worry,” Vi shook them off, “I’m on it!” She ran for the building. Thankfully, only the top of the building was destroyed. She charged up the gauntlets, feeling them vibrate against her arms as they began to hum. She brought her arm up and lunged forward, slamming her fist into the rubble in front of the door. The concrete crumbled to pieces and Vi staggered forward with the momentum. She caught herself before she could fall and inspected the room. Not only were people stuck in the building, but some of them were stuck under the rubble. Vi took the initiative and got to lifting the beams off of the people. She was the only one who could do so without a group of people. The gauntlets helped a lot, but she wished to take them off and do it on her own. She missed the feeling of her muscles straining, feeling them contract and stretch as she lifted something she shouldn’t be able to. But, she couldn’t. Not in Piltover.

“Hey, Enforcer!” Powder’s voice echoes in the lobby, making Vi’s head jerk up while she’s lifting a part of the upper floor. Standing on top of the teller’s desk, her braids blowing in the breeze and her revolver in hand was Powder. She was dressed differently than the last time she saw her. Her pants were mismatched with one leg being drastically short and the other down to her ankles. There was even a proper holster for her weapons. She looked like a real fighter now.

“Do you know if this is needed?!” Powder - no, Jinx - holds up a bag showing off all the money she had inside of it. She had to separate this young woman from her sister or she wouldn’t be into the fight at all.

“If you put it back, that’ll be one less charge against you!” Vi let go of the wall and it fell to the ground with a crash. “I’m gonna have to book you for blowing up the Treasury, though!”

“If you can catch me!” Jinx cackles, pointing her gun at Vi. That makes Vi’s eyebrows jump up. ‘Is she going to shoot me?!’ Jinx fires and Vi dodges out of the way. There’s a ping and hiss shortly followed by smoke covering Vi’s vision, but that doesn’t stop her. She kicks off of a column next to her, catching sight of Jinx running up the stairs, and makes her way after her. Vi didn’t really know what her plan was. She couldn’t let her sister get away, but she also couldn’t catch her. If anyone saw her let her sister get away, that would cause trouble for her up here. Too many questions and not enough answers.

So, Vi chased her through the building, dodging the smokescreen bullets and keeping pace. She knew her sister was an amazing shot, but Vi was too good at fighting. Powder wasn’t the first person with a gun that she’d fought before. Vi had even given Caitlyn a hard time during one of their routine practices. The Enforcers that watched them didn’t stop talking about it for weeks. Someone had told Vi they were relieved she was helping them out and not against them.

“Why don’t we take this outside?!” Jinx shouts, running straight for a window. She slipped through and closed it behind her and Vi couldn’t help the grin on her face. She didn’t slow her momentum at all, bringing her arms up to cover her face as she crashed through the window. It shattered, raining glass down below as she landed on the roof of the building next to her and pitched into a roll. Jinx laughed as she saw Vi, continuing to run and fire bullets that seemed to be endless.

“You can’t run forever!” Vi yelled to her.

“Then let’s make a deal!” Jinx came to a halt on the roof across from Vi, “If you catch me, I’ll let you everything you want to know! If you can’t catch me, we can do this again another day!”

“As if I’d make a deal with you!” Vi uses the power from the gauntlets to launch herself faster than Jinx could process. Jinx yelps and narrowly dodges Vi’s punch, causing her to hit the roof instead. Part of the roof crumbles inward, but Vi’s too focused to care. She takes advantage of Jinx’s hesitation and continues to attack her. Her sister narrowly dodges each punch, courtesy of Vi slowing her fists down before she hits her. It makes Vi laugh, earning her a surprised look from Jinx. She was enjoying herself.

“What happened to being a slug monster?” Vi teased her. Jinx froze for a moment before she started laughing as well.

“You’ll have to catch me first, crab!” The grin she gave Vi was thrilling.

Vi didn’t know what had gotten into her. She chased Jinx all over the city, destroying things in her fake fight as she tried to give her sister a chance. She ended up getting a few solid punches on her that made Vi wince, but Jinx seemed to love it. It wasn’t until Caitlyn had found them that Jinx decided to pull out her hidden advantage. Vi had to jump off the roof when her sister fired a firework at her! Jinx had gotten away and Caitlyn had dragged Vi into an alley to scold her.

She had half-listened. Her adrenaline from the fight kept her in good spirits and she was still thinking about it. Caitlyn got so frustrated that she dismissed Vi for the rest of the day. She didn’t even bother to complain and made her way back to the mansion in high spirits. After all, she had to get changed and grab her sister’s gifts before heading into the Undercity. Being dismissed early gave her more than enough time to do that.

Vi had glanced into the mirror before getting in the shower. The colored powder from the bullets had turned her hair the same shade of purple that their mother had. It made her heart ache, but she didn’t dwell on those thoughts. A hot shower got the dust and colored powder out of her hair and helped to relax her muscles. It was nice to be able to shower with hot water versus the cold water in the Undercity. But, thinking about that only made her sad. Especially now that the isthmus was in the winter months. It normally didn’t start snowing until November, but they believe that Jinx blowing up the Councilor’s Building with a hextech rocket might have had something to do with it.

“Ms.Vi?” A knock sounds at the door making Vi hurry up and put on her shirt. She makes her way to the door and opens it to reveal the head maid.

“Hello, Mary.” Vi greets the maid. Mary gives Vi a kind smile. She always snuck Vi extra cookies with her dinner and turned a blind eye when she passed her in the halls after curfew.

“You have a visitor waiting for you in the receiving room.” Mary takes a step back, “Tobias asked me to bring you over.” Vi blinks and glances down at herself. Leather pants and a white t-shirt. ‘That’ll have to do for whatever big wig it is.’ She shrugs.

“Lead the way.” Vi nods. Mary guides her through the mansion to a room near the front door. It wasn’t a room she’d been in before since no one had visited for her specifically. She had seen the Kirammans go in and out of there consistently along with the maids when they were bringing tea for whichever guest arrived.

Mary knocks on the door and waits for Tobias to call her into the room. With a wink, Mary opens the door and steps aside so Vi can go in. Laughter is the first thing that greets her before she can see who’s in the room with Tobias. Her sister had the front of her hair up in space buns while the back fell free. Her bangs were clipped back like she did when they were younger, and she was wearing a plain t-shirt and pants like Vi. It had none of the playfulness she’d seen before. Jinx’s playfulness

“Powder?!” Vi gasps, seeing her little sister sitting on the couch with a cup of tea.

“Vi!” Powder grins, jumping up from her seat to engulf Vi in a hug. It takes Vi a moment before she’s hugging her sister back tightly.

“What are you doing here? I-I was going to come down and see you!” Vi was startled, but excited.

“I wanted to see where you were staying! Besides, I didn’t know when you were going to be done with work.” Powder bounces on her heels, “I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday alone.”

“Powder was telling me all about her birthday traditions you with.” Tobias chuckles, putting his cup down, “Why don’t you hang out here? I can have the kitchen staff make you a cake and have dinner here!”

“I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience.” Vi shakes her head, “Besides, the staff would be doing this last minute.”

“Nonsense!” Mary huffs, flicking Vi’s ear out of nowhere, “They will be more than happy to make something for you and your sister, Vi. You’re never an inconvenience to us.”

“Ah…” Vi smiles at the sincerity in Mary’s eyes, “Thank you. Why don’t we go to the kitchens and you can tell the staff what kind of cake you’d like?” She looks at her sister. Powder’s eyes light up and she nods enthusiastically. Powder grabs her hand and drags her through the hallways, rambling about what she’s doing in the Undercity to Mary and Tobias. Vi can’t help but feel a little hazy. This was Powder. Laughing happily, chatting away with people without a care in the world as long as her sister is by her side.

They spent the whole time in the kitchen while the staff made the cake to her sister’s liking. It was a blue velvet cake with a layer of cookie crunch covered in black and white frosting, sprinkles, and gold letters. The staff didn’t mind the extra work they had to go through to get it done. They were so happy that Vi and her sister were hanging out in the kitchens with them. They got to taste-test the batter and filling, and some of them made sandwiches for them to eat while they waited. Vi spent most of the time watching Powder be happy. It made her eyes sting as she watched her be so carefree once again.

Tobias had snuck out at some point, but more of the mansion’s staff had joined in on the fun. There was tea going around, cookies and biscuits popping out of nowhere as they held a little party of their own. They ended up cutting the cake as soon as it was done and Vi managed to smash her sister’s face in a slice. Powder ended up chasing her around the kitchen trying to do the same to her. The staff laughed at their antics, spending some time after the cake to wind down with a milkshake. Once they were done, they cleaned up the kitchen, boxed up the leftover cake for Powder and Mary took them back to Vi’s room.

“Why is this bef so sof?” Powder’s voice came out muffled as she lay face-down on Vi’s bed. Vi chuckled and sat down next to her after grabbing a box from behind the dresser. She reached out and brushed her hand over Powder’s head, getting her sister to turn and face her.

“I don’t know, but it was too soft for me. Mary had to make adjustments so I could sleep in it.” Vi’s eyes wandered over the luxury fabric. “If I’m honest, I still sleep on the couch.” She motioned to the couch on the other side of the room.

“What’s that?” Powder quickly sits up, eyeing the present in Vi’s hand.

“It’s for you… Happy Birthday, Pow.” Vi holds it out to her and Powder gingerly accepts it. She looks at Vi, silently asking for permission to open it and she nods. Powder rips into the wrapping paper, popping the box open to see what’s inside. Vi watches as her eyes widen, shining with unshed tears as she shakily reaches in to pull out what’s inside. It sparkled in the light, the golden hair clip glimmering like the lights of the Undercity. It was fashioned after a crow’s feather but the top was painted in various colors.

“Did you… Did you make this?” Powder’s questions, looking at Vi.

“Of course I did.” Vi gives a shaky smile, trying not to let any of her tears fall, “I figured you were too old to wear the ones I made you when we were kids.”

“So you don’t hate me after everything?”

“No! No, I could never hate you. I’ve missed you so much. I think about coming back to you every day, but I’ve been trying so hard to keep you safe.”

“Come home. You can keep me safe that way, too!”

“Pow, I’m so close. Please trust me on this.”

“I do. I just…” Powder bursts into tears, throwing herself into Vi’s arms, “I miss you!” Vi can’t help herself and starts crying, too. They hold each other as they cry, whispering “i miss you” to each other as if it’s the first time they’ve said it. This was the first time she’s seen her sister in months and it hurt her more than anything to know that she couldn’t go home yet.

“I promise you, Powder. I’ll be home soon. I’ve got to make sure you’re off their radar.”

“When you come home, can we go cause trouble together somewhere?”

“Sure thing.” Vi smiles. “Now, tell me everything.”

“About?”

“About what you’re really doing in the Undercity… Oh, and I shouldn’t say this but… I had fun today.” Powder grins at Vi’s words.

“I knew you would!”

#vi x reader #vi x y/n #jinx arcane #vi arcane #the fury of zaun

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tinycoded360 · 7 months ago

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Cursed to a foreign Land Chapter 2

Salim strolled through the bustling street market, the sun warming his face as he tried to distract himself from the ache in his heart. He had just sent his son Zain off to England yesterday, and the thought of him alone in a foreign land weighed heavily on his mind. With plans to join his son as soon as possible, Salim found solace in the sights and sounds of the marketplace. As much as he loved his home, he felt it was time to leave his homeland and stay close to his only family. Especially after the events with the American soldiers, the underground temple, and the space vampires. It would be nice to escape all that and start a new life.

*Perhaps a little distraction is what I need,* he thought, pausing at a puppet stall that caught his eye. Intricate craftsmanship adorned each figure, their lifelike features drawing him in for a closer look. But one tiny puppet, in particular, stood out amongst the others—a four-inch-tall boy with an unmistakable expression of pure terror etched onto his face.

"Such remarkable detail," Salim murmured, admiring the delicate work before doing a double-take when he saw the tiny puppet blink. "It must be my imagination," he reasoned.

With an incredulous chuckle, he reached out, fingers aimed toward the doll to validate its artistry.

But as his fingertips neared, the tiny figure recoiled. Shock jolted through Salim like a live wire—the doll had moved of its own accord! Instinctively, his hand snapped forward, plucking the creature from its hanging position among the lifeless puppets.

He held it up to the light, his heart drumming against his ribs. This was no doll. It was flesh and blood—a miniature boy, panting with rapid breaths in the palm of Salim's hand. He could feel the thrumming pulse and life's warmth against his skin.

Salim's eyes softened as he watched tears carve wet paths down the boy's cheeks. The sight pricked at his conscience, a poignant echo of the parental instinct he'd honed with Zain. He couldn't bring himself to leave this strange creature behind. At least the tiny one looked harmless. He couldn't pose any threat, unlike the hideous creatures inside that ancient tomb. If anything, the poor thing needed someone to help it.

Salim approached the stall owner, his heart heavy with concern for the tiny boy clutched in his fist. "How much for this one?" he asked, doing his best to sound casual.

"Ah, that one? A fine choice," the vendor replied, eyeing Salim with a calculating gaze. "Fifty dinars."

"Deal," Salim said without hesitation, handing over the money.

As Salim walked away from the stall, he couldn't help but study the tiny boy more closely. With light skin and delicate features, the child looked like he could be from America or England despite his minuscule size.

He carefully ran his fingertips over the material of the tiny boy's clothing, noting the terrified flinches the boy made as he did so. The cloth felt like animal hides, clearly handmade and suited for colder climates than Iraq's scorching heat.

"Your clothes seem too warm for this weather," Salim murmured thoughtfully. "We'll need to find you something more suitable."

Having made his purchase, Salim cradled the tiny boy in his fist, his fingers easily enveloping the small body. With great care, he walked over to a bench, his mind racing with questions about this mysterious creature who couldn't seem to understand him.

"Little one," Salim murmured softly, trying to reassure the trembling boy. "I promise I won't hurt you. Let's get those strings off of you."

Salim pulled out his pocket knife and gently snipped the strings attached to the tiny limbs, being careful not to nick the delicate skin beneath them. The tiny boy flinched at the sight of the sharp blade, his heart pounding harder.

"Shh, it's okay," Salim cooed soothingly, noticing the fear in the miniature boy's eyes. "You're safe now."

Still too frightened to speak, Zeddle stared up at the giant man with tears streaming down his face.

Salim's gentle touch steadied the tiny boy on his thigh, though Zeddle's body remained taut with fear. Salim could see how parched the child was; his lips were cracked and dry, and he seemed to be struggling for breath. With great care, Salim unscrewed the cap of his water bottle and held it out to the frightened child.

Tears still streaming down his face, Zeddle hesitantly reached for the water cap with trembling hands. The cool liquid felt like heaven as he gulped it down, quenching his thirst. He hiccuped softly between sobs, unable to stop crying even as some of his immediate needs were met.

Salim observed the tiny boy's flushed cheeks and rapid breathing; concern etched across his brow. They needed to get home quickly so he could help the child cool off and recover. Gently, Salim curled his fingers around the small boy, lifting him from his thigh and carefully placing him into the safety of his front pocket.

******

Once inside their humble abode, Salim felt a subtle shift in the weight of his pocket. Peering inside, he found that the tiny boy had passed out, his fragile body limp and alarmingly hot to the touch. Wasting no time, Salim brought the unconscious child to the kitchen sink.

He slowly undressed him, removing the too-warm clothes that clung to his overheated body. Salim filled the sink with lukewarm water, ensuring it wasn't too hot or cold for the little creature. Then he gently lowered Zeddle into the water, supporting his head as he bathed him.

Zeddle's fragile consciousness flickered in and out during the process, letting out weak whimpers each time he awoke. Salim spoke reassuringly to the child, trying to ease his fear and discomfort.

"Shhh, it's okay. I've got you. You're safe now."

After the bath, Salim delicately dried the boy with a soft towel before attempting to redress him. The pants were manageable, but the shirt and shoes proved too difficult to maneuver onto the tiny body. Besides, the material was too warm for the sweltering Iraqi weather, so Salim reasoned it was best to leave them off for now.

Salim placed him in a small box lined with a soft hand towel to provide the tiny boy with a safe and comfortable place to rest. Setting the box down on the living room couch, Salim silently prayed for the boy's recovery.

Salim next moved to the kitchen to prepare dinner. As he worked, he hoped that the food would be a source of comfort to the frightened child once he awoke.

Chapter 3

#giant/tiny #g/t writing #g/t community #giant tiny #borrower #dark pictures #house of ash #video game #gentle giant

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originalwinnercheesecake · 1 year ago

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Hearing about the Hunger games continuation and thinking about all the Story continuations/prologues I wish we could get for The Underland Chronicles

Gregor's dad

I want To know what Gregor's dad (Who I want a name for... Steve, Lee, Heidi... What is his name? ) first trip to the underland was like. How was he found and brought to Regalia? We know he met Vikus and Luxa's Parents, SO what did he think of them? The Books say he stayed in Regila for two weeks (During which time he was very worried about his pregnant wife, children, and mother) and that he took a BB gun from the Museum. So I am guessing he knew about the war with the rats, but his family was in hell and he felt he had to get back soon. What happened during his capture.

I don't really want to know about his torturous time with the rats, but I would like some on how he was able to keep both hope and his humanity, the interesting relationship he is hinted to have had with Ripred in book 3 (He says Ripred used to feed him sometimes. He also was not scared of Ripred, Even though he was a rat and was "pretending" to attack his son). And lastly I want to know what coming home felt like for him and why, unlike his wife, the experiences did not make him fear or hate the underland.

Ripred

Speeking of Ripred I want All of his backstory, being a pup and growing up with his litter mates. Going into battle and finding out he is a Rager. How this made him famous all around the Underland, but also made him hated by enemies, and feared by allies, unless they needed him. What was going on when He tried to "Take over the fount with an army of Lobsters"? Seriously the Rat's don't even want The Fount. It is surrounded by rapids and sea monsters! What did was your interest Buddy?

Also I want to see his Mate, their family, and how their loss first broke him then made him change his stance on the war. Him building his relationship with the human side. Going up to the Overland to visit Libraries. His view of his relationships with Gregor and Lizzie and how it feels to him to being taking care of kids again after so long.

Hamnet

Up Next is Hamnet. Solovet and Vikus son, the beloved twin brother to the wife of the King/Queen, Brother in Law to the King (recently reread has me thinking they had more of a business relationship than a familiar one), the Regalian Army's most skilled soldier, and for a long time he was Solovet's heir to becoming captain of the Army, because everyone thought he was just like his mother. This is what everyone thought, but they thought wrong. Unlike Solovet Hamnet felt guilt. Guilt that drove him to speak against his mother in a war meeting to which she locked him in the dungeon for a month. When he was finally let out he went back to being obedient to her and buried his grief down, let it eat away at him, until one last horrible act (As a solider) destroyed him.

But give me Hamnet's complete story. Show him being a ruthless soldier and a fearsome killer on the field of battle, then coming home to be a loyal son, good friend, loving brother, and doting Uncle; becasue that is how many soldiers have to be. Show me him not being Okay but doing his best to hide that because that is all he could do. Then show me when everything went to far, and when he decided to leave Regalia, everything he knew and loved and run to a place that he and all his allies feared, for good reasons. Show me him missing his former friends and family. But also show me him meeting Frill and her deciding to take a chance and help him, him also taking chance and letting her (The books generally imply he wanted to leave his old life but did not expect to make anew one). Give me him learning about life in the jungle. How the animals there do not attack each other and instead employ a method of survival where first you hide, then you try to give a warning, then run. fight last. Show me him finding an overland women lost in the jungle and helping her. With the pair eventually forming a relationship and going on to have a child. Why did she never return to the Overland? Hamnet is a good father to Hazard, but you cannot tell me that he wasn't terrified during the entire pregnancy. Anything about Hamnet has to end where he ended. Having to once again fight in a pointless battle on behalf of Reglia, that the city once again brought on itself and got nothing out of. Our tragic beauty

Ares

Speaking again of Tragic Beauties I want Ares to. What kind of Stuff did he get up to to earn the reputation of a reckless, rule breaking, ...thrill seeker?...strength tester? To where he bonded with Henry to be able to get away with more. What were things like in the time HE and Henry were together. I don't think it was all bad. The Books clearly state that what hurt Luxa, Ares, Aurora, Nerissa the most was that they had loved Henry and could remember good things about him. Things that no longer felt the same after he betrayed them, and things they struggled with only becoming memories in the wake of his death. But the also show me his side of his and Gregor's bond, of him coming to love Gregor like he once loved Henry, and how their friendship helped him move on from the Trauma Henry put him through.

Nerrisa

This last one will never happen because its not really Susanna Collins style, but since none of this will happen, I want more Nerissa. What is it like for her loving her family and people so much, but knowing with her frailty and the Kingdom consistently being on the brink of war she cannot protect them. Show me what her visions are like for her. Note whatever we learned about Sandwhich I do believe Nerissa is an actual visionary. Her Visions of a bad and mysterious fate happening to Henry, Hamnet living for 10 years and building a diverse family, and Gregor being secretly being hidden away in the dungeon by Solovet...all came through.

Knowing that I have another question: Did she know suspect that Sandwhich was a fraud? Nerissa spends more time in the Prophecy room, analysis them than any other character. Many of the "misunderstood translations" are later "explained" by Nerissa. She got Gregor and the other questors off death row by replacing Boots with the Bane as the aforementioned "Baby" in the prohpecy and telling everyone: "they actually did complete the prophecy, you are are safe from the imaginary threats Sandwhich illueded to. Let them go and let's get back what's actually going wrong." When Greogor sobs about not understanding what the point of the journey to the jungle was (It had no point) and how him fulfilling the prophecy did not make everything better, Nerissa twist the prophecy to being about a war for the cure and reminds Gregor that because of what they discovered in the Jungle the council was forced to give the Gnawers the cure instead. Lastly she loves the one Prophecy that suggest hope for peace, even though its title is the only suggestion of it. On the day of the surrender she knowing her cousin will want to make the wrong choice about how to end this. So when she see's Ripred marked himself with an X (If Gregor and Luxa knew he did it himself there was no way Nerissa did not, she was always smarter than the pair of then) she decided to lend him a hand in getting everyone to believe he is the peacemaker, and they need to have peace. I really love the theory that Nerissa had realized what Sandwhich and the prophecies were and spent the books studying them, so she could try and mitigate the damages they caused.

#Gregor the overlander #The Underland chronicles #The Hunger Games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #IF we can get more of one lets get more of the other #The Hunger games series is all centered around the games and we already have their end #as well as how they got descised as “Fun entertainment”#Which they never were. Just because Katniss and Peeta got dressed up and spent the night in a nice hotel room #Does not change the fact that both they and Lucy Grey were forced to kill or be killed for the capitals amusment. It is the same with Finni #and Johnna. There stores will not give us anything knew.#But their is plenty of TUC characters who's stories still have room too #I wish Suzanna or some clever fanfic writter could write them for us #THG #TUC #GTO #Suzanna Colins

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forgotten-daydreamer · 2 years ago

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MY TWO CENTS ON FUGO FROM "VENTO AUREO"

Some don't understand that the anime objectively did the best thing by changing Fugo's backstory and that him leaving was actually perfect, and it makes me wonder if these people understand anything at all when it comes to JJBA and human experiences. Let me elaborate.

First of all, for those who don't know, in the manga Fugo's backstory is different: his professor never harassed him there. Other changes were made, but let me focus on this one.

This change was made by Araki himself, as you can see here:

Araki had a lot of trouble with the character of Fugo, not only with his backstory, but generally when it came to handling him:

No, this doesn't mean I think Araki hated Fugo. I actually think he loved him so much that he wanted everything about him to be perfect. And perfection is hard to achieve.

Araki changed Fugo's backstory in the anime so that he could have more justice and so that his stand could make even more sense [I'll talk about that in a moment], and he spared him from becoming an evil traitor because it would've been both pointless and cruel towards Fugo himself.

Now, the main reason why I'm writing this, is because online many say that the change makes no sense, that the manga's backstory is better. I, just like Araki, don't think so.

Let's focus on the implications of his stand for a second: Purple Haze is a close-range stand, which is important to prove my point. On its hands, we can see little spheres that, when broken due to Purple Haze throwing punches, release a deadly virus with the ability to kill every being within five meters, in only thirty seconds. Pretty badass, but also, so, so meaningful.

A reminder before I go on: stands are the personifications of someone's spiritual energy. So the stand is the manifestation of the user's inner self.

In the anime, Fugo, as a teen, was raped by his professor, and beat the man to pieces when he tried to sexually harass him: it'd already happened at least once, from what we know from their brief exchange. Also, it's unclear whether the professor had raped Fugo or had "simply" sexually harassed him the first time, but he can be seen taking his belt off in the flashback shortly before being attacked, so I believe that yes, indeed, the professor was aiming to rape Fugo again in that scene.

The professor, by doing so, violates Fugo's personal space. So do his parents by constantly being on their son's back.

Fugo's often described as "violent", but he really isn't, not unless he is openly provoked and/or threatened. He's never attacked the innocent, after all. Not only that, but he's also self-conscious about his stand, he's aware that its power is dangerous.

Let's not forget, Purple Haze doesn't harm what's not in its proximity. Purple Haze only attacks what's in its space, which means, what's in its user's space. Same goes for his user who - were he a violent man like some say - would attack anyone on sight.

And that's it. Fugo's inner self longs for space and quiet, as easy as that. He's not violent when his personal space isn't invaded - both physically and mentally speaking. Fugo never attacks unless he's openly threatened and sees no other way out. Purple Haze symbolises Fugo's desperate need to be left alone, out of trouble, unbothered. Purple Haze makes the threats go silent and still by killing them, and silence and stillness are all Fugo strives for. That's also why he doesn't want to "go against the rules" to defeat the Boss.

For someone with such trauma, with such a complex psyche and possibly BPD [I have it and I believe he does too, but that's not canon, it's just a theory] sticking to the status quo is comforting, it makes him feel safe, grounded. BPD often causes a rapid shift in the perception of both oneself and others, so his sudden change of heart towards Giorno's plan is absolutely justified and has a logic explanation, unlike most people think. BPD, sadly, undermines most humans relationships.

Purple Haze, much like Fugo, isn't evil nor inherently violent. Sure, the man didn't have to stick a fork into Narancia's face for a silly joke, but again, Fugo didn't even perceive it as such - which makes me believe that my BPD theory is right - just like Narancia didn't think that a wrong math problem would've elicited such an explosive reaction.

A traumatized man, whose stand embodies his fear of emotional and physical contact, sees the few people he trusts making what he believes to be the scariest, most irrational decision, determined to go against the status quo. The life of emotional stability that Fugo had slowly started to rebuild after joining the gang is quite literally shattered before his eyes, and yet, he never betrays his friends.

Fugo's behaviour makes much more sense with the changes introduced in the anime, and him leaving was the perfect epilogue for him, in my honest opinion.

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goddamnwebcomics · 3 months ago

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Ranked from Best to Worst: Webcomics of Goddamn Webcomics (2024 Edition)

It has been a year since I started riffing the new batch of comics at hand, and 15 months since I made this previous ranking, so it's about time it got updated again. This time, if I have nothing new to add to a comic's description, it has been italicised.

0. Gene Catlow

When I added Gene Catlow to the ranking, I thought there was nothing like it on this blog and is thus unrankable. One year later, I have been mostly proven right. I still hate how terrible the pacing for this comic was in its later years, and honestly outside of Burke and Sulfur this comic's ending is hard to get through. I think the biggest strength this comic has over any other comic is the emotional versatility. Yes, it's not perfect and can often get extremely tonally inconsistent. I still recommend for people to read it, but if you skip every page after Dorzoi dies outside of Burke and Sulfur pages, I don't blame you.

1. Alien Dice

Alien Dice is still the best comic quality-wise I've read. I would actually argue it does the emotional versatility much better than Gene Catlow does, despite its VERY grimdark setting, which is impressive. Still, it has the occasional inconsistent characterization, it has the ANIMAL ROMANCE, it has the terribly written villains, it has Riley. Chel has gotten some competition with likable protagonists, but still doesn't change the fact Chel and Lexx are the only likable main protagonist couple in this blog.

2. Peter & Company

Some people may be upset by this ranking, but it speaks more about the quality of the shit I riff on this blog than the comic itself. Peter & Company does the bare minimum to not be bad. It has some really good dramatic scenes and decent art, but it's flaws are as hard to ignore as the cameos in the latter half of the comic. Combine that with some of the worst explained worldbuilding in this blog, and I don't see another decent by this blog's standards comic going below this.

3. Daisy Falls Apart

Daisy Falls Apart is a parody comic that doesn’t exactly break new ground. It’s harmless but I wouldn’t read it a second time. It’s held down by its horribly unlikable protagonist and how the whole conflict of the comic is very quickly resolved, and also too many sexual jokes in something that is based on a children’s game. Out of all the comics I’ve riffed, this one is the most mediocre, and number 3 meaning mediocre should worry you.

4. Dominic Deegan

You might be shocked to see Dominic Deegan this high up, yeah, if I did this few months earlier it would be much lower, but recently Dominic Deegan has gone through colossal improvement. However, it still has the existing problems, and especially in its past it has been rather terrible. Still, Dominic does have the credit of being an interesting case as a protagonist. He is not likeable but he is not that hateable either, because he is not a horrible person. You hate because of what a saint he is to the comic's world, not because of what he does. Still, the painful lack of nuance in its commentary can make it a cringy read, its tone is all over the place and comedy isn't as funny as some of the above comics.

5. Carnivores

This comic was originally a painful experience, but so many painful experiences came after it, it feels like one of the less worse ones despite having the worst art. Also i can tell Austin did this comic for fun, and not to convey a deep message. Also it’s probably the only fetish webcomic in history where fetish itself starts taking a backseat halfway through.

6. Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary satisfies your specific hunger for Johnny Test characters commiting several crimes in rapid succession. Reading the comic both entertains me immensely but it also makes me feel dirty. The crossover stuff is there to please the author and not really provide any point. It is unique in that the comic doesn’t feature a full cast ensemble but it’s rather just focusing on Mary ruining people’s lives and interacting some random character from a North American animated thing. The only reason it’s below Carnivores is the suspicious amount of unintentional racism???

7. Warmage

Warmage is enjoyable for all the wrong reasons. None of Dumok’s other comics have gone to the same level of bizarreness Warmage offers with each page. However it is also the host to the long-since-dethroned worst character to ever appear in this blog, Tsuki. Other than that, Warmage seemed to have semi-intriguing lore and also ended on a rather decent arc, so i think i could’ve been interested to see it continue, just because i wanna see how much worse it can get. But then again, spanking scene.

8. Kit n Kay Boodle

It’s amazing that year by year, Kit and Kay Boodle gets more and more tame. More than anything it helped to expose me to Albert’s usual writing bullshit, but somehow it manages to be tame compared to craziness of Gene Catlow. When you know that EVERYONE is fictional in the real life bits, it just loses the nightmare quality it once had. That being said I am bitter half of the riff is locked behind Tumblr’s stupid filter system.

10. TwoKinds

Yes, I'm afraid TwoKinds is occupying Dominic Deegan's former spot. It honestly suffers from very similar issues as early Alien Dice did, just without the likable protagonists. It has some very surprisingly progressive things for its time, but that doesn't change the extremely confusing worldbuilding, terrible antagonists, yet ANOTHER "evil side of the protagonist" and of course the sympathetic slaveowner. Why did Tomjay think that was a good idea? This comic is kind of stuck in a place where it still has a chance to either go above and beyond the early blog shit, sink below Chugworth Roommates line, or maybe just stay in the same spot as always, if the comic doesn't go through any major quality changes. It is bad, and sometimes painful, but it's not unforgivable, and we'll get to unforgivable soon enough.

-The Chugworth Academy and Roommates Line -

Yes, at this point this isn't a ranking but rather, the point of no return. Once your comic sinks below this line, there's no coming back.

11. Four Girls

Four Girls has some of the most vile, disgusting, terrible jokes and some of them just don't make sense. The characters (especially Heaven) are all extremely hateable. You just wish you were reading Daisy's Fall Apart instead. Thankfully it is short, but it is pretty much at same level of quality as Chugworth and Roommates are.

12. Spinnerette

Spinnerette is stuck at a sad, pitiable state. It's like watching the continued downfall of an internet celebrity. The story keeps doing the same mistakes over and over again, and desperately trying to pretend it is not something that is permanently stuck in early 2010's. At this point however, I am so used to Kraw's bullshit gimmicky writing and moments of drama being forced in arcs where they don't belong, I don't even care anymore. At this point, every decent character has been fucking ruined, but it is what it is. Kraw doesn't care about anything else besides the money going into his Patreon so he can keep making porn comics and figurines and Spinny dakimakuras for his disgusting audience.

13. Peter & Whitney

Peter and Whitney should have never existed. Kraw has more of a direction with Spinnerette than this comic does. It's supposed to be an autobiographical slice of life sequel to Peter and Company, but it is just a request from fans that shouldn't have been fulfilled. Peter feels like a whole different person, and there is just no conflict. I don't give a single fuck about college life of these characters, and also, it's existence ACTIVELY HARMS the existence of Peter and Company, a much better comic, because of all the retcons and foregone conclusions.

14. Las Lindas

Las Lindas is even more hopeless than Spinnerette and Peter and Whitney, because this comic will introduce the decent thing, and before you know it decent thing is ruined. At least Spinnerette has decent variety of different stories. Las Lindas will never leave that fucking farm, if we don’t count the spinoff comics half of which are non-canon and are about the same level of quality as main comic anyway. My brief revisit showed me the post-Alejandra era wasn’t as hideous as I thought but it’s pretty damn close, and with the ever-worsening artstyle and an apparent INTRODUCTION OF SUPERHEROES, Las Lindas’s level of quality could best be described with that panel where Tootsie drives into a river.

15. Carry On

Carry On may legitimately have the most hateable protagonists in this blog. It's a comedy comic from a time period when comedy was not at its worst, per se, but definitely at its most embarrassing. There are too many terribly aged jokes and just terrible jokes in general, which make our protagonists look like vicious murderers. If you are also going into this comic without reading 21st Century Fox first, you're not going to understand anything, and even if you have read it you're still going to be confused. Whether or not Rackeroon Saga will lift this comic out of the abyss remains to be seen.

16. Console Girl

Console Girl is the first comic in this ranking I just completely despise. It makes Ctrl-Alt-Delete look like Penny Arcade, it’s a comic about an ecchi console that comes to life but midway through we get a plot twist and it turns out to be a cyberpunk comic that tries to treat humanoid consoles fighting seriously…or not really, as the comic has a problem taking itself seriously, outside of some questionable moments where the author seems to project their hidden anger towards video games into the comic??? We also have in-comic non-canon filler arcs, console girls eventually becoming random fetishes instead of things actually relevant to their real counterparts and TOO MANY LITTLE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH ADULT MEN. I’m glad this comic was never finished.

17. Ask the Werewolves

Ask the Werewolves is visually the most disgusting comic I have ever riffed. It's not the art style that is bad, it is what that art style chooses to depict, hideous character designs, disgusting body horror transformations, 100% unerotic sex scenes, men and women fighting their primal urges, giant balls cumming inside dumpsters, vomiting and so much more. Combine that with the fact it tries to include out of place commentary about modern state of housing market and the end result is a comic that angers me more than it should. It still has a surprisingly likable protagonist, but I still don't want to see the said protagonist cum inside dumpsters, or hang out with a colossal woman child who ruined his life. I don't think this comic is gonna go anywhere.

18. Monster Girl Academy

Monster Girl Academy is just…the worst. It was solely created to make Kraw even more rich, but I would forgive that if the comic didn’t just…fail as a webcomic, fail as a porn comic and fail as a narrative period. This comic was designed for lowest common denominator with fetishes that are too weird to be vanilla and too vanilla to be weird. Its existence pisses me off. While other comics I’ve riffed had potential, this never had any semblance of it. The main protagonist is a piece of shit and all his girls are also pieces of shit, the only likable character is a little girl who cries and prays in Spanish, because every character reading this comic can relate to her. Fuck this comic, and I mean it with every letter of that sentence.

#article thingy

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zeoumren · 5 months ago

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Oh boy, I have been reading over @llamagoddessofficial 's bad Sans fae collection and I am in love with it!! And then I started thinking: oh I wonder if they found an abandoned kid? So naturally the only course of action was to write it all out as a lil one shot! (Psst hey, you can read some of their fae AU here, Which you should. It's super good)

He had been tracking it for days, a giant of a bear just along the outskirts where the borders were thin and shimmering.

Places where in the summer court, there would be offerings humans left for them. Here however, it was another matter. The veil was shimmering as ice on a crystal lake and ten times as dangerous. For who knew what could fall in…or out.

The great footprints lead him into winding great pines. The ice mingled with the heady scent of sap. He knocked one of the trees with a grin, he would have to tap some later. For the moment he was closing in on his prey.

The cave was more of a small mound almost unnoticeable in the snow, the entrance must be a squeeze for the great beast. He felt something crunch underfoot and saw the bones.

The bones of a bear cub.

Either this bear was a cannibal or…

Perhaps killing it was a mercy. The grief of losing a cub might drive the thing mad later.

He was about to enter when he heard the roar and without warning was rammed into. The protective instincts of a mother animal, even as her child lay to rest.

He would make sure to use every part of her and lay her bones by her cub, he readied himself to strike when he heard the rapid padding of small feet racing from the cave.

A small creature launched itself onto the back of the great hulking beast. He could only look on agape. A child. A HUMAN child was clinging to the back of this great beast nuzzling into its fur while the beast snuffled at it and scruffed it by a tattered shirt, pushing it with its snout into the cave once more. The child made a growl of protest. Mimicking the mother bear.

Horror saw. He saw the hunger now. The mother had its fur hanging off of its body. The child was thin. Not unfed but underfed. They were both clinging to life with desperation. He held the child’s gaze, it could not be too old. Five at most.

Why was it here and not with its parents?

He recalled Killer scoffing quietly when he asked about how he found the cats once.

“Humans use the winter borders to dump unwanted things, big guy. Don't ask me why.”

An unwanted abandoned child and a starving mother.

Nightmare was not going to be impressed with him.

_________

He levelled Horror with a look that could freeze hell over. Beside the behemoth of a fae was a large mangy bear and scruffed in his hand was a growling human child. The bear was more calm than the human, though beasts generally knew when true predators were present.

“Tell me once more what you want to do with…those.”

Horror shrugged and held the human up again.

“Killer gets to keep his cats. This is mine.”

_____

You whined for your mother as this huge creature held you up to the dark sparkly one. It looked like the dark ice covered rocks that your mother let you play with. You were not biting, mother was not, so you would not but you wanted to as they chirped at each other. Worse than birds they seemed…well at least the dark one. The big one scruffing you did not speak much which suited you just fine. You wanted to go back to the den, there was a fishbone you had been happily gnawing on. The hunts had been bad for mother lately and you were not whining for much anymore. The dark one rose from its perch interrupting your thoughts about eating the bones and held your face. A chill struck you as it stared at you, it wanted to scare you sadly for them…

This thing was bones, as was the other.

You opened your jaws and clamped down on the hand coming close to you. Unlike the one holding you, this one did not have the same feel as bones or even rocks.

It was cold, it made your tongue hurt but hunger drove you, your stomach growled.

You found your jaw being stuffed as the being in front of you forced more of his hand in. You released him as you felt your jaw pop with a whine.

You flinched as that hand now reached towards you expecting violence for your actions, instead there was a gentle touch to the top of your head and something in you leaned into that touch. The being…the man? Chuckled.

“I see, this small one is quite spirited. very well Horror you may keep it.”

The big one wrapped its arms around you. Warm and unyielding, a deep purr making your body lose some tension. As you tried to remain wakeful.

“Sleep well, Quillan. Welcome to the winter court.”

#Fae AU #Horror just scruffing you like a wet cat an going #“Guess im a dad now.” c:#yes Horror. that is DEFINITELY HOW IT WORKS.#little cub au #you just wanna chew on bones #nightmare was not a great candidate for that #like the equivalent to sticking your tongue on metal in winter #nightmare is suprised you are alive #bad sanses #writing #fan fiction

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spinningbuster98 · 1 year ago

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Mega Man X7 Part 1

So I know that technically speaking Zero 1 should be next since it came out the year after X6 but y’know what? There’s only 2 X games left, might as well do them sooner rather than later. Besides the Zero series has a much more connected story throughout its games so it’s more fitting to do them all in sequential order without interruptions.

It’s just too bad that we now have to deal with quite possibly one of the worst games ever made

X7′s issues are much more...explicit than X6′s. You can spot them just by looking at it.

Probably the first thing you’ll notice is just how ugly it looks. This is a 2003 PS2 game, this thing came out at the same time as Sonic Heroes and yet it looks like a Dreamcast game, if the character models were completely and utterly inexpressive, the characters animated like actual puppets (and barely at that) and the environments looked as bland and uninspired and murky as fuck. The opening stage is a recreation of X1′s (because X7 came out to celebrate the X series’ 10th anniversary, now where have I seen a similar situation before?), and it just serves to further drive home the point of how despicably low we’ve fallen

So this game wants to be 3D. Well 3D and 2D as well, with different sections in each level. Barring Legends, which was 3D but kinda cheated by having a different gameplay style altogether, this is technically the first....and only time a traditional Mega Man game has ever been translated into 3D.

You may already spot the main issues, like the camera being stuck in this pseudo bird’s eye view half the time while also being stuck to your ass, making it damn awkward to see where you’re going during 3D sections, especially when platforming is involved.

Another big issue that you wouldn’t notice unless you were playing this is the controls: the characters feel sluggish, slow, they have little sense of fluidity, 3D sections, with their extra spacious design, pretty much require you to dash jump all over the place if you intend of moving at a pace that’s greater than that of entropy and wall jumping feels awkward as hell with the characters jumping way too far away from the wall and the camera moving alongside them even in the 2D sections

The game has an auto lock on, because the devs must have figured that it would be needed in a 3D space and it is, but this also means that Mega Man’s trademark gameplay style of taking aim and firing is neutered since now you can just spam a button indisciminately and stuff will die. They won’t die immediately because enemies like to be tanky and you can get knocked on your ass by stuff like explosions, which does WONDERS for this game’s pacing but hey.

Word of advice: go to the options and turn on rapid fire. Trust me you’ll see later why you’d wanna do this

Anothe thing you may have noticed is the voice acting

MM8 and X4 are infamous for their voice acting but y’know what? They were somewhat charming in a “so bad it’s funny” kind of way, plus I could count the voiced cutscenes on one hand

X7′s can get funny in a memey sort of way but mostly it’s fucking ear-grating

Zero sounds half decent but the direction they gave the actor makes him sound like he’s changed his mind about coming back to life and now just wants to gp back to the void

Signas is voiced by Robert Belgrade, the man who voiced Alucard in Symphony of The Night, probably the only voice actor in that game who put any kind of genuine effort (besides Dracula’s in his own way). Here though he sounds completely zoned out, like he’s here fot the check and nothing else

Alia sounds like a timid teenage girl

Axl sounds like every annoying shonen kid stereotype all rolled up into one

And X

Ooooh X....

So unlike what my previous criticisms of Zero becoming the de facto protagonist of the series for a while (and my profile picture) may have suggested I actually don’t have a lot of love for X aside from his design.

The series has just never done anything of substance with his concept of being the first robot capable of true free will, and due to his general lack of dialogue and interesting story beats when compared to Zero he just doesn’t amount to much kre than “angsty Mega Man”, like he’s exactly like Rock except you swap out his childlike optimism and drive with lots of angst and doubt. On paper this should be enough to make X different enough but in practice, like I said, the execution has simply never been there.

Theoretically a story where X decides to no longer fight the good fight because he can’t take it any longer would be great; not only is it very human but it also showcases X’s ability to make his own choices in a negative way by having him make a bad decision. It’s a far more interesting idea than simply having him go evil as was the original idea behind the Zero series....which actually ended up having X also retire from fighting out of sheer mental exhaustion before X7 was even a thing.

However what we get here is one of the worst cases of flanderizaton I have ever seen

In past games X would have usually only 1 brief (BRIEF) moment where he laments that he has to once again take up arms and fight to save the world. He’s a pacifist at heart so it makes sense.

X7 makes it X’s entire personality. And in the whiniest, most hateable way possible. And I don’t mean Shinji Ikari kind of whiny.

He just stands there at HQ doing fuck all all day (as far as we can see at least), criticizing others for using violence to deal with dangerous criminals, while not coming up with a better alternative and just being a douchebag overall. He sounds like your average Twitter user who rants about the injustices of the world and how other people are shit for not doing anything about them while they themselves are just sitting there typing at a keyboard from their mother’s basement.

That moment when he tells Red that if he wants Axl back he can have him because he has no intention of fighting for the likes of him is fucking putrid. He’s literally saying that he’s A-OK with handing over a kid, even if a troubled and irresponsible one, to a criminal organization just because “fighting bad”.

It’s pretty funny. Inafune has long left the series and you can tell because Zero is no longer the center of the universe, but now this new dev team want to impose ANOTHER main character in the form of Axl and X is treated worse than ever.

And we’re just getting started

#youtube #megaman #megaman x7 #my gameplay

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ilbound · 2 years ago

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@crystalcracked has requested a story : ❛ please just let me help you. ❜ // slides some love from Ky to Dyn perhaps?

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅.

Communing with Thra is regarded as a SACRED THING . However , any Dustling worth his salt in sense will tell you being born a Foreteller is less a gift , more a c u r s e . Unlike the esteemed sages of the tribe , Foretellers can hold conference with the world in an unknowable , terrifying way , always seen as holding one paw fixed in the moment and the other thrust beyond the veil as if to seize hold of the knowledge that awaits ( it is fear , you may say , which sullies their reputation so ; what one does not understand they discredit merely out of being afraid ) .

This c o n f e r e n c e happens suddenly – typically – with little time to prepare. It comes like an assault , leaving the animal transfixed and spellbound , FORCED to endure the message. No matter the scant couple of times Dyn’lo himself has experienced his own visions , at the expense of a ‘ gift ’ he did not care to receive , he never became accustomed to the sensation of it. And tonight , he falls VICTIM to it again ; helpless as ever to its possessive paralysis , with little choice but to listen and see and UNDERSTAND all that Thra intends to tell him ( though he prays she comes with good news , he hopes she means to leave him in good spirits ) . He’s only just enough time to cast open the window , to let in the late-hour light of the roaming Sisters ‘fore it takes hold entirely and – in barely a moment – his eyes have gone pale , a g l o w and staring far , far off while claws grip tightly to the windowsill , his mind already gone and AT THE MERCY of the unseen misers.

Reality is STILL & QUIET ; nothing in the room moves in the moonlight save for the occasional prickle of static humming from Dyn’lo’s pelt. Internally , he becomes o n e with all that is and all that must be ; he becomes a melody in the eternal , though ruptured / wounded heart-song of the world , sent hurtling like an abandoned star into another place , another time ( at least , at first ) . From the rush , rouses a meager c l a r i t y ( he is home , but not home at all ) , then suddenly : one scene , followed swiftly by another and another and another , each of them in rapid succession , all the information swelling and compounding so fully it takes all the Dustling has to follow what he’s being told. But he understands enough of it – from how he is shown the day Xehan’ra is pronounced dead , to the moment when the last kit sleeps and does not wake , to the way the smoke from the funerary pyres have hung like a warning smog ‘round the homestead – his tribe is DYING , his people are LOSING FAITH . And they are all but a few steps shy of complete r u i n .

In a voice not a voice at all , he calls to the aether : what do you intend me to do ?

The strangeness begins to shift once more ( through the tides of the ephemera he hears the dissent of those few still living : we’ve served our place with the dousan long enough ! if nothing is done they will kill us ! they will kill us ! they will kill us — ! ) and at last deposits him in the Hall of Hearing where he finds Ayn’ra in solitary repose , clinging to her mother’s scepter , asking for answers just as he is.

❝ Ayn ? ❞ He tries and to his surprise , she turns towards his voice , though does not seem to see him. She looks startled , fixed into an anxious daze but the least bit relieved to h e a r him.

❝ Dyn’lo … ? ❞ She peers closer , trying to catch a glimpse of his spirit speaking to her. She shakes her head , ❝ I- I don’t understand , how is this possible ? ❞

Truth be told , he wasn’t so sure himself. But he is sure he was brought to speak to her for a r e a s o n , and he doesn’t intend to squander the chance— Until there comes a great tapping from somewhere ( on his real shoulder ? on his real body ? what is happening ? ) . The forger ignores it , trying to concentrate on the vision already beginning to flicker out of focus. ❝ Ayn , I haven’t much time— ❞ He knows he’s speaking quickly , he knows it only worries her further , he can scent the fear in her , can see the flash of unnerving distress in her light-hued irises.

The tapping comes again , a soft tenor calling worriedly out to him from far off. He pushes past it , keeps trying to hold on to Ayn , keeps trying to reach out to her but his time is already up , he can no longer speak and she can longer hear ; the veil has already closed back ‘round them , separating them. ❝ Dyn- Dyn’lo ? Oh , have you truly gone ? ❞ It’s a PAINED way she speaks , full of desperation , full of s o r r o w . ❝ Don’t leave me alone , don’t leave me— ! ❞

Dyn’lo is rather literally thrust back into himself waiting there in the camp , sending him slumping down to his knees onto the floor in a heaving , breathless mess. ❝ No , ❞ Dyn’lo groans , letting the after current of pain sink its teeth into his skull , ❝ No , no no no no ! ❞ He was so close , if only he could’ve had more time— ! But what stopped him ? Taking a few breaths he slowly , unsteadily , lifts his head , looking towards the one who had interrupted him. ❝ Kylan , ❞ The acknowledgement comes out HARSHLY , bitten through the sharps of teeth and half-snarled , making the other recoil slightly. ❝ You - ❞ He takes a breath , ❝ You should not be here right now , it’s late. ❞ Not in any condition to chastise someone , but he’s certainly leaving little room for rebuttal.

To his dismay , Kylan is quick with response , mentioning he took notice that something was strange , that he only intended to help since the forger looked to be in pain ( verily he was , a psychic fit was oft’ painful ) . Please just let me help you , spoken gently and in earnest , hands already making to help the larger creature to his feet. But it’s no use , Kylan may well be moving a monument from its roots ; Dyn’lo needs time to recover , there’s no going anywhere for the moment.

❝ Leave , Kylan. ❞ Dyn’lo tells him sharply , shaking his head , swatting away his hands.

The protestations begin and Dyn’lo bangs his fist onto the dirt of the floor , sending an upstart of electric current , ❝ NO ! ❞ The Dustling rounds on the smaller , sharp teeth snapping , large body bristling with a furious crackle of power and anger. True to effect , Kylan is forced to recede several steps , both startled to confusion as much as fear. ❝ There is nothing to be done , do you understand ? I’ve already RUN OUT OF TIME ! Now , go ! You can do me no favors but leave me to g r i e v e ! ❞

#❧ ⸺ how can ( queue ) say there is no story here ? ❞#❧ ⸺ ch. dyn’lo | answered ❞#❧ ⸺ ch. dyn’lo | verse iii: tdc ❞#crystalcracked #crystalcracked | kylan #long post cw

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chaos-proffesa · 2 years ago

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Ok so I'm bored and need a distraction sooo.... MORE HEADCA NONS WOO!!!

Also for this I'm doing miderasermic (kayama, aizawa and hizashi)

MHA over 18 only

Aizawa

Aizawa when sick I feel would contrary to alot of headcannons would be a cuddle bug and crave attention (alot of hc I see have him be stubborn and work through ut but this man is tired he needs rest) I feel like he would grab onto and attach himself to the closest person near him and not let go he wouldn't be whiney but like tired and upset

He would follow the others around and avoid working when sick so he dirsent spread it to the students

I feel like his sneezes would be restrianed like he'd stifle or try to keep them quiet by muffling them and they'd be messy when sick or having an allergy attack (usually in fits of 4-5)

Speaking of he's allergic to dust, feathers and bunnies I don't make the rules also cuz vibes.

Hizashi

When hizashi is sick I feel like he'd be the one to try and push through illness lots of sore throats and cough drops will be seen at his desk, insanely congested too like it's obvious he should be in bed but he's been stubborn and won't go home until he passes out or his fever spikes too far

Loud sneeze like ik its obviouse but voice quirk it's gotta be, they hurt his throat :(usually in fits of one or two)

He's allergic to animal fur and sensitive to spices

Kayama

Kayama just sleeps unlike aizawa who wants to but can't, she wants to be staying up and working from home but she just can't keep her eyes open, she's sensitive when sick both emotionally and physically one boop and she's gone for a muinite of build-ups, long build-ups she'd be sitting hitching for a solid muinite or two fanning at her face until aizawa or hizashi boop her or blow on her nose

Her sneeze is rapid, quick and alot like around 5-8 at a time more if it's induced or a bad allergy attack

She's allergic to dust,pollen and perfume

Also just for funzies

Aizawa doesent have the kink but indulges

Hizashi has the kink

Kayama diddnt at first but after indulging hizashi she started exploring it more.

#sneeze kink #sneeze thoughts #sneeze blog #snz #sneezeblr #sneeze scenario #induced sneezes

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centerspirited · 11 months ago

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#IFTTT #centerspirited.com

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daimonclub · 2 years ago

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The essence of grammar

Children studying grammar The essence of grammar, an article written by a famous scholar explaining the importance, the main aspects and the difficulties of the fundamental structure of any language. Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language. Ludwig Wittgenstein The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean different things. The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be master - that's all. Alice was much too puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. They've a temper most of them - particularly verbs, they're the proudest - adjectives you can do anything, with, but not verbs - however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say! Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass. Usage makes the rules, only afterwards grammarians write books in order to define a certain standard of the language so that to avoid a too rapid and continuous change of the idiom that would cause a real confusion for its users. In other words we can say that grammar is a means to slow down the mutation of a language making possible at the same time the effectual understanding and communication of its speakers. Carl William Brown Why study grammar? Alice had almost certainly learnt some grammar at school. It is almost equally certain that she was bored by it. In more recent times, most school children have been spared the boredom, because the teaching of grammar has been dropped from the syllabus and, unlike Alice, they may well never know the difference between an adjective and a verb. Yet this is an extraordinary and quite deplorable state of affairs. Few areas of our experience are closer to us or more continuously with us than our language. We spend a large part of our waking life speaking, listening, reading and writing. The central part of a language (its 'mechanics', its 'calculus' - other metaphors will do) is its grammar, and this should be of vital interest to any intelligent educated person. If it has not been of such interest, then the fault must be in the way in which it has been presented, or in the failure to recognize its importance within this essentially human activity, language. Man is not well defined as homo sapiens (man with wisdom). For what do we mean by wisdom? More recently anthropologists have talked about 'man the tool-maker', but apes too can make primitive tools. What sets man apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is his ability to speak; he is 'man the speaking animal'.

Importance of grammar Homo loquens. But it is grammar that makes language so essentially a human characteristic. For though other creatures can make meaningful sounds, the link between sound and meaning is for them of a far more primitive kind than it is for man, and the link for man is grammar. Man is not merely homo loquens; he is homo grammaticus. We can see this point more clearly if we look briefly at the idea of communication. Men have for centuries been interested in the language they speak, but only in recent years have they attempted to examine it in an objective or 'scientific' way. Some scholars, in their resolve to look at language without prejudice and preconception, have begun with the premise that language is a communication system and as such can and must be compared with other communication systems. Some such systems are those used by animals. The gibbons, for instance, have at least nine different calls. It has been claimed that bees have a complicated system of dances to indicate the direction, the distance and the quantity of newly discovered nectar. Other systems are mechanical; traffic lights, for instance, use three different colours, but give four different signals (in some countries five, where green as well as red combines with amber). All of these seem to have something in common with language. They all have something to communicate and they all have their own ways of communicating it. Can we say that these communication systems have grammars - and if not, why not? The study of these other systems has not proved to be very helpful in the detailed understanding of language, though it has helped us to see the ways in which language differs from them. The main difference here is the enormous complexity of language, and it is within this complexity that we must look for grammar. A gibbon call has merely a meaning such as 'danger' or 'food', and there are only nine or so different calls. The bees can tell only the direction, the distance and the amount of the nectar. The traffic lights can only signal 'stop', 'go', etc. But the possible sentences of English with all the possible meanings are myriad or, more probably, infinite in number. We do not learn the meaning of each of all these countless sentences separately. This is shown by the fact that many, if not most, of the sentences we produce or hear are new, in the sense that they are not identical with sentences that we have produced or heard before (and some have never been produced or heard by anyone), yet we understand their meaning. There is a highly complex system in their construction, and this complex system differs from language to language - that is why languages are different. Within this system there is a complex set of relations that link the sounds of the language (or its written symbols) with the 'meanings', the message they have to convey. In the widest sense of the term, grammar is that complex set of relations. According to one definition, the grammar of a language 'is a device that... specifies the infinite set of well-formed sentences and assigns to each of them one or more structural descriptions'. That is to say it tells us just what are all the possible sentences of a language and provides a description of them. This is no small task, but one that is well worthy of human study.

The essence of grammar It is a sad fact that we are very ignorant of some important aspects of speech. We have very little idea of the steps by which men came to speak and, indeed, no accurate assessment of the time at which speech began. At some time in the past man developed his speech organs; these were originally designed for eating and breathing, but became highly specialized for the purpose of speech. We do not know when or how this took place, for the organs are all of flesh and do not survive in fossil remains, and only a little can be conjectured from the shape of the jaw. In any case, if we knew how and when these organs developed this would tell us only how man came to master the sounds of language. It would tell us nothing about the development of the grammatical systems. The evidence for these goes back only as far as we have written records, a mere few thousand years, a tiny fraction of the total time that man has been speaking. We are ignorant too of the neurophysiological mechanisms that make speech, and grammar in particular, possible. We know that speech is normally located in the left hemisphere of the brain, though it is a remarkable fact that if this part is damaged in early childhood speech is still developed. Since in such cases another part of the brain is used it would seem that no part of the brain is especially adapted for speech. There are three characteristics of language that are important for the understanding of the nature of grammar: it is complex, productive and arbitrary. That language is highly complex is shown by the fact that up to now it has not proved possible to translate literary texts mechanically from one language to another, with really satisfactory results. The fault lies not in the computer but in the failure to provide it with sufficiently accurate instructions, because we are still unable to handle this vastly complex system. It has been suggested, moreover, that from what we know about language and the human brain speech ought to be impossible. For it has been calculated that if any of the known methods of computing language were used in the neurophysiological processes of the brain, it would take several minutes to produce or to understand a single short sentence! Part of the task of the grammarian is, then, to unravel the complexities of languages, and, as far as possible, simplify them. Yet total description of a language is an impossibility at present and even in the foreseeable future. Secondly, language is productive. We can produce myriads of sentences that we have never heard or uttered before... One task of grammatical theory is to explain this quite remarkable fact. As we shall see, many grammatical theories have failed in this. Thirdly, language is arbitrary. There is no one-to-one relation between sound and meaning. This accounts for the fact that languages differ, and they differ most of all in their grammatical structure. But how far are these differences only superficial, in the shape of the words and their overt patterns? Some scholars would maintain that 'deep down' there are strong similarities - even 'universal' characteristics, disguised by the superficial features of sound (and perhaps of meaning). It is not at all clear how we can find the answer to this problem. When we discuss grammar, however, we assume that many characteristics of language are shared. For this reason we talk of 'nouns', of 'verbs', of 'gender' or of 'number' and other such grammatical categories. What is grammar? There is a great deal of confusion about grammar because of the very many different ways in which the term is used in ordinary speech. Let us take a brief look at some of them. All of the following I would regard as misconceptions. I. A grammar of the language is a book written about it. The word 'grammar' is often used to refer to the book itself - school children may often ask 'May I borrow your grammar?' It is obvious, of course, that a grammar in this sense means a grammar book, a book about grammar, but there is a real danger that even if this is accepted, it may still be thought that, even if the grammar is not the book itself, it is at least what is in the book. But in this sense the grammar of the language is no more than the grammar as presented by the author of the book. 2. The grammar of the language is found only in the written language - spoken languages have no grammar or at least fluctuate so much that they are only partially grammatical. This viewpoint has been supported by the etymology of the word 'grammar' - it comes from the Greek word meaning 'to write'...

Grammar revision It is enough to comment here that in this sense languages which have never been written down would be said to have no grammar. But this we cannot accept. 3. Some languages have grammar, others do not: Chinese, for instance, has no grammar, and English has precious little. What is meant by this is that English has very few 'inflections' - that each word has only a few different shapes and that in Chinese all the words keep the same shape. Whereas in Latin the verb amo: 'I love' has over one hundred different forms, the English verb 'to love' has only four forms: love, loves, loved and loving (some verbs have five: take, takes, took, taken, taking), and the Chinese word for 'love' is always the same. But this is to use the term 'grammar' in a very restricted sense. It refers to MORPHOLOGY only, which deals with the forms of words, and omits altogether SYNTAX, which is concerned with the way in which words combine to form sentences. But the order of words is a matter of syntax and syntax is a part of grammar. A very important part of English grammar tells us that John saw Bill is different from Bill saw John and that a steel sheet is different from sheet steel; yet in the restricted sense of grammar that we are now considering, these differences would not be deemed grammatical. Grammar is something that can be good or bad, correct or incorrect. It is bad (incorrect) grammar to say 'It's me', for instance. This again is a widespread belief and also deserves careful consideration. Once again, however, notice that on this interpretation it will usually be languages that are formally taught in school or through books that are said to have any grammar. For it is at school or in books that we usually find the criteria for what is good and what is bad grammar. Some people know the grammar of their language, others do not. This is a little more subtle. It implies that a language does not have a grammar until it is made explicit and can be learnt from a grammar book or at school. But there is surely a sense in which knowing the grammar of a language means that you can speak it grammatically. An Englishman might well be said to know the grammar of French perfectly if he spoke it as grammatically as a Frenchman, but had never attended a class or read a book about French. It is fairly obvious from all this that I want to use the word 'grammar' in the sense suggested at the end of the last sentence. It describes what people do when they speak their language; it is not something that has to be found in books, written down or learnt by heart. As investigators, of course, we want to write about the grammar of a language; but writing it down does not bring it into existence any more than writing about biology creates living cells! Within linguistics, 'grammar' is normally used in a technical sense to distinguish it chiefly from PHONOLOGY, the study of the sounds of a language, and SEMANTICS, the study of meaning. It lies so to speak 'in the middle', between these two, and is related in a Janus-like way to both... Among some scholars the term 'grammar' is used in a rather wider sense to include, to some degree, both phonology and semantics, with the term 'syntax' used for the central portion.

The rules of grammar As I said before grammar can be good or bad, correct or incorrect. This might seem reasonable enough. Is grammar not like manners which can and should be the subject of approval or disapproval? This view is very widespread and is, of course, related to the other views that were discussed - that grammar is something that can or must be learnt from a book, and that knowing the grammar of a language means having an explicit knowledge of it. Some years ago, for instance, I lived in Wales and made an attempt to learn the Welsh language. One of my Welsh friends on hearing this commented, 'You'll learn to speak better Welsh than we do - you'll have learnt the grammar.' The implications are clear: there is a better and a worse kind of Welsh and the better kind is to be found in grammar books - it can be learnt and so 'known'. These misconceptions are all mixed together, but the basic mistake is seeing grammar as a set of normative rules - rules that tell us how we ought to speak and write. It is important incidentally to stress the word 'normative', since, as we shall see later, one theoretical model of grammar makes extensive use of rules; these will prove, however, to be descriptive rules (rules that describe the language), not prescriptive rules (rules that prescribe the language). That is, they will be rules that state what we in fact say, not rules that state what we ought to say. Normative grammar teaches us to say It is I instead of It's me, to avoid ending sentences with prepositions, to know the difference between owing to and due to, to use each other instead of one another when only two people are involved, and so on. The authority for these 'correct' forms lies, of course, in the grammar books. They have been drilled into generations of schoolboys, and it is no coincidence that we speak of the 'grammar' schools. In France there is an even more impressive authority, the French Academy, which since 1635 has been the body with the right to decide what is and what is not permissible in the French language. Most of these rules of grammar have no real justification, and there is therefore no serious reason for condemning the 'errors' they proscribe. What is correct and what is not correct is ultimately only a matter of what is accepted by society, for language is a matter of conventions within society. If everyone says It's me, then surely It's me is correct English. (For by what criterion can everyone within a society be guilty of bad grammar?) But we must be a little careful here. It is not simply a matter that whatever is said is thereby correct; I am not arguing that 'anything goes'. It depends on who says it and when. In other words, there are manners even in language. Certain language forms are regarded as uneducated or vulgar; this is a judgement that our society makes. Some forms of language are acceptable in certain situations only. At an interview for a job, for instance, we have to watch our language as well as our clothes. To use certain types of language there would be as detrimental as wearing old clothes. But most of the rules of the traditional grammar that has been taught over the years are not rules of behavior of this kind. They prescribe forms that many of us would never normally use, and, if we do, we feel we are 'speaking like a book'. The best way of seeing that these rules have no validity is to look at the justification, or supposed justification, that is given for them.

Latin and English First of all, many of the rules are essentially rules taken from Latin. Latin was the classical language known by all educated people and was once regarded as the model for all other languages. Even today there are people who say that Latin is more 'logical' than English. In the debate some years ago about the teaching of Latin at school and the requirement of Latin for entrance to Oxford and Cambridge, the familiar arguments were put forward - Latin helped to discipline the mind, Latin taught the students grammar. This latter statement was true in a rather paradoxical way. Since most English grammar teaching was based upon Latin, the students were often at a loss. They could not see why English had the subjunctive or a dative case, but when they learnt Latin it all became clear. Latin helped them with their English grammar, but only because English grammar was really Latin grammar all the time! The rule that we should say It is I is a typical example of a Latin rule taken over for English. The argument (which Read the full article

#book #Chinese #correct #English #French #grammar #language #latin #mind #morthology #phonetics #rules #School #structure #syntax #teaching #universal

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