#why am i giving a focking explanation?

[lysnthere]

NOW HEAR ME OUT

Is not the first time Sans sees Reaper, they're just joking around, to give some context here. And yes he knows Reaper is from an AU

[the-second-circle-ffxiv]

Late night visit

'Finally', Ainu thought, when everyone – even the old butler and the viera couple, that had been moving so closely from one room to another all evening one could've almost thought without a closer inspection to be conjoined twins - had retired to rest. What an annoying house. Usually the bigger the house was the easier target it was, but not this. The amount of people and noise here reminded Ainu of Kogane Dori Markets at the time of some major festival.

So far Ainu had been trying to avoid going in at night, but since this had actually become a heist now, and she didn't have to give a damn what kind of heart attack she'd possibly cause to the roegadyn, going in covered by darkness was absolutely the best option. After she hadn't noticed any movement or notable noises in any of the rooms for half an hour after the last candles had been extinguished, she climbed onto the roof.

How considerate it had been of someone to let the sunflowers and vines grow along the walls. The houses in Ishgard were so tall and far from stonewalls or fences surrounding them, that it could've turned out to be a challenge for Ainu to get in the easiest way without the help of plants. It was also considerate of someone to keep the chimney so clean, Ainu thought, when she descended little by little, silently hopping lower while holding onto a rope.

'Ho, ho, ho', the tiny ninja, wearing all black from top to toe, thought when she emerged from the chimney. The coals were still warm, but not warm enough they could've lit the rope on fire. Exceptionally she decided to leave it on its place. If needed, it would be an easy and fast way out, and besides, nobody would notice it from the corner of a dark fireplace in a dark room. If the worst happened, she'd have a foolproof explanation ready.

Ainu sneaked upstairs and headed towards the first guest room on her left. The door was locked, but it's lock was ridiculously cooperative. Soundlessly she opened and closed the door, and sneaked closer to Dark Realm's bed, but staying at a safe distance. She hid behind the dresser, before whispering:

"Good evening, big brother."

Dark Realm opened his eyes. For a moment he didn't realize exactly where he was, or what he was doing there. Yet, the pain in his crotch when he tried to lift himself up from the bed made him remember. Dark Realm let out a snarl as he, despite the aching, jumped up and to his feet next to the bed. The candle which was left burning on the small table next to the bed had already burned out, leaving the guest room without a source of light, apart from the dim light glowing through the small window.

A small voice had awoken Dark Realm from his shallow dreams, a voice that, even being so small and quiet, made the roegadyn's skin crawl.

"Who's there?" Dark Realm growled, peering around the room without really seeing much. Then it struck in him. His whole body froze in place, and he was left staring at the wall before him. He could feel a drop of cold sweat falling along his forehead. "Ainu... Wanyuudo...", he growled, his voice being almost a whisper.

"Oh, you remember my name. How delightful", Ainu sneered. Her voice was anything but delighted, though. "I guess it goes without saying why I'm here, even for you", she continued after a short while. "Such a lamentable coincidence it was for them to bring you into this old estate instead of the hospital. For your own sake I hope you've had enough brains not to blabber anything excessive to this estate's master, especially concerning The Second Circle and its mistress."

Suddenly her tone started to sound almost like she'd been bored, but it was obvious that wasn't the case. It was pure indifference. "Since... in case you have... I'm sure you understand that would lead into some further...", Ainu let out a silent chuckle. "...measures." 

"Ainu... Listen up", he started, his voice cracking slightly. "Whatever the problem is that Asagi might have, after me almost losing a focking ball to her, is something she has asked for herself. Seven hells, the long-ears could not handle me telling her nothing but truth back in the Second Circle, and hearing that truth made her send a focking lapdog after me, and now you?"

Dark Realm fixed his posture slightly, switching his weight from a foot to the other. "I haven't told the old bastard anything, you hear? Call me anything, but a mole? That I am not." Dark Realm peered around the room, in attempt to spot this little devil, with no avail. 

"You don't seem to fully understand what it means to work with Asagi Homura, sweet Darkie", Ainu explained, smiling widely. "You may think you've only given your little finger to her, when you've made a deal with her. But in fact, it's your entire sorry carcass that belongs to her. If she's paid you and tells you to do your work right now, then sure as hells you don't do it in three days or a week later. Or arrive late to a meeting and make a scene in her workplace while there's customers around."

Oh, how she loved to see them squirm. First they all pretended to be high and mighty, but once you poked something sharp into their flesh and gave them a visit after nightfall, their true nature was revealed. And usually, the bigger they were the more cowardly they proved to be in the end.

"It also doesn't matter you're no longer partners with her. You still owe her to keep your mouth shut about all matters concerning yourself and her, and this debt will last until your last breath. Which, in fact, was supposed to be yesterday", Ainu pointed out merrily. "You do realize Gaspar was just sloppy. His aim was a bit off. It wasn't supposed to be a warning, but a cleaning. And it can be finished anytime, if we'll ever find out you've talked. Since you know what's even worse than a mole? A lying mole."

"To hells with the accusations, Ainu! I was only being late because I was in the middle of another job, even you must realize that. And even Asagi should realize it was a sign of fockin' loyalty to actually appear to the place without finishing the contract in hand." Dark Realm revealed his teeth as he still tried to figure where the voice was coming from.

"What's even more, I had already accepted her contract and was about to fockin' go and do the deed before she pulled it off the table, and only because of something I said. Hurt her feelings, huh? False accusations, that's what's going on! There is a liar in this, but the liar is not me!" Dark Realm let out a low snarl as his actions halted once again, and he was left staring into the dark. 

How intriguing, Ainu thought. She hadn't been present when the scene had taken place, so Asagi's side of the story had been everything Ainu had got. Then again, everybody lied. The only difference was how much and about what. Though, this didn't sound like her at all. Asagi? Getting her feelings hurt? What feelings? Ainu would've laughed aloud if she hadn't been hiding.

About one thing she disagreed with both Asagi and Dark Realm: loyalty. It was baffling how lax people seemed to be about it in the west. Asagi demanding the roegadyn to leave his post for her, and Dark Realm actually leaving his post to meet with Asagi. Ultimately it was best to be loyal only to oneself. But during a contract, in Ainu's world, you were loyal to gil, and to the source it was coming from. And for what? Because of your reputation. Your reputation was all you had, and you surely didn't want it to get smeared by rumors about you being unreliable, because that would stop the flow of gil.

However, Dark Realm didn't need to know anything about all this.

"I don't give a paissa's arse about whose feelings have or have not been hurt, and who's lying more", Ainu stated chipperly. "I got an assignment to make sure you don't talk. And because I'm feeling being nice today, I'm not finishing what Gaspar started."

'And also, because you lucky sausage are dwelling in the same house with an isgardian watchdog who also happens to be my current employer, an ul'dahn ex criminal, a rabanastrian warrior in her prime and some unpredictable lominsan outpatient, it'd be too risky for us to start clashing here', she added to herself. "Just passing a message. Nothing personal, big brother. Just business." 

"If you're up for it, Ainu... In case you find the time, and interest", Dark Realm started, his voice slightly staggering. "Tell Asagi I am willing to forget about this whole fiasco, and put it behind me, and continue to do her bidding... Tell her my loyalty still stands." Dark Realm's lips turned into a bit of a self-confident grin. "The only condition is that she will stop sending her minions after me, and instead send me a contract... If I see another one of hers coming for me like this, I will act upon it... And should I find myself a contract, I will find out that she has the same good will and forgiveness in her as I do. And no more words shall be spoken about this between me and her. What say you, Ainu?"

Dark Realm's body was tense, not a muscle moving. He knew very well he had  just pushed his whole dick into a hornet's nest, when trying to reason with Ainu, now only to see if they would sting... He closed his eyes, and swallowed, the cold sweat still falling down his body. 

Somehow Ainu managed to hold back a chuckle. She could smell a sweat of a nervous, cornered animal. "Oh, I have nothing but time", she said, the indifferent tone in her voice again. "And I'm bored, so sure, I can take your sorry message."

Ainu was quite certain Asagi would no longer accept the offer, but this could be entertaining, so she decided to do it nevertheless. And despite Dark Realm being just a muscular potato, he could still be of use if he learned his place and to stay on Asagi's leash. In the best case for himself, he could still become a decent gorilla of the Second Circle, who'd mangle contract breakers in the backroom. In the best case for Ainu, she'd be the one who could play with him if Asagi and Dark Realm didn't reach concord, and he wouldn't have the brain to back off quietly.

"Sweet dreams, big brother", Ainu called out silently. "See you soon."

While crouching, she scurried to the door, a long, black rag fluttering behind her. Ainu opened the door silently just enough that she could fit through it, slipped to the corridor and shut it behind her. She flew down the stairs and towards the fireplace, climbed back into the chimney and pulled the rope up after getting back on the roof.

This heist had ended faster than she had anticipated. She'd still have time to enjoy those pocky sticks and sake before taking a long bath and even have a good night's sleep, before it'd be the time for the dinner in this very same house.

Dark Realm collapsed to sit on the edge of his bed. His eyes wide open, he still shifted his gaze around the dark room. The nightmare in a form of a Lalafell that just had haunted his rest had disappeared, or so he hoped. The thought of surviving the situation made the Roegadyn's facial expression to turn into a maniacal grin, even though he still felt his skin crawling, and his heart beating so hard it was almost bursting out of his chest.

Dark Realm gazed towards the window, which provided him with the only source of light, the room was silent as a grave. He knew he had barely managed to make it through without it actually becoming one. The cold, hard wind still blew outside, making the Manor's roof creak and bang. To Dark Realm it sounded more like the demons dancing on the lid of his final resting place. He wouldn't sleep. He knew it would be foolish to relax in the peaceful arms of slumber after all this. Who knows, perhaps the demons still lurked around, waiting for the opportunity to take his life. He did not know if he could trust Ainu.

The chances were that placing any trust upon someone so sinister would backfire, in the most ultimate way. Dark Realm would need to put all his hope on Asagi now, the one who had already proved to be so erratic. Part of his trust he would have to place upon Horus, his partner. She would handle the situation, she would not sell out someone she held dear. Or would she?

Dark Realm moved his eyes around the room once more, every shadow becoming a twisted form of a devil. He laid down to his bed, thoughts racing inside his mind. All he could do now was not to fall asleep. Not. To fall. Asleep... 

With @hangedemperor​ :3c

[girlhorse]

im in the mood for an abemiha meta so im going to talk about the language use in oofuri! and by language use i mean the use of the word “like” (suki/好き/スキ)

im putting it under the cut since i gotta include some images. beware of minor manga spoilers! really, really minor though lol

first i’m going to provide an explanation of terms and stuff, and their connotations (info is from jisho.org and wordreference. i am still just a beginner in japanese but i am fairly confident in these explanations!)

a lot of you may know this but japanese has three systems of writing, which is going to be very important for my discussion! these are broken down into hiragana and katakana (referred to together as “kana”, symbols are syllabic) and kanji (written characters that represent a word/phrase) you can express japanese in writing in kana alone, but its way more common to use kanji along with kana in writing. this will be really important to my discussion, as i will be highlighting the distinction between katakana usage and kanji usage of the word “suki” 

suki, written “好き” in kanji and “スキ” in katakana, is defined as: “liking; fondness; love” which can be a little confusing - the distinction between “liking” something and “loving” something isn’t quite available, so that typically necessitates context. but with written language, especially in a language with three entirely different writing systems, i think it is safe to say there are other ways of constructing that distinction.

(i can hear a distant “but gabby what about DAISUKI!!! isn’t that MORE about love?” yes and no! ive addressed this in an earlier post but in general the word “suki” is considered to be more serious and romantic, while “daisuki” is a bit more.. uh.. “extra” and frivolous)

so why would an author choose to use kana (in this particular case katakana) in place of kanji?

the kanji is difficult/obscure (gonna just say that “好” doesnt seem particularly difficult at all - it is taught in grade 4)

the author wants to stress sound of the word/emphasize the word (this is important for my interests lol)

a stylistic choice

(i picked up this info a bit from japanese language forums & from translating stuff so it might not be completely accurate but! i think this sums it up)

now that that is out of the way im going to make my bold ass claim! that in the text of oofuri (or just in mihashi speak), スキ is love, and 好き is like! i will now try to show u how i came to this very very bold conclusion:

the first instance we see of “suki” being used in the manga is when abe tells mihashi he likes him as a pitcher (bottem left bubble is “i like it”) 

which is followed up by this panel:

in sequential panels, we have two different spellings of “suki”. it is made clear from the very first chapter in the manga, that (esp for mihashi) that kana “suki” and kanji “suki” have different, important implications. it seems here that mihashi is bewildered that abe would say anything like “like” to him, and writing suki as スキ only drives this home further, almost as if “like” was in bold or italicized

now this is just the first instance and only proves that katakana can be used as a tool to emphasize something, or that maybe mihashi doesn’t know the kanji for suki, or that this is how “suki” is translated to mihashi speak - but it can also set us up to look out for this distinction in the future. I’ll get to the confession scene last my dudes just hold on a minute lol 

now the “this is the mihashi version of suki” theory could work if not for the fact that we have at least 2 instances of mihashi using 好き:

the first when he says he likes the big carrot chunks in the curry: 

and again when he asks abe if he likes catching (i’ll say more on this in a bit):

so if mihashi didnt just learn 好き (its fair to say he always knew since hes not like illiterate dgfdg) then in this instance, “suki” doesn’t have any particular emphasis -- ie mihashi is saying “like” here

setting aside mihashis fondness for carrots is the question he asks abe which is “you like being a catcher, huh?” to which abe emphatically replies: 

this is followed by mihashis conclusion, where we see the shift back to スキ:

“i see. i like pitching. and abe likes catching”  (mihashi uses スキ elsewhere when he talks about his feelings towards pitching; we can pretty much assume that he loves it. thats like his whole character) mihashi wasnt sure how much abe liked catching, and after hearing abe’s response, shifts 好き to スキ. it is subtle, but it means a lot! abe likes/loves catching as much as mihashi likes/loves pitching! there wasnt really a need for clarification on the reader’s part here - we can get what abe is saying right away, but mihashi must confirm it for himself and re-confirm to the reader that “スキ” has a special meaning in this manga/to mihashi

moving on!!!!!! just to solidify, i want to show a couple more instances where スキ shows up:

here, in the word for crush: (the word crush is lit. “person you like” - interestingly, while “person”(人) is in kanji, “suki” is written in katakana)

ofc this could just be because this is handwritten, and it is easier to read handwritten kana, so perhaps it is this way for clarity (人 has 2 strokes so its not an issue, but 好 has 6 so its just a bit more complicated) BUT higuchi. (unfortunately for amateurs like me who try to translate her work) really is not opposed to handwriting more complicated kanji in her manga. i also haven’t looked hard enough but perhaps there is an instance where 好き is handwritten. dont know though!

and here, unrelated to abe and mihashi, when suzune is telling her boyfriend  ookawa that she loves him (its blue cuz its an omake on the cover thats just how it is)

again, it is handwritten, but also this scene seems to rely on the emphasis provided by the katakana

and now. drumroll. im finally focking ready to talk about the confessoin scene! i have talked about how it can be read as a “confession” in this post, but i think it is definitely worth bringing up again bc it is my focking point!

maybe u already guessed (or read my other post) but when abe and mihashi tell each other they like each other it is with スキ:

am i trying to imply theyre in love already? yes and no! i think that スキ here is meant to draw our eyes to the word so we remember it well, or maybe give us a hint of what’s to come in the story (like a real confession scene between them) the two of them are very naive and dont know each other well in the beginning, but it is clear higuchi wants us to pay attention to this word and ask ourselves why it might be written in this way, and how this writing can kind of make the meaning of “suki” ambiguous 

(as an aside id like to note how in the panels above, the phrase “i like you” is isolated from the rest of the sentence. as u probably know abe’s full phrase is “not just as a pitcher, i like you as a person, too!” bc of the way japanese grammar works, though, abe’s “i like you” clause out of context can work as its own sentence; and higuchi chose to give it its own bubble. mihashis “i like you” is even isolated from his “me too!” which i think is interesting. mihashis flashback later in the manga to abe’s “i like you” is segmented in exactly the same way)

also in this scene is where mihashi says he loves being a pitcher w/ スキ:

so if we add the layer that this scene is from mihashis perspective he may very well be meaning “love” in this scene, and may have even interpreted abe’s words in that way (again at the beginning we already see mihashi interpreting abe’s 好き as スキ, so perhaps he is doing it again - though it is left unclear on purpose)

make of this what you will - i could be just picking up on unimportant things. after all, “suki” absolutely isn’t the only word that is emphasized/ kana in the manga, so perhaps this is just a coincidence. but i think it is pretty significant that it is fairly consistent of a distinction in the manga, for such a loaded word, and i honestly suspect this isn’t going to be the last we see of it.

[cherchezlafemme]

unusualish asks i am answering myself.

who’s your celebrity crush? i don’t know if i have one. i mean like i Always have a slight crush on shay mitchell but i’m not Obsessed w/ her. lol

Are you single or taken? single

rant. just do it UGH why does skyrim only allow for 250 plugins i have so many mods i want to use. also why do so many people’s mods require the XP32 skeleton which requires fore’s new idles like i don’t want to download those mods lol. i Just want some pretty clothes. vanilla skyrim is so boring i cannot believe i was able to play it when i was 16 sdkjbvfkshbvg 

do you think its ok to separate the artist from the art? i don’t know honestly.

how many accounts do you have? 4 on my main blog.

how many pairs of shoes do you have? 15 pairs of regular shoes + 3 pairs of slippers so like. 18.

opinion on… (specify to the person you’re asking to) opinion on water. it’s good! i’m drinking some right now.

how many accounts do you follow? 1,237

favorite brand of clothing? i don’t have one. they’re all bad.

name a dog Sarge

what unusual talent do you have? i’m very good at untying knots

what’s the most interesting schools gossip you’ve ever heard? i really can’t think of any. it’s been 5 years.

ever prank called a store? no

what’s your coffee order? a caramel frappuccino from mcdonalds.

what’s a question do you constantly get asked? either “why am i paying so much back to the IRS?” or “did you finish your homework?”

if you had to get a tattoo right now, what would you get and where? i don’t want any tattoos. NO WAIT. temporary tattoo of a hear on my left bicep. 

google the top song from the year you were born Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) by Los del Río

rant about your favorite musician blackbird raum you need to make your lyrics more through especially when you’re all singing different things at the same time and there’s only lyrics for like one person. i Want to know what everyone is saying!!!!

what’s your favorite teacher you’ve ever had? o fock i forgot her name but my 6th grade english teacher was so cool and nice. 

describe your blog in 3-5 words follow for more soft fallout

what’s a conspiracy you believe in? uhhhh none of them. i don’t like conspiracy theories

if you could see any concert tonight what would you choose? no concerts. 

if you could break one of your bad habits which would you choose? i keep coughing so i would change that.

can you dance? sing? no and i used to.

what’s something you can’t stop buying? stickers, men’s pants, purses. what’s the point?

crowds or small groups? small groups

how long before a trip do you pack? either the day of or months in advance.

what celebrity would you rate a PERFECT 10? shay mitchell..................

what quote or inspirational setting do you think is bs? you know that like, fake it till you make it. it’s never worked for me personally.

if you had to dye your hair an unnatural color right now, what would you choose? LIGHT PINK AND PURPLE

you can change one thing about your life right now. what are you changing? i want my thyroid back.

how old do you get mistaken for? 22? idk.

what do you think about a lot? fallout.

i’m not answering a question about harried potter.

what does home mean to you? my house.

what do you think you’d be arrested for? honestly i don’t know. 

have you ever been called down to the principals office? yes. no. kind of. it was the vice principal and he had to tell me to stop giving money to people who were mean to me.

post a picture of the outfit you would choose if you could have any outfit you wanted:

describe your aesthetic pink sweat.

answer with one of your ‘school memes’ (inside jokes you have with your class/grade) with no explanation NO HAIR!!!!!!!!