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directdogman · 1 year

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In my own writing I struggle with giving each character their own voice (speech patterns, phrases they use) and in Dialtown each character is super specific. Are there certain things you had to remember for each character, other than Oliver using his fucked up slang lmao.

When I write my characters, I can usually hear them in my head to some extent. Like, I can picture how it would feel to talk to them, or if I tuned out while one of my characters was chattering away about something, I can kinda hear the unintelligible static.

If you want me to write a lil essay pointing out differences in how the characters in the main cast are written, alright, I'll bite:

Verbal ticks help differentiate characters for me. We all know about Randy's stuttering, but there's more than just that in how the characters' sentence structures affect how we see their speech.

Karen's sentences tend to end in periods, if they aren't questions or if her voice isn't raised. Almost all of Randy's sentences, meanwhile, end with ellipses (…) or hyphens to indicate he trailed off/stuttered his way through the ending. Oliver does occasionally end sentences with ellipses or hyphens, but defaults to periods and often exclamation marks, as he's pretty excitable. This alone shows the difference in tone/confidence that the main 3 have without changing any words.

The characters all use slightly different terminology when they speak. Oliver's fucked up slang is only a part of it, he also uses theatrical language, often framing sentences creatively and in a way that absurdly beefs up the word count of his dialogue. He uses fairly atypical adjectives, surrealist language. He refers to himself in the third person sometimes. He uses imperfect tenses in order to make his sentences longer/less uniform. I'll give an example, from when Gingi asks Oliver if film reel movie projection is magic:

"I consider myself a sorcerer of FILTH, perhaps (an apt conjurer of muck/grime), but this artform isn't QUITE witchcraft NOR warlockery, I'm 'fraid."

Okay, putting aside the bizarre content of the sentence itself, one curious thing to note is that the whole sentence is full of words that don't convey any additional information. Conjurer is a synonym of sorcerer and he uses two synonyms for dirty AFTER already using filth. Guy loves theatrical language and will structure his sentence to make sentences much longer, so he can fit more of it in. But, then ends the sentence by taking a whole syllable away from the word 'afraid' and abbreviation it, like speaking with an accent. Oliver's sentence pacing is completely different to other people because of the volume of odd language he uses. In the context of the game, he's also drawing the player in by creating a pause, as the next line is:

"No, the actual "beaming" work comes from our dear old movie projector, and possibly my greatest love: Big Bertha!"

He likes Big Bertha and enjoys talking about her, and he tries to draw Gingi in and get Gingi invested in this thing by drawing out the introduction and forcing Gingi to wait for him to introduce Bertha in suspense. Randy volunteers info as if he thinks you're gonna hit him, unable to stand silence and hence, the sound of his own thoughts.

To contrast, Karen uses direct language, mainly. I wouldn't call her speech robotic, as most of the time she can retract language, she does (I am->I'm, I would->I'd, etc) but usually she uses direct tenses, and takes fewer words to say what she needs to compared to, say, Oliver. Generally, the words she uses tonally matches what she says. Weirder, less usual words come out when Karen is reacting to something she finds weird/illogical.

Norm's speech could be described as someone with a heavy accent who's well read, but is slightly insecure about being well-read. He uses words like 'y'all', 'ain't', 'reckon', retracts words like 'to' as 't'', but if you pay attention, he occasionally uses technical, academic language that doesn't match the aesthetics of the rest of his language. You can take the boy away from book learnin', but ya can't take the book learning outta the boy.

Billy is aggressive and generally, his language is designed to make the player feel bad in some way. Generally speaking, he's either insulting you, mocking your knowledge of the world, pointing out something you said as stupid, or is using words like 'lmayo'. Billy doesn't care much about the player, but is interested enough to talk to the player as a means to offend/demean them until you run out of things to say or leave, frustrated, which is Billy's goal. If you view what he says in this lens, you'll see this accurately describes how he speaks to you.

Billy uses surrealist language occasionally to seem more hellish and inhuman, but often, uses fewer words than other main characters. Subconsciously, it's to convey that Billy doesn't respect you enough to use more words. When Billy DOES use big words, it's exclusively on purpose and exclusively to subconsciously belittle Gingi, like when he refers to Gingi as a 'amphibian moron'.

God, similar to Billy, tends to use fewer words than most other characters. He often gives formulaic dialogue responses. There's no psychological play here, God just genuinely doesn't care how Gingi or anyone else sees him or if his tone/phrasing is improper because he knows how little respect people in Dialtown have for him anyway and embraces it.

Sometimes though, he does use uncommon synonyms for words, a byproduct of having lived so long through other times/eras. The references he makes are much the same. Fucker occasionally references ancient Greek figures and expects the references to land, as if everyone present somehow would've once somehow met these ancient fellows.

Mingus uses formal, impersonal language, and tends to use uncommon synonyms for words. The purpose of this is to subconsciously belittle the person she's speaking to and affirm her social class.

While she'll skirt past a commonly used word for a rare synonym in order to make her speech sound more dignified, she rarely leaves out pronouns in sentences. The reason for this is because most of her speech has an indignant tone. She's complaining about some shoddily done action or what she feels is a lack of service. So, the last thing she'd want to do is miss the opportunity to rant directly about her grievances in direct terms. Creative phrasing isn't used to replace pronouns but used to more elaborately phrase the error someone has committed to further emphasize her dismay. EG:

"You created the entire universe, and yet, the ability to perform a simple CARTWHEEL eludes you?"

Instead of saying "can", she says "the ability", instead of 'can't do', it's 'elude'. Hell, instead of 'do', it's 'perform'. But, both at the beginning and end of the sentence, she doesn't think to phrase the sentence in a way to avoid repeating the word 'you'. Like I said, the flourishes are just to drive the point home that she sees herself as above the person she's speaking to and to reaffirm how absurd she sees the limitations of others.

How Jerry talks is basically the conflict within a well educated but defeated man whose brain is decaying from years of substandard life. His speech, like his brain, is in conflict. His job dictates that he should always use terms of respect, like sir/ma'am, but he curses too. When he raises his voice, his sentences are often short and abrupt, but the words he uses tend to be elaborate and rarely used. Jerry is educated, has opinions on stuff. His mind is wasted at his job, and even through his defeated cynicism, you can subtly see that Jerry wants a better life through the words he uses.

Jerry's speech patterns are actually quite close to the narrator, and this is intentional, actually. The two characters share a few things in common that affect how they speak. Namely: Having to deal with Gingi's antics. There's almost a tired parental tone to both.

I could ramble for hours (please don't let me do this), but those are some examples of core character writing differences, namely in how I try to use language. Incorporating subtleties into the dialogue is good for separating characters and when you plan these out so that these placed differences are specific to traits that the characters have, your work'll feel more alive and be more satisfying to analyze later. Overthink. Overthink overthink overthink. It works, at least for me.

#dialtown

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cinnamonest · 1 year

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Alright let's make one thing clear;

Riddle (from TWST) would 100000% do things that are on the verge of momcon. I doubt he'd do actual momcon (I mean have you SEEN their relationship??) but he'd project it on his darling.

I can see him forcing his darling to dress more like his mom, put her hair up like his mom, do her makeup like his mom, but not act like his mom. HE wants the power in THIS relationship.

10000% would call you either "mom", "mommy", or his mother's name while he noncons you.

Yes omg omg AHHHH he WOULD he is such a Mama's boy, a kind of the same vibes as [this post] from forever ago? He would subconsciously single out a darling that bears some physical resemblance and make you his replacement Mommy :))))

Although he doesn't realize it, it's also where he gets his preferences. It's subconscious; if you asked him if he sought out facial features or traits that resembled his mother, he would scowl, say no, that that is a frankly reprehensible notion.

But anyone who has seen both you and her, well, they can't help but raise their eyebrows a bit at the facial structure similarity. No one says anything to him about it, though, out of fear of invoking his ire. The last thing anyone needs is him getting embarrassed over the realization and going into a pseudo-tantrum over what an absurd suggestion it is that he would ever select for someone based on a facial similarity to his own blood. What kind of pervert would even come up with such an idea? He's just too oblivious to his own self to recognize it.

He sort of tries to make you this... ideal figure, what a perfect mommy to him should have been. Obviously he's a controlling little bastard from the get-go, always, always correcting every little thing you do. But the way he moulds you into a maternal figure is not entirely a conscious decision. He enforces things upon you that just sort of seem right -- that you have to wear this and this in this specific way, that you should hold your posture this way, walk like this, speak more formally in public and more casually with him, and with this sort of tone to each setting respectively... no, it's not in the rules or anything, but there's a sort of well-known propriety to such things, you know? Just because it's not a rule doesn't mean there isn't a very specific and proper way for people to behave and carry themselves and so on, especially for someone in your position, seeing as your behaviors and mannerisms reflect on him.

He doesn't realize to what degree his idea of normalcy and propriety has been shaped by example. That is, his own mom. It's where he gets all of his ideas of proper behavior for anything not explicitly in the rules.

It's not just a matter of forcing you to behave a certain way, either, but also discouraging what he doesn't like. Sometimes you do certain things that don't seem out of the ordinary, that you don't even think would upset him, yet he still seems to scowl. What exactly is his problem with the thing you're wearing? It's not inappropriate, nor does it defy any of the countless regulations you know are imposed upon you... but it just doesn't feel right to him. It's not something she... that you would wear.

And why does he not like this or that part of your speech patterns, the hairstyle or length you have, so on and so on? He couldn't say. He just knows he wants to change it to this specific idea he has in mind. All the while unaware he's subconsciously basically just redesigning you into Mommy 2.0, more or less.

But yes, there's a few things that he does not want you replicating: a sense of authority over him, and that constant, merciless criticism. On the occasion you have been upset with or reprimanded something he does, it makes him unusually, exceptionally uncomfortable and upset, the way he stiffens and scowls. Usually, he's fairly receptive to and humble about criticism (as long as its valid), but you're just not supposed to do that. You're the one person that can't, even if he made a genuine mistake. You're supposed to be the embodiment of tenderness and affection.

If he recreates the setup himself, with you, he can give himself a sort of power he never had with his real mother. It's a very comforting sort of feeling, all the warmth and familiarity, but with none of the fear of failure, none of the anxiety around a single misstep. So when you give him that anxiety anyway, it feels like a transgression, like you've done something wrong, and he can treat it accordingly.

And with you, he's a lot more sensitive to criticism too. Even if you say just the slightest thing, even if its worded very nicely and given to him very gently, it upsets him. He's uncharacteristically petulant about it. He'll cross his arms and scowl, mutter something under his breath, and more or less give you a cold shoulder and silent treatment for the rest of the day. Unless, of course, you make it up to him somehow, namely by apologizing and admitting you were wrong and he was right and he did nothing wrong. If not, the bitterness and hurt can last for quite a while.

As for what he calls you, well. He unfortunately isn't the type of guy who can say something and not realize what he's said, so he does catch himself, face buried against your neck and balls deep inside you.

Mommy...

And he freezes up, stops completely. Stiffens. There's a few moments of silence as he has to come to terms with and process his own words.

That -- I don't --

A slip of the tongue, perhaps. So he tries to pass it off as. However, it's only at that moment that it seems to click, all the dots connect and he realizes what he's done with you, how he's moulded you. The poor thing gets extremely self-conscious, hurries to the library to desperately seek out psychology texts in some desire to find out if there's something wrong with him.

However, he does find said material, which claims that, at least to some extent, this sort of thing is normal... maybe not to the extent he's done it, but, it says something about how men often pursue partners that bear some resemblance to their mothers... so he takes that piece of information and runs with it. Rather, he stretches the concept beyond the point of what anyone else would consider reasonable, and extrapolates it to mean that what he's doing is normal, too.

So now, he can let the anxiety go and not have to feel paranoid that he has some kind of problem, because it's normal, so he doesn't have a problem at all, no. In fact, even if you object in some way, he uses the information to justify and argue the matter from that point forward... so he'll keep calling you what he feels like, thank you very much. Just hope it doesn't accidentally slip when you're around others... that would be the end of him, they'd never let him live that down.

And in truth, somehow the whole thing makes him less anxious around his actual mother, he feels less of an urge to live up to her expectations and is less afraid of upsetting her, now that he's redirected his need for approval and validation to you instead. Although with that gone, he does get a bit more openly resentful, which impacts their relationship negatively a bit... and although he'll have trouble both explaining to you where he got all the clothes from that he comes back with over break, he'll have even more trouble convincing her he doesn't know why hers went missing...

#AHHHHHHH #ty for this anon #sorry for the absence btw ive been travelling home #.twst #gonna make character tags for the twst boys too #.🌹❤#also fun fact! the 'men tend to choose partners that kinda look like their moms' thing is true #i remember learning that and being like 👀👀#.momcon

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monsterlets · 3 months

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hi I don't really know who to ask about this but I have to get it off my chest and I've seen you talking about voice stuff so I just started T and I've been looking forward to my voice changing but. I keep seeing tiktoks that say even when your voice drops the tone will always be "like a woman." am I stuck sounding like this but lower forever?

again it's okay if you don't have an answer I just at least need to get my thoughts out

short answer: no

long answer: oh boy those tiktoks. they have an element of truth in them but they're deeply misleading. for a lot of reasons. yeah no you picked a good person to ask, I have Things To Say about this

I'm taking my usual approach of "this is inherently fine but if it will make you less dysphoric or safer here's how to change it"

things that are true in those videos: there are general patterns of "tone" (not a technical term in this context, but we all know what it's getting at so I'll keep using it) that people generally perceive as masculine or feminine. trans men often retain a more "feminine" tone after their voice drops

I genuinely think that the people making those videos think they're making people aware of a safety hazard, but this is not the insta-clock that they think it is. unless someone is actively looking for it, or has met a lot of people who've taken T, they're not gonna make the connection. if they don't have another reason to think you're trans your average ignorant person is gonna be like "is he gay?"

the second thing they get wrong is they act like it's purely biological. it isn't. it's extremely malleable

so you produce a sound wave when air passes through your vocal folds, and that has a certain pitch. the main thing we're talking about here is how that sound wave changes on its way out of your mouth. everything the air hits -- your tongue, your teeth, etc. -- will change the tone of the sound you finally produce. and this is partly based on physiology and partly based on habit --

physiology - cis men on average have larger vocal tracts than cis women. this means the air has bigger targets to hit and that will influence the tone of the sound. T changes this somewhat, btw

habit - you know what the biggest target the air hits is? your tongue. you know what has a ridiculously wide range of motion? your tongue. hold it a bit higher and a bit farther back and you've just made it a bigger target

you can actively try to do that if you want to (takes trial and error, if you go to far with it you just end up making a different speech sound entirely) but there's something I haven't mentioned about the habit thing. you are used to supporting a higher voice. higher pitches take more space in the mouth to fully support. I've known a lot of people who, after their voice changes even out and they get used to them, just kinda subconsciously fall into the new habits I just mentioned. maybe they end up somewhere in between maybe they end up sounding indistinguishable from cis men. there's an awkward period like there is for cis teenage boys

#I've known enough people who take T to recognize the tone you're talking about but even then #I don't just think 'they're trans' I think 'pretty sure they started T RECENTLY'#uh if you want to actively change it but don't want to think about what your tongue is doing my advice is get lazy about opening your mouth

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shihalyfie · 2 years

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Wait wait, WHAT Ken hot take!? 👀

Okay, this is going to be one of my spicier takes here, so please go easy on me ^^ But yes, I do actually believe that the American English dub's take on Ken was arguably more accurate to his original Japanese characterization than the way a lot of the fanbase portrays him, even when they're going off the original Japanese version.

So for context, while the degree and nature of characterization changes in our dub varied from character to character, the part that was most consistently applied was that most of the characters got a lot more outspoken (in terms of criticizing things, speaking their mind, and being sassy or even outright dunking on things). Fundamentally speaking, this is an understandable concept due to cultural differences; anyone who doesn't really have a grasp of Japanese seniority or politeness culture might read the kids as extremely stiff if their dialogue was brought over unaltered.

The part where this posed problems was that our dub overdid it way too much at times, so the kids would just dunk on each other or get really condescending for no good reason, and that often caused quite a bit of damage to character arc integrity or the portrayal of character relationships (or pose issues for characters like Takeru or Hikari, where them not being entirely honest about their feelings is part of the point of their characters). But it's not a fundamental problem at its core to make the kids mouth off or banter a little more; I think Diablomon Strikes Back and Kizuna's dubs did a much better job pulling this off while still staying true to the characters, and I generally consider them my reference for how I'd have been perfectly fine with a lot of things the TV series dub was doing already if they'd only been executed a little differently.

Our Ken was voiced by Derek Stephen Prince, and I suspect they casted him more for “the Digimon Emperor" than they did "Ken". (This happened with a lot of 02 dubs, from what I hear -- the Kaiser having that drastic of a 180 is really that big of a plot twist, so I doubt very many casting directors had enough warning about that. Our Wormmon, voiced by Paul St. Peter, is also a bit too obviously casted and directed under the concept of "evil villain's minion" than the more "pitiful" character he ends up becoming, but he did do his best with what he had.) DSP is an incredible voice actor who adapted to the change very well; he's voiced an absolutely unreal number of completely different roles across the Digimon franchise, including even Veemon in 02, who sounds very distinct from Ken. But since his tone isn't as "soft" as Park Romi's, and because Ken got a certain degree of "sassiness" treatment like everyone else, it's easy to get the impression that our dub's Ken is much harsher while the Japanese version is a soft-spoken kid. That's probably how it seems on the surface, but...

Even in Japanese, even post-turn, Ken was never a saint or anything. Park Romi's delivery may have a bit of a soft timbre to it, but that doesn't preclude Ken from having some choice words or complaining about things when he feels like it -- at most, he's the kind of person who holds his words back until the right time. (In fact, if you look at their speech patterns, his is actually slightly rougher than Takeru's, and he is certainly more likely to be blunt or open about his feelings than Hikari, Takeru, or Iori.) And yes, it's true that our dub made him a lot more vocal, but it's well within the range of necessary localization procedure; his occasional formality would probably be seen as way more stiff in America than it would be in Japan (where he's closer to "well-behaved"), so this level of change is reasonable. There were definitely some hiccups in the first half when they went a little too hard on portraying the Kaiser as more of a composed villain genius rather than a pathetic eleven-year-old throwing a tantrum, but as far as his second-half characterization goes, the dub writers definitely seemed to understand that he was not in a position to harshly criticize or look down on the others when he was trying to patch things up with them, so he actually still comes off as one of the "nicest" kids in the group by virtue of not giving his dialogue the same degree of condescension the others often got.

The problem is, it's unfortunately very common in fandom (in Japanese and English, so this isn't a language-specific problem) to portray Park Romi's Ken as a saintlike doormat who, post-turn, is incapable of doing a single thing wrong, impeccably polite to a fault in all circumstances, and constantly pensive and sad about everything to the point he's completely reliant on other people to snap him out of it. And that's just not the case at all! Throughout the entire latter half of 02, Ken is consistently portrayed as resilient, oftentimes far more put-together and assertive than Daisuke, and still capable of being cold or fierce when the time calls for it (the Kaiser came from somewhere, after all). So even if you do take the dub changes making him ostensibly more aggressive into account, that's still more accurate to the original Japanese portrayal than completely flattening Ken into that kind of saintlike doormat. He chooses to be kind, but the operative word is chooses, and that nuance is present in both versions.

#tomorrows2top #shiha's ask box #dubbing discourse

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outofangband · 2 years

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Spamming you once again... For language, a Narn question: do any of your faves have a specific, very identifiable accent, or way of speaking (meaning how the use language as opposed to what it sounds like)? --tolkien-feels

First, here’s some language information!

The Bëorian and Hadorian people spoke Taliska (the Halidan had their own language we know very little about). Bëorian and Hadorian Taliska are two distinct dialects.

While there is apparently extensive notes on Taliska written by JRR Tolkien, they have not yet been published. We do know it has similarities with the Gothic language and that in Beleriand both dialects have loan words from Sindarin, Quenya and Dwarven languages but beyond that we do not know much.

My headcanon is that the grammar and syntax between the two dialects is very similar but there are some different phonetics, patterns of vocabulary, inflection and tone patterns, differences to the lexicon and sociolinguistic differences. One or both dialects may have arisen as a creole language.

The Edain also speak Sindarin and bi or multilingualism is the norm.

At home he speaks Hadorian Taliska and Sindarin with his family. He does learn a lot of the Bëorian dialect as well. Their children speak both dialects with Niënor having a stronger accent like Morwen’s because she interacts with so many less Hadorians during her early childhood. Húrin seems to speak at least some Quenya which he probably learned from his time as a captain of Fingon. Him and Morwen both read Sindarin in the Beleriand mode in Tengwar.

Húrin’s speech is quick and abundant. He enjoys word play and jest. Niënor inherits his wit though hers has a somewhat bitter edge Húrin’s lacks pre Angband.

Post Angband Húrin has some very interesting changes in his speech. I talk about it in my series on the Wanderings but there is a heaviness, an unsettled element to his words along with a desperation. The changes are quite stark.

I think Morwen even in canon has a very distinct way of speaking. Tolkien describes it as forthright and plain but I think there’s more to it than that. I’m having difficulty articulating it but her speaking is recognizable to me.

I do headcanon that Morwen does speak both Hadorian Taliska and Sindarin with an accent though it’s heavily mitigated by her general lack of inflection. Rían’s accent sounds stronger despite her being much younger when she switched primarily to Hadorian Taliska. Morwen does keep more of the social aspects of the Bëorian dialect (when certain words are used as opposed to others, everyday phrases like greetings and titles, etc). She prefers Bëorian Taliska and in situations where meaning or placement differs from the Hadorian dialect she will generally choose her first tongue and can be very stubborn about it.

She can read some Tengwar in the Quenya mode but has never had much interest in learning to speak it

As always please feel free to ask more

#the silmarillion #the children of húrin #Morwen #Húrin #Túrin #Niënor #musing and meta #Rían #houseless for exiles

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erabundus · 8 months

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@vitreousmortis &&. said... I have stumbled upon your account on Tumblr for as long as I could remember and reading your works truly amaze me. I was hoping to ask if it is alright for me to inquire a bit of your time and ask for some writing advice? Thank you very much!

thank YOU so much, honestly? i'm really happy you enjoy what i post here — i can't overstate how flattered i am to hear that! i love having the opportunity to meet so many cool writers who share a passion for this niche little hobby, and i also love knowing there's people out there who genuinely enjoy the stories we create together. i just think it's neat knowing something that makes you happy also makes someone else happy. that's probably why i prefer roleplay to writing fanfiction — i have a lot of fun with the interactive / collaborative element.

my babbling aside ... as far as writing advice goes, i think the most important part is probably having the voice of your character down — and everything else will sort of fall into place. i've always been deeply fascinated with speech patterns, vocabulary, etc — i feel like it really helps give you a lot of insight into how a particular muse ticks. i like to read over canon dialogue often, and sometimes i'll compare it to my own writing just to make sure i'm staying on track. ( i think at this point i could probably recite wanderer's voice lines from memory. ) sometimes i also take it a step further and try to weave that tone into the narration as well. a lot of my posts on this account are rife with metaphor and a somewhat antiquated vocabulary and tend to veer more towards the pessimistic / cynical side of things — that's because it's all supposed to be from ren's perspective, and that's just how he thinks. i've written other muses before that are considerably less grim and adjusted how i write accordingly.

on a more technical note! another way to make your writing flow better is to shake up your word choice — avoid redundancy like the plague. "the glass door was made of clear glass," sounds clunky! i try to reread everything at least once before i post it just to make sure i don't keep using the same phrases over and over again. if i'm describing a forest, i don't want to use "green" every sentence. if you're really stuck on a particular word, try googling synonyms! rearrange things a little — look over what you have and think about how it flows. writing has a certain cadence to it the same as speech does; that's why people often recommend you recite what you've written out loud.

in a similar vein, i also like to break up dialogue. having a muse blurt out a whole paragraph of text can be a chore to read through. even if it's a very speech-heavy scene, there's still ways to make it a bit less bland while doubling as a way to better flesh out the character. what are they thinking? what is their body language like? their tone? if you want to go even further with it, everyone has their own quirks; do they have any particular habits they fall into under certain circumstances? biting nails, fidgeting, etc? to use him as an example ( again, oops ) ren tends to hide his face when he's upset or feeling uncomfortable. it gives me a lot of room to play around with — how does his behavior change if he doesn't have his hat? removing it can be used as a visual metaphor for him allowing himself to be vulnerable around someone else ... and so on.

also, it may be something of a cliché, but practice genuinely does help! i started writing on tumblr ages ago, and the difference is like night and day. keep at it, and you'll eventually find your style.

i hope this was useful!

#𝟎𝟎𝟏 : 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. ◟ ooc .◝#( don't forget to take breaks & don't force yourself to write something if you don't have any ideas!! )#( burn out is real & it is the enemy JVSKSK )

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anotherghoul666 · 1 year

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Well, you knew this was coming, right, my dear? Sage, ivy and papyrus <3

Of course darling, but that doesn't make any less special to have you in my inbox ❤️

sage ⇢ what ‘medium’ of art (poetry, music, fiction, paintings, statues etc.) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is? Oh music, 100%. I am a very audotiry-seeking person, I tend to need an audio component to make the deepest emotional connections to things, and I love to feel the emotions in a physical way through my body. While other mediums like writing etc. can instill emotion in me, it's a detached experience. I can rationalize and internalize the written word but I'm not gonna feel it in my actual body much. Music, I feel inside my body, with the goosebumps, the vibrations of the sound, the ways it compells me to move and stim. My body is made to move in rythm, but reading is a static, often sat, experience. Plus there's live shows which can feel like literally being pummeled, emptied out, scooped out with your innards replaced by the sonic vibrations. Music for me is an experience that involved all of my senses, so it's more easily connected with my nervous system and and brain. There's something distinct about the physical experience of music, like, lyrics do it for me, but poetry does nothing to me at all, and that's cause I couldn't hear the poem necessarily and have it paired with specific tones and chords and modes to support or contrast the words. Audio's my main priprity when it comes to having an emotional response to anything.

ivy ⇢ what are your ‘tells’ for your emotions and moods? how can someone tell you’re happy, annoyed, upset or tired? Now that's a question to ask an autistic person XD My tells are clear, direct communication. Ask and I'll tell you, type of vibe. I let people know. I'm sure I have instinctive, subconscious shifts in my tone of voice, pattern of speech, microexpressions, stance, aura and what I give off in general when my mood changes. My problem with those tells is, very often people misconstrude my "tells" and assume I feel a certain way when I don't. Reading tells implies a big amount of projection and inferring things that unfortunately people don't always seek to confirm. So to me, in my experience, my tells are missread constantly. People think I'm mad so often when I'm nowhere near that state, for instance. I dunno what I'm doing to look mad all the time but I guess I have that "tell" going on loads more often than I feel that emotion. Tells are unreliable. Someone can tell what mood I'm in by asking directly! Ain't that the most autistic answer I could have given to this question hahahahha, fuck xD

papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with? The audio rip of this chillstep mix by Chillout Deer on youtube:

youtube

Apparently the first track on this mix is called Sleeping Forest by artist Wayr. I associate this a trip me and my mom took in the summer of 2018. There's a sort of spa retreat / nature retreat place my mom's been going to for decades. She used to go with her sister before she left, with her mom before she passed away, with her best friends before they drifted apart; she'd drag my dad even if it isn't his thing too much and he'd humor her and they'd have a lovely time. I went 3 times with her so far. This place is my mom's safe haven. In 2018 we'd planned to take the trip together for her birthday. It's about a 4 hour drive from us, my mom doesn't drive much and is scared to because she has a medical condition that greatly diminished her sensitivity in her feet so she has a hard time feeling the pedals the correct way. One of the things I did to help calm her during the drive was play those chillstep mixes. She loved them and they really helped. We had our windows down and we vibed, driving deeper and deeper in nature near the water on the shoreside. Both drives went perfectly. We also listened to those mixes in our room before and after our spa treatments when we'd get back together after. We played chillstep while doing diamong painting, while talking about our values, while trying to decide which spa treatment to go to next. That was the year we had our shetland sheepdog puppy that got a neurological condition days after the trip and we had to euthanize her. The last pictures of her we have are on the balcony of our little shoreside cabin over there. That was the year me and my life partner got together, and these few days were the longest amount we'd spent apart since we began our life together. We texted and sent pictures back and forth and I was trying to live in the moment with my mom and take in every minute of this trip while also dealing with my cells yearning for my partner. That was the year we had the best food we ate at that retreat, my mom and I sharing our menues and for once I didn't have an allergic reaction to anything, so the trip was safe health-wise for me. That was the year me and my mom made up the silliest game of trying every chair / surface to sit on in the entire property, taking pictures and ranking them, finding out best chair XD That was the year we got followed by a dog? wolf? wild canine during a walk in the woods for legit an hour, getting trailed by this animal which was terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. That was the last time me and my mom went to the retreat, cause my life with my partner and work and personal life took over. I should organize another one of those trips soon. Lots of good and bittersweet memories in that music.

#asks

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pooma-health · 1 year

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Autism

Introduction:

Autism belongs to a group of neural developmental disabilities called Autism spectrum disorders. The name “spectrum” arises from the fact that these disorders affect each child differently. These disorders involve delays in the development of many basic skills, including the abilities to socialize or form relationships with others, to communicate verbally and non-verbally effectively and restricted behaviour. Children with Autism may also have intellectual disabilities and behavioural challenges. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. Autism is one of the three recognized disorders in the Autism spectrum, the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for Autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.

Signs & Symptoms of Autism -

Symptoms of Autism typically appear before a child is 3 years old and last throughout life. Children with Autism can display a wide range of symptoms, which can vary in severity from mild to disabling. General symptoms that may be present to some degree in a child with Autism include:

Difficulty in verbal communication, including problems using and understanding language.

Fails to respond to his or her name or appears not to hear you at times.

Has poor eye contact and lacks facial expression.

Doesn’t speak or has delayed speech, or may lose previous ability to say words or sentences.

Can’t start a conversation or keep one going, even when the child has the ability to speak. May only start a conversation to make requests or label items.

Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm – may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech.

May repeat words or phrases verbatim, but doesn’t understand how to use them.

Difficulty with non-verbal communication, such as gestures and facial expressions.

Difficulty with social interaction, including relating to people and to his or her surroundings.

Difficulty making friends and preferring to play alone. Resists cuddling and holding.

Unusual ways of playing with toys and other objects, such as only lining them up a certain way.

Doesn’t appear to understand simple questions or directions.

Doesn’t express emotions or feelings and appears unaware of others’ feelings.

Doesn’t point at or bring objects to share interest.

Approaches a social interaction inappropriately by being passive, aggressive or disruptive.

Develops specific routines or rituals and finds it difficult adjusting to changes in routine or familiar surroundings. Has an unreasonable insistence on following routines in detail.

Gets disturbed at slightest change. May be uncooperative or resistant to change.

Repetitive body movements, or patterns of behaviour, such as rocking, hand flapping, spinning and head banging.

Has problems with coordination or has odd movement patterns, such as clumsiness or walking on toes, and has odd, stiff or exaggerated body language.

Preoccupation with unusual objects or parts of objects.

Could be fascinated by details of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car, but doesn’t understand the “big picture” of the subject.

Could be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch, and yet oblivious to pain.

Does not engage in imitative or make-believe play.

Could become fixated on an object or activity with abnormal intensity or focus.

May have odd food preferences, such as eating only a few foods, or eating only foods with a certain texture or colour.

People with a form of Autism, called Autistic Savantism, have exceptional skills in specific areas such as music, art, and numbers. People with this form of Autism are able to perform these skills without lessons or practice.

Other Symptoms -

Some people with Autism have other symptoms which might include:

Hyperactivity (very active)

Impulsivity (acting without thinking)

Short attention span

Aggressive behaviour

Causing self injury

Temper tantrums

Unusual eating and sleeping habits

Unusual mood or emotional reactions

Lack of fear or more fear than expected

Unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel

Possible Alarming signs -

Children develop at their own pace, some more quickly than others. However, you should consider an evaluation for Autism if you notice any of the following signs and symptoms in your child:

Your child does not babble or coo by 12 months of age

Your child does not gesture, such as point at an object to show interest or wave, by 12 months of age

Your child does not say single words by 16 months

Your child does not say two-word phrases on his or her own (rather than just repeating what someone else says) by 24 months

Your child repeats words or phrases over and over (echolalia)

Your child gives unrelated answers to questions

Your child flaps his or her hands, rocks his or her body, or spins in circles

Your child has unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel

Your child does not establish or maintain eye contact and wants to be left alone

Your child does not make facial expressions or respond to your facial expressions

Your child has not gained any language or social skills (as per age)

Causes of Autism -

Autism spectrum disorder has no single known cause. Given the complexity of the disorder, and the fact that symptoms and severity vary, there are probably many causes. Both genetics and environment may play a role.

Genetic problems – Although there are theories that state genetic factors do cause Autism, no one gene has been identified to cause Autism. Researchers are searching for the irregular segments of genetic code that children with autism may have inherited. Autism tends to occur more frequently than expected among individuals who have certain medical conditions, including fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, congenital rubella syndrome etc. Some harmful substances ingested during pregnancy also have been associated with an increased risk of Autism.

Environmental factors – Researchers are currently exploring whether factors such as viral infections, complications during pregnancy or air pollutants play a role in triggering Autism spectrum disorder. Those with autism (or those at risk) may be especially vulnerable to such toxins, as their ability to metabolize and detoxify these exposures might be compromised.

Homoeopathic Approach in treating Autism:

The fundamental problem in Autism appears to be genetic. Homoeopathy looks for the underlying causes of Autism thereby dealing with it at the root level.

Autism treated in the conventional method is usually with the help of medical supplements which treat the anxiety, hyperactivity or the other behavioural problems that are seen in autistic children. Behavioural training and management is also advised during the treatment of Autism. Homoeopathy helps in targeting the root cause of the problem and thereby deals with the causes of Autism from within. The main aim and objective of Homoeopathy has always been to treat a person individually and relieve the patient of their symptoms from within.

Homoeopathy helps in treating the behavioural problems of an autistic child. Homoeopathy thereby changes the core nature of the child. Thus by means of which the autistic child can continue his daily routine and lifestyle like any other normal child.

The homoeopathic treatment for Autism is based on an extensive case study of the patient with regards to his/her characteristic symptoms, genetic predisposition, and their mental state. The total time taken for the treatment differs from person to person depending on the duration, intensity and frequency of the suffering, maintaining causes, susceptibility and general health of the patient.

The goal of homoeopathic treatment for Autism is to identify the main cause for the occurrence of symptoms. Homoeopathy then uses the body’s own mental powers to behave normally like other children. Autistic children have some exceptional skills like being good at art, with numbers or music. With the help of homoeopathy, the erratic behaviour of autistic children can be fine tuned and the health of the child can be enhanced. This leads to the strengthening the good skills of the child so as to let the child lead a normal life.

Hence homoeopathic treatment along with occupational therapies and behavioural training, can help in improving the lifestyle of an autistic child and thus let the child lead a normal life.

It is therefore advisable to choose Homoeopathy for treating your child’s autistic behaviour, because it helps to deal with the behavioural troubles faced by the parents of an autistic child thus letting the child live like any other normal child.

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ayurvedic-child-specialist · 1 year

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AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER-SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Autism spectrum disorder is a brain development illness that affects how a person perceives and socialises with others, producing difficulties with social interaction and communication. The disorder also exhibits limited and repetitive behavioural patterns. The term "spectrum" refers to the vast variety of symptoms and severity associated with autism spectrum disorder. ASD (autism spectrum disorder) is a developmental impairment caused by brain differences. ASD patients frequently struggle with social communication and interaction, as well as confined or repetitive habits or hobbies. People with ASD may also learn, move, or pay attention in various ways. It is crucial to note that some persons who do not have ASD may exhibit some of these symptoms. However, these characteristics can be quite difficult for persons with ASD to cope with.

Social Communication Skills-

A child or adult with autism spectrum disorder may struggle with social interaction and communication skills, exhibiting any of the following symptoms:

Fails to reply to his or her name or appears to be deaf at times

Resists snuggling and holding and appears to prefer playing alone, disappearing into his or her own world.

Lacks eye contact and facial expressiveness

Does not speak, speaks slowly, or loses earlier capacity to articulate words or sentences

Can't start or maintain a discussion, or simply starts one to make requests or categorise objects.

Speaks in an unusual tone or rhythm, with a singsong voice or robot-like speaking.

Repeats words or phrases verbatim but lacks comprehension on how to apply them

Doesn't seem to answer simple queries or directions.

Does not express emotions or feelings and appears to be ignorant of the feelings of others

Does not point to or bring objects of interest to share

Approaches a social engagement inappropriately by being passive, confrontational, or disruptive

Has difficulties interpreting nonverbal clues, such as facial expressions, bodily postures, or tone of speech.

Behavioural Patterns-

A child or adult with autism spectrum disorder may exhibit limited, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or hobbies, which may include any of the following symptoms:

Rocks, spins, or flails his hands in repeated movements.

Biting and head-banging are examples of self-harming behaviours.

Develops precise patterns or rituals and is bothered by even minor changes

Has coordination issues or unusual movement patterns, such as clumsiness or walking on tiptoes, as well as unusual, stiff, or exaggerated body language

Is attracted by features of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car, but lacks understanding of the object's broader purpose or function Is exceptionally sensitive to light, sound, or touch, but may be indifferent to pain or temperature

Does not engage in imitative or pretend play

Fixates with unusual intensity or focus on an object or activity

Has certain food preferences, such as consuming only a few foods or avoiding meals with a specific texture

Some children with autism spectrum disorder become more engaged with others and have less behavioural difficulties as they mature. Some people, usually those with the least severe issues, may eventually lead normal or nearly normal lives. Others, on the other hand, continue to struggle with language or social skills, and the teen years can exacerbate behavioural and emotional issues.

When should you consult a doctor?

Babies develop at their own rate, and many do not adhere to the strict deadlines outlined in certain parenting books. However, children with autism spectrum disorder frequently show evidence of impaired development before the age of two. If you are worried about your child's development or suspect that he or she has autism spectrum condition, talk to your doctor. The signs of the illness can also be related with other developmental abnormalities. Autism spectrum disorder symptoms frequently manifest early in infancy, when there are noticeable deficits in language abilities and social interactions. There are CHILD AUTISM TREATMENTS available that can help children and parents manage with this condition.

#ChildAyurvedicSpecialistinPune #AutismTreatmentforchildreninPune #CerebralpalsytreatmentForchildinPune #TreatmentfordownsyndromechildinPune #ChildautismspecialistinPune #cpchildtreatmentinPune #ChildautismtreatmentinIndia #autismtreatmentinmumbai #HeightincreasetreatmentinMumbai #autismtreatmentinnashik #Heightincreasetreatmentinnashik #autismtreatmentinnagpur #Heightincreasetreatmentinnagpur #autismtreatmentinthane #Heightincreasetreatmentinthane #autismtreatmentinamravati #Heightincreasetreatmentinamravati

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mavericsohn · 2 years

Text

for you, always - k.sw

— pairing: sunwoo x gn!reader

— word count: 1.2k

— genre: friends to lovers, fluff

— warnings: none

are you awake? [03:52]

sunwoo is typing…

for you, always [03:52]

you hadn’t realised you had been holding your breath until the second text came in.

everything okay? [3:54]

exhaling, your fingers hovered over the keyboard, trying to psych yourself up to say the words you wanted to. the clock ticked on, the online status of sunwoo’s contact remained, and your text box remained bare. it was only when the screen changed to 04:00 did you back pedal.

everything’s fine :) just bored [04:01]

sunwoo’s reply came instantly, a pattern you had noticed with the boy infamously known amongst others as an awful texter.

at 4 in the morning? [4:02]

damn kim sunwoo and his perfect little existence, even over text. you were foolish to think you could ever say exactly what you wanted to when all he had to do was exist to spiral you.

a deep breath, then you began to type once more.

you got me [4:05]

guess i’m just thinking too much [4:05]

the three dots popped up immediately;

about? [4:06]

you, you typed, then hit backspace immediately until the text was absent from your screen once again. that would be too honest. too much too soon, and your heart couldn’t take rejection right now. you wanted to tell him everything, to stand on the rooftops and scream i love you, but instead you were resigned to your usual tiptoeing around the subject, as everyone but sunwoo caught on to how you felt.

as you waited, considering your options now you had started the conversation (only to regret it a moment later), the dots that indicated he was typing flashed up again. then disappeared. then flashed up once more, before disappearing just as quickly.

you thought maybe he’d give up, go offline and go to bed as he should be doing so early in the morning. but then, his contact details lit up your screen.

you almost dropped your phone as a result of the sudden call, panicking when you realised this was actually happening. kim sunwoo, your kim sunwoo, was actually calling you, at four in the morning when he should have been resting, and you were going to be a blubbering mess. it took six rings before you even had the courage to tighten your grip on the phone.

“hi,” you practically whispered when you mustered up the smallest amount of courage to answer.

the greeting on the other side of the phone was raspy and thick with sleep, and that was when you felt awful. you had woken sunwoo up. “y/n? what’s going on?” he paused, giving you time to wallow in panic and guilt, “talk to me.”

fiddling with a loose thread on the sweatshirt you wore (his sweatshirt that you had stolen from the night you two had travelled to the fair with chanhee and kevin), you muttered out a reply. “it’s stupid.”

“if it’s bothering you, then it’s not stupid.” sunwoo tutted in response. even with the tiredness laced in his voice, his tone remained tender and caring. when you took a second to reply, he added “and for the record, nothing you say could ever be stupid.”

that brought a small smile to your lips, nervous or not.

the way sunwoo spoke to you had always been different to how he spoke to the others. there was a certain level of affection that he reserved for your private conversations only, a softness to his speech that gave you a glimmer of hope that he may return your feelings. but any flicker of optimism was always stamped out by your own anxieties.

“i miss you.”

“i miss you too,” sunwoo responded without even missing a beat, your small confession barely leaving your lips before he was racing to confirm his agreement. he realised the mistake, too, for then he followed it with a huff of “i just mean that -- you know, we haven’t seen each other for a while.”

your heart fluttered just with the sound of his voice at the end, slightly rushed and still groggy, but oh-so beautiful. at this point, you were convinced everything about him was perfect. that certainly didn’t help the raging crush you had on the boy.

every time you woke up, checking your phone for signs of life from your other friends, he was always at the top of our contacts list with his good morning messages. when you clicked on instagram, he had always sent you a cute dog video he thought you might like. whenever the two of you hung out with friends, he was always the first person to notice when your social battery had begun to drain, and he had always been quick to find an excuse for the two of you to leave.

it was the little things about how he treated you that made you wonder, the same things that made you fall in love with him in the first place.

like four a.m. phone calls.

like him being there for you any time, no matter the hour or the capacity in which he was available.

“i love you.” you blurted, not even thinking too much of it in that moment as your brain flooded with memories of every little thing sunwoo had ever done for you.

the words didn’t seem as scary once they were out in the atmosphere, unable to pull them back in. they were reduced to just that - words. sure, words that meant something much deeper to you, something you could never quite describe in full detail, but they were only words. you were the person who gave them power and meaning.

“i love you too.” sunwoo agreed again, after a pause, but you were already shaking your head in correction.

“no - sunwoo… i mean…” a deep breath, the last before the most important confession of your life so far. “i mean i’m in love with you.”

no response. your worst nightmare quite possibly, as now, you couldn’t even hear the soft breathing down the phone. if it weren’t for the absence of a disconnection sound, you would have thought sunwoo had hung up. that was what made your heart race more than anything.

you shouldn’t have said anything, you should have kept it to yourself, just as you had for the past six months. there was no need to make it so complicated. you could have gone on denying your feelings for him, pretending to his face that the way he brushed against your arm had no effect on you. you could have kept him, but of course you had to mess it up--

“i know.” now, it was your turn to stop breathing. you braced yourself for the rejection, readying your ability to hold back tears from affecting your voice; but then “i love you too.”

you blinked. once, then twice, and then you couldn’t stop. you were waiting for the moment that your eyes opened, and you were suddenly back in the real world.

“y/n?”

sunwoo loved you.

he loved you.

you.

“can you come over?” your voice was barely even a whisper, too afraid to push it, but desperate to hear those words in person.

in your state of floating, you hadn’t even heard the noises down the other line until a car door slammed shut. keys sounded being put in the ignition, and that was when the smile dancing through your mind finally broke out on your face, hearing sunwoo’s breathy response which told that his grin was just as wide.

“already on my way.”

ೃ⁀➷

a/n: the first writing post on this account:) not my best, but i wanted to get an example of a time stamp imagine up (actual scenarios will be longer!), and my heart belongs to late night confessions with sunwoo <3 hope you’re all doing okay

#sunwoo #kim sunwoo #kim sunwoo x reader #sunwoo fluff #sunwoo scenario #sunwoo imagine #sunwoo drabble #sunwoo headcanon #the boyz #the boyz imagines #sunwoo x reader #📚 giselle’s works

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hops-hunny · 3 years

Text

Stories That Are Told

Pairing: Tarrant “Hatter” Hightopp x Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: (Y/n)’s so used to being the background character in everyone’s story that she forget she can be the main character in her own.

Warnings: Slight angst but majority fluff!

A/N: I love this man with my whole being omg pls

Stumbling into Wonderland with Alice had been a wonderful thing for not only Alice, but (Y/n) as well. For Alice it was an escape from all the things she didn’t wanna do and would never wanna do. She wasn’t forced to marry some sod of a guy who’d make her miserable for the rest of her life or to be the proper lady she was expected to be, but instead she got a taste of freedom. And although it was an escape for (Y/n) as well, it was an escape of a different kind.

In the other world, with it’s dreary skies and monotonous patterns and cycles, (Y/n) lived a very humdrum life. Her family had never been as fortunate as Alice in any ways of the sorts, it was a miracle that they were friends to begin with. Alice’s father had been friends with (Y/n)’s since boyhood and because of that, he always made sure they knew they were welcome to anything of his that they wished. And while (Y/n)’s father had never taken advantage of that from the way Alice’s mother treated (Y/n) and her family, it wouldn’t be hard to think otherwise.

When Charles was still around, she hadn’t done anything out of line. The older woman always kept to herself, occasionally having an afternoon cup of tea with her own mom. However, her true colors and feelings came to light after the passing of her husband. During the next few months after her husband’s absence, the (L/n)s were there for Kingsleighs. Although they didn’t have the funds to help them monetarily (for they also didn’t need it), they offered their labor and services to the two as much as they needed. Farm work, house cleaning, garden maintenance. Anything you could think they had done. But as soon as Helen was well (as well as you could be after losing someone so dear) , she had forbid them from coming to their property. She didn’t believe her and Alice should associate with people of “such low stature” because it didn’t “align with their image”. But that had never stopped Alice.

Anywhere Alice went, (Y/n) was always there by her side right along with her. They practically went everywhere together and that hadn’t changed since they arrived in Wonderland. (Y/n) was grateful that she had chased after her friend. It was like she knew something would happen. Afterall, crazy things always happen when you put two curious girls together for more than a moment. The friends they had made since they arrived were nothing short of lovely. She knew her sister would describe them as odd characters and disturbing individuals. Telling her to stay far away from them and to not associate herself with those types. But what was wrong with being odd or even disturbing? The only things worth doing in life were a bit odd and disturbing and if that made her peculiar than so be it.

For the first time in her life, she felt as though she belonged. Sure, it wasn’t her story nor her destiny to be here as it was Alice but that did not mean she did not appreciate Wonderland for what it was. The story had never been her story, not here, and certainly not where they were from. Alice was the main chat and she was the topic that would get trickled in after.

“Everyone has a part to play, (Y/n). Even if it is not large or as set in stone, each person’s role is necessary for the story to progress, even yours. You’ll see.” the words of that tricky caterpillar replayed in her head over and over again whenever she had a moment to think. What had he meant by that? Was her story not more than to be here in support of her dearest friend and the latest edition to their friends? Was she not just a tool in the scheme of things? (Y/n) had never known people of lesser importance as herself to contribute much of anything big to a legacy as large as Alice’s!

From her end of the table, she watched as Hatter threw his hat high into the air before it landed on his head causing everyone to erupt in a jostled mess of laughter and cheering. She smiled fondly from a far. Tarrant was a kind man. No matter what was going on or where they were, he always had a way of making her feel included. That’s just who he was. He had known what it was like to feel excluded from things and the last thing he’d wanna do is be the cause of that for someone else. But it was nothing more than his nature, that’s it.

“You know, you should just tell him how you feel.” a velvety voice sounded from beside her ear causing her to jump. The (h/c) haired girl glared at the purple cat, reaching a hand to swat him away but he disappeared once more before appearing on her other side. “He watches you often, even when there is not many around to see. But I always do of course.” The Cheshire cat said in a sure tell tone. The girl scoffed at him, shoving another small pastry into her mouth.

“I’m not in the mood for one of your jokes today, cat. So if you’ve come to mock my feelings during my 2nd to last day in Wonderland, I wish you well and send you off.” she huffed out, crossing her arms across her chest, turning her gaze away from him back to Tarrant who was already looking at her. The Hatter gave her a secret wink and a smile before turning back to the March Hare who seemed rather frazzled about something. Or perhaps excited. But once again, the grinning cat appeared in front of her face once more.

“Silly girl, you ignore the plain truth in front of you? I can see why you and Alice get along so well, both of you can be quite foolish. Oh well, the story isn’t over yet after all.” and with that he was gone. What did he mean by that? The story was clearly over. Alice had done what she set out to do. The Jabberwocky had been slain, the White Queen ruled once again, and all had been made well. And what was with everyone with stories? Not everything you can do will always be a story and not every story comes to an end. She decided not to dwell much on it. This was her last night she’d ever spend in Wonderland and she’d rather like to keep it in good memory.

So when the White Queen offered her a hand to dance she took it, their dresses swaying in the wind in oppositional unison. They all danced with one another, twirling, laughing, and having a grand time. The entire time the smile never once left (Y/n)’s face which a certain hatted man enjoyed with all his being.

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

“I can’t believe you’re leaving today. It seems as if it was only yesterday when you arrived.” the girl swiveled around to see the red head there, a bittersweet smile on his face. His smile grew once she turned to face him. Removing his hat, he bowed as he grabbed one of her hands placing a delicate kiss to the top of it. “I am delighted to have known a woman as graceful as you.” hot tears sprung into her eyes which she quickly got rid of before he stood up. Giggling some she hopped onto the large sit swing, motioning for him to join her.

“Don’t get sad yet, Hatter. I’ve still got a few hours left. You can’t rid of me that easily.” he joined her on the swing, a wide grin still on his face. Although it was partly real, she could tell there was some sadness lingering behind it. (Y/n) turned her gaze to the sight in front of them. From the large benched swing, you could see just about all of wonderland over the edge of the cliff. “Besides, there’s not much to miss. I’m just me.”

“And ‘just you’ is a lot! I’ll miss everything about you. The way you mimic the bird calls you hear, the way you get excited when the rock you skipped across the water goes further than you imagined,” she looked at him in shock as he continued to speak, “E-even the smaller things like how you leave the crust of your sandwich for last and give your crumbs to the ants. But I think more importantly I’ll...I’ll just miss your presence.” he said the last part softly, staring off the edge of the cliff to avoid her gaze. A million thoughts raced through her heads as he spoke. Could it really be? Could he really share the same feelings as she did? (Y/n) reached a shaky (s/c) hand to lay on top of Hatter’s pale one, intertwining their fingers.

“Hatter, I've got something to tell you. During my time here in Wonderland, I’ve enjoyed every second I’ve had with everyone. But more importantly, I’ve enjoyed my time so much with you and I believe it’s only fair to share with you that my feelings I have for you go beyond those of normal friendship. I guess you can say I’ve grown...quite mad for you.” his head whipped to face her as he stared into her eyes, tears welling within his own. He flashed her another smile except this one was genuine, filled with the love and warmth he had shown her the entirety of her time in Wonderland.

“(Y/n)! Alice sent me to fetch you. I’m afraid it’s time for the two of you to head back.”

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

After a lot of shedded tears, heartfelt speeches, and goodbyes that were nothing short of wholesome, it was time for the two to head home. Alice patted (Y/n)’s shoulder before holding her arm out for her to grab. As they neared the portal, (Y/n) turned around once more to stare at her friends but when she got to Tarrant, her heart began to break. The gaze they held with one another was long until she simply couldn’t take it. Without thinking she ran up to him once more, grabbing his shoulders tightly.

“Hatter, Tarrant, I need to know how you feel. I couldn’t live with myself if I left and never knew.” he shook his head, looking away from her as he tried to stop the waterworks that were withheld behind the dam. Hot tears streamed down the delicate skin of the girl’s face. “Hatter...please.” her voice was broken as she begged.

“I believe I wasn’t honest myself either. I am completely enamored by you, my dear. I wish I had said something sooner but even though I couldn’t, I’ll always hold a special place for you in here.” he said, placing a hand over his heart. Standing on the tips of her toes, she leaned forward placing a quick peck to his cheek.

“What if it isn’t too late? What if I stayed?” she started, watching as he shook his head, “Hatter listen! You may think I’d regret if I stay but I think I would regret even more not following my heart the first time it’s ever tried to tell me something. Nothing would make me happier than staying here with you...that is if you’d allow it.” a silence fell over as everyone awaited his answer. Without another thought Hatter leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and sweet. Filled with a silent promise, a silent vow to care for her as deeply as his heart will allow.

“I do not know what I did to get so lucky, but I would do it again if needed.” she felt herself grow flustered at his words. A quick peck was placed on his lips before walking over to Alice once again. The blonde had tears of her own in her eyes. She was glad her friend had found something to fight for, something to call her own. But also for the first time in many years, they would not see each other everyday as they once did. They both stared at each other before throwing themselves into each other's arms, laughing in unison as bittersweet tears fell.

“Good luck. Make sure you put your foot down. You’re Alice! You listen to no one and march to no one’s drum but your own.” Alice gave her a curt nod.

“Take care. We’ll meet again, do not doubt it.”

Although Alice’s story had seemingly come to an end, it seemed as though (Y/n)’s story was just beginning. For once she wasn’t the side character in someone’s tale, but the main character in her own.

TAGSLIST: @de4ds0up @pink-hufflepuff @redpanda-poetry

#hatter #alice in wonderland #hatter x reader #tarrant hightopp #tarrant hightopp x reader #mad hatter x reader #alice in wonderland x reader #hatter hightopp x reader

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pumpkinpaix · 3 years

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hello there, hope you're having a nice day <3

so i've been reading a lot of fics lately, uk for sanity's sake, and i've noticed that in most of them, lwj doesn't use contractions (eg., says do not instead of don't)?? and i think he doesn't in the novel either but i don't remember lol so i can't be sure but anyway that made me curious - does chinese have contractions as well? does he not use it bc it's informal?

hello there! I’m doing all right, i started to answer this ask while waiting for a jingyeast loaf to come out of the oven 😊 many thanks to @bookofstars for helping me look over/edit/correct this post!! :D

anyways! the answer to your questions are complicated (of course it is when is anything simple with me), so let’s see if I can break it down--you’re asking a) whether chinese has contractions, b) if it does, how does they change the tone of the sentence--is it similar to english or no?, and c) how does this all end up with lan wangji pretty much never using contractions in english fic/translation?

I’m gonna start by talking about how formality is (generally) expressed in each language, and hopefully, by the end of this post, all the questions will have been answered in one way or another. so: chinese and english express variations in formality/register differently, oftentimes in ways that run contrary to one another. I am, as always, neither a linguist nor an expert in chinese and english uhhh sociological grammar? for lack of a better word. I’m speaking from my own experience and knowledge :D

so with a character like lan wangji, it makes perfect sense in english to write his dialogue without contractions, as contractions are considered informal or colloquial. I don’t know if this has changed in recent years, but I was always taught in school to never use contractions in my academic papers.

However! not using contractions necessarily extends the length of the sentence: “do not” takes longer to say than “don’t”, “cannot” is longer than “can’t” etc. in english, formality is often correlated with sentence length: the longest way you can say something ends up sounding the most formal. for a very simplified example, take this progression from least formal to absurdly formal:

whatcha doin’?

what’re you doing?

what are you doing? [standard colloquial]

may I ask what you are doing?

might I inquire as to what you are doing?

excuse me, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

pardon my intrusion, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

please pardon my intrusion, but might inquire as to the nature of your current actions?

this is obviously a somewhat overwrought example, but you get the point. oftentimes, the longer, more complex, more indirect sentence constructions indicate a greater formality, often because there is a simultaneous decreasing of certainty. downplaying the speaker’s certainty can show deference (or weakness) in english, while certainty tends to show authority/confidence (or aggression/rudeness).

different words also carry different implications of formality—in the example, I switched “excuse me” to “pardon me” during one of the step ups. pardon (to me at least) feels like a more formal word than “excuse”. Similarly, “inquire” is more formal than “ask” etc. I suspect that at least some of what makes one word seem more formal than one of its synonyms has to do with etymology. many of english’s most formal/academic words come from latin (which also tends to have longer words generally!), while our personal/colloquial words tend to have germanic origins (inquire [latin] vs ask [germanic]).

you’ll also notice that changing a more direct sentence structure (“may I ask what”) to a more indirect one (“might I inquire as to”) also jumps a register. a lot of english is like this — you can complicate simple direct sentences by switching the way you use the verbs/how many auxiliaries you use etc.

THE POINT IS: with regards to english, more formal sentence structures are often (not always) longer and more indirect than informal ones. this leads us to a problem with a character like lan wangji.

lan wangji is canonically very taciturn. if he can express his meaning in two words rather than three, then he will. and chinese allows for this—in extreme ways. if you haven’t already read @hunxi-guilai’s post on linguistic register (in CQL only, but it’s applicable across the board), I would start there because haha! I certainly do Not have a degree in Classical Chinese lit and she does a great job. :D

you can see from the examples that hunxi chose that often, longer sentences tend to be more informal in chinese (not always, which I’ll circle back to at the end lol). Colloquial chinese makes use of helping particles to indicate tone and meaning, as is shown in wei wuxian’s dialogue. and, as hunxi explained, those particles are largely absent from lan wangji’s speech pattern. chinese isn’t built of “words” in the way English is—each character is less a word and more a morpheme—and the language allows for a lot of information to be encoded in one character. a single character can often stand for a phrase within a sentence without sacrificing either meaning or formality. lan wangji makes ample use of this in order to express himself in the fewest syllables possible.

so this obviously leads to an incongruity when trying to translate his dialogue or capture his voice in English: shorter sentences are usually more direct by nature, and directness/certainty is often construed as rudeness -- but it might seem strange to see lan wangji’s dialogue full of longer sentences while the narration explicitly says that he uses very short sentences. so what happens is that many english fic writers extrapolated this into creating an english speech pattern for lan wangji that reads oddly. they’ll have lan wangji speak in grammatically incoherent fragments that distill his intended thought because they’re trying to recreate his succinctness. unfortunately, English doesn’t have as much freedom as Chinese does in this way, and it results in lan wangji sounding as if he has some kind of linguistic impediment and/or as if he’s being unspeakably rude in certain situations. In reality, lan wangji’s speech is perfectly polite for a young member of the gentry (though he’s still terribly rude in other ways lol). he speaks in full, and honestly, quite eloquent sentences.

hunxi’s post already has a lot of examples, but I figure I’ll do one as well focused on the specifics of this post.

I’m going to use this exchange from chapter 63 between the twin jades because I think it’s a pretty simple way to illustrate what I’m talking about:

蓝曦臣道：“你亲眼所见？”

蓝忘机道：“他亲眼所见。”

蓝曦臣道：“你相信他？”

蓝忘机道：“信。”

[...] 蓝曦臣道：“那么金光瑶呢？”

蓝忘机道：“不可信。”

my translation:

Lan Xichen said, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Lan Wangji said, “He saw it with his own eyes.”

Lan Xichen said, “You believe him?”

Lan Wangji said, “I believe him.”

[...] Lan Xichen said, “Then what about Jin Guangyao?”

Lan Wangji said, “He cannot be believed.”

you can see how much longer the (pretty literal) english translations are! every single line of dialogue is expanded because things that can be omitted in chinese cannot be omitted in english without losing grammatical coherency. i‘ll break a few of them down:

Lan Xichen’s first line:

你 (you) 亲眼 (with one’s own eyes) 所 (literary auxiliary) 见 (met/saw)？

idk but i love this line a lot lmao. it just has such an elegant feel to me, probably because I am an uncultured rube. anyways, you see here that he expressed his full thought in five characters.

if I were to rewrite this sentence into something much less formal/much more modern, I might have it become something like this:

你是自己看见的吗？

你 (you) 是 (to be) 自己 (oneself) 看见 (see) 的 (auxiliary) 吗 (interrogative particle)？

i suspect that this construction might even be somewhat childish? I’ve replaced every single formal part of the sentence with a more colloquial one. instead of 亲眼 i’ve used 自己, instead of 所见 i’ve used 看见的 and then also added an interrogative particle at the end for good measure (吗). To translate this, I would probably go with “Did you see it yourself?”

contained in this is also an example of how one character can represent a whole concept that can also be represented with two characters: 见 vs 看见. in this example, both mean “to see”. we’ll see it again in the next example as well:

in response to lan xichen’s, “you believe him?” --> 你 (you) 相信 (believe) 他 (him)? lan wangji answers with, “信” (believe).

chinese does not do yes or no questions in the same way that english does. there is no catch-all for yes or no, though there are general affirmative (是／有) and negative (不／没) characters. there are other affirmative/negative characters, but these are the ones that I believe are the most common and also the ones that you may see in response to yes or no questions on their own. (don’t quote me on that lol)

regardless, the way you respond to a yes or no question is often by repeating the verb phrase either in affirmative or negative. so here, when lan xichen asks if lan wangji believes wei wuxian, lan wangji responds “believe”. once again, you can see that one character can stand in for a concept that may also be expressed in two characters: 信 takes the place of 相信. lan wangji could have responded with “相信” just as well, but, true to his character, he didn’t because he didn’t need to. this is still a complete sentence. lan wangji has discarded the subject (I), the object (him), and also half the verb (相), and lost no meaning whatsoever. you can’t do this in english!

and onto the last exchange:

lan xichen: 那么 (then) 金光瑶 (jin guangyao) 呢 (what about)？

lan wangji: 不可 (cannot) 信 (believe)

you can actually see the contrast between the two brothers’ speech patterns even in this. lan xichen’s question is not quite as pared down as it could be. if it were wangji’s line instead, I would expect it to read simply “金光瑶呢？” which would just be “what about jin guangyao?” 那么 isn’t necessary to convey the core thought -- it’s just as how “then what about” is different than “what about”, but “then” is not necessary to the central question. if we wanted to keep the “then” aspect, you could still cut out 么 and it would be the same meaning as well.

a FINAL example of how something can be cut down just because I think examples are helpful:

“I don’t know” is usually given as 我不知道. (this is what nie huaisang says lol) It contains subject (我) and full verb (知道). you can pare this straight down to just 不知 and it would mean the same thing in the correct context. i think most of the characters do this at least once? it sounds more literary -- i don’t know that i would ever use it in everyday speech, but the fact remains that it’s a possibility. both could be translated as “I do not know” and it would be accurate.

ANYWAYS, getting all the way back to one of your original questions: does chinese have contractions? and the answer is like... kind of...?? but not really. there’s certainly slang/dialect variants that can be used in ways that are reminiscent of english contractions. the example I’m thinking of is the character 啥 (sha2) which can be used as slang in place of 什么 (shen2 me). (which means “what”)

so for a standard sentence of, 你在做什么? (what are you doing), you could shorten down to just 做啥? and the second construction is less formal than the first, but they mean the same thing.

other slang i can think of off the top of my head: 干嘛 (gan4 ma2) is also informal slang for “what are you doing”. and i think this is a regional thing, but you can also use 搞 (gao3) and 整 (zheng3) to mean “do” as well.

so in the same way that you can replace 什么 with 啥, you can replace 做 as well to get constructions like 搞啥 (gao3 sha2) and 整啥 (zheng3 sha2).

these are all different ways to say “what are you doing” lmao, and in this case, shorter is not, in fact, more formal.

woo! we made it to the end! I hope it was informative and helpful to you anon. :D

this is where I would normally throw my ko-fi, but instead, I’m actually going to link you to this fundraising post for an old fandom friend of mine. her house burned down mid-september and they could still use help if anyone can spare it! if this post would have moved you to buy me a ko-fi, please send that money to her family instead. :) rbs are also appreciated on the post itself. (* ´▽` *)

anyways, here’s the loaf jingyeast made :3 it was very tasty.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #the untamed #the untamed meta #lan wangji #lan wangji meta #mine #mymeta #linguistics #chinese #english #cyan chinese school #cyan help desk #languages #contractions #register #look man idk how am i gonna tag this #*yeets into the void*

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sinisterexaggerator · 2 years

Text

Stars Above! | Cad Bane

Chapter 1 ( cover art only ) and Chapter 2

Fandom: Star Wars / Rise of the Empire Era / Post Bad Batch / Post Order 66

Explicit: Eventual Smut, Slow Burn, Gratuitous Smut, Porn with Plot, Canon-Typical Violence, Mildly Dubious Consent, Angst, Tatooine Slave Culture

Summary: Zulara Anu Trattu, an alluring Twi’lek-Human hybrid, was handed off into slavery by her alcoholic father – he lost a game of Sabacc to the owner of Kayson’s Weapons shop located on Tatooine. Rather than pay his debt - his home and his entire fortune - his daughter is relinquished and taken from her native home of Lothal to Mos Eisley by her new master, an alien, adept at obtaining weapons on the black market; one who offers contraband to trusted customers – those who want to fight to protect themselves as a new Empire rises to power – a fascist galactic dictatorship that has replaced democracy, the senate, and the Jedi are nowhere to be found.

Cad Bane is on the hunt - he’s been offered a job by Tour Aryon, the Imperial Governor of the desert planet – figure out who's been selling weapons to would-be rebels; remaining groups of Separatists, straight out of Mos Eisley. He has a hunch, but Kayson would never risk himself, his reputable business - he has another to do it for him - a certain someone, and she has the most luscious lips, the widest hips …

He’s seen her dance, smelled her pheromones, and watched her work diligently for her employer. One thing’s for sure: things aren't always as they seem.

AO3

|| Next Chapter 》

Additional Notes: Just a warning: This is going to wind up being a novel.

I tend to use concrete language and I have come to terms with the fact this is basically a character study + porn with plot.

I painstakingly rewatched Clone Wars and Bad Batch to record Cad Bane's speech patterns in order to get his drawl just right. The same goes for Hondo Ohnaka, as both have a particular way of speaking which is perhaps difficult to convey through text. I try.

This will be slowly updated, as I am a perfectionist. I recently updated, as of 11/27/2023, rewriting a lot of parts and changing character dialogue and their overall relationships with each other. Some parts were toned down. Others were added to. Some things may have been deleted.

This is fun for me. This story takes place in the "Rise of the Empire Era" where I bet a TON of fun stuff happens. Post-Clone Wars, Post-Bad Batch, Post-Order 66. Vader is wandering around with his Inquisitors, Obi-Wan is going into hiding, Boba is in his prime, Hondo Ohnaka's lost his gang and his entire fortune, and there are still Separatist holdouts that Tarkin is working his magic on. Said holdouts were used as excuses by the Empire for its continued "peacetime military expansion" and to "justify increasing security measures" AKA murder and oppress.

This is PRE Duro being wiped of its resources by the Galactic Empire, though this will tie into my story eventually. I do not think Bane will take kindly to this. Regardless, Separatists were still giving Palpatine shit for quite a while until the rebellion formed officially, and this story is set somewhere between 19-16 BBY, give or take.

This WILL have smut. GRATUITOUS smut. I want to explore Cad Bane in a "romantic" relationship, however I see him as a hard one to win over, though I believe he CAN be if it suits him, albeit untrusting and egocentric, a bit of a bastard man, and a loner by and large. Of course, if the tables are turned, the man is SEDUCTIVE AS KRIFF. SMOOTH TALKER EXTRAORDINAIRE. Pheromones/(w)hormones also play a BIG PART. The smut kicks in around chapter 8, if you're curious.

I wanted to pair Bane with someone who is the exact opposite of himself: sensitive, caring, shy, maybe a little naïve, but not entirely a pushover. A lot of writers pair Bane with strong, independent female characters and that's fine, I just want to explore what would happen should he get involved with a gentle, affectionate, submissive person. Angst, angst, angst. ;D - 'Course, once this sexually repressed, inexperienced woman gets a taste of that Duros dick, things might change.

I try to stay canon-compliant to his personality while taking certain liberties – chaotic neutral. I see him as someone dominate, charismatic, narcissistic, though with a sense of humor that is dry and cruel. He considers attachment a weakness - he hates that he loves you. Above all, he has a reputation to upkeep. Don't expect public displays of affection. IFhe does display affection, it’s very possessive in nature. For him to admit his feelings would be like pulling teeth. He rather get a lightsaber through the eye.

Relations would be consensual, but he's not exactly a gentleman 100% of the time. There will be predator/prey elements, mildly dubious consent, exhibitionism, degradation, corruption, humiliation, bloodplay, etc. 90% of what I write in reference to Duros anatomy/biology is ME MAKING SHIT UP as there isn't that much to go off of. I am taking EXTREME creative liberties here, so don't get your panties in a twist. I'm just having fun. ;)

Overall, he does whatever the hell he wants. He's Cad Bane.

Nar Shaddaa - he had a place there, but he was more comfortable floating around in empty space within the cozy metal confines of the Justifier. It was a fine ship, his ship, and Cad Bane had new coordinates. A private broadcast from Tatooine had come in through his personal frequency via the HoloNet; an encrypted code he didn’t give too many had been compromised.

It was too easy for members of this new dictatorship to garner his contact information, though a large portion of the networks had been shut down; Chancellor Palpatine - the Emperor - whatever the hell he called himself these days - never mind he had once kidnapped the politician, been thrown in prison because of it by a certain Jedi Master - he was a paranoid, high-profile goon, and the ‘net was strictly controlled. Everyone had to take risks in order communicate, no matter the hand they were dealt in the scheme of things.

Though the Duros' specialty had been dispensing death to Force users, he found there was a boom in business of another sort. The end of the Clone Wars just a few years prior had brought about events even he had not foreseen, Bane's only regret being that he was unable to dance with Kenobi one last time to even the score.

But, without those self-righteous, full-feathered, lightsaber toting sleemo’s patrolling every backwater planet to the pastel clouds of Bespin, the unscrupulous hunter found it easier to slip through the cracks unnoticed. It was a boon in the guise of a massacre. Handled poorly, perhaps. Lacking honor or dignity for those involved, but the outcome had nonetheless been in his favor.

For example, Tour Aryan wanted to meet at Bestine, Tatooine’s new capital. It was on the up and coming, a bustling city in its own right, the governor desiring to test her influence on its unwitting inhabitants. Besides, she hated Mos Eisley; the riffraff; the scoundrels that populated the rundown spaceport - the so-called armpit of the galaxy - but it had nothing on Vertical City - Smuggler’s Moon - his little home away from home; one of the many.

Cad thought he might snatch up a puck or two, seeing as he would be in the neighborhood; it wouldn’t hurt to make an extra buck, but Bestine was another beast entirely. He'd be looking for hard criminals, not the typical bounty fare. Ones difficult to locate, hard to terminate. He wasn't above claiming guild-contracts as an independent contractor, even if it was frowned upon.

Two bleak, ovular eyes – crimson red - blinked with the aid of bold, blue eyelids; they were lashless. They narrowed at the little specter that was as tall as the length of one of his padded fingers, a feature of the Duros species. He rolled a toothpick in his mouth, a nervous tick he had picked up. It was a fidget - better than cigarras - Bane chewing on the end with sharp eye teeth that were daggerlike in appearance inside his thin line of a mouth. These tapered fangs identified him as mostly carnivorous, but they didn’t stop him from drinking his weight in booze when it suited him.

“What do you say Mr. Bane? Come to Bestine and I will regale you with a tour of our museum and drinks at the Cheapside. We can talk business back at my home in the garden. Do you like Urchin’s? Beautiful, but don’t touch them. They tend to writhe violently before hurling their quills at you.”

“De pay betta’ be triple fer ye thinkin’ Ah give a kark about yer problems b’fore yer even hirin’ me.” His voice was grave. It reverberated, laced with condescension; it was supercilious. He was worth more than perhaps she could even expend to pay him - his fee was steep.

“Meet aht Mos Eisley Cahntina - don' care fer dhat fancy snot.”

For one thing, Bane had no real interest in flowers in his line of work, thinking the woman markedly daft. He felt his time was being wasted, one leg idly hanging off the edge of his captain’s chair.

“No need to be rude ... I would take care of this myself, but my forces are currently preoccupied.”

The hunter heaved out a haggard sigh, his breathing apparatus whirling in the silence of his cockpit. The hologram frowned, but she hadn’t given up yet.

“This little matter would be best suited to your… talents. However, I cannot entertain the idea of stepping foot inside Mos Eisley. I haven’t the time to-”

“Dhat a no, dhen? Fine. Don’ need whadeva’ it is yer sellin.’”

Bane moved to turn the console off, and Tour belted out a “wait!” He pushed his toothpick right along inside his mouth, the wood furled back and forth by the soft pink cushion of his tongue.

“Ah’m listenin’.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll come,” she gave in, exasperated. “I can’t afford to disappoint our leadership. We need to act before this matter starts getting out of hand. I’ve heard good things about you.”

Tour’s problems were bigger than she let on: gunrunners; black market vendors, all wheelin’ and dealin’ contraband; they weren’t worth the time of her superiors, but they were still a nuisance. Worse yet, they were in her jurisdiction. On occasion, Bane might second-guess himself; not work for Imps, but he knew one thing – they were rich.

“Would be exspectin' an advance on any jobs Ah do fer de Empire. Ah’m supposin’ it ain’t no trouble fer ye.’” Bane was inquisitive by nature, though this was one subject he would not put off regardless; there would have been no further discussion on his part without the promise of his payment.

“You would have supposed correctly, however let’s just say this is between us…”

“Ye don’ want dhem knowin’ eh,” Bane smirked, amused. Even the Empire’s flunkies had their hidden secrets - those things they wanted off the record - and Bane could work with discretion. Although, that was not to say there weren’t ever any special circumstances; nothing was safe or sacred when money was involved, or at the risk of his own hide.

“Chalmun’s Cantina, then? How soon can you be there?”

“As fast as de hyperdrive cahn get me dhere.” If Bane had the wherewithal to roll the spheroids he called eyes, he most assuredly would have, his deep-set brow ridge bunching up beneath his wide-brimmed leather hat; it was twice the size of a normal man’s, but he wasn’t a man per se, and he wasn’t normal. He tipped it up to get a better look at the silhouette of the woman under his scrutiny, examining her tiny see-through proportions; it was a vague outline of her real self, thinking she better not stand him up or he’d hunt her down instead.

“Tonight - six hours from now - when the twin suns set.”

"It'hll do."

Bane stood, one lithe digit pressing the button to end the holosession, bellowing out in a tone that undulated inside his chest. It was a mechanical, robotic gravel mixed with an organic flavor of the Duros kind: “Todo! Get yer werthless chassis in 'ere!”

The self-proclaimed techno-service droid whisked from around the corner within five seconds flat, super-heated thrusters guiding him from out the bottoms of his metal feet. He had been hovering in Bane’s periphery, thinking he was sneaky, listening in on his call with Bestine’s governess.

“At your service, Mister Bane.”

Bane would ignore his eavesdropping, knowing that it simply saved him time on any detailed explanations; there was hardly a moment that the droid was not by his side. “Prepare fer de jump te hyperspace. We’re headed te Tatooine.”

“Right away, Bane!” Todo agreed without any qualms, content to do as he was told; this particular undertaking was not difficult at all, unlike some of the duties he had been tasked to perform.

Bane’s thoughts trailed; he briefly wondered how his old hideout was holding up, most likely falling into disrepair from his neglect, or battered by the heat of the dual suns. He hadn't used it much, as his travels to Tatooine were usually few, far, and in between, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take a gander at its state if he had some time to kill.

“Takin' a nap in de meantime. Gonna be a long night ah’head’o'us,” Bane drawled, traipsing down the narrow hall that led out toward the small cabin he called his own; his snug bunk was waiting for him.

The frigid lows of deep space could easily seep through to a person’s bones; it was a kind of chill that could not be thwarted by skin or scale alike. Bane was cold-blooded, a creature unable to regulate his internal body temperature like most. He needed artificial means, ones that were built right into his starship.

When planetside, the shade was somewhat more his forte; he preferred the daylight hours. He would have basked on a boulder or a wall, though his business was best conducted in the dead of night. He was a predator and soon he would have new prey. This Imperial Governess had searched him out - that meant he was worth his weight in spice. He had the power of negotiation if he played his cards right.

“I will inform you upon our arrival!”

“An’ nahtta moment sooner.”

---

It could be said that many people lived and breathed on Tatooine, most eking their living by harvesting moisture from the atmosphere one day at a time. Others made their way through a kind of generational wealth, renting out docking bays that had long since been in their families. Some even served up secret recipes in the form of delicious homecooked food, though the girl rarely partook of any such delights.

Of course, there were other types of people living here. Those that included scammers and conmen, amoralist bounty hunters, or thugs who would knife you for something as small as a decicred. Then, there were those who never chose to be here at all, but were taken by force or against their will. She was one of those destined to live a life of servitude.

Zulara had her work cut out for her. A heavy repeating blaster needed a module test; she had to gauge the resistance of charge that might build up in the weapon’s barrel due to faulty static pulse adapters. On top of that, the power pack wasn’t igniting the gas cartridge, Tibanna might be leaking, and she had to painstakingly assess the weapon’s heater valve, for starters. Though it was nearly dusk, and even Kayson wasn’t mean enough to keep her there beyond the daytime. She was his property, but he trusted her enough to not run off. She was allowed her fun, as long as she put in a hard day’s work by the setting of the suns.

Right on cue, the hulking ape-like alien called out to her in the back repair room, her workspace littered with all sorts of metal rubbish and otherwise serviceable components, Zulara wanting nothing more than to relax with a stiff drink and a dance or two at the cantina with some friends of hers. She was an expert in that regard - a hybrid-species - the Twi’lek in her was apt at showing off her sultry moves.

She had made said friends in her long term stay on Tatooine, a desert planet; it was dry and hot, unlike Lothal where she grew up with her Twi’lek mother and human father, though she had been cast out by no fault of her own.

Her own mother had been a slave once - indentured servitude – it was seen as a way to proliferate the species during this war that never seemed to end. She had heard about it, but was born into an era that saw the death of democracy and the rise of some power-hungry chancellor. He was now trying to rule the entire galaxy, despite the wishes of its people, or so she heard.

Her life had been thrown away on crazy stakes. Sabacc was the game. Her father was a drunkard, a Lothalite, and a small business owner with a good amount of profits to be made. He risked it all against Kayson; he was visiting on a weapon’s run. He had shady dealings with the Devaronian’s - the Broken Horn Syndicate - they provided, and he partook.

He hadn’t left empty-handed, though her father had bet his fortune and their entire house. He had been egged on by spectators - a Weequay, some Trandoshan, and a member of the Syndicate itself. He refused to pay, and his life was threatened at the end of a blaster barrel. In his intoxicated malaise he made a deal: his only daughter as repayment.

“Zu’!” Kayson growled out, his four nostrils flaring, short fur bristling by its ends. His optical enhancer had night-vision, ultrasonic sensors, and thermal imaging. Zulara ran hot, her heat signature like that of the Twi’lek species. He studied her beneath her one-piece jumpsuit, baggy and unflattering, though the girl herself was quite alluring and he knew it. She was his to command.

She turned her head, dark raven hair flittering across her forehead in the form of bangs, though the rest was done up in a bun. She had grease and oil streaks across her youthful face, mixing in with the mottle of her kind - lavender and orchid - pink and purple - a pretty shade and pleasant to behold.

“It’s quittin’ time! I’m locking up. Get your ass out here.” Her two-toned eyes blinked at his cross cadence. One was gold and the other blue; her genes couldn’t decide which side to encode, her mother’s or her father’s - it decided both. She obediently obeyed the alien, not wanting to vex him. Though he had atrocious manners and a sour disposition, he had never laid a hand on her, despite perhaps wanting to from time to time.

At least she had one thing going for her: her own room carved out of stone in Mos Eisley’s slave quarters row, similar to the one found in Mos Espa, as slavery was rampant in these parts. He gave her food and a little spending money; he had more than enough. She was beautiful, a prize, and he took care of her. Smart, too. She had good aim and he'd taught her everything he knew - a technician tried and true. She had to be – she was his.

“Yes, sir. I-I need to finish working on that heavy repeating blaster... The client is coming on Taungsday, no?” Zulara slipped off her stool, wiping her sweat off on the back of her grimy hand. She could stand a shower and a trip to the refresher. She had her own, thank Maker.

“Yer damn right. Don’t stay out too late!” he barked, yelling out in Basic, watching her exit his famous storefront with a little pep to her step: “Kayson’s Weapons Shop” – the finest in Mos Eisley.

---

“Hurry up, Todo…”

Leather boots crunched sand and gravel, idle bystanders gawking and hawing to each other. They knew this man from wanted posters, personal vendettas, lost games of sabacc and throwing dice, a cantina brawl or two. His quick draw was infamous, as well as that cerulean skin of his, and the egg-shaped pools that rested horizontally, like the color of a blood-moon or a stellar solar flare. They narrowed at the slow pace the droid was taking, two rocket thrusters firing in order to close the space between them.

Todo apologized profusely.

“Sorry, sir! I was distracted by what looked like an R5 unit with a blaster strapped to its access panel. It appeared to be shooting at a Jawa who was trying to steal its repair arms. It reminded me of that droid Mister-“

“Ohnaka …” Bane whispered to himself, pausing mid-step. The contraption on his back burred as he sighed; his olfactory organs lived beneath his eyes. He couldn’t smell him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t here somewhere; Weeequay pheromones were confusing to say the very least.

Todo was correct - only Hondo had ever strapped blasters on the domes of droids, a crude way to make a weapon out of an astromech. They weren’t that well-suited for fighting as they were meant to be mechanics; they made poor substitutes for navigational computers, but they could be somewhat reprogrammed. He’d met a few with unique personalities, namely that one belonging to the lady senator. It was a cryin' shame what happened to her; she was mighty pretty.

“Yes! Hondo Ohnaka, sir! The so called infamous pirate king that once ruled off the planet Florrum! I remember going there many times with you! That complete scoundrel tried to convince me to part with you, can you believe it? He said that he should like to have me as his servant! Why, he is absolutely terrible! I would never in a million-!"

“Todo!”

A croaky sound was made, meant to mimic the clearing of a throat, yet Todo only had his vocabulator. “Quite amusing that the Ohnaka Gang has since found a new leader, and that there is such a small bounty out on him-”

“What a sight fer sore eyes, hm?”

“I beg your pardon, sir?”

Bane’s voice rose above the crowd; he wanted to be heard, ignoring everything else his droid had said. “Never thought ah’d see ye again. Alive, anyway.”

“Cad Bane? Es dat you?” The creep crept forward on stylish, stolen boots; Hondo's back was hunched, his pointer finger pointing, as was its purpose. “De last time I saw you was on Cantonica when you lost dat bet tu a very, veryyyy lively Shani girl. Say, what happened when you two left de-”

“None'ye-” Bane cut him off mid-sentence, “-got yer puck, by de way. Found it on some dead hunta's bloated corpse out'n Cato Neimoidia.”

“Ah, yes, well,” Hondo withdrew to stand up proper, though he was still the shorter of the pair. He eyed the hunter with storm-colored irises, admiring that nothing about his face had changed, though perhaps he had acquired a new scar or two since their last little rendezvous.

“Tank you for … picking dat up,” The pirate’s appearance had been sudden and unexpected; he bowed over in a flourish, his hand rolling in the air as he presented himself in supplication to the world-renowned bounty hunter, making sure to pay his due respects.

“Ain’t hurtin’, but maybe ah’ll turn ye in- fer fun.” Bane’s hand casually moved to rest on his right LL-30 blaster, prepared at a moment’s notice to withdraw it from its no-fight holster. Hondo eyed the weapon from behind his thickset goggles, a smirk playing at the corner of his nearly lipless mouth.

The man deeply inhaled for effect as Bane watched his movements with calculated vigilance, the ruffian continuing his prattle despite the Duros either teasing or threatening him, whatever the case may be. “Our ideas of fun were always a little… different. Of course, I ded not expect tu be graced wit' your presence my notoriously pernicious friend! Please, allow me tu buy you a drink tu... celebrate de occasion!"

"Ye owe me money,” Bane was quick to say; he was not the type to forget any petty grievances, especially when credits were involved.

"Well, de ting es, I left most of my valuables with my droid on purpose. I just need tu go and fetch dem! Quite simple, really. Ef you would wait riiiight here, I will be back en noooo time at all…”

"Likely story.”

"Why, Bane. Whatever du you mean?” The scoundrel scoffed, feigning offended by his comment. “I feel dat you du not trust me, my friend, and dat most certainly hurts my many, many, many feelings..."

"Don' care."

“Oh, you awful, awful man. De fact of de matter es I just cannot seem tu stop de flow of wine, or de flow of money from my pockets!”

"Like de flow a werds outta dhat big mouth o’yers.”

“Iiiiii know myself! Of all people I should, ah? Ef I du not hide et, I will spend et!”

“Less talkin’, more payin’ me what ye owe.”

"Ap-Ap-Ap! You know, et was mostly a precaution, but et’s right. over. here.”

The rascal backed a pace away; Hondo gazed around as if searching the perimeter. “R5… "

There was a pause. "R5-P8!” he said more forcefully; it seemed his astromech had gone out for a stroll.

“Excuse me - I shall be gone for noooo more dan three shakes of a Fathier's tail.”

Ohnaka bowed again and Cad Bane glared. The rogue kept bent at the waist, having countered all of Cad Bane's verbal strikes to get this far. His gaze never faltered, focusing on the blaster resting on his hip, and the five spindly fingers that were itching to pull the trigger.

“Move out of the way!” Stormtroopers approached; they were old clones, refitted and suited to resemble something new. He could tell; he knew their voice. It was the same the galaxy over, though some were even normal humans by this point, wearing that ridiculously useless armor – recruitments – and rarely did he see another species join their ranks. Cad Bane had a myriad of thoughts and sentiments regarding this; ones he could not allow himself to dwell on, or there would never be an end to it.

A woman trailed behind them, and some flanked her from the rear. A small garrison of four white clad soldiers, the female dressed to match. She had ebony skin and eyes of obsidian, though she wasn’t adorned in uniform. She wore a dress, though tasteful, and he thought this must be Governess Tour Aryan herself.

His attention had been diverted; Hondo had slipped away. It was just as well, he didn’t have time to fool with that fool right now.

The woman’s entourage stopped closer to his person more so than he desired. Bane tipped his hat to the humanoid before him as he backed up a tad; he didn’t like feeling cornered. “Dhis betta’ be werth m’time; have other things ah could be doin’.”

“Glad to meet you, Mr. Bane." Tour said, seemingly unbothered.

“Ye cahn drop de act.” Bane nudged his head in the direction of Chalmun’s Cantina. The music was blaring loudly, causing Aryan to wrinkle up her nose. Uncouth, uncivilized people gathered here. It was beyond her as to why she was doing this, except Lord Vader struck fear within her heart; she could not have him finding out about her little problem.

"Best leave yer lil’ soldier boys behind - yer safe wit’ me - Todo, stay here. Dhey don’t like yer kind."

"Yes, sir. Please, do let me know if there is anything- they do not like my kind? And what is that supposed to-!”

"Cahnnit."

Aryan smoothed her hands over her dress; the troopers at her side clutched their blaster rifles. They didn’t like him suggesting things; they had all read this bounty hunter’s file. Tour had debriefed them – he was dangerous - couldn’t be trusted, except when credits were involved. “It’s OK, gentlemen. Wait here for me.”

Cad Bane made a lazy, half-hearted motion with his outstretched hand, letting her pass first before the entire bar got quiet at his disturbing presence. He had that effect on people. It never got old, until it did.

The music stopped, a dozen or so heads turned in their direction. The woman at the bar pretended to wipe the countertop. Bane spoke up to the quiet room, and to Tour Aryan's chagrin. She couldn’t believe she was keeping the company of this man for any length of time, even if it was to the benefit of herself and her beloved Empire. “Naht afta’any’ah ye’.”

The atmosphere relaxed; the ambience, as they joined each other at a table; the bounty hunter and the governess. Bane snapped his fingers at the female bartender who had glanced at them, giving her an order - Ackmena was her name. "Bring de lady her poison."

Tour forced a smile. "Now, shall we get down to business?"

"Ah'm all ears."

#Cad Bane #Fanfic #Star Wars #Twi'lek #Post Bad Batch #Post Clone Wars #Rise of the Empire Era #Bounty Hunter #The hat stays on #Little lady #Original female characters #cad bane x oc

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izukult · 3 years

Text

hq boys and cliche experiences from movies

GRRRR WOOF WOOF BARK BARK i love these men

characters: hinata, kageyama, oikawa, sugawara, bokuto, yamaguchi, tsukishima, akaashi, iwaizumi, matsukawa, kenma, atsumu, nishinoya

hinata shoyo; the kiss in the rain- his hair is pressed to his forehead and your shirt is stuck too tight on your skin. he’s laughing, head turned up to the sky, making a comment on how quickly the rain had started. your eyes are stuck on his adam’s apple and soon his are on yours. he kisses you fast, needy and urging and happy. you can’t grab his hair because it’s soaked, and his hands get puddles from your shirt when they grab at your waist. you both laugh when you pull away, and he tells you youd better get changed before you get sick.

kageyama tobio; kissing you to prove a point- oikawa was infuriating, and kageyama didn’t seem to have much impulse control. when his rival went on about how perpetually single he would be, a part of him snapped. he couldn’t prove him wrong with any set or the win of any game, so he turned to you with nervous eyes, and yours immediately understood. you agreed before you could process, and his hands were timidly on your face a second after. his competitive nature crawled through his skin, and his lips were on yours jumbled and messy. he knew beating oikawa always felt good, but it had never felt like this.

oikawa toru; the chase through the airport- his feet were going faster than he thought they could, repeatedly pausing as he bumped past multiple people. he couldn’t bother to apologize as his eyes scanned the airport for your gate. you were one of the last passengers to get on and he got there right as you were about to board. your name left his mouth louder than he thought it could, passerbyers turning to look at you. you crumble when he tells you he loves you, and the plane leaves as he holds you in his arms.

sugawara koushi; winning a stuffed animal at the fair for you- the lights were blindingly bright and the people were a little too loud, but it seemed to fade away when he laughed with pride. it took him twelve tries to win that game, which you’d told him was rigged, but nonetheless he won. he turned to you, smiling brighter than the carnival lights, arms outstretched towards you, passing you the stuffed animal the carny gave him. you fell asleep with it that night, wide smile on your face.

bokuto kotaro; the over the top declaration of love- his hands are shaky as he gets up on the table and you forget how to breathe. at first, embarrassment rushes through your body, settling in the pit of your stomach as eyes all around the room land on you. but, when he starts talking and you can hear him try to mask the anxiousness in his tone, you start to calm down. and when he tells you he loves you, you forget anyone else is even there.

yamaguchi tadashi; the accidental confession- the photo sent before he realized, eyes widening as he looked at his mistake. he desperately tried to come up with an excuse as to why he sent you a screenshot of the text you sent, but you told him you figured he’d sent that to the wrong person before he could say anything. he left you on read, and tears formed in his eyes almost immediately. his breathing calmed, though, when you sent a screenshot back, of you texting your friend about him seconds before.

tsukishima kei; someone giving you the wrong number- when youd texted him, he said was beyond confused. shortly after, confusion was replaced by second hand embarrassment and slight entertainment. telling you he wasnt the guy from the library was almost delightful, until he realized who you were. he’d actually seen you around before, and his bafflement came back when he realized how tolerable you seemed. your frown left your face when he told you he often frequented the library himself, and it would be such a strange coincidence if you accidentally ran into him at the nonfiction section at 3:00pm.

akaashi keiji; the unintentional stargazing- he had to remind himself over and over he definitely wasn’t walking you home, and it was nothing more than a mere coincidence that you two were going the same way. but, your feet fall in pattern with each other and soon enough come to a stop as you two get lost in conversation. it’s dark— cold and pretty, the view of the city from the hill you two are on is breathtaking. but, what’s even better is the stars above your heads. you’re convinced you figure out what love is when he tells you about the constellations looking down on you.

iwaizumi hajime; the calling off a wedding- he’s certain he’s about to throw up, he really thinks he might, but his legs are willing him to your room before he can stop himself. he’s dizzy as he comes in and you’re sure you see his eyes glaze as he looks at you. you’re so beautiful he forgets his speech and just blurts out that he loves you. and, suddenly it all makes sense. the feeling in the pit of your stomach that you were doing something wrong is validated, and you know you can’t go through with the day. after all, how could you if you weren’t walking to him?

matsukawa issei; being locked in with someone you hate- he made your blood boil, and you his, so the fact you were snowed in together was less than ideal. you pissed him off enough he considered trying to dig his way through the snow, and he aggravated you enough you considered knocking yourself out to help the time pass. he comes to realize you aren’t so bad, and you begrudgingly admit the same. it mutually upsets you both more than the other did when you realize just how much you actually care for each other.

kenma kozume; practically stalking (persistence)- he never understood why people cared about social media so much until he was checking your account every twenty minutes. he was more obvious than he thought, in his little glances and the way he was always immediately there if you ever needed something (i.e. a pencil, an answer to a problem). however, when he accidentally liked your post from two years ago, you figured enough was enough and you actually texted him.

miya atsumu; the bet about the love interest- your eyes well up at the words you overhear and he feels the panic sink in. he absolutely never planned on telling you, and now he couldn’t begin to figure out how to explain. he knows he has to, though, as he grabs your wrist to stop you from leaving. you can’t help but blame yourself for being stupid enough to believe him, and he can’t help but hate himself for needing a bet to give him the confidence to talk to you. (disclaimer: it all works out)

nishinoya yu; accidentally falling asleep on his shoulder- it was no secret he had feelings for you, not when he was so loud about it. but, you couldn’t help but feel like it was too superficial to respond to— or maybe you were just scared. he’d sat next to you on the bus and you couldn’t have been more exhausted after the stress of the practice games. your head lolled and landed on his shoulder. even in your light sleep, you could feel how fast his heartbeat was going, and yours picked up to match speed.

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Text

Prompt: Fic snippet proposed by @myakkoh (tumblr) or BlueSapphire718 (ao3):

“I’m what?” Lan Qiren squawks, since this is the first time he’s heard anything about this. “Sworn brothers with me,” Wen Ruohan drawls. “A memorable night, really.” Lan Qiren stares. “What.” “What’s wrong?” Wen Ruohan sneers. “Can’t speak properly to Da-ge?” “You,” Lan Qiren says, “cannot be Da-ge. It sounds wrong.” “Oh?” “You, are two generations older than me. I am only sixteen.” “All the better,” Wen Ruohan says smoothly.

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

Spilled Pearls

A/N: If Tedious Joys is the story of LQR's relationship with Sect Leader Nie and how WRH impacts that, then this is the story of LQR's relationship with WRH and how Sect Leader Nie impacts that.

Please note the tagging on Ao3 for all warnings, including as to tone

- Chapter 1 - ao3 -

Lan Qiren was running to catch up, because he was always running to catch up.

He’d only been allowed to join this particular night-hunt because of Lao Nie’s interference – his brother hadn’t wanted him there, specifically because Lan Qiren was slow and overly fixated on details and not all that handy with a sword – and he was determined not to fall behind. But he was slow, as always, and tired more easily than the others, and then he got distracted and realized a considerable distance had opened up between him and the rest of the group.

He ran to catch up –

He tripped.

He was going to fall flat on his face, he realized as he pitched forward, throwing his hands up in front of his face to try to blunt the pain since humiliation was already a given. He probably wasn’t far enough behind for them not to see this, and then his brother would turn his face away and sigh, aggravated, his shoulders slumping in disappointment at how Lan Qiren had lost him and their sect face all over again.

Lan Qiren was so bound up in his gloomy thoughts that it took him a moment to realize that he had not, in fact, hit the ground.

Someone had caught him.

Even now, they were holding him by the shoulder, keeping him from falling the rest of the way down with a single hand; the posture was awkward, and must be uncomfortable for them.

Lan Qiren straightened himself up immediately and dropped into a deep salute. “Thank you for your help –”

He looked up.

“…Sect Leader Wen,” he finished weakly.

He stared briefly up into red eyes before averting his gaze. He’d thought it was Lao Nie who’d come back to help him, and out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the familiar Nie colors turning back to the group – perhaps he had come, and was now leaving, since help wasn’t necessary any longer.

He hadn’t expected it to be Wen Ruohan, an ancient monster two generations his elder despite his deceptively youthful face – he hadn’t even realized that Wen Ruohan had decided to tag along on this night-hunt, though of course once he thought about it, it seemed perfectly reasonable. He, like all the other sect leaders, was here for the discussion conference, and a small forest town in the vicinity of the Cloud Recesses did not offer much in the way of other entertainment for outsiders. Why shouldn’t he come along on the night-hunt?

“It’s no matter,” Wen Ruohan said, and it probably wasn’t, for him. Someone with his level of cultivation could hold a kid like Lan Qiren up for a week without noticing the strain. “Did you get distracted by something back there?”

“Small blue flowers,” Lan Qiren said. “Typically associated with certain healing herbs, none of which are native to this area, and growing under an oak of all things; I was wondering if the placement had been deliberate and, if so, by whom and for what purpose. Not to mention when, since those aren’t perennial herbs; they have a longer growing cycle that requires certain meteorological conditions –”

“Aren’t we hunting serpent demons today?” Wen Ruohan asked, and Lan Qiren flinched.

They were, of course. And serpent demons wouldn’t exactly take the time to go plant healing herbs in a wild patch, so it had been a totally pointless diversion.

As usual.

“I got distracted,” Lan Qiren mumbled, his earlier enthusiasm squashed. “I’d say it won’t happen again, but it probably will, and do not lie is a rule.”

Wen Ruohan gave an amused huff. “Ah yes, the famous Lan sect rules. Do you often follow them?”

“Always!”

A hum. “I see. Well, the others have gotten rather far ahead, and I hear the sound of fighting – they must have already found the serpent demons, and will no doubt finish them off by the time we catch up.”

So he’d missed it. Lan Qiren’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“Why don’t you show me your flowers, instead?”

Lan Qiren looked up. Wen Ruohan was smiling.

“If you’re sure,” he said cautiously, but Wen Ruohan shrugged and nodded, and, well, Lan Qiren was supposed to be making friends with the members of the other sects, wasn’t he? Maybe no one had been thinking about the Wen sect, especially since Wen Ruohan’s last set of children had all died – someone had broken the prohibition on gossip in Lan Qiren’s presence and suggested that Wen Ruohan had something to do with that, rather than it being just bad luck, and that he’d done it because he thought he was a real immortal and therefore could always start anew, but the idea was so appalling that it surely couldn’t be true – but there wasn’t any real reason to exempt his sect or even him, either. Friends were friends, weren’t they? “It’s this way. Follow me.”

Wen Ruohan put his hands behind his back and followed Lan Qiren back towards the tree he’d found, his every motion slow and stately as if he were walking in a garden rather than the forest. Lan Qiren found himself mildly jealous.

To distract himself – envying others was against the rules! – he started explaining about the flowers he’d recognized and the types of herbs he thought the plant might be, citing the treatises he’d read about their usual spread and growing patterns and the uses for each one. Somewhere along the line he got distracted, though, because Wen Ruohan mentioned something about the Lan sect rules again, except he got it wrong; there was no rule against excessive verbosity, only against frivolous speech, and while there was a positive rule that counseled speaking meagerly, that was explicitly meant to avoid words that could bring harm and therefore did not apply to intellectual discussions.

Delighted as always to talk about his favorite subject, Lan Qiren promptly launched into an explanation as to the history of the debate as to whether there should be an affirmative prohibition against excessive speech, the various points on either side, the historical texts on the subject, the storied history of the rules regarding the need for an exchange of ideas in furthering education balanced against the exhortation not to take words lightly…

“Look at me,” Wen Ruohan said, and Lan Qiren obeyed at once. Wen Ruohan was his elder, although not of his sect, and by this point Lan Qiren was used to elders disapproving of how his flickering gaze tended not to settle on people and his preference to look at things through his peripheral vision, and of being ordered to meet their gaze.

Wen Ruohan’s eyes were red, as he’d noticed before, and his gaze was heavy and thoughtful, somehow ponderous. It felt almost like pressure against his skin or maybe his mind.

Maybe I should change subjects or be quiet, Lan Qiren thought to himself, the thought coming to him almost involuntarily, but then he realized that if he did, Wen Ruohan wouldn’t hear about the three-day conference that had been held in his great-grandparents’ generation that specifically focused on the rules that related to speech. And that would be an awful shame, wouldn’t it?

So he kept going.

He kept up the eye contact, though. The elders didn’t always like that, either – when he did hold someone’s gaze, he would stare too directly and too long, not knowing when it was appropriate to turn away, but he figured Wen Ruohan would simply tell him. He’d reminded him about the eye contact earlier, hadn’t he?

“How old are you?” Wen Ruohan suddenly asked, just as Lan Qiren was taking a deep breath, having finished explaining the conference and about to launch into a discourse on the follow-up texts that had been written in the immediate aftermath.

Lan Qiren blinked, distracted by the apparent non sequitur. “Thirteen,” he said.

Wen Ruohan hummed thoughtfully. “Thirteen. Interesting.”

“Is it?” Lan Qiren asked, bemused. “I think it’s a rather boring age. I’m old enough for more chores, but not old enough to have free access to the library or go on night-hunts on my own.”

Wen Ruohan chuckled. His voice was very deep. “I was more commenting on your strength of mind, which is remarkable for your age. I do not recall the age itself,” he said, his tone a little dry. He was ancient, so it was reasonable for him to forget having been thirteen. “Has anyone ever told you about the ways in which cultivation can be used to influence the thoughts and will of others?”

Lan Qiren thought about it. “I think so? There’s a text that says that weak-willed cultivators can be swayed through external pressure wielded by a stronger person’s cultivation, and the larger the power gap between the cultivators, the more effective the influence can be…I don’t remember which text it was, though. I could look up the citation for you when we return –”

“No need. I am not in search of sources.”

Wen Ruohan probably had his own library full of sources, Lan Qiren reflected, and nodded.

“Oh, we’re here,” he said, noticing, and pointed to the flowers. “See, like I told you earlier, it has the characteristic qualities of –”

“Qiren!”

Lan Qiren flinched.

That was his brother’s voice, and he didn’t sound happy.

“Sect Leader Wen,” his brother said, striding into the clearing where they were standing and saluting in a somewhat perfunctory fashion. “I appreciate you taking the time to watch over my younger brother – please forgive him for any impertinence or insult –”

Lan Qiren’s shoulders were up by his ears and his whole face was red with shame. He hated how his brother apologized for him before he even checked whether Lan Qiren had even done anything; it was embarrassing that his brother always thought so little of him.

Maybe he wasn’t talented the way his brother was, but he wasn’t that bad, he didn’t think.

“Think nothing of it, Qingheng-jun,” Wen Ruohan was saying in return. “We were merely spending some time together. I assume the serpent demons have been taken care of?”

“Yes, they have,” Lan Qiren’s brother said. “There’s some debate regarding the disposition of the corpses, if you’d like to join in – forgive us both, but I have to take my brother back to make sure he doesn’t miss curfew.”

Curfew wasn’t for another two shichen, so Lan Qiren had no idea what his brother was talking about, but he obediently saluted Wen Ruohan and followed his brother away.

The moment they were out of view, his brother reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, squeezing far too tightly, and tugged meaningfully, glaring when Lan Qiren opened his mouth to protest.

Lan Qiren didn’t understand what his brother was trying to convey.

“Xiongzhang,” Lan Qiren started to say, and felt his lips abruptly seal together – it was the muting spell. He could break it, of course, being a member of the Lan sect as well, but his brother was his elder; he should wait patiently until he removed it. Still, he was a little indignant that his brother felt the need to use it on him. He didn’t even know what he’d done wrong!

(The glare, he thought. The glare must have been a secret message to not speak, and he’d missed it.)

His brother didn’t say anything as they got on their swords, and he didn’t let go of Lan Qiren’s wrist, either, tugging him along as if he thought Lan Qiren was stupid enough to get lost on the way home. A feeling of shame, the sensation of having made some terrible error and not having realized it again, settled in Lan Qiren’s belly and steadily got worse and worse as they traveled.

It wasn’t until they were back at the inn that was housing everyone during the night-hunt that his brother released his hand.

“You shouldn’t let yourself be alone with Sect Leader Wen,” he said, which surprised Lan Qiren – he’d expected his brother to jump straight into listing out all the ways Lan Qiren had embarrassed him at the night-hunt. He hadn’t been expecting his brother to say something like that at all.

“Why not?” he asked, and his brother glared at him. “You didn’t want to babysit me, and I was falling behind. He wanted to see the flowers –”

“He was humoring you,” his brother interrupted. “Everyone always humors you, but no one actually ever cares about whatever nonsense you’re rambling on about this week. Don’t you know that especially powerful cultivators can affect the mind of the weak-willed?”

Lan Qiren blinked. What a strange coincidence, both his brother and Sect Leader Wen mentioning the exact same thing. “Yes,” he said. “I know. In fact –”

“I don’t want to hear another one of your stupid citations,” his brother said, cutting him off, and making Lan Qiren feel stupid and resentful again – he hadn’t even been about to cite anything! “Anyone who’s ever met you can figure out that you’re little better than a half-wit, all right? Wen Ruohan is a petty person, capable of anything, even only on a whim. Don’t spend time alone with him. Consider it another rule.”

“You don’t have the authority to make rules!”

“Do not disrespect your elders,” his brother snapped, and Lan Qiren bowed his head, acknowledging the point. “Now do me a favor and stay here until the conference is over – I should be back with the rest of them, acting in Father’s place as the sects divide up the spoils. I can’t believe I’m here taking care of you again instead.”

Lan Qiren wrung his hands together. He hadn’t intended anything like that. “Xiongzhang –”

“Have I made myself clear?”

“…yes, xiongzhang.”

“Good.” His brother was on his sword and flying back towards the forest before Lan Qiren could even blink. He hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye.

Lan Qiren supposed he didn’t have to. It wasn’t like Lan Qiren was going anywhere.

At least, not yet. He was already thirteen – less than ten years and he’d be advanced enough to go anywhere he liked, to be a traveling musician and cultivator the way he’d always planned. He’d be able to help people and spend time with anyone he liked, or not spend time with anyone at all if he didn’t feel like it, and there would be nothing his brother could do to stop him.

#mdzs #lan qiren #wen ruohan #sect leader nie #qingheng-jun #my fic #my fics #spilled pearls #as many of you guessed this is the long one #WRH is not evil #or that evil anyway #very slow burn #LQR's no good very sad backstory #going to post this M W F and other fics in between

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