#we're not supposed to post or translate anything from fans

[cosmerelists]

Ranking Various Cosmere Fantasy Swears

If there's one thing Brandon Sanderson likes, it's avoiding any real swear words in favor of Fantasy Swears. I am genuinely a huge fan of this technique. So here how I'd rank some of the ones I can remember! (And thanks to 17th Shard [here and here] and to Reddit for compiling some lists!).

#14: Colors (Warbreaker)

This one feels a little bit...lazy, I guess? Like yes, Warbreaker's magic is color-dependent, so colors are a big part of the world-building, so I guess it makes sense that people use it as a swear. But it feels like if, in fantasy USA, people swore by "eagles" all the time: "Eagles! I dropped my hamburger!"

#13: Moons (Tress of the Emerald Sea)

I mean same problem as with "colors"! Yes, the moons are a big aspect of the worldbuilding, but it just feels like a semi-boring swear. Although maybe that's just the swear that Tress tends to use.

#12: Shadows/Shades (Shadows for Silence/Sunlit Man)

Okay, maybe this one is a bit boring, but anything Threndy-related gets extra credit from me. So therefore I think this is one of the least boring of the "basically boring descriptors of world building elements" swears.

#11: By the Lord Ruler (Mistborn)

I mean...eh. This one is world specific, but it's basically like swearing by god only in this case the god is the Lord Ruler, right? It makes sense 'n' all but isn't as interesting as some of the later ones.

#10: By the Survivor's Scars (Mistborn)

This one is better because it's more specific--Kelsier's scars are rich with meaning, and swearing by them does feel like it carries cultural weight.

#9: By Harmony's Armbands (Mistborn)

Putting them all in a line like this...I just like how they get ever more specific. Now we're swearing by Harmony's feruchemical armlets? Okay!

#8: God Beyond (Shadows for Silence)

I mean, Threnody is, like, haunted by a god's corpse, so I think any of their god-related swears are more interesting as a result.

#7: Nights / Nights afire (Emperor's Soul)

I like this one because I just don't know what it refers to and it seems kinda creepy. What are nights on fire for??

#6: Rust and Ruin (Mistborn)

Frankly, the alliteration gets this one extra points. And "Rust and Ruin!" just feels like a good thing to shout when you've stubbed your toe.

#5: Storms/storming/Stormfather (Stormlight Archive)

I know this one SHOULD lose points for being exactly the sort of boring descriptive swear I maligned above...but I enjoy this one simply because it's such a clear linguistic stand-in for "fuck" and that leads to such amusing translations as "Kaladin Fuckblessed" or the "Fuckfather" and that just never stops being funny to me.

#4: Herald body parts (Stormlight Archive)

I didn't notice until looking at various compiled lists of Cosmere Fantasy Swears, but Rosharans really like to swear by specific Herald body parts, huh? From here: Kelek's breadth, Kelek's tongue, Ash's eyes, Ishar's soul, Nalan's hand, Pali's mind, Talat's hand...I'm a fan of this. It's interesting and feels culturally relevant.

#3: Glories Within (Stormlight Archive)

This one is just Szeth so far, but people speculate it's probably a Shin curse. That makes it interesting to me since we don't know a whole lot about the Shin. What inner glory are they using to swear?

#2: Starving (Stormlight Archive)

This one is pretty similar to "Storming," I suppose, in being a pretty clear linguistic stand-in for "fucking." But I just like that the food-obsessed Lift has her own personal swear relating to starvation.

#1: Lowly/Highly (Yumi and the Nightmare Painter)

I'm a big fan of the lowly/highly thing from Yumi & the Nightmare Painter, where words can be linguistically marked as meant in either a high way (complimentary) or a low way (insultingly). It's fun worldbuilding and leads to some comic beats in the novel. Plus, this post tickled me greatly: https://www.tumblr.com/cabinetcreature/722030379790401536?source=share. It's so true!

[epically-ace-attorney]

*Intro Post ~ Welcome to the chaos!*

Hallo! This blog is an Ace Attorney AU using the musical EPIC! Canon is our bitch and we do as we please :)

The blog is joint run by @weltato (hi) and @the-ace-attorney-siren (formerly @burtrice1). Feel free to ask us anything about this AU in the inbox and not DMs - PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A WIP AU AND IS CONSTANTLY BEING THOUGHT OUT!!

The "backstory" I suppose would be that Wel was watching a great guy on YouTube by the name of Mortius (you should check him out, he's cool) react to "We'll Be Fine" and "Love in Paradise" from the most recent saga released from EPIC as of writing this (20/09/2024) - The Wisdom Saga. Wel had also been binging through some Ace Attorney streams by The NyanCave (also really cool, you should check them out too) and had that on the brain at the same time. Then she noticed something interesting - Odysseus had been on Calypso's Island for seven years.

You wanna know who else had a seven year gap? Phoenix Wright.

So obviously, I go to burtrice1 and say:

And then this happens:

And everything came from there. Just imagine it: Phoenix on that cliff calling for Mia T^T

Anyway, we had some planning to do: there is currently a list of characters from The Ace Attorney Trilogy, Ace Attorney: Investigations 1 & 2 (we're using the fan translation names in this house), and Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice (because Wel hasn't finished Dual Destinies and hasn't seen Spirit of Justice yet) and what people from EPIC they're going in as.

*RULES OF THE BLOG!*

No spoilers for the games please! There will be people that see this blog with no idea about the Ace Attorney series and they'll want to find out themselves (also one mod hasn't finished the series yet).

No spoilers for EPIC! There will be people that see this blog with no idea what the craic is with EPIC and letting them experience the joy that is this musical is all the sweeter with no spoilers <3

As previously mentioned: game canon is our bitch and we do what we want with it, which means that if you see an inconsistency with ages or anything, no you don't ;p

To second that: we are fitting characters with roles we feel they fit the best in EPIC canon, so a villain from Ace Attorney might show up as a 'good guy' from EPIC - it's not because we've redeemed them, it's just that they fit the role nicely.

Please keep questions PG, there are minors that enjoy both Ace Attorney and EPIC and we'd like to keep this blog a safe space for everyone.

In the words of Ricky Potts: don't be a dick. We don't tolerate harassment of either the mods or anyone sending an ask into our inbox. Respect isn't hard, friend :)

If you've asked us a question and we haven't responded yet, please don't go into our personal inboxes or DMs to ask us about it - see the rule above. Both mods are busy people and do this purely for fun, so we'll get to your question when we see it. The timezone of this blog is GMT/BST depending on the time of year, so both mods could very well be asleep.

The canon of this AU follows with EPIC canon, which is NOT the actual Odyssey or Iliad. If you want to read those in your own time, feel free to.

Have fun! We want to share this with people to see your reactions and interact with other fans of the Ace Attorney games and EPIC: The Musical.

If you're excited about this blog, REBLOG OUR POSTS!! Reblogging is the lifeblood of Tumblr and can make or break a post. We want to reach as many people as possible with this silly little idea of ours.

If you want to write fics about our AU, please ask us first! Wel is a regular fic writer and she has some ideas floating around, so maybe let her finish those first before jumping in - but we love the enthusiasm! Thank you!

Fanart is awesome!! Please credit the idea to this blog and @ us in the post with the tag #epicallyaa, we'd love to see what you've done :D

This post will update with extra rules as and when needed, if we need to <3

*TAGS!*

#wel writes - this is for whenever Wel writes a fanfic about something. This is a personal tag from Wel, so if you want to see more of her work feel free to peruse that tag on her main Tumblr account. All the fics posted here will be specifically for this AU.

#siren art - this is for whenever the-ace-attorney-siren posts art to this blog. Again, any art posted here will be specifically for this AU.

#epicallyaa - this is a tag for us and others to use about our AU! If you post any fanart or fanfic about our AU, use this tag and @ this account too so that we can see your awesomeness :D

#wel answers - whenever Wel answers an ask

#the siren sings - whenever the-ace-attorney-siren answers an ask

Like the rules, more tags will be added as and when we feel we need some more.

Thanks for reading all of this!! This post is very important to read, so if you come in asking questions blind, we might just refer you to this post and ask you to try again :)

~ Wel & the-ace-attorney-siren

[dutchdread]

Have you read the rebirth Ultimania? If you did, was there something you considerd interesting?

Nope, as far as I know the rebirth Ultimania won't have an english release, or atleast not any time soon, so all I've read are unofficial translations, translations that paraphrase the meaning, and a few translations I've done myself to check if something was accurate. But that's only for small parts since Japanese isn't exactly my native tongue or anywhere close to it. If it turns out that there won't be an english version forthcoming I will probably buy a japanese version though since it would be good training. Problem is people aren't allowed to just post fully translated pages for the ultimania, they're pretty serious when it comes to copyright concerning that stuff. Nothing I've seen so far has really surprised me though, it's basically the same stuff Clotis have been saying all the time. The most interesting thing that has come out to me is that they were hesitant to add an affection mechanic to rebirth. This may seem like a pretty throw-away line but it's actually pretty meaningful. For one it really hammers in the idea that you're not supposed to see this story as a choose your own adventure, they want it to be a single coherent story. And if they were already hesitant to add it to this part, where I think it makes by far the most sense to have one in there, then it gives me hope that there won't be an affection mechanic in part 3. And lets be honest, who do you think has more to fear from there not being an affection mechanic? Us or the Cleriths? I think that in their hearts Cleriths are secretly begging for the existence of an affection mechanic, while Clotis are openly hoping that there won't be one, that really tells you everything. Something that has gotten a lot of attention are the quotes surrounding the dates, where Cleriths have been jumping for joy at the idea that the dates aren't canon, and trying to twist that in something good for Clerith. This has been both intriguing and hilarious to watch. For years Cleriths have rallied around the date in the OG, and prior to the ultimania releasing they've been desperately trying convince the world that the Clerith date is canon and the Tifa kiss is meaningless fan-service. And now that the Ultimania has confirmed they are all equal they're suddenly trying to use that to undermine anything to do with the date XD Meanwhile Clotis went "actually, I think none of them are probably canon, more informative 'what-ifs' that are meant to illustrate Clouds relationship with the different characters". And when the Ultimania said essentially exactly the same thing Cleriths actually took that as a good thing. It's amazing how they can twist anything to fit their narrative, or rather, to not totally disprove it. These people actually took a quote talking about how all dates are equal, and tried using it to prove the dates weren't equal. The most fun part of this entire debate is to watch how over the years it slowly changed from Cleriths trying to attack, to Cleriths desperately trying to defend and explain why "we're not quite dead yet, we might be able to still make a move." It's no longer "Clerith is canon, here is why", no, now its "well, no, the kiss is optional, you don't have to see it, he also held Aeriths hand you know!!!!" They've been checkmated a dozen times already and are now just illegally jumping their king around the board erratically, pretending that they haven't lost.

[poppystheories]

The official English of Lavi's scene is...probably not very good, from what I can tell. Which is understandable, this whole scene is tough. The official and fan translations say completely opposite things at several points, and I'm not sure which of them get it right.

So instead of getting too caught up on the exact wording of each translation, we're gonna go with vibes and context and stuff.

There's a big focus on how the Bookmen aren't supposed to give their heart, aka become personally invested, to anything, and how pointing this out hurts Lavi. Dream!Junior says these plain old facts like they'll make Lavi feel sorry for himself, and they do.

This scene has been analyzed by plenty of people before, but what I take from this dialogue is: Lavi actually isn't happy being a Bookman, huh? He is miserable and pities himself this lifestyle he was raised in; just laying out the reality of how he's supposed to live is enough to hurt him. He recognizes how empty and lonely and condescending the whole Bookman philosophy is, but can only say "I know...!". He actively thinks this whole deal sucks ass and still accepts it, and can't imagine living any other way.

Does Lavi know the previous Junior bowed out? Or rather, gave his "heart" away? Does he even realize that's an option?

Meanwhile, Allen's fight also involves the matter of the heart, but for him, rather than his heart being his weakness, it's undoubtedly his strength!

Lavi and Allen make for good foils. Neither of them have a "real" name, or home, and both hide behind constructed personas to keep the world at a distance, but on the inside they're completely different. Allen's identity was stolen from him, while Lavi threw his away. Both of their masters have ties to the 14th and know far more about the past and the war than they share with their students.

This post has been sitting in my queue for about two months and previously read:

"Considering Bookman Juniors are named after the record they're recording, and that the previous and current Juniors are working on the same record of the Holy War, just from opposite sides, it's likely the previous Junior's name was also "Lavi" just like the previous Allen's name was "Allen". "

Which is now completely confirmed.

There's a matching set of each of our protagonists in both past and future. Just like there was a past "Lavi" and past "Allen", there was a past Kanda too. Essentially, every character in DGM has a "past" counterpart, whether an actual version of themselves or a narrative substitute, ie the previous generation of Noah and the current, or Anita and her mother. Of our four major characters so far, only the Lenalee analog for the past is still missing.

This is also one of the reasons I thought for so many years that the previous Bookman Jr and Past!Allen couldn't possibly be the same person, but until this year, if I pointed that out any DGM reader interested in theories would have laughed me right out the door...

[zimithrus1]

Tiger & Bunny Week Day 5 🐯🐰 - Fan Theories/Predictions

⚠ (Mentions of theoretical death!) ⚠

So, I've lightly touched over this in another post some time back, but Maybe I can go a little more in depth with this fan theory I've had, which is: What if Kotetsu accidentally killed his father as a child when his NEXT powers awakened?

I might be grasping at air here, but think about it: we don't ever see Kotetsu's father in the show, nor is he ever mentioned. All we know of his family is his mother, late wife, daughter, brother, sister-in-law, 2 nieces and a nephew. I know it's simply because the writers didn't write one but still, universe-wise, why wouldn't Kotetsu's father be around? 🤔

Well, my reasoning for this theory is when I was watching the show in both English and Japanese I noticed some peculiar phrasing in S1 Ep2. Specifically Kotetsu's flashback of the bank robbery he had been a victim in. In English, with direct closed captioning, he says the following:

Which yeah, a general 'stay away from me' cautionary phrase. 'Hey I could hurt you, might want to keep your distance'.

but, if you change the language to Japanese and select the English captioning that's translated rather than word-for-word dialogue,

We come up with this:

I'm not supposed to touch anyone.

This implies less of general distance and more of a direct order. The difference between 'keep away' and 'I'm not allowed'. Our first phrasing makes it seem that Kotetsu is saying this on his own to keep others away from him, to keep them from getting hurt. But the second phrase, he says it in a way that implies it's been told to him. Why else would he phrase it like so?

And if he was told by someone to not touch anyone while glowing like that, something bad must have happened. Bad enough to warrant his choice of words here.

As we've seen with Kaede when her NEXT powers awakened, (s1 Ep18) she trashed the house on accident as she couldn't control them, which Kotetsu says this in response:

To which his mother agrees:

Tying that in with the fact that we do not see or hear anything of his father at all in the show coupled with the delivery of Kotetsu's flashback dialogue, Kotetsu must have hurt him by accident, bad enough to kill. All of that together could explain the flashback's choice of words.

Going back to Ep2 here for a sec, when Kotetsu sympathizes with Tony about how his friends turned on him after his NEXT powers awakened, we're treated to some differing dialogue again. In English, Kotetsu mentions his friends turned on him and called him a freak; he hated them for that and his powers most of all.

And in Japanese, we get something a little more, detailed:

He cried every day.

Which we could chalk up to kids being ruthless to a NEXT kid, bullying and teasing as they tend to do sometimes. But how he cried every day? I wonder if there was something else below the surface to trigger a much more emotional response.

Which circles it all back to my theory; Kotetsu accidentally killed his father when his powers first awakened as he could not control them.

Perhaps he was angry, or just a little upset. Maybe an action performed in sorrow or anger went too far and caused the death of his father. Realizing how dangerous his powers were, it probably scarred him, made him emotional and distant all at once. And perhaps from that his mother made a rule for him, that rule being 'You cannot touch anyone when you glow like that'. Which brings it all back to the beginning, Kotetsu telling Mr. Legend that he's not supposed to touch anyone when he's glowing like that.

Until he's told his powers can be used to save people instead, anyway, changing his trepidation into hope. 💚

[judesmoonbeauty]

The Past Records: Ellis & Jude Chapter 3

Fan translation only. Not 100% accurate. Please expect grammatical errors. Cybird owns everything. Feel free to re-blog, but please do NOT post my translations elsewhere. Also, feel free to ignore my random commentary.

Translation notes are marked with ***

Roger: A story I know, huh.

Harrison: I mean, why didn't you tell me you knew each other first?

Roger: You didn't ask.

Harrison: You......

Roger: Besides, we're not really close friends either.

Roger: As for whether those guys can be trusted, I can't say.

Harrison: So, how do you know each other?

Roger: Just as a doctor and a patient. Jude has weak bronchial tubes.

Roger: My dad's so good at what he does that sometimes he used to go over to my parent's house where he worked as a town doctor.

Roger: When he was a patient of my father's, well, I just knew him by his face.....

Roger: One night, he rolled in and said he'd been stabbed with a knife. Not to my dad, but to me.

Harrison: What were the details of the stabbing?

Roger: All he said was that, “I got stabbed because of a grudge.”

Flashback Begins -

Jude: I got what I deserved. I won't say anything more. Don't ask me again.

Roger: I see. I can't believe you're talking to me, and not my dad because you don't want this out in the open.

Jude: I thought you wanted a table to practice your techniques on.

Jude: You can practice without a medical license.

Jude: In return, I won't tell me how you treated me, so as not to ruin the reputation of your father's clinic.

Roger: Convenient for me and you, huh? Well, I suppose it is.

Ellis: Roger? Can you fix him?

Roger: Oh, don't worry. I'm quite skilled. I won't kill you.

Ellis: Thank God. I can't have him dying now.

Roger: What's with that talk? When can he die?

Ellis: Probably the happiest moment of his life......

Roger: Huh. With all this damage, it seems like that's going to be a long way off.

Jude: Hey, I'm pretty sure that's not where you should stick the needle, you Quack!

Flashback ends -

Harrison: You treated him before you got your medical license, huh?

Roger: Haha. It's too late for the statute of limitations now, right?

Harrison: What else do you know?

Roger: Oh? Yeah..... like how Jude gets up early in the morning, or how Ellis eats more than anything?

Harrison: Not about that.

Roger: Jude can drink at the same pace as me and not get crushed, but Ellis gets drunk rather easily.

Harrison: It's not like that either....I've got two more images in my head that I don't need to know.

Roger: As I said earlier, I'm not sure if they're trustworthy or not.

Roger: There's something those two are keeping from me too. It's like conducting research that costs a huge amount of money or something.

Roger: Well, regardless if you can trust them or not, I don't think they'll do anything halfheartedly.

Roger: Was that helpful? Harrison: Well, sort of. At least the information I got from you wasn't false.

Roger: Thank you.

Liam: I found you.

Harrison: Hmm...oh, Liam. How did you know I was here?

Liam: Will told me. Are you at the cafe to work on a review?

Harrison: If I'm in the castle, I'll be distracted by the report, so I had to change things up.

Liam: Haha, so if I report now, It'll just remind you.

Harrison: It's fine. I just lost my focus. Anyway, you called out to me didn't you?

Liam: So, what?

Liam: Well, then, be my guest. Let's see, first of all, the story I heard from Jude...

Liam: Is Jude a doctor? A scholar? He was enrolled in public school through the mediation of a doctor or a scholar!

Liam: Surprising, isn't it? It must have been absolutely hard to fit in with all those aristocratic kids. I'd like to see a little bit of that.

Liam: Next, what I heard from Ellis. Ellis said that he didn't go to school.

Liam: I heard his father was a church school teacher, but they split up a long time ago.

Liam: Oh, Ellis and I promised to go skating by the lake sometime.

Harrison: Heh, good for you.....I mean, how did you talk to those two? You haven't been at the castle for the last few days.

Liam: I followed them invisibly and followed them, investigating their actions and routes the last few days.

Liam: Or maybe we just happened to on the way home together? Harrison: I didn't realize you went that far....

Liam: I thought Harry would like it. The rest was simply my feline curiosity getting the better of me.

Liam: I followed them and talked to them directly, but I still can't trust them.

Liam: I feel like I'm missing something decisive here.

Harrison: That look on your face...you're up to something.

Liam: That's my bad friend! You're quick.

Liam: So, why don't we give the two of them a shot.

[Previous] [Next] [Master list]

[9w1ft]

I know we're supposed to stan Kaylor and I do want them as end game. But on the other hand I just feel like Karlie deserves a lot more than she's getting. Taylor seems so obsessed with money and fame and not at all interested in clearing Karlie's name, which she contributed to with her songs. Like one pic together at Eras would've helped dispersing that narrative a little but no Taylor couldn't have that cause she's doesn't want to out loud admit she was mistaken. I'm truly not seeing what is the plan here for them. Hide for the rest of their lives? Taylor will always want more money, more broken records and more fame and I feel like Karlie will always come 100th to that. I don't think she'll choose to go public with Karlie even after the tour and re re recordings are over. End yeah Karlie might be under contract with Josh but I think she's waiting for Taylor to make a move to leave that and Taylor's just not making it

i understand where you are coming from and i too always hope for sunnier days for karlie, always, out of principle, but the way i have come to feel about it is that they have built something that for them outshines the busted opinions of the public. that’s not to say it wouldn’t ever or hasn’t ever hurt but i do believe there is an understanding that they’ve come to, about one another and each other.

and i’m not saying this is how you think but speaking for myself i always try to check myself when thinking about how i might feel about their life plans. because as fans, the idea of them never ‘living their truth’ seems pretty crummy but i can also see how to them, there is probably a true bliss and peace to their setup right now, by virtue of the fact that they are not under the spotlight. i think there are some benefits to us as fans to them coming out or publicly reconciling in certain ways that might not translate as benefits to them. and so i try to put faith in the notion that they’re probably having a good time in their own way.

and even if it doesn’t make sense all the time i feel like if i was in their position or if i had more insight into their daily lives that i would understand better why it works for them.

the recent pic of karlie was another reminder to me that right now there is a family here enjoying that very special pocket of time that comes and goes all too fast.

in a way, when i think about it, it only further deepens my appreciation for them in deciding to have karlie attend eras tour even if it was to be followed up by nothing more. it was a window into things that i don’t think they had to give any of us. i personally think they may have kept it ambiguous because doing a full reconciliation would have been a big swing in one direction when they might not be at that step yet. and it makes sense because hey, family first, especially now.

not for nothing, taylor has several songs about the two of them being cut of the same cowboy/criminal cloth (“telling all the rich folks anything they want to hear”) and taylor’s post rep discography includes more than several songs that have taylor apologizing to karlie, and ones from karlie’s position and feelings.

anyway… i don’t doubt they have had struggles but i just get a sense of nirvana these days.

[ariapmdeol]

artbook cipher solved!

HI COE FANS! The artbook comes with a companion book. On it's cover is a warped cipher, and I managed to solve it :D I'll put it under the cut!

I'm gonna call this implied DLC spoilers? I will touch on DLC/interlude things but not in detail.

Other Metas can be found here! As always, feel free to ask me anything!

update: we solved the part we were stuck on here, and I've added the important part to the end of the original post!

I can't actually show you the cipher (we're not supposed to share things from the artbook publicly) BUT I've added a description of the cover!

The art for this page features Seodore smoking, with his gloves removed. The Cipher text is in what looks like a game textbox at the bottom of the page. It has some unencrypted text, the warped cipher, and the final section of the cipher is unwarped!

As with Fukao's other ciphers, it was UTF-8 encoded, but the cipher was REALLLY HARD TO READ (and parts were cut off by the top/bottom of the warped section).

I've typed out the text of the cipher below!

e5ad98e59ca8e38197e381aae38184e38397e383ace382a4e383a4e383bce382ade383a3e383a9e382afe382bfe383bc50484957454853

With a little knowledge on how the encoding works, we were able to end up with this :

存在しないプレイヤーキャラクターPHIWEHS.

The full translation of this text box is below. I've bolded the section that was encrypted, and italicized the part that was warped.

unhandled writing operation has occurred in record __.' 'saving data...' error: player character PHIWEHS does not exist.

ENG TL by @hermitroom !! <3 thank you so much for helping me solve this!!

While the metafiction implications and connections to the overall narrative are pretty clear, I couldn't figure out what PHIWEHS means. We can guess based on the art that it's Seo related (and Seodore being the missing character WOULD be fitting) but so far nothing has given me something fitting

Things I've tried:

googling phiwehs outright (no results orz)

I wasn't able to find any connections to Hermetic Qabalah

it's seven characters long (same length as Gabriel, there are 7 fragments/gifts of god/lights) but nothing i tried relating to an acronym or connection seemed to have any success. I Checked the 'Gifts', the roles of each 'Light', and names.

I thought it might be like the password in ch 7 (STELLA), so i looked up Japanese keyboard layouts and ended up with せくにていくと but... this doesn't mean anything :(

Other ciphers: I don't THINK fukao would make just this section a different cipher but I've been checking and I haven't found anything.

Apparently someone got 05-2019 out of this? but we're not sure how...

So-- this is kind of an open call? if anyone has any information or things to try, please let me know!!

UPDATE. WE FIGURED IT OUT

50484957454853 ISN'T ENCODED IN THE SAME CIPHER. IT'S DECIMAL ENCODED WHICH GAVE US 2019-05.

which means our final result is

unhandled writing operation has occurred in record __.' 'saving data...' error: player character does not exist. 2019-05.

HOLY SHIT

[kaetchup]

rei sakuma idol story 2

rei’s second idol story, and my second real post on tumblr! as usual, already localized on engstars. i’ve made some minor tweaks/redone translation from the localization for readability.

♪ obligatory disclaimer! none of this is mine, i’m just sharing it for my love of our idol boys. all content belongs to happy elements ♪

koga: Hey, we're here.

adonis: Excuse me.

kaoru: Hello, Koga and Adonis. Are you done with school?

koga: Yeah. Thanks for arrangin' your time for us.

ES related work counts as school at Yumenosaki, but I still don't think always skipping classes is good.

adonis: I have time for Modern Literature today because you changed your timetable for us. Japanese is still difficult for me, so I am glad that I have the time for school.

kaoru: Ahaha. If anything, I think you're quite fluent in Japanese.

koga: That aside, I don't see Sakuma. Where's he? He's not sleeping, is he...?

rei: Kekeke, I'm right here, Koga... ♪

koga: Gyah?! W-why the hell are you under the desk?!

rei: This is the demon of the dark... characterized by his elusiveness ♪

kaoru: Rei was picking up some documents he dropped under his desk. He's always in a daze during the day.

adonis: Hm. You are busy as usual, Sakuma...

rei: Exactly. All complications Rhyth Lin developed over the years have taken our relocation into ES as their chance to emerge...

And thence I bear considerable workload... I would have thrown myself into your arms for a cry if I wasn't your senior, Adonis.

adonis: Really... Thanks for everything, Sakuma.

I am willing to lend you my chest any time. Let me know if you need me.

koga: Don't you take him seriously, Adonis.

I suppose people drown him with unimportant things because he's so famous. I can sympathize with him for that.

Why do you want UNDEAD together anyway?

I thought we agreed to do our own jobs for some time.

Not that I'm not willing to help if you need me... Tell us sooner if you're really that overwhelmed with work, you know?

rei: Kekeke. I appreciate your kindness, but that's not the reason I summoned you all here. Right, Kaoru?

kaoru: Yeah. As you said, Koga, our basic plan now is to work in two separate groups: Rei and I, you and Adonis.

That said, UNDEAD is still UNDEAD. There's nothing strange about the four of us gathering together ♪

koga: You think that answered my question? Tell me why you called us here!

rei: I see that you're as impatient as always, Koga... Now then, let's get to business.

We UNDEAD members have been accumulating strength in our respective fields ever since the origination of the ES Project...

I deem it, however, time to call a strategy meeting.

adonis: Strategy meeting...? What for?

kaoru: In short, let's discuss the direction we're about to go.

I think Rei and I have talked about how we're going to work hard as idols and members of society.

But we haven't really talked about what kind of idols we want to be.

adonis: I see. Even though we work together sometimes, we haven't really talked about that.

rei: Indeed. Individual effort as well as overall strategy matters in terms of increasing visibility in the vastness of the idol industry.

For example, we can turn platforms other than Lives to our advantage for publicity... which is a strategy in itself.

I'm discussing this as the leader of UNDEAD with Producer about the possibilities of the direction we can go.

... With all these said, I wish to hear your opinions first.

Can you tell me what kind of work you would like as idols?

kaoru: Oh, I'd like to appear in TV dramas, by the way ♪ You know how we were doing Lives most of the time at Yumenosaki.

So I want to build experience in acting as well ♪

koga: Hmph. Forgotten your main job already, Hakaze?

Aren't we UNDEAD known for radical Lives? I'd prefer some mind-blowing Lives compared to somethin' as bland as a TV series.

It's no good if we change direction now. Won't we disappoint our fans if we give up our style halfway?

You think so too, right, Adonis?

adonis: Me...? I'm new to the idol industry, so I think I shouldn't be picky, and that I should try all kinds of jobs...

But what I want to do the most right now would be children's shows.

koga: C-children's shows...?

adonis: Yes. It is my wish to protect the weak. I want to do exercises or play games with children so that they can build up strength and become stronger.

koga: So that's what you mean... You never budge, do you?

rei: Kekeke. How about you set foot in things other than Lives, such as variety shows featuring animals, Koga?

The extent to which you spoil Leon tells me that you wouldn't mind interaction with some other animals... ♪

koga: Huh?! Who do you think I am? Koga Oogami, the lone wolf!

I don't hate animals, but I won't appear close to them on TV!

kaoru: Hahaha, I'd like people to see the friendly side of UNDEAD, though... ♪

What do you think, Rei?

Don't just ask others what they'd want to do. You haven't even told me what kind of work you'd like to do as our leader, right?

Personally, I'd like to see you being yourself as a vampire in a suspense drama.

A drama co-starring us Two Attractions! Just kidding... ♪

adonis: Hm, that certainly suits you, Sakuma...

koga: But what do you think, Sakuma? You know, I won't stop you if that's what you want...

rei: I'm glad you asked. "What I want to do", eh-

Kekeke. How curious that I, in fact, have no idea.

My answer to this question is as immaculately bare as a piece of blank paper ♪

koga: Hey, how come you asked this question when you don't even have an answer yourself?

Don't tell me all your hard work has finally made you dumb.

rei: Be gentle with your reproaches, Koga. I have my own headaches.

This is my first time being an ordinary member of society. The whole picture of the idol industry hence remains muddled to me.

I wish for no more than for the happiness of my fellow members of UNDEAD... No more than that, yet...

If my wishes (1) were to involve those around me in trouble, people, including Ritsu, would be irate at me again.

kaoru: I see. Leave everything to us when you're still not sure about things, then.

And, of course, Producer will help us too, right?

adonis: That's right. I will continue to do what I want for now.

koga: Geez, alright. Now that you want to leave things to us, I gotta keep you company 'cause I owe you for all these years.

rei: Kekeke. You are all reliable beyond words... ♪

We have too much of life left before us to feel contented with ourselves. I delightfully await...

... what future may await us ♪

translator's note:

(1) this was put as "ego", which i believe they meant to use "ego" in the freudian context? like as in the compromise between id, the primal desires, and the superego, the moral desires? it was kind of strange, so i just pushed it down to "wishes" for things to make a little more sense. i read this as rei holding back on what he wanted because he didn't want to encroach on people who might be having their own problems. felt like a very rei way to say "well, i want you all to be happy before i try to be happy! so you do what you want first!"

[fy-pjh]

[UPDATE] Day6′s Jae Schedule Update Information

We are very sorry to inform that due to Jae’s current health condition, he will not be participating in Day6′s 1st Fan Meeting “You Are My Day” on the 8th of September 2018. He is currently getting rest and medical treatment for his acute enteritis and is gradually recovering. Due to this, he will be unable to participate in the upcoming fan meeting. Jae himself is very sorry and is going to work hard on recovering so he will be able to join Day6 in their next schedules soon.

[yankpop]

Yandere NCT Dream: You're dating another member

All copyrights belong to @yankpop (aka me) so do not post/translate my works on any other platforms without my consent/knowledge.

Check more: Masterlist.

Female reader

WARNINGS: Kidnapping; manipulation; underwear theft; mentioned stalking.

AN: In each member's part - in the beginning - there is the name of the member the reader is dating. It's a small reaction since we're finally getting the Glitch mode MV today. Hope you guys enjoy it 💖

-

Mark

(Jaemin)

Mark passes an arm through Jaemin’s shoulders, comforting him while the younger boy cries with his head buried in his hands. Mark can barely hide the growing smile that tries to appear. He’s so damn happy that his heart feels it’s gonna burst at any moment.

“I just don’t understand why she broke things like this! Just a message and then she just blocked me.” Jaemin’s shoulders shake as he cries out the words, a sob interrupting him from continuing. “Maybe things weren’t meant to be, dude. Maybe that’s why Y/N left.” Mark tries to keep his voice steady, acting as if he is actually concerned about Jaemin, when in reality he doesn’t care the least about him. Not after he stole you away from him.

You were always supposed to be Mark’s yet somehow Jaemin got in the middle of you two, not even giving Mark a chance of introducing himself to you before you announced the relationship. He took too long to take the first step and meanwhile guys like Jaemin never seem to lose a chance to steal what belongs to other people. Pathetic.

“But she seemed happy! I still can’t believe she ditched me like this. Not even a call or anything.” Jaemin whines, his voice constantly cracking. The real reason why you had only sent a cryptic break-up message was because Mark was the one who sent it and currently you are “adjusting” to your new home. Which is also Mark’s home.

"It's okay, man. I’m sure that wherever Y/N is, she’ll be happy.” He’ll make sure of that, afterall now you’re where you belong. With Mark.

Renjun

(Jeno)

“I don’t understand how they came up with this idea.” you slowly mutter, scrolling through twitter, catching more and more unreasonable comments showing up. “Me neither, I mean, it doesn’t even make sense! Why the hell would they think you’re with Renjun when you’re with me?” the bitterness in Jeno’s voice makes you look up from the phone screen. Your boyfriend seems so upset that you can’t help but feel bad too, even though you’re just as confused as him.

Renjun on the other side appeared to be completely calm, something that surprises you and honestly, it looked a bit suspicious since Renjun, of all people, was the one dragged into a dating scandal with you. Your eyes divert towards him, awkwardly making eye contact. “And what about you, Renjun? Do you have any idea why they would do this?”

His eyes glance at your phone before focusing on you once again, directly staring at you. “I’m just as confused as you guys. But in fan’s defense, they don’t know you are dating Jeno so it’s probably just a mistake. You guys never went public, anyways.” Renjun shrugs it off, but internally he’s rejoiced that you and Jeno hadn’t revealed your relation to the world. He would hate it if everyone found out that you’re with Jeno and not with him, your obvious other half. Maybe that’s why he jumped on the idea of spreading some rumors, maybe it could aid him to convince you that you’re better with him.

Next to him, Jeno groans in annoyance. “Ugh, to make it worse, the company doesn’t even want to deny the rumors. Just great.” Renjun ignores the scowl that appears in your face, instead preferring to fantasize about the bright side of the news. Hopefully, with time and patience, Renjun could finally convince you to pick him instead of Jeno.

He’s more than willing to ruin his friendship with Jeno if it means getting you.

Jeno

(Haechan)

Jeno waits until he hears the sound of the shower being turned on and then carefully steps into the room, waiting a moment to be sure you were in the adjacent bathroom. Haechan and the rest of the boys were out of the dorms, leaving just him and you in the apartment.

He glances at the bathroom door for a second, the temptation of peeking strong but ultimately deciding not to. The risk is too high and Jeno doesn’t want to ruin things now.

Instead, he walks over to be closet and opens the drawers until he finds what he’s looking for. The black bra lays there in full display and it makes his palms sweaty. The fact that you wore this makes him blood hot. It’s these types of moments that make him forget that you’re dating Haechan.

Wasting no time, Jeno grabs the piece of cloth and hurriedly shoves it into his pants pocket, quietly exiting the room. Once he’s at the security of his room, Jeno takes out the bra and runs his fingers through the silk material, imagining how you would look when only wearing it.

It annoys the heck out of him that Haechan probably saw you like that while he hasn’t, but Jeno is not gonna give up on you so easily. The only way this is over is when you’re with Jeno. No matter what he has to do in order to make it happen.

Haechan

(Jisung)

“C’mon, Jisungie, all you have to do is to share the pictures she sent you.” Haechan whines to the young boy, who has an indecisive expression on his face. “I don’t know about that…. I'm not supposed to show them to anyone, she made me promise it.” His deep voice is full of conflict, especially because of Haechan’s pushy behavior. Jisung opens his mouth to continue but Haechan is faster to speak, his voice starting to show some irritation.

He had been trying to convince Jisung to share some intimate pictures you had apparently sent him, yet Jisung is taking more time to be convinced than what Haechan had initially predicted and it’s starting to end his patience towards Jisung. “You know that I would share the pictures with you.”

“But you don’t have a girlfriend.” Jisung tries to reason with him, only to be cut off again by Haechan who raises his voice at a loud level. “Exactly! If I had a girlfriend, just like you do, I'd share them with you, Jisung. I thought we were best friends, no?” His words seem to finally have worked as there’s defeat in Jisung’s face, making Haechan internally smile, already knowing he had won this one.

Jisung never deserved you, anyways. But him, oh, Haechan deserves you more than anyone else in this universe. For now, all he wants is a small peek of you but soon he’ll make sure that you’re his and not Jisung’s.

Jaemin

(Chenle)

Jaemin waits until Chenle leaves for the restroom and then runs towards the boy’s phone. Quickly unlocking the phone, he sends you a message.

She’s not here now, so you can come over, babe.

It’s a bit cliché, but it should work. A malicious smile creeps into his face. Even if this message wasn’t enough to cause a break-up, it’s definitely gonna stir up some conflicts between the happy couple, which is more than satisfying for Jaemin. Later on, he can guide things in a way that by the time he’s over, you won’t want to see Chenle again in your life but for now, this is a good start.

He deletes the message once it shows that you’ve read the text, making it look like it was a mistake. Going back to the couch, Jaemin pretends to focus on the television, promptly ignoring the incoming calls from you.

The confusion on Chenle’s face once he answers your calls, just to be accused of cheating is something Jaemin will never forget. He pretends to console Chenle when in reality he’s already planning to meet you and give you some “discret” hints that Chenle is cheating for sure, and that he, as your friend, can’t bear to hide the truth away from you.

Jaemin knows that it’s gonna break your heart, but he’ll be there to pick up the broken pieces and glue them back together but this time with the only person that truly deserves you - him.

Chenle

(Renjun)

“And my sister is coming to see me this weekend so we’re probably gonna have lunch together or something like that.” you mention, cutting the carrot in pieces as Chenle cooks something in the frying pan.

“I thought you guys didn’t get along with each other.” He twitches his brows in confusion, glancing at you. “It’s true but we still decided to go and,” you halt your movements for a second, how did he know that? You never mentioned your family to Chenle, you’re not that close.

“How did you know that?” you question him, narrowing your eyes in distrust. You can’t see his face as you’re facing his back, but you notice his body becoming inert.

“I, uh, I think Renjun mentioned it a while ago.” Chenle manages to say, his voice a little strained. The tension leaves your body, believing in him. You did revealed that to Renjun, so maybe he was the one to tell Chenle after all.

You accept his answer and keep talking with Chenle over random stuff while preparing dinner. Chenle lets out a relieved sigh, glad you believed him. That was too close. Lately he was becoming careless, accidentally spilling details that Renjun didn’t actually reveal him but that he acquired through stalking you and breaking into your house. He needs to get a grip of himself and be more careful with what he speaks. Chenle doesn’t need you to find out his stalkerish tendencies and become freaked out by him.

All he wants is to get to know you better but since you’re dating Renjun that makes it harder but not impossible. He just needs to wait for the right opportunity, play the right cards and in the end, you can be entirely his without any interference from Renjun.

Jisung

(Mark)

“But why can’t I go with you guys?” Jisung’s voice is full of sadness as he looks at you, his pretty eyes shining with tears while his hand tugs yours. It makes a hole in your heart to see him like this, making you seriously rethink your decision.

It’s supposed to be a date night with Mark but ever since Jisung found out you guys were going to the movies to see a film that coincidentally he wanted to see as well, he had been supplicating to let him join you. And it’s very hard to see Jisung begging for something and not giving it to him.

You sigh in defeat, already making up your decision. You just hope Mark won’t be too upset with Jisung tagging along, especially since lately you hadn’t much time together just the two of you. But again, Jisung was like a brother to Mark so he shouldn’t be too mad at the change of plans.

In front of you, Jisung is still staring at you with wide hopefully eyes that fill with pure happiness as soon as you agree to take him to the movies. You chuckle as the boy literally throws himself on you, pulling you on an extremely tight hug. Meanwhile Jisung can’t be happier by spending more time in your precious company, something he’d prefer if it was without Mark but he can bear his annoying company if it means being close to you.

-

Tags:

@mwitsmejk

[kanjukucompany]

【A3! Translation】 Sakuma Sakuya R: Gentle Oni’s Weapon (1/2)

PART 1 / PART 2

nothing can bring me out of hiatus faster than first gen

(translation under the cut)

*disclaimer: i read kasumi as a strongly coded trans woman, so it feels wrong to use anything but she/her for her. but for the sake of continuity with other translations, i’ve posted an alternate he/him version here. any hate about this will result in an instant block.

Rejoice! Oni's #1 Fan

Child A: Ehh, really~!?

Child B: I was excited to scatter beans...*

Child C: Why can't we~?

Sakuya: Oni-san got sick, so he's unable to come.*

Preschool Teacher: We're really sorry.

Child D: Ah, Mommy's here! They said we can't scatter beans anymore.

Mother A: Oh, is that so? Then let's just do the ceremony at home this year.

Sakuya: They've been looking forward to this for so long... It's heartbreaking.

Preschool Teacher: I never thought the beans wouldn't be here for Setsubun.... I feel so bad for the children.

Kasumi: Girls, I'm here to pick you up!

Sakuya: Kasumi-san, good evening!

Kasumi: Good evening, Sakuya-kun! Thank you again for today!

Sakura: Mama, listen~!

Kaede: We're not gonna scatter beans at school!

Tsubaki: So boring! I wanted to scatter some~.

Kasumi: I see. Well then we'll just do it at home this year!

Sakura: Mama, can you play the oni...?

Tsubaki: I can't really see Mama as one...

Kaede: Mama's only good at playing mama...

Kasumi: U-Umm... Playing an oni...?! For now, let's just get home, then we can think about it!

Sakura: Is that okay?

Tsubaki: If Mama can't, maybe we can just the throw beans at a doll?

Kaede: I wonder if we need to make an oni doll.

Kasumi: Ahaha... We're off then, Sakuya-kun. Thank you again.

Sakuya: Ah, yeah! See ya!

Sakuya: ....

Sakuya: ....

Citron: Sakuya, what's that you're looking at so seriously?

Sakuya: I'm researching which Oni masks appear at bean scattering festivals during Setsubun.

Citron: Oh~! That reminds me of the time we had a bean scattering contest in the common room!*

Sakuya: Ahaha, that was a lot of fun!

Citron: But, why are you researching oni masks?

Sakuya: Actually, the bean-scattering ceremony we were supposed to have at the daycare got cancelled...

Citron: Oh, what a shame.

Sakuya: Because of that, most of the families just decided to have one at home instead.

Sakuya: I overheard Kasumi-san talking to her daughters about it when she came to pick them up, they'll be doing the same at their house too, but--.

Sakuya: Rather than Kasumi-san, who's good at playing a mama, I figured I could play the oni. If she didn't mind, of course.

Citron: ...Sakuya is such a kind child.

Citron: Alright! Let's get to work on some cute oni masks those ladies will love!

Sakuya: Huh, but, I haven't spoken to Kasumi-san about it yet...!

Citron: There's no way Kasumi would turn down an offer from you, Sakuya! Now let's get to work!

Sakuya: O-Okay!

*this event takes place during setsubun, a holiday to celebrate the new spring season. traditional rituals involve scattering roasted beans around one's house/shrines/temples as a symbolic way to ward off evil spirits.

*it's common for someone in an oni costume to be the target of the aforementioned bean scattering/throwing

*possible reference to guy's 2019 "~Settsubun~" blog post or 2020 relay blogs #20-22

[zephycluster]

Precolonial HWS SEA Rant Post, feel free to ignore

If you're still reading, then you're probably looking for evidence or some juicy tidbits to throw back at me or to try and find dirt to cancel me, like typical Tumblr/Twitter. Go ahead, I don't really care.

First off, let me just say that If you like Precolonial South-East Asia AUs, feel free to keep enjoying them. I will respectfully support your passions from afar. This post is just to explain why I don't like it, especially the way they keep insisting/portraying PH in it.

Still here? Then let me begin.

Since the recent confirmation that the ASEAN Six Majors (Can't really say ASEAN 10 atm since it's still missing some people) Were completed and the Ma-Phil-Indo Trio was included, there has been a large surge in 'Precolonial' fanarts and portrayals of South East Asians, those three especially.

Even long, long before, circa 2010's ish, a rather well-known fan universe known as 'Maaf' dealt with their story and how their Author thought their intertwined histories went. Written by (my best guesstimate) an Indonesian writer who wants to explore the old, SEA bond.

When I first stumbled across Maaf (I was in Highschool at the time, around age 16-ish), I took a casual interest in it and tried to read it through. But, I will wholeheartedly admit that at the time, Pre-Colonial cultures of South-East Asia in general, let alone Philippine, did not really interest me that much. The focus (I think) was mostly on Indonesia, a country I didn't really know back then, and the liberal use of 'ancient' names and artwork just made it feel like an entirely Original Work (that needed a degree in History to really appreciate) and not something from Hetalia. I also completely disagreed with what I could gather was the story's portrayal of PH but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Do I hate 'Maaf'? No, I don't hate it. Do I wish I never came across it or that it didn't exist? Of course not. Just because I didn't enjoy it or appreciate it that well doesn't mean I wish any ill toward it, its fans, or its creator.

Fast forward to April 2021, the long awaited inclusion of South East Asia to the canon Hetalia verse. I was happy, the other fans were happy, all was good.

Then started the questionable fanarts, fan theories and fan pairings.

Especially the expansion of Precolonial! PH.

Let's go back to Maaf for one moment. From what I understood of Maaf, PH there was a character who once was like all the other South East Asian cultures, trading with them, all around being a nice family.

But all that changed when the Spaniards attacked, so cry the precolonial buffs. They destroyed everything, ransacked and marginalized the tribes, erased everything that PH was!

Did that happen? ABSOLUTELY. The Spaniards had this vision in mind that they must spread Christianity to all of the 'savage, unchristian heathens' of their realm. :V /s

But back up a second, back to PH's portrayal in Maaf. The way she (yeah, she) was portrayed there was that she was slowly losing her memories of being a 'true' South East Asian and grew more and more westernized in the process, like some sort of Culture-specific Alzheimer's or something.

Firstly, that is seriously depressing, and secondly, I just really don't see that happening.

Here's why.

Point 1: Even before Colonial Masters, Filipinos as a people cannot agree on anything.

I'll just begin this segment with a Philippine proverb that outlines what Filipinos call 'Crab Mentality' or 'Crab Bucket Mentality'.

"You don't need a lid for a container when you're keeping multiple crabs. If you keep at least two crabs together, they will just pull each other down instead of helping each other up."

I don't know how it goes with Indonesian or Malaysian history class, but what I know of my homeland, both pre- and post-colonial history, we were never really 'united' or 'together' in the sense that Indonesia and Malaysia were (from what I assume).

Let me pull up a somewhat related question on r/AskHistorians.

The reason I brought this up as it shows the reasons why, in my opinion, a single entity that is 'Precolonial Philippines-tan' is an impossibility.

The answers are long and would extend this already long post to stupid proportions, so I'll just quote relevant sentences. The link is here for those that wanna deep-dive into the answer.

"All this to say that there wasn't a name used for the entire Philippine islands before the Philippines that people now would agree to. An interesting comparison would be the Holy Roman Empire, which might also be characterized as disparate politico-geographic groups of relatively small size that had a history of relations between each other, but one thing they had that the Philippines did not was a common language, or at least a family of mostly mutually intelligible languages, so that the name Deutschland or Germany isn't terribly offensive to anyone. If you called the Philippines the 'Lupang-Tagalog' or even 'Lupang-Tao' the other ethnic groups would protest."

For those in need of translation, 'Lupang Tagalog' means 'Land of the Tagalogs' and 'Lupang Tao' means 'Land of People', specifically. The first one is already exclusive and offensive, as the Tagalog peoples are but one of many ethnicities here.

And for the 'Lupang Tagalog' suggestion specifically, it's even more offensive as they are the majority ethnicity (not by much, just around 28%) From this chart from Geography Now! It would basically be alienating everyone else in the 72% remainder that isn't 'Tagalog'.

And even 'Lupang Tao', the most generic name in a local language you can think of, would be met with contempt because the name itself is in the Tagalog language.

Just travelling between two individual island groups today would sometimes require a translator because the words can change very rapidly and very drastically. Here's a sample of some differences coming from a friend living in Visayas (in Red) vs. the words I know living in Luzon (In blue).

Ate vs. Manang = Older Sister

Ibon vs. Pispis = Bird

Tumawa vs. Kadlaw = To laugh

Takot vs. Hadlok = Fear

Kain vs. Kaon = To eat

Ngayon vs. Subong = Now, at this point in time

Iyak vs. Hibi/Gibi = to cry

Talampakan vs. Tiil = Foot (in Tagalog, the word retains its 'body part AND unit of measurement' meaning)

Tulog vs. Tuyo = to sleep (Tuyo in Tagalog is either a dried salted fish or 'to dry')

The kicker is that just like Tagalog is just one of many languages here, so too is the language my friend speaks. Ask an entirely new person, like someone from Mindanao, they'll probably have an entirely new set of words.

It's not just Luzon vs. Visayas vs. Mindanao, either. Here's a map listing some of the ethnic groups here.

Even the way they're written differs from location to location.

While we're on the subject of Island divisions, a casual skim across Twitter and Tumblr has shown that their Precolonial PH has been one of the following ancient civilizations: Tondo, Butuan, Sugbu, Namayan. There may have been others but that was what I have found.

Notice how even today, the posters of Precolonial PH can't seem to agree on what he's supposed to be? With Indonesia it's either Majapahit or Srivijaya and Malaysia it's usually Malacca iirc.

What is the big deal? Well, let's go back to the Ask Historians post. "Why didn't the Philippines ever change its name to remove the colonial mark that being named after a Spanish King has?" The answer: "If you suggested something dating to precolonial times, the other ethnic groups would protest."

Since we're on a roll with maps, let me bring this up.

As you can see, the precolonial PH posts have a reason to not be able to agree on one thing, as there is a LOT of options. Do you also see how THAT list is also split up?

It's split up into those aligned with China (Sinified), aligned with India (Indianized), aligned with the Middle East (Islamicized), and no alignment (Animist). Now, let's go back to the main suggestions for which Kingdom/Polity/Civilization/whatever Modern Philippines used to be.

If the Filipino peoples' couldn't agree on something as simple as WHAT TO CALL THE LAND THEY'RE LIVING ON, what more a living, breathing, walking, talking entity that is supposed to be a beacon of all of their 'unified' culture? ESPECIALLY if that entity used to be a currently existing Kingdom/Polity/Rajahnate/Sultanate/whatever.

Tondo? "Of course, always the damn Tagalogs. Tagalog this, Tagalog that. First the capital city, then the language,* THE REST OF US EXIST, YOU KNOW! What about us in Visayas? Mindanao?"

*The national language known as 'Filipino' is just standardized Tagalog*

Butuan? "Wait, you want Butuan to represent us? They're they only Indian-aligned city in the Islam-majority Mindanao! They're not even that many of them! I'm not gonna change my religion!"

Sugbu, the other name for the Rajahnate of Cebu on the map? Lemme bring back my Visayan friend again. According to her, she hails from the Hiligaynon part of Visayas.

"Sure :v and the other islands are what?

Chopped liver?

Not to mention the language and writing barrier helloooo"

And Namayan? Well. I'll let this pic speak for itself.

To summarize, no matter who you pick as Modern PH's previous identity, it will not end well nor be accepted by the other Kingdoms at the time.

"So where does that leave Modern PH, he had to have been ONE of them, right?"

Well, not really. He doesn't HAVE to be one of the Ancient Kingdoms that lasted till the modern day. I mean, predecessor representatives exist in Hetalia canon, after all. Like Modern Greece is a different character from Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Modern Egypt, heck even England and his brothers have a canon mother that was the rep before them.

Or you could even use the same logic that Germany does, in that each specific region has/had its own representative and that Modern!PH is just the 'mediator' between them (cause gawd does PH need one). There could be a Tondo, a Namayan, a Butuan, and a Sugbu, all arguing and this Proto-PH is just trying to make headway in making them all satisfied.

But, even after all this, there is another reason why I personally don't subscribe to the 'Precolonial PH' idea, and by tangential extension, the Indo x Phil pairing.

Point 2: Even without intending to, Precolonial Indo x Phil just comes off as patronizing

This second point is just ENTIRELY personal preference and barely has any facts to back it up.

Again, if you like the pairing and disagree with me, You do you. I will respectfully support you and your passions from a distance.

But for me, Indo being Phil's seme/bae/boyfriend and consistently bringing up precolonial times just comes off as patronizing.

Just one more time, I'd like to point out that I am NOT bashing Indonesia, its people or the subscribers of Indo x Phil. This is just how the pairing feels to ME specifically.

The way I see it, Indo x Phil as a pairing, especially if it extends back into precolonial times, reads the same way as a long-since married couple where the husband/wife CONSTANTLY brings up that ONE outing you had together, or that ONE prom night where you kissed while dancing, even it happened like 30 some-odd years ago and so much more happened since then.

Even in a platonic sense, It reads like two besties where one ALWAYS mentions stuff like 'Yeah but you looked so much cooler back in High School' or 'Back in Grade School you would've known that', or 'Remember back in Pre-school we did X? How could you forget that?'

How does one respond to the notion that no matter what you do now, it will never compare to a past you've already forgotten or barely remember? That the best version of 'you' is already long gone?

"That's because the westerners made you forget your culture! You gotta take it back!"

While it is true, yes, as a collective we barely remember the Kingdom that commissioned the Laguna Copperplate, or created the Banaue Rice Terraces, or created the millennia old bonds that we still share with Indonesia and Malaysia.

But to keep pushing the precolonial identity would be to neglect and cast aside the one REAL binding belief and culture that spans the entirety of these islands we call the Philippines.

We take on all the bad stuff that happens to us, conquer it, and make it our own. Be it natural disasters, foreign powers, or negative stereotypical mentalities.

Yes, we've forgotten the ancient kingdoms of old and are just now digging through the closet for those remnants of the past. Yes, the colonizers imposed that on us, and made us forget. But in the process we've also taken everything that they left behind, everything that they threw at us, and created something that can only come from us.

The lanterns that the Spaniards used to light the way to the morning masses they made us attend became our globally known symbol of Christmas. The junked vehicles that the Americans left behind in World War 2 are now rolling works of art that announce themselves loud and proud on the streets (for better or for worse). The iced dessert recipe that the Japanese forced us to learn while they were occupying the country is now so distinct and famous it is synonymous with us, and is so delicious even Italy has taken notice.

Even after all this? Even after all the 425-ish years total we have been under a foreign power, with all the progress we've made as a country, a people, and a nation, you would still imply our fragmented, jigsaw puzzle state of being in the past was better just because it was pure 'South East Asian' like everyone else?

We might not be as well put-together as Indonesia or Malaysia, but we made this melting pot of angry, leg-pulling, dogpiling, Native, Mestizo, Chinoy, and Fil-Am crabs OURS, damnit!

It's now 4:30 AM and I have work in 5 or so hours. I'll be going to sleep now.

[what-goesaround-comesaround]

Let's talk about some Irish newsies-

Hey! So I thought it'd be cool to look into the research I've found indicationg that some of the newsies might have Irish ties! (I'm Irish so that might explain my interest) I'm not an expert at all or anything, this is just the research I've collminated while scouring through newsies facts.

Oh course this isn't set in stone, this is just information I've found so if I've got anything wrong, please tell me! I was inspired by this post to do my own research. (A lot of my research has to do with the original movie but stick around for some fun facts about surnames?)

And now, onto Jack Kelly :

^This is David's description of Jack in Newsies : a novel by Jonathan Fast which can be found here on pg 9. Both surnames "Kelly" and "Sullivan" have their roots in Irish history.

^on pg 27 of the same book David describes Jack again as "an Irish boy". I just thought this would be worth noting, seeing how David wants to make it obvious to us, the reader that Jack appears to be Irish or of Irish descent.

"Kelly", originally anglicized from the Gaelic "Ó Ceallaigh" meaning 'descendant of Ceallach', an ancient Irish personal name, originally a byname meaning 'bright-headed' or 'troublesome' (fitting huh?) Source found here.

Fun fact for you livesies fans, the reigning chieftain of Ui Maine (mid Galway, South Roscommon, sometimes referred to as "O'Kelly's Country") O'Ceallaigh (c1351), was a renowned patron of the arts. Source found here.

Another fun fact : Jack means Seán in Irish.

Bet you weren't expecting that. Or maybe you were. Anyway, source is found here. I also remember it being a topic of conversation in 3rd class Irish class. Wonder how Spot and Jack would feel about that.

^On pg 23 of the original 1992 movie script found here Jack describes himself as a "mick" which was a commonly used derogatory term used against those of Irish decent/Irish immigrants at the time. However this line was not included in the movie. Source found here.

Now for "Sullivan". The original Irish for the surname Sullivan is O'Suileabhain, however the actual derivation of the name is debated. There is no doubt that the root word is 'suil' meaning eye, but whether it is to be taken as 'one-eyed' or 'hawk-eyed' is usually left an open question. Sources found here and here.

The surname is associated with the southwestern part of Ireland and was originally found in County Tipperary before the Anglo-Norman invasion. Source found here

Also, in both movie and stage versions Jack tells us his father "taught me not to starve" indicating his father may have taught Jack about the horrors of the Famine/An Drochshaol/The Great Hunger that plagued Irish families for years after. Source is found here.

Okay! On to Spot Conlon :

^This is David's description of Spot Conlon from the same book, pg 51 (okay he may not outright say he's Irish but they really said "throw all the stereotypes at him like red hair". But seriously in the Hard Promises script and the Newsies script he's described the same way. I guess they really invisioned that red hair huh?)

Spot is interesting seeing as he is the leader of the Brooklyn newsies, Brooklyn being an infamously known place for Irish immigrants to live due to the Great Hunger/An Drochshaol (translated meaning "Hard Times") or as it's more commonly known as "the potato famine" between 1845-1852. Source found here. At least 1 million people died from this and another 1 million immigrated, a lot to America (although the exact numbers are disputed.) Around this time New York becoming the busiest port city in the world. There was labor work to be had in Brooklyn, in the manufacturing and loading and unloading of goods to be sent around the country and around the world. Irish immigrants who had been left poor and malnourished by the famine had no other option but to take on this manual labour to earn money. Many took jobs by the ports and settled by the Watershed i.e. near the ports. This could be a reason to why we're first introduced to Spot and his "cronies" at the port in the movie. Source is found here and here.

Supposing Spot was born between 1880-1886 (he's quoted to be 14 in real life in this article however it's stated in the Newsies Novel on pg 51 to "be around Jack's age" and it's stated in original script before Newsies was rewritten to be a musical and was still a drama, "Hard Promises" he's quoted to be 19 on pg 28. So take this with a grain of salt.) the U.S. census, which counted both place of birth and parents’ birth place as well, estimated that one-third of all New Yorkers were of Irish parentage. By 1890 as Brooklyn neighborhoods were expanding east and south, the amount of people with Irish stock is at 196,372. Source found here.

Also how people will usually use the name "Seán" or sometimes "Patrick" for Spot (one of the fandom wiki pages cites it as his real name here but admits to having no proof of it). Both of these are traditional Irish first names, Patrick being popularised by the patron saint of Ireland St. Patrick/Pádraig. Might have heard of it-

Now for his surname.

Conlon is an Irish family name, it being a variation of the anglicised version of Ó Connalláin. The name may be derived from two Irish Gaelic words "Con" (the genitive case of Cú, meaning "hound") and "Lón" meaning lion - thereby implying a person who has the characteristics of a lion born of a hound - strength and speed. Source found here.

Conlon had a Gaelic form of Ó Conallain or Ó Coinghiollan in Connacht however it's Ó Caoindealbhain in Munster and Leinster. Fun fact, Connal or Connall is claimed to be a pet name for a sprout or little sprout. Source found here.

The history regarding the Conlon surname is complicated to say the least- however it can be traced back to County Meath, where the Conlon descendants are from an important sept near Trim, which traces back to Laoghaire, King of Ireland circa 432. O'Coindealbhain was also anglicised 'Quinlivan' in Munster. Source is found here and here.

This post isn't letting me include the video of Jack, David and Boots going to Brooklyn to negotiate with Spot and the Irish traditional music in the background but I'll make a separate post about that.

Now, onto Racetrack Higgins.

I'm going to keep this kind of brief. We know Racetrack is described as "tall, skinny gambling Italian beanpole" in the Hard Promises script on pg 1 and he's described as "an Italian beanpole" on pg 5 of the Newsies Script. However the surname "Higgins" is Irish as far as my research has told me, not Italian.

The real Ed "Racetrack" Higgins lived in Brooklyn and is quoted to be the real leader of the Brooklyn union, and was elected vice-president of the general union after Kid Blink and David Simmons were accused of selling out. Source found here. I haven't been able to find much information about Racetrack Higgin's life after the strike or his family life which could connect him to Ireland however I thought it would be interesting. If anyone is curious about the real Racetrack Higgins this source has been really useful!

'Higgins" is an Irish family name with ancient royal connections. It is an anglicisation of O'hUigin, from the Irish word 'uiginn' meaning Viking. The original holder of the name was a grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Tara, and all of the O'Higgins claim a common descent from him. Ancient records show that several members of the O'Higgins claimed a hereditary right to be file or poet in the courts of the Irish Chiefs and Kings. Source is found here and here.

Because of their loyalty to Gaelic culture and religion, the Higgins suffered under the English Crown in Ireland and had lost all their lands in Sligo and Westmeath by 1654. Some of them remained in Ireland as tenants on their own lands, but many of them migrated to Spain where they achieved high office in the service of the King. Source is found here.

Fun fact, Racetrack has the same surname as the current (9th) President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins!

Lastly, on to Crutchy/ie Morris!

^This is from the 1991 original script of Newsies when it was called Hard Promises and was written to be a drama. Obviously this wasn't the movie that we have today but I thought this would be a cool add on. I couldn't find a lot of information about the real Crutch Morris, whom Crutchy/ie is based on. The surname Morris isn't strictly Irish, it's a popular surname throughout the British Isles however with this piece of information I thought it would make sense to research it anyway.

"Morris" (Ó Muiris in Irish) was introduced to Ireland by the Normans, along with the variant Firzmaurice (Mac Muiris). A branch of these Morrises moved to Galway in 1485 CE and later became one of the Tribes Of Galway. The name may also have been an abbreviation of Morrissey (Ó Muireasa), a branch of the Uí Fiachrach clan. Sources found here and here.

The ancient Irish name Ó Muirgheasa (variant Ó Muirghis), a personal name thought to derive from muir, meaning "sea" and geas, meaning "taboo" or "prohibition." Source found here.

The Morris family does have an Irish family crest/coat of arms which I'll post at a later date, further cementing themselves in Irish history.

This is most of the information I have regarding the origins of the characters and their surnames however I could go on about the music in Newsies, the family crests, the housing circumstances of poor Irish immigrants in New York at the turn of the 19th century ect.

If you want to learn more about what life was like for Irish immigrants in New York I recommend reading the non-fiction book The Gangs Of New York (or watching the movie. It isn't completely historically accurate but give a decent overview of what was life) or reading this article by the Irish Times.

I've barely scratched the surface of this topic and hope to go into it father in the future!

May I leave you with this gif of the boys doing some Irish (inspired) dancing and David with his twirl combo!

Ps. If the links aren't working for you I'd be happy to provide a list of the resources I’ve used throughout my research on a separate post if needs be.

pps. @maggs-is-a-muppet @annihilatedthenightstalker @newsies-bun @letter-from-the-refuge thanks for the motivation last night 😌

[speaking-from-the-abyss]

Hey uh, in all seriousness, can we talk about the implications of the most recent Pokémon ship? (bear with me this is a LONG post)

I'm talking about this two:

Ok so, to put in context:

A few weeks ago the most recent Pokémon season started -called only Pokémon (2019) but we all know is Pokémon Sword and Shield-. And since episode 2 internet has exploded with people shipping Ash with the new co-protagonist, Go. I've seen this specially on Twitter, but also here in Tumblr and there's no doubt in other sites the ship is also present.

Now, I'm not a super big fan of Pokémon, but I've been around quite enough time to know that two or so seasons ago there was this girl called Serena who was supposed to be the "real" couple for Ash, like, the "cannonical partner" or something, because she was the first girl co-protagonist who actually had a crush on him and they kissed and whatnot.

Because of this a lot of people have been wondering why we never see nor hear anything about her and her relationship with Ash again (I didn't watch Sun and Moon so maybe I'm wrong). And now we have Go, and their interactions have been good enough to make people ship them so hard and so fast that it surprised even me - literally after episode 2 came out.

But not only that. At least from what I know, Go is a non binary kid (they were described as agender) so even if the translation subtitles uses the pronouns he/his with them, that's inaccurate, because they're not a boy (I could be wrong because I've seen people and websites calling them both agender and male, but for the sake of this post I'll refer to them as NB. Does anyone has the canon facts?). And that gives the opportunity for the ship to actually become canon without the assumption that's a gay ship because tecnically one of them is not a boy. It sounds as a stretch, but... y'know, it could totally happen.

Let's be honest: we all se the chemistry between the two. And we all know, deep down inside our hearts, that the series is probably not gonna go in romantic direction with them. They're most likely to develop a friends/rivals relationship with admiration for each other, because romance has never been a genre/topic we associate with Pokémon. But for just a second, for just a tiiiny little second, let's believe the confirmation of the ship as canon totally happens in the future. Can you imagine it? That'd be amazing.

First off, because we're talking about the confirmation that the protagonist of a series as iconic as Pokémon is LGBTQA (we can later discuss if this would make Ash bi or pan or gay or whatever). We have to remember that, despite the large demography in ages of people who watch Pokémon, it's still a show mostly directed towards kids. With this, we're giving kids someone in an anime who they can identify with, which is super important for the whole process of realization, understanding and acceptance they could be going trhough. But this doesn't aply only for kids, because this process is not something everyone experiences during childhood: the teens, the young adults and even the adults could find a situation they can feel close to. And it's beign represented not in an underground series that nobody knows about, but in fricking Pokémon. And they're not characters who are extras and don't even appear that much: they're the fricking protagonists.

Of fricking Pokémon. Pokémon. We're talking about a 20+ years long series, with tons of fans all around the globe and an impressive influence in pop culture. I dunno about other people, but at least for me it would mean so much to know that the protagonist of this incredible huge franchise, good ol' Ash, was a LGBTQA character.

But of course, ONLY IF they develop this topic in a sensible and serious way that's natural instead of forcing it just to go with the trend.

Second, because if they really wanna go down that path, they can address really important things, like the slowly realization of the both about liking the other as more as a friend. And this is important because we have to remember that both Ash and Go are still kids, so this whole process is new to them: to discover love, to have a person you like, to experiment all the insecurities, fears and distress it can cause, as well as all the joy and happiness. Love by itself it's pretty complex, specially the first one because you have no idea what to do or what you're even feeling, but if we add to the mix the fact that you're falling for someone you're not supposed to by the terms of society, then things are even more complicated.

But you know what? All of this is extremely normal. Thinking "why am I feeling like this?" is normal. Thinking "why do I feel like this if he's a boy?" is normal. Just asking "Why?" and not knowing what to do is extremely normal. And they're kids, so it's even more normal for them to not know what to do next or how to manage those emotions. For people that are discovering their sexuality it's also really normal to ask these questions. Realization is never easy or pleasant, and it requires a lot of time, but it's crucial for acceptance. So if they actually go in a romantic way with those two, it'd be awesome if they talk about these kinds of things in a sensitive way.

And third, because we're talking about representation here. Ash could be gay or bi or pan (again, we'll discuss that later, depending on the development of the series) but Go is -for what I know- non binary. We have a non binary child as a co-protagonist in fricking heckin' Pokémon.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but i believe this is the first time in the history of the Pokémon anime this happens. Heck, even in the history of the whole franchise. And I'm just. So happy for that. I'm cis, but I have heard and read a bunch about NB people, and we can all agree is one of the identities that has less representation than almost any other, just because is so hard for us as a society to understand that not everyone has to be a boy or a girl. They don't have to "pick a side" and stay there forever. I guess it resonates with me since i'm bi, so beign told that "it's just a phase" or "sooner or later you're gonna pick one" really pisses me.

But anyways, back to the point, which is I'm so happy to see more representation of NB people. Good job guys, let's keep it up.

Now, we have to understand that, right now, the ship it's really not a big deal. Sure we have fun and we ship them and we all see how well they relationship would go, but because this is Pokémon, it's really unlikely to happen. But if it does happen, if, against everything, we get to live in a timeline where Ash and Go end up as a couple in canon, well oh boy oh boy,

hell's gonna break loose.

In all ways posibles. There would be people who love it and people who hate it, and the controversy would be extremely high, with people defending and other damning this development. And there'd be also the ones who would just enjoy the chaos with popcorn like me. But, honestly, it's a risky move for the franchise: it could go extremely well or extremely bad. I guess it will all depend in what kind of story they want to tell this time because, as far as I know, we're not having the usual "Ash enters the league and tries to win it" thing.

Only time will tell.

[thedispatched]

ty for your response because if i typed anything i’m thinking to twitter or even some accounts here i would be fed to a pack of wolves.

have you ever played the game telephone as a kid? this feels like a shitastic game right now of OP saying one thing and it just started spiraling. from what i see, the people that seem to be doing the translations are the twitters that are feeding off of this disgustingly, uttering he’s guilty and hoping more deals and opportunities for the other members in the same breath and these accounts that seriously popped up right after OP1 posted. and tbh, that doesn’t sit so right with me because these are the same accounts that tell people who are neutral or people who say they are waiting or people who aren’t believing every negative rumor spread that they are brainless, braindead or stupid. there’s so much one sided-ness to this that it completely drowns out everyone else who are like you trying to get everyone’s side because i agree that there are three sides. and while everyone is waiting to see if there are any statements coming out of what OP1 said, a part of me thinks we might not get it. it’s being spread that it’s sa and people are like we want a statement about the sa allegation. but if it isn’t and he was like how he was described in my last ask, it’s hard to get one. does that make sense? like you don’t (idk if it’s even the right word to use) release a statement on a sa allegation if there wasn’t one to begin with from her herself because the sa allegation i feel came from the everyone else who was NOT in that room with them.

i know how you feel. i never put my thoughts / opinions online cause i'm scared of getting attacked or something. i wanted to start this blog for a while (it was originally supposed to be rants) but i got enough courage to finally start it when this happened as it got pretty messy and i got mad lol.

telephone is fun as a game, but when it happens in real life situations it just creates more mess. combine that with mob mentality and well....

idk if we're thinking of the same (type of) accounts, but i know whenever a scandal comes out, new accounts do too with information/translations. i think of them as burner accounts.

i think in times like these you can see a person's "true" color. i feel like some people don't really care about lucas or the girls. they just care about what it means for their faves and look at it in a more selfish way. (especially when members are more or less famous than each other). i find it to be disgusting.

people don't like it when someone goes against what they think. and when serious allegations come up, if you don't believe the victim, they insult your morals. if you do believe, they call you a fake fan. with them there's no winning.

i wish people were more open to maturely conversing about different perspectives and opinions.

honestly, there's nothing wrong with waiting and wanting more information. everyone needs to remember we don't know the whole story and never will. they also need to remember that everyone is capable of lying. i don't like calling people liars unless they actually are, but if i don't know the truth behind most the important pieces of information, i'm going to raise an eyebrow.

i rather be suspicious than choose a side without considering everything.

i agree, i wouldn't expect to get another statement from anyone as it already took a lot to come out in the first place.

sa or not, people will believe what they want and will never be satisfied unless something fits their narrative. he says he never sa'd someone? they'll call him liar. he says he did, they'll throw it in everyone's faces.

some people, in the end, don't want the truth. they want to be right.