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shinydelirium · 3 years

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Kiro’s 2021 Childhood Bday R&S Translation [CN]

***THIS POST CONTAINS CONTENT THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET ON EN SERVER!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS***

This is a translation from Kiro’s 2021 childhood birthday story released on CN server. I do not know any Chinese so this was done through Google Translate. I apologize for any errors or mistranslations. Without further ado, please continue on reading!!! :)

***WARNING: ANGST!!! THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE A HAPPY DAY FOR KIRO!!! FIRST IT WAS S2 CH12 AND NOW THIS!?!?! WTH, PAPERGAMES!?!?!***

[Chapter 1]: Child Star’s Birthday

7:50 am California

After Kiro ran to the classroom and sat down, he laid his head directly on the table. “You can sleep for another ten minutes.” He whispered to himself in his heart.

He is too sleepy.

Ten hours ago, he finished the last set of filming, returned from the studio to the house the company set up for him in California, and then caught up on all the missing courses and homework. It was already 3 o’clock in the morning.

As if on cue, his stomach growled and Kiro lay helplessly on the table.

Since his debut, he has become more or less accustomed to the professionalism of being a “star” but at this time his stomach seems to be persistently singing against him. Kiro hesitated for a moment and then opened a pack of soda five minutes later.

Sweetness hits the tip of his tongue and brings a sense of satisfaction to his brain. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, put on his headphones and closed his eyes.

This is the first time in a while he has taken a break in the past few days.

Kiro took a deep breath quietly and buried his face deeper into his arms.

But he could still feel the gazes around him looking at him and the innocent discussions. Even the moment he walked into the classroom and sat down, the air was still for half a second.

He doesn’t like this kind of “special treatment” nor does he like how he is always affected by it.

Over the years, he thought that he should be used to being watched constantly, and perhaps he had to bear the pressure from other peers. But sure enough, in fact, there are still many times that he will be a little breathless.

Like now.

As a child star, there were two to three days a week that he where he would be absent from school. For Kiro, his classmates are indeed some distance away. Because of his repeated absence, the- so-called disparity was expected.

The reasons are not so complicated in the eyes of the children. At this age, the feeling of distance is often more sensitive than adults.

He also wants to try his best to build a good relationship with them. After all, having friends is a very happy thing.

As if he had finally made up his mind, Kiro took a deep breath, smoothed down messy hair, and raised his smiling face along with his shining blue eyes.

“Good morning, everyone, long time no see!” No one could possibly refuse such a warm and sincere greeting, let alone Kiro.

Even though some shy classmates nodded their heads and smiled with furtive gazes, the greeting initiated by Kiro still received many responses. Soon, a small circle formed around him. Everyone scrambled to ask which crew he went to during the period of “his absence”, which big star he saw, and what new information he gathered.

Suddenly, a boy with curly hair, leaned in and patted Kiro on the shoulder with great enthusiasm.

“Kiro! Happy birthday!”

As his high voice rang out, the children who got together cheered in unison.

“They are all embarrassed to come and tell you, so I said it! Happy birthday, future star.”

Kiro was taken aback.

“Thank you.”

Almost a subconscious reply.

But in that small world that only belonged to Kiro, another voice sounded different from what he was doing at this time.

“So, today is my birthday.”

[Chapter 2]: A Heart to Live Up To

“Kiro, great, you haven’t left yet!”

The lingering sound of the bell was still echoing. Kiro had just cleaned up and wanted to seize the rare free time to make up for a good night’s sleep, when he was suddenly stopped by the instructor who had rushed over. He excitedly grabbed Kiro’s hands, looking very surprised.

“Teacher, are you looking for me?”

“Yeah....” The teacher didn’t seem to know how to begin. Kiro responded sensibly, leading the question back at the end of the dialogue.

“If there is anything I need to do, you can just say it directly.”

After hearing this, the teacher nodded in relief, as if he had waited for a long time and quickly told the whole story.

Kiro understood what was going on.

It turned out that there was a very important violin competition for high school students today and the classmate of the classical music department who represented the school had a temporary accident and was unable to participate. He wanted Kiro to help fill in.

“...Okay, I will try my best. Thank you, teacher, for believing in me.”

Even though he was tired, he did not refuse this sudden request.

It’s not that he isn’t interested in the competition, nor is he absolutely confident in his skills, it’s just...

He hopes that he is perfect enough in the eyes of the teacher.

After all, at this critical time, the teacher thought of him and believed in him, and he must not fail this trust.

Thinking about this, Kiro clenched his teeth, swallowed a yawn that was ready to come out, and forced himself to wake up. After the teacher went back to the residence to fetch his violin, he hurried to the scene of the competition.

The site was set up in the observation deck of a building and under the transparent glass plank pathway, it is a panoramic view of the entire city.

At the time of arrival, many contestants were already busy making preparations. Kiro’s appearance undoubtedly caused quite a stir. The teacher proudly met the gazes and protected Kiro through the crowd to their waiting area.

Kiro quickly entered the waiting area. He opened the violin bag, skillfully tightened the bow, wiped the rosin, set the violin on his shoulder, and tuned the pegs carefully and intently.

Now that he is here, he must do his best. He cheered himself up and walked in the direction where he was ready to take the stage.

“Don’t worry, he is a little star. Even if he doesn’t do well, he has publicity and won’t make the school lose too badly.”

The voice in the corner made Kiro stop.

He didn’t listen. It seemed that there was another voice arguing with him, but that was not important. Kiro just returned to the waiting area quietly, waiting for the announcement from the competition organizer. He just lowered his head and stood there quietly.

At this time a man came over. He patted Kiro’s shoulder lightly and said mysteriously.

“Kiro, this is the first time we’ve met. I am a teacher in the classical music department.” He lowered his voice, “Actually, I don’t really like the format of music competitions. Music should be something to enjoy and convey emotions, not some sort of boring game. So don’t think of it as a competition, but as a special show. I’m looking forward to hearing the music you play. I heard that you play the violin very well. This is the first time I will hear your music.

After that, he mischievously gave Kiro a big pat on the back. *Took some liberties here with the translation*

Kiro stared at this somewhat holistic man and did not speak for a long time. A similar and familiar feeling came out of him.

The broadcast system called Kiro’s name.

“Don’t think about anything, just let the world hear your voice.”

[Chapter 3]: Happy Birthday Song

The competition ended smoothly.

Kiro didn’t remember the process of his performance. He only remembered the way the classical music department teacher exaggeratedly raised his hands to applaud him when he left the competition. His eyes were full of real and undisguised recognition and praise.

At the end of the competition, he politely declined the kindness of the teachers and left alone.

The California coast is like spring all year round and the fresh air is filled with a faint smell of saltwater. Kiro walked, suddenly a little at a loss.

For a moment he didn’t know where he should go or where he could go. He just carried his violin bag and walked alone on the streets of California aimlessly.

Until he passed by a family restaurant.

Such restaurants are very common in California. People choose outdoor dining areas to enjoy their food with nature.

As far as Kiro’s line of sight could see, a family sat around the table warmly. There are grandparents, parents, and even uncles and aunts. And the main star of this family banquet is obviously the little girl sitting in the middle wearing a birthday hat.

She sat happily in the center, closing her eyes in front of a huge cake.

Everyone’s face was filled with the look of joy as they watched her patiently and earnestly. No one interrupted the most solemn “ceremony” at this time.

The little girl closed her eyes for a long, long time. Maybe she had a lot of wishes that she wants to come true or maybe she is carefully telling some wish that she wants to come true the most.

After all, in the eyes of a child, the more important the wish, the more carefully it will be heard and realized.

Kiro stood there and looked at the little girl’s face quietly. He didn’t know what he was feeling right now. It seemed that something he wanted to show was turning upwards along his heart, as if he would shed tears in the next second.

He just stood there silently, watching her finally make her wish, blowing out the candles while her family sang “happy birthday.” Grabbing the balloons in her hand, the girl ran around in the open space, spinning her little skirt.

Then she saw Kiro and ran towards him happily without knowing what she was thinking.

“Prince!” She waved her little hand at Kiro and said loudly. Kiro was stunned. The little girl ran up to him and raised her head, “His Royal Highness, are you here to wish me a happy birthday, too?”

Kiro thought for a while, crouched down and touched the little girl’s head, “Although I am not a prince, I wish you a happy birthday!”

The little girl didn’t seem to understand what he meant. She carefully picked out a yellow one from her balloon stash and gave it to Kiro.

“Thank you for wishing me happiness, and I wish you happiness too. This is for you.”

The little girl happily ran back to her seat after speaking with him and the whole family nodded politely to him, seeming to express gratitude.

Kiro looked at the yellow balloon in his hand and walked away slowly.

He was walking on the road, the sun a little dazzling, the balloon floating gently while he hummed quietly.

“Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me~”

At this time, his phone chimed, alerting him to an email.

[Chapter 4]: Special Birthday Gift

It is an email from KEY.

Since he came to the United States, KEY has always liked to use this “fun” way to keep in touch with him in addition to the phone.

Kiro sat on the roadside steps, “If my agent sees me like this, he will definitely be angry.”

Kiro thought about it leisurely but didn’t have any plans to get up.

“Today is my birthday, so I call the shots!” *Took some liberties here*

First, he simply replied to the fan messages wishing him a happy birthday on social media and then concentrated on deciphering KEY’s information. It is a very interesting little program. The code attached to the email can be directly written to change the content of the email.

Kiro has always been happy with this special design. Under his operation, the information was quickly decoded.

“The place where you stay most often.”

Kiro read it out gently, and there was a pair of combined numbers at the same time.

He raised his head, as if thinking of something.

The dance studio was deserted at this time.

This was the exclusive training room given to him by the company. Kiro took out the key and walked in gently in the same way as he had been in class.

This is a special place for him.

The sun in the afternoon was particularly brilliant, flowing into the entire classroom through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which looked clean and sparkling. Kiro stood in front of a small cabinet in the dance studio.

He felt like an ordinary child at this moment, being guided to find the answer in the way he was most interested in. He was a little happy when he thought of this.

Kiro cautiously opened the cabinet and found a box inside. He took it out, and after opening it, it turned out to be an exquisite violin.

The little violin along with the sunlight filtering down onto the light brown amber, reflected in his eyes, as if it was shining.

At this time, the second email came. It was simple and there was no need for decoding.

“Happy birthday.” He seemed to hear KEY saying this to him.

Kiro couldn’t help thinking, when did KEY hide it here?

As if responding to his question, footsteps came from outside the door. Kiro’s heart beat a little fast, and he suddenly wondered if there would be another gift.

He opened the door in surprise, and an unceremonious man greeted him.

The man didn’t even take off his shoes. The exquisite black leather shoes stepped on the smooth floor, looking particularly dazzling.

Kiro felt his fingertips instantly chill, and he clenched his hands hard to keep his body from shaking.

“I really don’t know why I’m responsible for this kid.” The man gave him a look of disgust, “I won’t talk too much nonsense with you.”

“The higher ups are very dissatisfied with you.” Each word struck Kiro’s heart, “Don’t forget why you want to become a star.”

“In one month’s time,” he threw a document on the ground, “Finish it.”

“I don’t know what you have to look forward to.” The man walked in front of him to the center of the floor. Kiro lowered his head, and there were only footprints left in his field of vision that seemed to have been dyed black with thick ink, step by step, on a clean floor.

It seems that no matter how hard he tried, he can’t wipe off that trace.

“3684.” The man impatiently left his last words, “Don’t be too self-righteous. You really think you are worth something?”

[Chapter 5]: Things You Want To Protect

In the empty dance studio, the operating sound of the air humidifier hummed quietly.

Kiro didn’t know how long he had been standing there until the tingling sensation rushed to his legs and he instinctively moved forward slightly.

The towel and hairband hanging on the side of the cabinet came into view and he strode forward suddenly and threw them to the ground fiercely. ***The towel and hairband mentioned here are what Kiro uses during dance practice to wipe off/absorb sweat***

The world swallowed his outburst silently but indifferently, making him at this moment seem small and lonely.

In the end, he dragged his numb body and walked tiredly to the towel and hairband, as if all his strength had been drained and slowly knelt on the floor.

Just like the day when he first picked them.

Kiro stretched out his hand, slowly picked up the towel and hair band, and carefully hugged them in his arms. They were his only close friends, walking side by side. They were proof of his hard work. But if these proofs can be trampled so easily, then what was all his effort for?”

The edges of the cotton towel and hairbands were slightly deformed due to their repeated use. He swiped hard, remembering that he had almost thrown them away because of being used so many times.

And whenever he was about to throw them in the trash can, the soft texture in his hands was always quietly hot at that moment.

It seemed to be telling him, “Wait a minute. Hold on.”

It’s as if they were reminding him they were made in order to continued to be used.

He once heard others say that life will find a way out.

“Is this the way you worked hard to find?”

He stood foolishly in front of the trash can, looking at the towel and hairbands in his hands, muttering to himself.

Then he would stand there, talking endlessly for a while.

He thought that music was the way out for his life that was once empty.

It seemed that in the darkness where he still was, a gleaming light suddenly broke in. In that world, he can always shine with golden light and light up his life forever.

He can see himself.

But if he can’t maintain this purity, is he still worthy to live in this world that once taught him to redeem?

No.

Kiro raised his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

That world may be impure, but his dream is real, and his love is real. This was what he wanted to do as Kiro, and it was the only way out.

He is Kiro. Not 3684.

He rubbed the hair band firmly, then raised his hand to tie it on his head and smiled at himself in the mirror with encouragement and humbleness as he did before each practice.

“Today’s 2-hour dance training has not been completed yet.”

A dynamic rhythm sounded in the studio and the sound of footsteps rubbing on the floor resounded one after another. Kiro was practicing hard while telling himself in his heart.

“This is just another ordinary day, tomorrow will only be better.”

Two hours later, he turned off the music, bent over gasping, and abnormally did not stand up for a long, long time.

Finally, for what seemed like ages, he slowly straightened up, took out the violin from the bag on the floor, and sat by the window. The dark brown violin was lined with soft light under the sun and he held it as if being embraced.

“I will definitely protect you.”

Kiro’s eyes were soft, and his tone was gentle and firm.

The birds outside the window chirped and landed freely on the edge of the window.

“It’s great that you are free.”

Kiro smiled and gently extended his fingertips.

“I will be free too.”

[Chapter 6]: Free Sailing

A telephone ring broke the silence of the studio.

Kiro looked down at the phone. It was an unfamiliar number. Maybe it was from a fan somewhere, but he picked it up in a ghostly manner.

“Hello, this is PLANET Yacht Club, what can I do for you?”

Kiro was stunned. The person at the other end waited patiently for his silence. After a long time, he remembered that when he was resting on the sidewalk a while ago, he accidentally saw a magazine ad about yachts. He made a phone consultation.

However, because he needed to go to pratice immediately he asked the other party to contact him afterwards.

Unexpectedly, it happened to be today.

“I have read your information. I have some interest in your yachts. How can I learn more about it?”

“If this is the case, you can visit our terminal directly. On which day would you like to make an appointment?”

“Is today okay?”

When Kiro said it, he was also stunned. He felt his heart beating, but he didn’t know what this feeling represented.

“Of course, we will send the address to your phone later, looking forward to your visit.”

When Kiro saw that yacht, he decided to buy it.

It was lying quietly in the corner of the entire pier, unremarkable, but in the light of the surging tide, it instantly attracted Kiro’s eyes.

Of course, the salesman saw the young boy coming to the club, obviously looking a little bit awkward and seemed to be thinking about how to politely ask him to leave.

“I want that yacht.”

Kiro didn’t leave the yacht’s sight and took out his bank card in the salesman’s dumbfounded gaze.

The boat was moored by a small harbor where there was a little old port. This was the place he saw on the way to the club.

He asked the people of the club to help him get the boat here and said that in a few days, he would come again to ask about how to operate the yacht.

It was dusk now and there were no people, only him and his boat, listening to the ebb and flow together.

The half-round sunset has fallen below the sea level. The sun is golden and far away, warmly embracing the whole world.

The yacht hasn’t been decorated yet and looks a bit simple, but Kiro doesn’t care. He feels that he has seen the future of the ship.

This is his boat, he repeats this in his heart over and over, and in the future, there will be someone who is most special to him in this world who will share it with him.

Think of it as a birthday present for yourself even though there is no cake and no birthday song today.

But this is also good.

Kiro was lying on the small deck, seagulls flying non-stop. The sky was divided into half blue and half-yellow. The boat rose and fell with the tide. He opened his arms as if he could touch the sky.

Kiro suddenly felt that he could go anywhere.

Nothing can stop him.

[End]

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link4eva · 3 years

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Kiro’s Satisfaction Date Translation (完满之约) [CN] Part 1/2

Hey, everyone! I have a couple of short but important notes to give before reading.

I don’t actually know any Chinese so this translation was done through the power of Google Translate.

This translation contains spoilers for Kiro’s 2021 Birthday Date in the CN server. So if you wish to not be spoiled, please don’t look below the cut. There is a R&S to go along with this date which has been translated by the lovely @keliosyfan . I’ll put the link to it here! I definitely recommend reading that first before reading this date.

I tried posting this date earlier but Tumblr doesn’t seem like it can handle all the Kiro goodness in one go. So, this date is split into two parts to try and manage that. You can find the second part here! The call that comes with this date can be found here!

Hope you enjoy!~

*Spoliers for future content below!*

The melodious violin sound filled the lecture hall.

Kiro closed his eyes and the tip of his left finger pulsed gently on the strings of the violin, pulling out beautiful notes.

I stood behind the cameras in the last row of the lecture hall. As I was looking at him through the camera, I couldn’t pull my gaze away.

Kiro’s birthday was finally here, but this year, it is a bit more special.

He was invited by his high school alma mater to come to California for a special performance on his birthday.

And this also happened to be the site of Kiro’s special live birthday broadcast.

Kiro: I am very happy to be back today. I know that you must be very sleepy listening to the song just now, so….

Kiro raised the corners of his mouth, turned his head back and nodded slightly to the pianist on the side, and then lightly plucked the strings with his right hand; a crisp echo coming through.

Kiro: Let’s be happy.

The brisk piano sounded, and “Canon” flew in through everyone’s ears between Kiro’s fingertips and the plucked strings.

The students sitting in the lecture hall opened their eyes wide; it was almost as if the notes were like tiny birds flying around in the soft sunlight. *Took some liberty here.*

But this was just the beginning.

Whether it is “Caprice 24”, “Carmen Fantasia”, and other classical pieces, or adaptations of popular songs--

They were all under the influence of Kiro’s fingertips, full of vitality.

It seems that the light of the entire world is focused on him at this very moment, bright and dazzling.

The last piece performed seemed to be a little different from the ones previously. Kiro looked a little cautious. He looked at me from a distance and a smile slowly appeared on his face.

Kiro: The last piece is one that is special to me. It’s a bit rusty as I haven’t played it for many years.

Kiro: I hope you don’t mind.

He raised the bow, quietly stood still for a few seconds, and then began to play the first few notes.

The tune of this piece is very slow. It seems a bit lonely without the piano accompaniment.

Perhaps no one knows the meaning of this song except for Kiro. We are all his sharers, listening to him tell a story with only a melody.

Listening to this piece, I quietly looked at Kiro’s face and thought of the gift I had prepared for him. I fell into deep thought.

Soon, the piece was over.

Kiro bowed very formally and finally sat on the edge of the stage amidst the applause with his legs swinging in the air, holding the violin and looking at the audience in front.

Kiro: In fact, your principal invited me to come, hoping that I would tell you about my experience and give some advice.

Kiro: But I think you guys don’t want to listen to all that! After all, when I was a kid, I didn’t really like listening to other people’s suggestions.

In the end, his mumbling was infinitely amplified by the microphone, and the students sitting below laughed together.

Kiro: It’s everyone’s first time coming to this world. Just be happy and be yourself.

Kiro: I never felt that I was such a special person. Although, everyone would laugh at me when I said this.

Kiro: But I always think, I just have the most love and precious things in my life for me.

He lowered his head and looked at the violin in his arms then hummed a song and looked up in the direction where I was.

Kiro’s whole body seemed to be bathed in the sun, and his smiling eyes met mine.

Kiro: I don’t know if you have encountered it.

Kiro: For me, it has always been with me in countless moments of silence.

Kiro: It illuminates me and gives me the courage to keep going forward. *Took some liberty here.*

Kiro sat there quietly, peacefully, and sincerely.

Kiro: Today is my birthday. Thank you for your blessings. I also want to share this blessing with you.

Kiro: I wish you all find what you love the most, and stay true to yourselves.

Kiro: I wish that you will always be yourself.

[Second Part]

Kiro: MC, how did I do just now!

After making sure that the students had left, Kiro jumped off the stage and rushed to me.

The bangs on his forehead were drenched with sweat and they stuck together, revealing those bright and beautiful blue eyes.

MC: It can only be said that it is better than the best. As expected of Kiro!

After hearing my compliment, his eyes curved with a smile like a bear eating honey. He wiped the corners of his mouth with satisfaction.

Savin contacted the school club week, filming and other activities that Kiro participated in during this California trip.

I calculated Kiro’s limited time and pulled him into a corner.

MC: Happy birthday, Kiro!

Kiro: You wished me so early this year. And it also seems that you have something secret to show me.

MC: Actually, I did prepare some special birthday arrangements ahead of time.

MC: But after seeing your performance just now, I suddenly changed my mind.

Kiro was taken aback when he heard me and blinked in confusion.

MC: Last year, you used the treasure map to let us relive all the precious times together. (MC’s referencing Treasure Hunt Date which will be released April 6 on the ENG server)

MC: So now, I really want to ask what Kiro wants to do on his birthday today.

MC: This time I’ve come back to visit the school where you studied. Here are four years’ worth of your past and memories.

MC: Is there anything that Kiro did not realize at that time, or what Kiro wants to do here?

MC: I can help satisfy you.

Kiro stood firmly in front of me with the bright light hooked onto his face, quietly showing the heedfulness and expectation in his eyes.

Kiro: ….Really?

MC: Of course! Today is your birthday, so naturally, you are the most important on your birthday!

MC: So, I will accompany you in whatever you want.

Kiro smiled.

He tiptoed backstage and took out his violin bag. After exchanging glances, we looked towards Savin and retreated towards the door.

As soon as he stepped out the door, Kiro took my hand and staggered out of the lecture hall.

(Cut to outside)

I didn’t know where Kiro was taking me. But as long as he is holding my hand, I am willing to accompany him wherever he goes.

Kiro ran ahead of me, turning his head back with a smile.

Kiro: Actually, when I first came to California, I was not used to many different things.

Kiro: So for my first birthday here, I was very impressed with all the choices. At that time, I had a lot of things I wanted to do. But in the end, I didn’t do them for various reasons.

Kiro took my hand and pulled me around the corner across from the playground on the campus. He pushed away a tree branch that was casting a shadow and came to stand under a high wall at the edge of the school.

Kiro: First, I wanted to do this--

In my confused state, Kiro stretched out his right hand pretentiously and raised his palm in the air.

Kiro: Skip class.

The air seemed to stand still for a few seconds. I looked at the high wall, then turned my gaze back to Kiro who was eager to try and couldn’t help laughing.

Kiro: Okay, I know it’s a little immature.

Kiro: When I was in class, the school was super strict. When I made a wish on my birthday, I had one wish in mind--

Kiro: “Ah! I really want to skip class.”

MC: Have all the big stars ever had this idea?

Kiro: Kiro was not a big star back then, and that big star was also an ordinary person.

Kiro looked at the high wall with excitement, the scattered sunlight fell on him through the lush green leaves.

I seem to be able to see Kiro, who was 14-years-old, laying his head on the desk, looking at the sky.

The sky is so wide; it seems like you can go anywhere.

MC: It seems a bit difficult to climb but we can try.

I was about to try. Kiro had already stepped on the small holes of the wall, stretched out his arms methodically, and climbed onto the wall in the blink of an eye.

MC: ….?!

Kiro: Sure enough, it’s not as difficult as I had imagined. I will teach you!

While talking, he jumped back down silently and came back to me.

He pointed to the hole in the wall and demonstrated it again in front of me.

Following his direction, I stepped swiftly on the wall like a clumsy gecko.

Kiro: Miss Chips, give me your hand.

I raised my head and habitually stretched out my hand in response. In the next second, I felt that I was being strongly pulled and I fell into a warm embrace.

MC: Why were you so scared of skipping class?

Kiro: This is just the beginning.

The distant school building faced Kiro’s back. He raised the corners of his mouth and winked his left eye at me.

I suddenly thought of myself; 14-year-old me and 14-year-old Kiro.

I’m in Loveland City and he is abroad in California.

I dozed off at my desk in the warm afternoon, and he was probably humming a gentle tune among the stars.

At that time, we hadn’t become adults and we were separated by a distant time; like two parallel lines that would never meet at all.

But these two lines seem to overlap at this moment.

Kiro: I’m ready to climb.

He whispered in my ear, and before I could react, he gently pulled me towards him and hugged me.

MC: Kiro! Kiro, you….!

Kiro: In fact, I have imagined skipping class many times.

Kiro lowered his face and the sun was behind him. A golden outline was drawn on his body.

Kiro: But none of this is what it is today.

As he lightly pushed his foot, I couldn’t help but hug his neck tightly.

At that moment of flight, the whole world was silent, leaving only two intertwined heartbeats with similar rhythms to be heard.

Kiro: Sure enough, MC’s existence can revive my imagination.

[Third Part]

Kiro: The next thing is--

In an empty fast food restaurant, Kiro bought two “actually real” meal sets and sat with me in front of the window facing the street.

Kiro: Eat junk food!

MC: Pff, why are all the things you wanted to do so cute?

Kiro: It’s okay, just laugh if you want, hmph.

Kiro: Since I debuted, I hadn’t touched any junk food. Potato chips were the first things I had finally eaten when I first met you many years later.

MC: Well, what did you do when you were craving junk food?

Kiro: Restrain, hold back, pretend there was a gun to my head. *Translation came out a little weird here so I hope this is right.*

He muttered, opened his mouth and took a bite of the burger, and sighed particularly contentedly.

MC: Why don’t you restrain yourself now then?

Kiro: It’s different now.

He answered without hesitation and quickly finished the burger.

Kiro: Because you are here.

MC: Are you trying to say that I seduce you into committing food crimes?

Kiro: That’s right!

MC: You!

Kiro: But of course it is more than that.

Kiro: Because you are here, it’s okay to indulge a bit.

He propped his head with his right hand and looked at me sideways. A spot of light fell on his defined eyelashes like he had a secret full of mischief.

With a straw in his mouth, the soda gurgled. As it gurgled, it seemed to have filled my heart at the same time.

MC: Then I will help you sneak some more snacks in next time?

Kiro: Although that sounds very exciting, I still want to have more opportunities to be handsome in front of you.

Kiro: Compared with “snack-loving Kiro”, I’d rather you have “handsome Kiro” in your heart.

He snapped his fingers, his eyes gleaming.

Looking at him like this, I subconsciously followed along and laughed.

MC: Of course you are the most handsome Kiro in the world!

We were sitting in front of the shop window; I was eating a burger and Kiro was telling me about his time in California.

Some difficult lectures to sit through, baseball games he had to participate in, exquisite violin decorations, yellow balloons from children….

He traced the past for me, like an old movie that spans over a long period of time.

Under the immersion of time, with some nostalgia mixed in, the pictures in the memories appear more vivid and beautiful.

After leaving the restaurant, Kiro rented a car and waited on the side of the road.

(Cut to the highway)

We are cruising along the highways of California and the endless highways spread to the distant sky; it was almost as if we could reach the edge of the sky.

I suddenly thought of a memory from when I first came to California a long time ago and Kiro seemed to think of the same memory as me.

Kiro: I have checked the car, again and again, this time. It will definitely not break down! (He’s referencing his Los Angeles Date which is a sweet and funny one. Definitely recommend. It’s been released on the ENG server already.)

MC: Are we going to Santa Monica this time?

He shook his head mysteriously at me and jingled some special keys in his hand.

Kiro: This time, I want to take my dazzling pearl to another dazzling place in my heart.

The scenery along the highway was quickly left behind by us. It also seemed that the time that was always moving forward quickly and impossible to stop was left out of the scenery.

The tides rolled on the coast and the seabirds used their wings to draw a neat arc in the air, in the sea and the sky.

There is a boat anchored quietly by a small port beside a bay.

(Cut to beach)

After getting out of the car, Kiro took the girl by the hand and moved towards the coast. The sea breeze blew her hair gently. He had never felt that his heart had been so at ease.

Here, the excitement is like a flood. And with it is more peace of mind. *Translation came out wonky here.*

The girl stood in front of him, watching him quietly.

At that moment, he seemed to see the blossoming of his dreams.

Many years ago, he had seen himself on a stage amongst the stars.

And now, it is once again full of his entire world.

The third thing is--

He said softly in his heart.

Bring my favourite person in the world to my home in California.

I watched Kiro raise the corners of his mouth, the brilliant light fell into his smiling eyes, but he didn’t speak.

MC: Is coming here the third thing you wanted to do?

Kiro: Bingo! The third thing is--

Kiro: Come to this bay with you.

MC: Liar, you didn’t know me at the time, how could you think of coming with me?

Kiro: Of course it is because I reserved a place for you very early on.

MC: Then I am really honoured! Let me guess, this was your secret base in high school, right?

I looked at this “secret base expert” confidently, but he shook his head unexpectedly.

Kiro: This is my home.

Here is Part 2!

#mlqc #mlqc kiro #mr love queen's choice #mr love kiro #mlqc spoilers #mr love game #date translation #mr love dream date #thanks so much for your patience!

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mx08z7kz6gqrs · 3 years

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好想爱这个世界啊 - Translation Notes

For my translation of this song, see this post. Listen to the live version of the song here. Below are some translation notes on the song.

This was one of my earlier translations, and one that I’ve felt like I should revisit but never had time to. It’s a particularly beautiful song, and the lyrics aren’t complicated, but they are written in a deliberately vague way that isn’t easily conveyed in English. It also has a lot of short phrases that work as individual sentences in Chinese, but that I’ve chosen to link together so that it flows better in English.

As usual, these notes are formatted with the original lyrics, followed by the most literal possible translation, and then an explanation for how I decided to translated it in the final version, including my interpretations and any nuances that I maybe have decided to drop.

Note that anything in brackets [like so] means that this word did not exist in the line, but I had to insert it for grammatical reasons. Usually it’s a subject pronoun that wasn’t specified.

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Line by Line Translation Notes

抱着沙发睡眼昏花凌乱头发 // Hugging the sofa, sleepy eyes blurry, messy hair 却渴望像电影主角一样潇洒 // Yet long to be confident and free like the lead role in a movie

These two lines were fairly literal, and I’ve kept them as is while appending the first person pronoun so that it was grammatically consistent in English.

The most interesting notes here are “渴望”, “to long for.” In Chinese, this phrase is actually a combination of the character “渴” for thirst, and “望” for hope [for the future]. There is a desperation to this particular word choice that is somewhat capture in the English “longing.”

I’ve also chosen to translate “主角”, literally “main role” (ie, protagonist/leading role) to “hero” just for it to flow a little more naturally.

屋檐角下排着乌鸦密密麻麻 // Under the corners of the roof, crows line up, packed close together 被压抑的情绪不知如何表达 // The repressed feelings, [I] don’t know how to express

I took a lot of liberty in my translation of these lines, because they evoke a very specific sense of confusion and entrapment that I don’t think the literal translation captures well.

Crows in modern Chinese culture, like the west, can be seen as bad omens (ex when someone says something unlucky they are called “乌鸦嘴”, literally a crow’s beak). “密密麻麻” is an expression referring to things being very densely packed together- “密” refers to being “close together” while “麻” is the character for a hemp/sesame. The image it evokes is numerous things being packed so close together that they are like tiny dots against one another.

In this way, you can interpret the crows as a reflection for those feelings that the singer cannot express, trapping them without any gaps for escape.

无论我在这里在那里 // No matter if I’m here or there 仿佛失魂的虫鸣 // As if [I’m] a panicking bug cries 却明白此刻应该做些努力 // But understanding that right now, should make some effort to try harder

Not too many notes for this section. One thing that I’ve seen a lot of different translations around is the second line though, “失魂的虫鸣.” The word “失魂” literally translates to “lost soul.” But generally speaking, this term isn’t referring to the desolate feeling that the literal English translation evokes. Rather, it’s more like “lost wits” or “at wit’s end”, referring to a sort of indecisive and panicked state of mind.

In this case, it’s describing “虫鸣”, literally “cries of bugs.” The sound in my head is something like cicada chirps, or the eclectic noises of bugs in the evening on a hot day. In English, we’d more commonly describing the noises that bugs make as “buzzing”, and for the sort of restless feeling, a specific reference to “flies” made more sense and felt more natural that the more vague “bugs/insects” in the original lyric.

There’s a sense of aimlessness, confusion, and helplessness to this line that I wanted to capture.

无论我在这里在那里 // No matter if I’m here or there 不能弥补的过去 // The past that can’t be mended 每当想起 // Every time [I] think of it...

Simple lines- the one word of note here is “弥补”, a term that can mean to mend or to make up for any deficiencies. It’s formed with the character “弥”, “to fill in” or “complete” and the character “补” for “fix/mend.” In my translation, I’ve chosen to use “irreparable”, but what it really conveys is the speaker’s understanding and sense of regret that they cannot make up for the past, whether it’s the things they’ve done or the things they’ve missed.

想过离开 // Thought of leaving 以这种方式存在 // Existing in this way 是因为那些旁白 // It was because of those narratives/asides 那些姿态那些伤害 // Those attitudes/postures, those hurts

The chorus is definitely where I took the biggest liberty in my translation. The most important point here is that I have removed the likely intentional ambiguity in the subject. Before I dive into that though, I’ll cover the two terms here that have no clear English equivalent.

“旁白” is a word that roughly refers to “an aside”- it combines the character “旁“ for “to the side” and “白”, in this context referring to a use of language, or expression. It is the term used to describe things like a voice-over narration in movies, dramas, etc (for example, think of times when the character is thinking something and we, the audience, hears it as a voice on top of a montage on-screen).

“姿态” can be most literally translated as “attitude” or “posture”, and it refers to a combination of physical appearance and expression. It’s close to the English use of “air” and it’s what you are changing when you are “posturing” to someone.

Note that “those narratives”/”those attitudes”/”those hurts” do not actually have a subject associated with who is the one “dealing” them. It can be interpreted as the singer’s own thoughts and self-loathing, others judgement of them, or both. I think this ambiguity is intentional- the themes of the song revolve around the struggles of depression, and often these mix together.

In this way, “那些旁白” can refer to a narrative that the singer is telling themselves, or a narrative that is forced upon them from the words that others have spoken about them. “那些姿态” can refer to the type of posture or stance that the singer feels forced into, or the attitudes of the people around them. “那些伤害” can refer to pain that is inflicted upon the singer either by themselves or by the others.

For readability sake, I chose to go with the interpretation that slightly more folks on the Chinese net seemed to favor. Hua Chenyu, the original artist, has also emphasized the fear that those with depression face when they meet other people who may not understand them, so it seemed like a good compromise.

不想离开 // Don’t want to leave 当你说还有你在 // When you said you were still here 忽然我开始莫名期待 // Suddenly I began inexplicably hope

This half of the chorus translates much more straightforwardly. The only real word of note here is the final one, “期待.” It can be translated as “hope”, but it’s really a type of hope that leans towards anticipation, or “to look forward to/expect something.”

Unfortunately, both of those translations require some type of object (unlike the Chinese term), and while I could insert one (”the future”, “life”, etc) that would be pure conjecture on my part and I’d prefer to keep it as ambiguous as possible while still making sense.

夕阳西下翻着电话无人拨打 // The sun sets to the west, flipping the phone, no one calls 是习惯孤独的我该得到的吧 // This is what I, who am used to being alone, deserve to get right?

These lines were neat to translate. One subtlety that’s lost in English is the first phrase, “夕阳西下”, an idiom literally meaning “evening sun sets west” and usually used to describe a scene of sunset. However, it can also be used more figuratively to describe things going downhill as years go by and they age, so there’s a little bit of melancholy inherent in the idiom.

独木桥呀把谁推下才算赢家 // A single log bridge, pushing someone over, counts as a winner 我无声的反抗何时能战胜它 // When will my soundless rebellion prevail over it

This part of the song actually confused me a little when I first heard it. The “独木桥”, literally “single log/plank bridge” is a phrase that figuratively describes a very difficult path (ie, like trying to cross a single log bridge).

Overall, there’s a resentment of the perceived competition in life- often, it feels that for one person to succeed, they have to take down someone else. The singer thus is trying to stage their own resistance against this.

无论我在这里在那里 // No matter if I’m here or there 不能弥补的过去 // The past that can’t be mended 每当想起 // Every time [I] think of it...

This section is an exact repeat from the end of the first verse.

This is a repeat of the first section in the first chorus.

不想离开 // Don’t want to leave 也许尝试过被爱 // Maybe after [I’ve] tried [the feeling of] being loved 会开始仰望未来 // [I’ll] start to look up hopefully towards the future

The subtlety of this part is in the second line. “尝试” literally means “to try” or “to attempt”, and it is modifying “被爱”, “to be loved.” The correct way to understand this line in English is “After I’ve tasted the feeling of being loved by another.” Overall that sounds awkward though, which is why I didn’t use that particular phrasing in my translation.

The third line here uses a particularly yearning word to express hope- “仰望” or “to look up hopefully” combines the character “仰” for “looking up towards” or “admiring” and “望” for hope. Compare this to “期待” from the end of the last chorus, which was more of a tentative feeling of anticipation.

伤疤就丢给回忆吧 // Scars, just throw them to the memories 放下才得到更好啊 // Let go, to get something better

别怕别怕 // Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid

These lines forming the bridge are fairly straightforward. For my translation, I just linked the ideas to make it flow better in English (ie, “getting something better” reads quite awkwardly even though in Chinese it’s a perfectly natural way to express the idea).

想过离开 // Thought of leaving 当阳光败给阴霾 // When the sunlight is defeated by dark haze 没想到你会拼命为我拨开 // Didn’t think you would be trying your hardest to clear it for me

In the second line here, I dropped the “defeat” from my translation in favor of “faded” to make it flow better/sound a little more poetic. However, it's worth noting that in the original, the verb “败” is to be defeated/lose, with the implication of some type of struggle.

In the third line, “拼命” can be literally understood as “using one’s life” and translates to doing something “at all costs” or “as if your life depends on it.” It’s a very desperate term.

Overall the feeling here is one where the singer has already given up, the “sunlight defeated”, but unexpectedly, someone else continues to fight on for them, desperately so.

曾想过离开 // Once thought of leaving 却又坚持到现在 // But held on until now 熬过了那些旁白 // Endured past those narratives/asides 那些姿态那些伤害 // Those attitudes/postures, those hurts

This part of the last chorus echoes the previous ones, with some significant changes. The addition of “曾” for “once”, places the first line explicitly in the past tense. “熬过了” in the third line is also an explicit reference to the past, conveying that the singer has “already endured past” the things mentioned in previous choruses.

不想离开 // Don’t want to leave 当你的笑容绽开 // When your smile breaks outs 这世界突然填满色彩喔~ // The world is suddenly filled to the brim with color, woah~

In the second line here, the verb describing the smile is “绽开”, or to “burst forth”, basically suddenly appearing and with a very large presence. My choice of words here was “bloom” in English since that is a way we describe smiles.

In the third line, “填满” literally means “to fill/cram in” and is formed with the characters “填”, for “to fill [in a missing/empty space]” and “满” for “full.” In this case, there’s also a sense of something that was previously missing being returned in full.

抱着沙发睡眼昏花凌乱头发 // Hugging the sofa, sleepy eyes blurry, messy hair 夕阳西下接通电话是你呀 // The sun sets to the west, connected through the phone, it’s you

These last lines echo the first line from each verse. In the second one, “接通” means “to connect” but specifically in the context of a call connected, or a call picked up.

---

And that concludes my notes for this song. It’s a really beautiful song, and I saw more folks reading this translation than I first expected so I wanted to break it down and clarify all the liberties that I took while translating it. The language here is simple, but contains a lot of subtlety and intentional ambiguity.

#好想爱这个世界啊 #华晨宇 #hua chenyu #notes #chinese music #somehow took me 7 months to revisit this one #also took the chance to reword a few minor things in the original translation

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lockefanfic · 4 years

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Business Trip - Part 10: Shock

“Maybe there’s something we can do that will… ease my nerves about this presentation I’m about to give.”

You turn slightly until your face is facing hers. Your noses brush up against one another, the first feeling of skin on skin contact sending electricity pulsing throughout both your bodies.

“What do you have in mind?”

Tzuyu lets her smile widen before bringing her mouth once more to your ear.

“I want you to fuck me. Right here, right now.”

“Do you need a ride to the convention?”

You look up from your smartphone, where you are frantically searching for a Mandarin Chinese translation app, and find yourself more than a little struck by what you see.

The voice is coming from within a fancy, expensive looking limousine. Framed in the limo’s back window is the face of a young woman, and while you had seen and spent your time with more than your fair share of beautiful women, this one still took your breath away for a moment.

She is young; no more than twenty years old, at most. Her face is gorgeous, round and soft, the cuteness of girlhood giving way slowly to the beauty of womanhood. Her eyes, large and expressive, are staring at you with a friendly look. Her smile is just as attractive as the rest of her, which is to say it was extremely so.

“Um, yes,” you say, still a little dumbstruck by her. The girl in the limo window bends slightly, presumably to open the door, and despite all the childhood advice you received about not getting into cars with strangers, you nonetheless find yourself happily hopping into this particular car with someone you had only known for all of five seconds.

All that childhood advice never told you what to do when the person trying to get you into their car was a gorgeous young woman, after all.

It’s been less than a week since your meeting with the CEO that sent you, Momo, Choa, and Mina to Taiwan. The three girls had gone ahead to the convention to set up that afternoon’s presentation, where they were joined by Seolhyun, who was due to make a presentation showcasing FNC’s new tech and announce their acquisition by JYP Inc. There was a lot riding on the presentation, and so the five of you had spent long hours working on every part of it to ensure it was as effective as it could be. You had planned to join them at the convention space this morning, but had to stay back at the hotel to take a conference call from the head office. This meant you had to catch your own ride to the convention.

“Sorry,” the young woman says as you slide carefully into the backseat, “I saw the convention ID lanyard around your neck and since I’m heading that way too, I figured you’d need a ride. As you can see, I have a lot of space.” She gestures to the large and mostly empty cabin of the limo, which could have easily fit another four people.

“Oh, no, I’m thankful. Sorry, your name was?”

“Sorry! I should’ve introduced myself before asking you to get into my car,” she says with a soft giggle, “My name is Tzuyu. Chou Tzuyu.”

She extends a small, thin hand towards you, and you shake her hand before introducing yourself in turn. At the mention of your name a look of recognition washes over her delicate features.

“I’ve heard of you,” she starts, “you’re with JYP Inc., right?”

“Right. And you’re from…” you start, eager to know who this young woman was. Whoever she was, she must’ve had some clout in the industry, given she was riding to the convention in an expensive looking limo. Her name didn’t ring any bells, however.

“Oh, we’re from a pretty unknown company… in this industry, at least. We have ventures in other places, but we’re actually only going to be making our debut in this industry today, at the convention.”

You nod, though you make note of the fact that she managed to avoid telling you what company she was from.

“Anyway,” she continues, “we have some new tech lined up that we want to introduce, which is why we’ve decided to enter this market. I’m giving a presentation this morning, you should come watch!”

She smiles softly at you, her face soft and warm, and once again you find yourself awestruck by her beauty. She was at that age of transition between girl and woman, and had all the advantages of both. She brushes her dark hair back from her eyes with one hand, tucking it softly behind her ear - a simple gesture, but one you find entrancing. She is wearing a simple black sleeveless dress; the simplicity of her clothing only served to highlight the natural beauty of her features.

“Sure. But only if you come watch our presentation in the afternoon,” you reply.

“Right… rumor has it you guys acquired FNC Corp. Apparently they have some new tech that’s pretty groundbreaking, and that’s why you bought them?”

You smile slyly before responding, “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”

Tzuyu returns the smile. It is dazzling.

“Rumor also says their Director of Marketing is super gorgeous - like, supermodel gorgeous.”

You smile at the apt description of Seolhyun, and are about to agree verbally with Tzuyu, but you decide that perhaps it was best to keep quiet. While the acquisition process was well underway, the final deals and paperwork were yet to be signed, and you weren’t about to take any chances with divulging any sensitive information to anyone before it was time. Your company’s acquisition of FNC was supposed to be the big surprise you revealed at the presentation, after all.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” you say, but despite your need to keep things confidential, you find a suggestive smirk creeping across your lips. Tzuyu’s beauty was beguiling, and you found yourself helplessly returning her smiles.

“I bet she’ll be the one giving the presentation. Women like that are awesome in front of crowds.”

“I’m sure you’ll be awesome too, then,” you say, almost automatically. You weren’t one to automatically throw compliments at women you barely knew, but there was something about Tzuyu that made it dangerously easy to do so.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous, to tell you the truth. I’ve given big presentations before to big crowds, but it’ll be my first time speaking to this particular market. A lot’s riding on this. I’m super nervous.”

“You’ll be fine. Just imagine everyone in the crowd in their underwear.”

Tzuyu lets a smile appear on her slim lips, before biting her lip, almost imperceptibly. It was a subtle gesture, difficult to even notice, but you sure did.

“Is that what you’re doing now?” she asks, her tone suddenly serious, with more than a hint of flirtatiousness.

Her question shocks you a little, if anything because it came out of nowhere, and from a young woman you’d met not even a half hour ago. You knew next to nothing about Chou Tzuyu, and yet here you were, riding in her limousine, trying to discern whether or not you should reciprocate her flirting.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” you say with a smile. Tzuyu giggles, the sound soft and musical. She returns your smile and her eyes narrow as she stares at you, as though she were trying to figure you out in her head.

“Maybe a drink will help soothe your nerves,” you say, gesturing to what looked like a sufficiently stocked minibar in the midsection of the limo, “Assuming you can drink, that is.”

Tzuyu smiles slyly at you. “Was that your way of figuring out whether I’m of legal age?”

It was your turn to smile and let out a small laugh. Whoever this girl was, she wasn’t stupid. She knew what game you were both playing.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that, Miss Chou,” you answer.

She pink tongue darts out and swipes across her lips as she turns her head to stare out the window at the quickly passing buildings of Taipei’s downtown commercial district. “I’m eighteen, if that helps soothe your nerves. And I’ll make you talk one way or another,” she says, still keeping her gaze locked outside the window, a slim smile playing on her lips.

The girl knew the game, and she knew how to play it.

You take a moment to gaze at her side profile, and you are once again taken aback by the beauty in her young face - soft, delicate features, a cute button nose and large eyes. Your gaze wanders a little lower, and you find the rest of her is equally well sculpted, with long limbs and a not insignificant amount of cute baby fat still lingering around her full thighs, giving her a feminine, womanly figure despite her youth.

You are content to ride in silence for a block or two. Your silence is interrupted after a minute when Tzuyu presses a small button built into the side console of the limousine. She speaks softly in Mandarin, and you assume she is speaking directly to the driver. Through the semi-tinted glass that divides the driver from the rest of the cabin, you notice the driver nod in understanding at whatever it was Tzuyu had asked him to do.

A few seconds later the limo takes an abrupt turn, away from the flow of traffic and into an alleyway. A large, modern-looking parking building looms to your right, and the limo enters it, rising to the mostly empty third floor before parking in a corner that is surrounded on two sides by solid walls. Without further word, the driver shuts off the engine and steps out of the car before walking towards the exit and leaving the building altogether.

You tense a little, especially when the driver leaves the limo. You didn’t know who this woman was, and had to be prepared for anything. It wasn’t unheard of for executives to be coerced, physically or otherwise, into doing things they didn’t want to do for the sake of divulging business secrets.

You look at Tzuyu, hoping to find some indication of just what the hell was going on in her youthful features, but she is only wearing a blank look on her face. She takes one last glance outside her window to ensure the driver is fully out of sight, and one more look out the back window of the limo, as if she were searching for anyone else that might be in the area.

Seemingly satisfied that you two were the only people on the floor, if not the entire parkade, she returns her gaze to you, her lower lip curling slightly under her front teeth. She bites her lower lip lightly before suddenly shifting closer to you.

You are fully aware of her proximity, and her closeness brings her gorgeous face so close to yours that it is almost too much to handle.

Tzuyu’s left hand rests on your left thigh, and she leans her upper body closer to yours before bringing her mouth to within an inch of your left ear.

“Maybe there’s something we can do that will… ease my nerves about this presentation I’m about to give.”

You turn slightly until your face is facing hers. Your noses brush up against one another, the first feeling of skin on skin contact sending electricity pulsing throughout both your bodies.

“What do you have in mind?”

Tzuyu lets her smile widen before bringing her mouth once more to your ear.

“I want you to fuck me. Right here, right now.”

“That’s very forward of you, Miss Chou,” you say, trying your best to put up a front, although every nerve and fibre of your being was screaming at you to jump at this young woman. You don’t see it, but you just know your words have elicited a smile from her.

Tzuyu’s hand moves a little further up your leg until it turns and starts to caress your inner thigh, her delicate, thin fingers just inches away from the growing bulge in your pants.

“What’s the matter? Am I too young for you?”

Tzuyu’s hand moves further up your thigh. The very tip of her fingers brush up against your steadily hardening shaft. It takes every ounce of willpower in your being to not twitch at the sensation.

“...Wife? Girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend,” you say softly, “not that she would mind that I fucked another girl. Trust me.”

“Good,” Tzuyu says, the tone of her voice becoming more and more lusty, her words taking more of a pleading tone, “then there’s no reason why your cock shouldn’t be in my pussy in a few minutes...”

“I barely know you, Tzuyu. And besides, you could be from a competitor company.”

Tzuyu smiles, happy that you have played hard to get. With the way she was coming at you, however, you weren’t sure how much longer you could resist.

The young girl bites her lip again, lifting her body slightly and tugging at the hem of her short skirt until it is bunched up around her waist; as she does so she reveals the small baby pink thong she is wearing beneath it. Then Tzuyu swings her left leg around so that she is quite literally sitting in your lap, each of her legs straddling your waist. She wastes no time and presses her hips forward, letting your now fully erect shaft brush against her pussy.

Tzuyu lets out a soft moan as she traces a path from your nose to your left ear once more.

“What about now? Please fuck me, daddy.”

You weren’t really much of a daddy kink kind of guy, but the combination of Tzuyu’s relative youth and the ridiculously hot body she was pressing up against you broke down any last vestiges of resistance you may have had against fucking the wanton young woman grinding herself against your shaft.

Tzuyu presses her hips against yours, dragging her pussy against your crotch. The softest of moans escapes her lips.

“Fuck me, daddy. Fuck my tight little pussy with this big cock of yours.”

There is a pleading, almost begging tone to her words that is simply irresistible. Tzuyu drags her nose from your ear back to the front of your face, and your eyes look into hers, finding only lust - wanton, unbridled lust. At that moment your composure breaks, and you crush her lips against yours in a fierce kiss.

The young woman’s tongue enters your mouth almost forcefully, easily finding and pressing itself against its counterpart. Almost immediately you feel Tzuyu’s hands reach between your bodies, working the belt and button of your pants with her long fingers, and you both breathe a sigh of relief as her fumbling finally undoes your pants.

She wastes no time, her hand immediately grabbing your erect penis over your boxers, and you let out a low gasp as Tzuyu gives you a firm squeeze, delighting in the feeling of the firm flesh in her hand. Your eyes have closed involuntarily, but when they open again you find Tzuyu’s face in front of yours, her gaze drunk with lust and need, the innocence that pervaded her character quickly fleeing away from her baser desires.

She is biting her lip again.

Tzuyu gives you one more firm stroke with her palm before grasping the hem of your boxers. She pulls down the garment easily to finally free your shaft from its cotton confines. She breaks your eye contact to gaze down at your stiff, long penis, and a look of satisfaction washes over her young, innocent features. She grasps your shaft gently with her right hand, and taking a moment to ensure you are watching her, she licks her lips, her pink tongue gliding over the shiny red lipstick she was wearing.

The young woman climbs off your crotch, and while you are slightly disappointed at the new distance she is putting between your bodies, you quickly find yourself unable to complain as Tzuyu repositions herself on her knees between your spread legs.

She looks up at you with that youthful, fresh face of hers, her large, round eyes so full of innocence, so at odds with the fact that she was on her knees, about to perform such a lewd act. Perhaps that is what is so intoxicating about her - the fact that she was so innocent, so young, and yet so willing to indulge her basest desires. Perhaps that is why you have put up so little resistance to having sex with a girl that was so much younger.

A moment later, any hesitation you might have had flees from your mind as Tzuyu runs the very tip of her tongue from the base of your cock all the way to your very tip, her tongue gliding slowly and softly over your already weeping slit. A moan of sheer pleasure escapes your mouth as your spine tingles with excitement - it turns out to be a mere appetizer of what follows, as Tzuyu wastes no more time and takes you into her mouth, her soft lips and wet tongue pressing onto every inch of your rock hard shaft.

Before you know it Tzuyu is giving you one of the best blowjobs you’ve ever had, although a part of you wonders whether it was the novelty of it all - Tzuyu’s youth, the fact that you’d only known her for an hour at most, the fact that you were in a parking lot in a foreign country - or her actual skill at oral sex that contributed to the pleasure coursing throughout your body.

Regardless, as you reach down to brush a stray lock of dark hair away from her eyes, you find yourself relishing in the sight of your cock as it plunges in and out of the young girl’s mouth, your shaft coated with her saliva. She knows you are watching, and she lifts her eyes to lock her gaze on you, allowing you the beautiful sight of her beautiful face juxtaposed with your shaft pulling in and out of her mouth.

Minutes pass as Tzuyu continues her blowjob diligently, at one point bringing a slender hand up to pump the base of your cock as she swirls her tongue over and around the head of your shaft. She opens her mouth and presses the head of your cock on her tongue, ensuring she is keeping eye contact as she does so.

Her other hand has disappeared between her legs - so enraptured by her blowjob were you that you didn’t even notice she had begun to finger herself.

“I’m ready for you, daddy,” she says, as though reading your mind, “how do you want to fuck me?”

Her tone is so innocent, so soft and full of nonchalance, as though she were asking about the weather instead of asking you how you wanted to fuck her.

“Why don’t you take a ride on daddy’s lap, Tzuyu?”

A devilish smile appears on her face. You are impressed once more with how quickly her innocence fled in the face of lust.

Tzuyu rises from her knees and straddles you once more - long, legs and full, soft thighs straddling your waist. She takes both hands and raises the hem of her dress up, ensuring you have a fine view of her small pink thong and the damp wetness that has accumulated there. She presses it against your hard shaft, grinding slowly for a few seconds.

A soft moan of pure pleasure escapes from the young girl’s lips.

“Do you want me, daddy? Do you want to fuck me? Do you want to tear me open, fuck my pussy, hear me beg for it?”

“Fuck yes, Tzuyu.”

You’ve had enough - you needed to be inside her. You grasp her full hips, pressing your shaft more strongly against her pussy. Tzuyu shares your impatience - she needed you inside her just as badly as you wanted it. She reaches down with her right hand and with slim fingers, pushes the wet cotton of her pink thong aside. The pink lips of her pussy glisten invitingly - she was drenched.

Chou Tzuyu raises her hips slightly, and, once the head of your stiff shaft is in line with her pussy, she shifts downward, finally allowing you into her body.

Both of you let out a rather loud sigh of pleasure at this first penetration. To say she was tight was an understatement, with her wet, warm, soft walls surrounding you deliciously. You bring both your hands to her full, round hips, relishing the feel of her warm thighs pressing against yours.

“You’re so big, daddy,” she says softly, her eyes only half open, her eyelashes fluttering as her body adjusts to the hard meat invading her pussy. You rub her hips and thighs with your hands, unable to say anything in return, cursing for a moment that the style of her dress meant there was no easy way to free her breasts. The young woman’s hands are running through your hair, seeking some sort of release for the intense lust that has built up in her body.

Tzuyu decides to let her body speak for the both of you, raising her hips slowly and drawing your shaft out of her body. You glance down to watch as inch after inch of your cock slips out of her - every inch already lathered with her slick juices.

Once only the head of your cock remains inside her, she slams her body back down, sending shocks of pleasure throughout both your bodies as your shaft once again penetrates her young pussy. Once you are hilt deep Tzuyu grinds her hips around as if wanting to take you as deep as she could inside her. The sensations are delicious, intoxicating, and you are happy to let her grind herself against you, but she is not as patient as you are. Before you know it she is lifting her hips again, and a split second later she slams them back down again.

Soon she is riding you with a solid rhythm, taking your stiff cock in and out of her tightly grasping pussy, a constant stream of moans erupting from her lips as you continue to fuck. You bring one hand to the back of her neck and she eagerly accepts your invitation, crushing her lips against yours and opening her mouth to accept your tongue.

As you continue to make out, your hand traces down her long, graceful neck to the front of her chest, before finally cupping and squeezing a firm breast in your palm, cursing the layers of cloth that kept you from feeling the young woman’s breasts in your hands.

The pleasure is almost overwhelming. You’ve had your fair share of sex with beautiful women, but there was something about fucking Tzuyu that put the experience on a completely new level. You tried to convince herself that perhaps it was the circumstances, the fact that you were fucking in a limo, the fact that you had known each other for all of a few hours - but try as you might to deny it, you knew it was her youth, her innocence, and the base desire to fuck a younger girl that made the situation so damn hot.

“Yes! Yes…. yes! This… this is so good! Fuck me, daddy!”

You again find yourself unable to answer - so you answer with actions, bringing your hands to her waist and slamming her hips down hard while thrusting up with your hips, penetrating her young pussy with hard, fast strokes.

The increase in volume of the young woman’s moans is indication enough that you are doing it right, but you want more - you want to show her you’re in control, and truth be told, a dark part of you wants to use her, wants to dominate her.

You push her, carefully, off your shaft, and though she a complaint begins to form her lips, it is silenced when you take her by the hips and turn her around and push softly on the small of her back. She takes the hint and bends down on the floor of the limo, one arm draped on the side seats as she presents her upraised ass and looks back at you.

“Mmmm, yes! Fuck me from behind, daddy! Use my body to make you cum… use me however you want, daddy!”

It scared you, almost, how quickly you took up position behind her, drawing the short black skirt of her dress up and over her hips and pulling her drenched thong down to fully reveal the wet, splayed pink lips of her young pussy. You take only a split second to line up the head of your cock with her opening before you thrust forward, a little harder than you were expecting - not that Tzuyu minded, the loud, shrill shriek that leaves her mouth indication that she was okay with the newfound roughness of your fucking.

Seconds later you are fucking her - not the soft lovemaking with Momo, not the firm yet considerate fucking with Choa, not even the hard, rough sex you had with Seolhyun - no, this is something different, something almost animalistic, as though you weren’t in control of yourself. The only thing that mattered to you was driving yourself in and out of this young woman’s body and making her yours.

For her part Tzuyu appears to fully accept, even relish the roughness of your fucking, and the shuddering, quivering mess she becomes soon after you establish your rhythm is proof of the orgasm that rocks her body, the sensations coming so quickly she didn’t even have the time to announce it like the other women you fucked often did.

The squeezing of her pussy around your shaft is enough proof of her orgasm, as if the sudden, wordless moan that escapes her lips was not enough. The wet slap of skin on skin resonates throughout the limo as you continue to fuck the young girl against the limo’s seat.

Tzuyu drops her head against the side seat, suddenly unable to keep it up after she cums, her black hair covering her flushed features. The hair does little to stifle her moans, which continue throughout her orgasm and after it. Eventually, she is able to form words.

“Fuck… fuck that was so good… your turn, daddy. Fuck me! Fuck me until you fill my little pussy with your cum!”

Her words drive you to fuck her even harder and faster than you already were, ever fibre of your being devoted to drilling this young woman’s pussy with your rock hard shaft.

“I’m gonna fucking cum, Tzuyu,” you manage to say, the girl’s tight pussy driving you closer and closer to the point of no return with its tight, wet embrace.

“Do it… do it, daddy! Cum inside me! Cum inside me… cum inside me, daddy!”

You’ve orgasmed inside plenty of women, but there is something fundamentally different about this - about cumming inside Tzuyu. And you knew it was because she was so young - there was something naughty, something almost wrong, something impure about spilling your thick, hot semen inside such a young girl.

But a small part of you enjoys every moment of it.

You push aside any thought of impropriety, any part of your conscience that told you you shouldn’t be doing something so naughty with someone so young and seemingly innocent - even if she was of age and clearly wanted it. Nothing else existed, aside from the urge to drive yourself as deep as you possibly could inside Chou Tzuyu’s wanton, lust-drunk body and let yourself loose, shooting stream after thick stream of hot semen inside her wet, tight pussy.

For a few seconds you are paralyzed, unable to move as the waves of pleasure resonate from your crotch and suffuse every fibre of your being. Eventually you gather your wits enough to fall back down to Earth as your orgasm subsides; it was, in many ways, just a quickie - it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes since your first kiss to your orgasm. But it felt much longer, and it felt like forever before you were able to finally move again.

Slowly, you remove your spent shaft from Tzuyu’s pussy, watching intently as a trickle, and then a steady stream of your white, pearly semen appears from between her drenched pussy lips.

Tzuyu looks back at you, her youthful features flushed with lust.

“That was fucking hot, daddy.”

---

The rest of your ride to the convention centre passed relatively uneventfully, Tzuyu acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, which felt more than a little awkward. It turns out you were only five to ten minutes away from the convention centre, and as you open the door and exit the limo, the back window lowers and Tzuyu’s voice stops you from leaving.

“Wait,” she says quietly.

The young woman raises her hips and reaches beneath the black hem of her skirt, and you realize that she is removing her thong. She slides the tiny, slim strip of cloth down her full, shapely thighs and her long legs before slipping the still-drenched underwear into the inside pocket of your blazer, still moist with your cum and her juices.

“Something to remember me by until the next time I give you a ride, daddy.”

Tzuyu winks, bites her lip, and raises the window. You watch, dumbfounded, as the limo drives away.

---

Three hours have passed since Tzuyu dropped you off, and the events of that morning still haven’t really sunk in. The pink thong in your front jacket pocket, however, is a constant reminder that it all really did happen.

“What company is this again?” Hirai Momo asks, shaking you from your dazed reverie. She is seated beside you in the convention centre’s main auditorium, where you and the rest of your team have gathered to watch Tzuyu’s presentation. She is seated to your left, with Choa, Seolhyun, and Mina seated in that order to your right.

“Some up and coming company I’ve never heard of,” you say, hoping Momo didn’t detect the lies in your words, “I don’t think they’re anything to be concerned about. But… the boss did say we should check out the competition.”

Momo nods to you as she peruses the program idly, flipping its pages, evidently bored out of her mind.

The lights on the stage have begun to dim, and a spotlight shines on stage; the presentation is about to begin.

A slim figure in a black dress appears from behind a curtain - it is Chou Tzuyu.

Almost immediately she engages the crowd, her voice firm and confident, without any of the nervousness that she spoke of earlier that morning. She introduces herself, her company, and quickly and smoothly transitions into some background information on her company’s pursuits in other industries - behind her, projected onto the wall, a well designed presentation highlights her talking points with infographics and statistics.

This was not the nervous young girl you shared a ride to the convention centre with. This was a professional, a confident public speaker in her element.

“We may be new in this industry, but we’re ready to make an impact,” Tzuyu says, her voice loud, clear, and confident. Her eyes are shining, her hands gesturing comfortably to emphasize her points. A smile is ever-present on her lips; the same lips that were twisted in lewd pleasure earlier that morning.

“...And we want to make that impact using technology that is completely new to this industry,” she continues, “something that will be totally groundbreaking. We’re talking a complete paradigm shift in the industry that will change the way you do things. We’re taking a complete game changer.”

Was the entire ‘innocent, nervous girl’ persona Tzuyu had that morning merely a mask? Was she playing games with you? You shift uneasily in your seat at the thought of being used, being toyed with. Beside you, Momo and the others sit impassively - they had no reason to feel uncomfortable, after all. You envy them their ignorance.

“....and to introduce our tech, we have one of our head developers here to walk you through it. Please welcome...”

A spotlight appears at the other end of the stage. A young woman in a white dress steps out onto the stage.

“...Minatozaki Sana!”

There have been a few moments in your life when time freezes; important moments, when time stands still, when your heart ceases to beat. Your first kiss. A couple of moments playing sports. Happy moments, sad moments - but also moments of sheer shock.

This was one of those moments.

It is a moment that seems to last forever. It lasts so long that as you turn to Momo, you swear not a second has passed; your eyes register the look of pure shock, overlaid with betrayal, written all over your girlfriend’s features.

You look to your right, and see that Choa has covered her mouth with a hand, her eyes filled with hurt and pain; Seolhyun is gripping the armrests of her chair with a deathgrip, her knuckles white and sheer anger all over her features; and while she is too far for you to see her face, the clenched fists gathered in Mina’s lap tell you that she too is wrestling with hurt and pain and anger.

Sana begins to speak on stage, and although you hear the words, you have trouble making sense of them.

After a few minutes it becomes abundantly clear - the “groundbreaking” tech Tzuyu’s company is introducing is in fact the tech from Seolhyun’s company. Someone had to have stolen it from FNC; someone who had full access to FNC’s offices and staff. Someone who had the the opportunity, the industry knowledge, and the skills to accomplish such a feat.

A final, sad thought comes up in your head, one that is almost too painful bear; Minatozaki Sana was that someone.

Every word she speaks is a dagger into your back.

#kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop smut #pov smut #smut #male reader #twice #twice tzuyu #chou tzuyu #tzuyu

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thehikingviking · 3 years

Text

Cerro El Pital y El Picacho, The High Points of El Salvador and San Salvador

It took me 16 years, but I finally decided to return to my mother’s home country of El Salvador. The main purpose behind the trip was to introduce my new born son to my grandpa, but it wouldn’t be right to not hike several mountains while down there. I convinced Zach to fly down with my family, and he would be my hiking partner for most of the trip. He also joined on our previous trip to Guatemala, and had climbed a couple of volcanoes with me down there as well. I used Nahuat Tours as my guide service; they would arrange transport and the local guides when needed. There were some last minute complications due to the national election, which caused us to change our itinerary at the last minute, and while this would add some extra driving, the key objectives on my trip were still attainable. We planned to first climb Cerro El Pital in the morning, followed by El Picacho in the afternoon. Both were short hikes, so the challenge would be the long drive and dealing with the many unknowns of this developing country.

We were picked up at Cadedeu Residence at Lago de Coatepeque before sunrise. We first drove through San Salavdor and then up towards La Palma. We followed a steep but paved road up to Rio Chiquito.

Our driver Eric parked at a dirt lot along Calle El Pital. We could have driven further, but we were here to hike and were already less than 2 miles from the summit. From here Gerardo would show us the way to the summit. Shortly after starting out, I noticed a snake that was run over by a vehicle, reminding me that it’s probably best to stay on the cleared path. Shortly after we reached the park boundaries where Gerardo paid our entrance fees.

I was told to pack warm gear, as this is the coldest place in the country, but I found myself sweating profusely.

At the top of the road, Gerardo started taking us towards the lower southeast summit. I immediately objected, stating that the northwestern summit was higher. He agreed, but for some reason was hesitant to go further. He stated that he wasn’t sure how to get there, and said he would go ask someone. My stress levels skyrocketed, as failing on this easy peak was my worst nightmare. Gerardo came back confirming that there was a way to the summit, but that we shouldn’t follow the road. I learned later that Gerardo had been attacked by a dog along this same road on a previous trip. We instead dropped down to a grassy field at the saddle between the main peak and the false summit.

We followed a foot path that passed next to some buildings. Many homes were in the process of being built, and I expect this area to look much different in a few years. We popped out back onto the original road, and with the threat of the barking dog behind us, we continued upwards. The views opened up as we climbed higher, and it appeared that we were the only ones visiting the summit that day. We followed the main road all the way to the summit structure, where there were several guard dogs barking at us ravenously.

They were locked within the gate, so I paid them no heed. I found the benchmark embedded in a small concrete pedestal just to the left of the building.

To the east was Honduras.

To the south-southeast was Chinchontepec, also known as San Vincente Volcano.

To the south-southwest were El Picacho and El Boquerón, also known as San Salvador Volcano.

I had expected to find armed guards at the summit, but we were the only ones around. I guessed that all police were being mobilized elsewhere in preparation for the elections the following day.

As this was also the border of Honduras, I took the liberty to walk into the aforementioned country. I did a small loop through the forest, checking another country off my list.

We hung out at the summit for a while, enjoying the peaceful and temperate setting.

We started back down the road once we were satisfied. The cacophony of barking started up again as we passed by the building, but soon we were beyond the nuisance.

We stopped along the way to visit a second benchmark that also marked the border between El Salvador and Honduras. This was in the middle of some crops so we gingerly walked around it.

Once back at the saddle, I could finally relax and enjoy the great views.

We considered exploring a potential bonus rock, but at the end decided against it. We couldn’t see any worthy rock outcropping from our vantage point, and I didn’t see anything on my satellite view. Instead we had brunch at one of the restaurants consisting of pupusas and coffee. We found Eric waiting for us at the top of the road when we finished, and we began our drive back down to La Palma where we stopped to buy some souvenirs.

After another long drive we arrived at the trailhead for El Picacho. There was no information of this hike online, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Here we met our local guide Chico at a roadside pupuseria at the saddle between El Picacho and El Boquerón. We started up a local trail through a coffee plantation.

-El Picacho

We hiked at an aggressive pace. Chico took the lead with his machete in hand. He would stop from time to time to tell me the local folklore, which really interested me. La Siguanaba was apparently seen in this area. This shapeshifter is viewed as an attractive woman who is often seen bathing in the river. She invites enticed men to come bathe with her, but as soon as they come close enough, she turns her head and reveals her terrifying face, which is sometimes depicted as a horse or a skull. The terrifying sight makes the men go crazy. This story is most likely used to deter unfaithful men from drinking and chasing other women. Often accompanying La Siguanaba is El Cipitio, her baby with a round belly and big sombrero. He doesn’t do much aside from throw flowers at women’s feet, but he seems to creep out many Salvadoran woman, including my mother. Chico then told me about El Gritón de la Medianoche, which translates to the yell of the middle of the night. This creature is apparently a very tall man with a mouth like a trumpet who screams incredibly loud. When he is far away, his scream seems to be coming from nearby. I found this fascinating as this is somewhat similar to North American bigfoot mythology; a tall humanoid screaming though the forest in the night.

Chico stopped to show us some coffee beans growing alongside the trail.

Gerardo explained how the beans can be prepared. Some European countries prefer the beans with the husk, while American coffee companies prefer the beans without. The beans are typically left in the sun to dry for a few weeks before they are exported. Gerardo then instructed us to suck on the bean, and we tasted the natural honey flavor from within the husk.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker so most of the dialogue went in one ear and out the other, but I think the average cafephile would find it quite interesting.

I took note of a pointy peak along the coast, which I believe was El Peñon de Comasagua.

We reached a trail junction along the ridge where we also found an abandoned battery. Apparently these fortifications were not utilized much during the civil war as the Guerrillas never really contested this territory.

We stopped at a clearing where we had great views of San Salvador below.

-Chinchontepec y Lago de Ilopango

I found a rope swing here, and it felt appropriate to risk my life on it.

Chico then climbed a tree and cut off a plant with his machete. I still don’t know why.

We continued along the trail, walking past a tree stand. I don’t think this was used for hunting animals.

As we followed the trail underneath the eastern side of the peak, we heard a high pitched sound somewhere up ahead. I at first thought it was a bird, but as I listened more closely, it was someone squawking, “Ay loco, ay loco.” Chico immediately stopped and motioned us to be silent. He went off ahead by himself, machete in hand. I was very concerned for the few seconds he was gone. Upon his return he stated, “No te preocupes, solo es un bolito,” or “Don’t worry, it’s only a little drunk.” We continued forward, and just off the trail below us in a thicket was the bolito, yapping to himself. They say that the homemade moonshine brewed here makes people hallucinate and gives many young people sepsis. Or perhaps he simply saw La Siguanaba.

The trail eventually led to a road, which we followed a short distance to the radio structure at the top.

Again my stress skyrocketed. There was a watchperson, several guard dogs and a fence surrounding the radio facility. No trespassing signs were posted along the gate. We asked the watchperson if we could continue to the top, but he denied us, stating that there were security cameras throughout the summit complex.

I was disappointed to say the least, so I went to the highest legally accessible point and snapped a photo.

I stood there for a while, but there was no way around it. In my mind, I tried to justify the failure as a valiant effort nonetheless. My mind raced as I walked back down the road. I wondered if I could somehow still reach the summit while staying outside of the enclosure. I asked Chico if I was allowed to try from another angle, and he hesitantly agreed suggesting that it would be fine so long as I didn’t cross the fence. Before he could change his mind, I began bushwhacking up the steep and loose east facing jungle slopes towards where I expected the summit to be. Snakes and guerrillas filled the back of my mind, while in reality all I had to contend with was thick brush and garbage. It seems that some of the tower workers simply throw their trash over the fence. I pulled on small trees and avoided stepping on the empty liquor bottles. At the end I was swimming through a grassy bush, and I eventually popped out at the fence, which was also the bulldozed high point.

With my heart racing, I snapped a few photos. I should have been more patient, but the dogs from inside the complex were on to me. They had started barking, so as not to arouse further suspicion, I returned to the thicket.

I snapped one last photo of Chinchontepec, Lago de Ilopango and San Salvador before descending.

What a relief! I carefully descended the steep slope, but not carefully enough. I dislodged a big boulder from underneath the dirt, and this accelerated quickly towards where the others were waiting for me. I yelled rock, but Guillermo stood there like a deer in the headlights. Luckily, this boulder flew right past him and no one was hurt. The boulder continued to thrash down the steep volcano, and it’s probably still falling today. The other’s looked at me as if I was some sort of lunatic, and maybe they are right.

Our descent went quickly and soon we were back down at the saddle looking up at El Picacho.

I had wanted to climb El Boquerón as well, which is the crater of the greater San Salvador Volcano, however there were some challenges. While it is possible to hike to the highest point along the crater, it’s currently not the safest thing to do. Gerardo expects that in a few more years, the national park service will clean up the area, making it safer for hikers.

-Berries

Once at the bottom, we ordered some yuca and chatted with the locals.

Zach got his yuca with chicharón and I got mine with Pepescas. Zach made the smarter decision, as I got pretty sick afterwards, so for all future hikers, get the pork!

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halfblood-fiend · 4 years

Text

Star Trek Bingo 2020: Vertical Prompt 1/Horizontal Prompt 4

TRANSFORMATION

Show: The Original Series

Words: 7,940

Rating: General Audiences

Warning(s): pining! and Kirk is an idiot! Also, this was the last prompt that I speed wrote today so, hopefully the editing isn’t 100% awful!

Here, There Is No Golden Ball

A First Contact with a hyper-telekinetic race called the Haijinn turns quickly from routine to devastating when Spock has an un-frog-ettable run-in with one of the race’s priests. Captain Kirk, with the begrudging help of Bones, has to find a way to turn Spock back or doom him to a long and des-pond-ent life.

Read it on AO3.

“Captain’s Log: Stardate 4846.1. We have encountered a new post-warp civilization on the outer reaches of Federation space. Xenosociologists have been monitoring this planet’s rapid technological march and were pleased to ask the Enterprise to be their Federation liaison. As part of our routine First Contact procedure, we have invited a handful of delegates to break bread with us up here on the Enterprise. They are a fascinating people on paper, but their unique telepathic and telekinetic abilities far surpass my own lofty expectations. On the surface, they seem able to conjure matter out of thin air. While basic laws of physics say this is impossible, it is still a wonder to behold. If I believed in such things, I could almost describe it as… well, like magic. Luckily, the Haijinn’s are just as fascinated with our own technological advances, but for a far different reason…”

The High Priest Mailak blinked his large, bulbous milky blue iris-less eyes at the control panels in the Engineering Room. His small head on his long, spindly neck swayed side to side, reminding Kirk a bit of an ostrich from Earth. With the large, but squat body hidden under the many folds of his robes, the similarities were striking. All the High Priest and his people were missing, Kirk thought, were the long legs.

“And you have managed to build all of this on your own? With your hands?” Mailak inquired in a gravelly dialect punctuated by clicks emanating from the back of his throat and deep within his chest.

Scotty waited until the communicator in Kirk’s hand had translated Mailak’s sentence to Standard before he answered, “Well, not by meself, personally, but, aye. Other Human Beings built the Enterprise with their own hands and tools. And maybe a service droid or two, but ship buildin’ is mostly a work of the people.”

A pause while the communicator translated back into Haijann, and then Mailak and his entourage emitted a high-pitched series of clicks that Kirk felt fairly confident interpreting as “oohing and ahhing.” He smiled. “Scotty is my Chief Engineer, and it’s his job to see that I never lose the total functionality of my ship. He keeps the Enterprise running in top shape.”

Scotty bit his lip and clasped his hands behind his back. “If yeh don’ mind me askin’, Your Excellency, sir, how do you make your ships, if not by your hands?”

Mailak’s wide, flat mouth and delicate, thin lips parted in a near grimace. Kirk wondered if he was trying to mimic a Human smile or if the Haijinn normally did that. The first possibility was somewhat endearing; the latter would take some getting used to. “We envision the creation and it becomes so.”

Blinking, Scotty cocked his head at the High Priest before turning to Kirk. “Is that communicator warkin’, Captain?”

Not all his senior staff had a chance to look at the dossier, apparently. Kirk decided to give Scotty a break—this time. Smiling warmly, he answered, “I assure you, Scotty, it is.”

Mailak looked between them both and then, bobbing his head in such a way that Kirk wondered if there was a body language component to their language, said, “For such a large object as a space-faring vessel, the oiimaige takes many highly tuned minds working in conjunction for long stretches of time. But for my people, anything we can imagine, we can create. It is our unique gift, our connection to the Oiim. Hold out your hand and observe.”

Even as he did as he was told, Scotty glanced at Kirk and said, “Now I know that thing’s busted.”

“Not everything has a perfect translation all of the time,” Kirk reminded him gently as Mailak closed his eyes and concentrated.

The ship-wide intercom chirped from over on the wall and a voice rang out from it. “First Officer Spock, to Captain Kirk.”

Mailak’s eye’s fluttered closed as he focused, and Kirk decided that Scotty would live for a few moments without the Universal Translator. He strode towards the intercom and pressed the switch. “Kirk here. Spock, what is it?”

“Captain, we will most likely be unable to rendezvous with you in the briefing room at the appointed time.”

“Why the delay, Mr. Spock? We are nearly finished showing His Excellency, The High Priest our Engineering Room. That should have been plenty of time for you and Her Eminence.”

“Indeed, Captain. However, Her Eminence, the Southern Priest, is quite enthralled with the ship’s library computer. She requests that she should be granted more time for study.”

Well, that certainly rubbed Kirk the wrong way. Glancing back at Mailak and Scotty, he spoke in a low voice and hoped the Haijinn’s hearing wasn't extremely good. “I don't think I have to impress upon you, Mr. Spock, the danger of—”

“Quite right, Captain,” Spock's voice cut him off in an equally low tone. “I already took the liberty of locking her out of the more strategic data regarding the Federation. Her interest does appear to be genuinely curious, but it seemed prudent not to take chances. At present, she is studying Terran folklore.”

Both the relief of the stress in his shoulders and the image of a Haijinn reading things like Paul Bunyan made Kirk smile. “What kind of folklore?”

“Fairy tales, Captain.”

Ah, so stories like Rapunzel. Even better.

“Well, carry on, Mr. Spock, and let me know if anything else arises. I'm sure we can entertain the High Priest for another hour or so.”

“Thank you, Captain. I believe Her Eminence will be most pleased. Spock out.”

Kirk flipped the switch on the wall-mounted comm panel and wondered which part of the ship that Mailak and his Entourage might like to see next. The Rec Room, perhaps? That might be diverting enough. Or maybe even a holodeck? Or—

“Captain!” Mr. Scott's excited shout drew Kirk's attention “Would you look at this!? It's like nothing I've ever seen before! I cannae even believe it!” In his outstretched hands was a clear flower that was unfamiliar to Kirk. He decided that it must be something native to the planet below. It was beautiful and dazzling, catching the light and throwing rainbow arcs across the bulkhead.

Mailak shook his head. “A pale comparison,” he sighed, “but the oiimaige has its limits. We cannot create living things by thought alone. It defies nature, and so does not allow for us to do it as we are living creatures ourselves. The Oiim, however… it is the Great Creator, and has made everything we know.”

Kirk nodded, another smile gracing his face. The Haijinn culture must be a fascinating one. What kinds of creation myths did a people who had the power to create things themselves devise to make sense of their universe? He made a note to inform Marlena and ask if she had ever heard anything else about the Haijinn from her contacts back on Earth.

“Real or not, Your Excellency,” Scotty replied with a laugh, “it’s all amazin’ to me!” He held up the flower and turned it in his fingers so that more colors bounced off into boundless arcs.

“Yes, well, if Your Excellency is ready, we can move on with our tour. There are other parts of our ship that you might find—ah—fascinating.”

Look at him, he was starting to sound like Spock.

“Certainly, Captain, though it was our belief that we would soon sit to discuss the merits of trade with your Federation.”

Kirk nodded. “In good time. Mr. Spock had just informed me that Her Emminence, the Southern Priest requested more time in our library. I am nothing if not an accommodating host. We have more to share if you wish to see it.”

Mailak made more high-pitched clicks, his neck swaying forwards and backwards. “Ah, that girl. Always so eager for knowledge. I do hope you will not find it tiresome, Captain Kirk.”

“Not at all, Your Excellency. It’s certainly no trouble.”

An hour later and Kirk, along with Mailak and his people were gathered in Briefing Room Two, with no sign of Spock and the Southern Priest. He seated Mailak and his most important attendants and served everyone replicated refreshments (that the Haijinns all found rather amusing) but nearly twenty minutes later, there was still no sign of his first officer, nor any word from him at all. The unusual behavior from Spock was making Kirk as anxious as he was getting cross.

Mialak blinked his large eyes at Kirk and swayed his head. “You must not be so angry, Captain. This is just like Eimmeel. She can hardly be torn from her studies. It’s what makes her such a serviceable chronicler and devotee to Oiim.”

Kirk made a mental note to add ‘emotional telepathy’ to the list of the Haijinn’s already formidable range of traits. But maybe, he was just being obvious, with his knee bouncing and his hand cupping his chin as he leaned on the table. He quit all these actions and sat up with a shake of his head. “It’s not like Commander Spock to be so late. My first officer is also stubborn, Your Excellency, so I’m sure he and Her Emminence would have figured something out by now.”

And Spock hadn’t even comm-ed him… It was highly unusual.

“Or, Captain, they are locked together in a battle of wills and we will be here all day if we wait for them to arrive.” Mailak did his strange impersonation of a smile but Kirk felt far from better.

Kirk swore that the reprimand Commander Spock was going to receive from him would be legendary…

He reached forward and flipped the switch for the intercom laid into the meeting table. “Kirk to Spock.” His voice sounded brusque, even to him. “Commander Spock, come in.”

But the line remained dead. There was no answer from any comm anywhere on the ship.

Kirk pressed a button on the interface that linked him to the bridge directly. “Uhura, is there any problem with the ship’s intercom systems?”

He knew that there wasn’t, but Kirk wanted a record of his attempt at troubleshooting before he disciplined Spock.

Lieutenant Uhura’s voice came in over the speaker, confident and clear, “No, sir. No communications malfunctions of any kind.”

So, Spock was purposefully ignoring him then. Just perfect. “Thank you, Lieutenant, that’s all. Sulu, find Commander Spock using a ship-wide scan. Then connect me a direct line to him.”

Both Uhura and Sulu answered with sharp, “Yes, sir”s.

Kirk’s fingers drummed on the table. In all the first contacts that they had overseen together, all of their separately given tours, Spock had never been so…thoughtless. Spock, who arrived twenty minutes early for every shift, suddenly late to a meeting without any warning? It didn’t add up. And something in Kirk’s gut was making him uncomfortable. A bad feeling. Bones might have agreed with him, but Spock would have reminded him that his feelings had no influence on the possible outcome of events. They couldn’t tell him one thing or another. Spock would remind him that Kirk couldn’t make any assumptions without all the facts. And the only fact that he had was that his First Officer had not appeared when he was supposed to, and that was out-of-character.

“Captain, we really can proceed. Eimmeel’s presence here as record-keeper was merely a precautionary measure. There is nothing she knows that I do not.”

Kirk listened but didn’t respond—How to explain that his desire to find Spock was more on principle now? —when Sulu’s voice cracked over the speaker. “Er…Sir? Commander Spock is…not on the ship, sir.”

His eyes drew sharply to the intercom as though Kirk could see Sulu’s face through it and intimidate him into telling the truth. “What do you mean, ‘not on the ship’? Have there been any unauthorized shuttle launches?”

“That was the first thing I checked, sir.”

“Unauthorized transports?”

“Negative, sir. There have been no unauthorized functions of any kind. Ship’s log places the Commander’s last known location in the computer library facility.”

The last place Kirk knew him to be…

He glanced up at Mailak, who looked just as shocked as Kirk was (so far as he could tell). The High Priest leaned over to the Haijinn on his left and spoke quickly to them in sharp tones. They spoke so fast that the Universal Translator couldn’t catch any of it.

Convenient, Kirk found himself thinking, but quickly reigned in any suspicious lines of thought until he had more information.

Mailak stretched his neck to the ceiling and pressed his hands into the base of his throat, one folded over the other. A low humming filled the room.

“Captain, what—”

“Just a moment, Sulu,” Kirk ordered, watching the High Priest with rapt attention.

A heartbeat later, Mailak resumed his normal posture, although the humming hadn’t completely left the small space. Kirk thought he could still feel the ghost of rumbling echoing on his skin.

“Eimmeel is still where your crewman says, Captain,” Mailak said. “She has not moved for much of the duration of our visit.”

Kirk’s eyebrow raised. “And…Spock?”

“Him, I cannot find. He is not a part of the Oiim,” the High Priest replied, rocking his head forwards and back.

Understandable, but worth a try.

“If you do not mind the continued delay, Your Excellency,” Kirk said, choosing his words carefully, “I would very much like to find my missing First Officer.”

Mailak’s head swayed. “Of course, Captain. The Haijinn will assist you in any way we can.”

Kirk rose from his seat in a fluid motion when he heard Sulu again. “Orders, Captain? Shall I send a security team?”

He had almost forgotten the intercom was still on. It was strangely thoughtless of him.

“No need,” yet, Kirk added mentally. “Maintain orbit and communication with the planet. We will speak to Her Emminence, the Southern Priest. I’m sure she will know what happened to Commander Spock and this will all be sorted in short order. Kirk out.”

And if not, Kirk would lock down the ship, and report the Haijjin’s malicious intent upon the Enterprise, and let them deal with the fallout of it.

While the library computer could be accessed from nearly any terminal on the Enterpise, they still maintained a specific room for those crewman who wished to research outside of their quarters or the usual terminals located at every work station. The room was lined on three walls by data banks with glowing lights, while the last wall opened to the exterior hull, allowing a spectacular view of the planet in orbit down below, the yellow pinprick of the system’s sun in the distance, and the spattering of far distant stars in inky space. It was a semi dim room, opting for personal lamps at the worktables instead of overhead lighting, to suit each individual’s need.

There was only a single occupant in the room when Kirk stepped over the threshold. Seated at one of these worktables, her personal light switched on, illuminating a scattering of colorful isolinear chips all around her, was another splendidly robed Haijinn.

The Southern Priest, Kirk assumed, was larger than all her male counterparts. Her skin was lighter and more wrinkled than Mailak’s and Kirk couldn��t tell if that was age or merely a variation in sex, because he realized, upon seeing her alone, she was the only female Haijinn to have come aboard.

Maybe not anything worth noting, but Kirk noted the discrepancy all the same.

Mailak brushed past Kirk and approached Eimmeel in the Haijinn version of a huff. He was already clicking before he had made it halfway to her. “What is the meaning of this, Eimmeel? What are you still doing here? You and Commander Spock were supposed to have been at the meeting place already!”

Eimmeel’s long furrowed neck raised from her terminal, and she swung her orange gaze upon her intruders, although she appeared to look through them as if she didn’t quite see them.

Kirk strode forward as well, his eyes searching for any sign of the Vulcan among the tables or data banks. The fact that he found nothing churned unease heavy in his stomach.

She blinked and then spoke in a much higher and clearer voice than Kirk had expected given all her wrinkles. She said, “Has it been a ‘Standard Hour’ already? Time for these outsiders flows so quickly. How do they ever have time to write all these stories?”

“Your Eminence,” Kirk began, fighting to keep his voice even, “where is First Officer Spock? I…must speak with him.”

He couldn’t help continuing to let his eyes rove around, trying to probe the shadows for any sign of Spock. Kirk felt his heart race as panic began to grip his chest. The ship thinks he isn’t here, and if no one left on a shuttle or was transported, that could only mean—

Kirk didn’t dare finish his thought.

The Southern Priest turned her gaze on Kirk as if she had only just realized he was there, then her neck swung around in several directions. Like a bird looking at something past their beak. “He was only just here…” she muttered. “Where could he have gotten off to?” Then she swung her face back to Kirk and said something that chilled him to his bones: “You had better not let anyone else come inside, Captain. And mind where you put your feet. Until we find him.”

Mind his…feet…?

Mailak placed his hands at his throat again and rocked his entire body back and forth. “Oiim al’mak teek. What have you done now, Eimmeel?”

Ice froze in Kirk’s veins as he looked around him. His eyes began scanning the floor now. His hands curled into fists. But he could not afford to lose his temper. He could not afford to jeopardize the mission or his duty as Captain but oh, the things he wished he could do about now!

And Spock! What in the hell had this woman done to Spock?

Kirk took tentative steps forward, now almost too scared to move, as Mailak uttered a long series of high pitched clicks and words that were too fast for his Universal Translator to decipher. This time, Kirk didn’t care.

He bent forward and peered beneath the nearest table.

Oh, god, Kirk didn’t even know what he was looking for! A body? Or something worse?

"Ribbit!"

His head snapped up. Mailak fell silent.

That couldn’t have been a…

"GrrrIBBIT!"

Kirk leaped to his feet and followed the bellowing sounds of a frog—of all the things on his ship!

“RrriBBIT, ribbit, grrrrRIBBET!”

Close to the window, Kirk found it: a mottled green and brown bullfrog the size of his hands and… with dark, knowledgeable eyes…

“Ribbit!” the frog’s throat expanded to reveal brilliant green skin as it…ribbit-ed at Kirk.

Open-mouthed, he looked back at the Haijinn priests.

Eimmeel waved a hand and emitted her gleeful high-pitched whine. “Ah! There he is!”

Kirk looked back down at…Spock, the bullfrog, who ribbit-ed again, indolently.

“Now, with all due respect, Your Eminence,” Kirk really had to focus in order to remember that he needed to attach the Southern Priest’s diplomatic title when he spoke to her, especially when all he wanted to do was rage, “I do not think I am being particularly unreasonable with my request to restore my first officer to his proper species, however, I am starting to think that you are being purposefully unhelpful.” Without thinking, Kirk waved Spock the Frog around as he spoke, his little limbs rather comically swinging through the air.

“Ribbit,” croaked Spock the Frog dolefully, punctuating Kirk’s final word with a poignant sense of irony.

With Mailak’s help, Kirk had been able to wrestle Eimmeel from the library computer room, though not without her grabbing a handful of isolinear chips as she left. Not knowing what else to do, Kirk had scooped Spock the Frog up in his hands and comm-ed Bones to come straight away the second they had made it back to Briefing Room Two.

The Southern Priest blinked her large pupil-less orange eyes at him. “I’m sorry, Captain, but I cannot. I cannot disrupt the oiimaige from its intent once it has been woven.”

The High Priest made several sharp, agitated movements in his chair beside her. He asked her, “Why would you do this to another being at all, Eimmeel? We were their guests! The Federation has only just arrived—”

“You did not read their stories, Your Excellency. I thought it was a gift. I did not think it would be so difficult for them to change him back themselves!”

Kirk’s brow furrowed and he bit his lip to keep from screaming out of sheer frustration. “Our people are not like yours,” he said to her when he had more control. “We can’t just… wish for something to happen and then it happens! Where did you get the impression that we could restore Mr. Spock by ourselves?”

Back and forth went the Southern Priest’s head. “From all your wonderful stories, of course!”

“They’re fairy tales!” Kirk ground out from behind his clenched teeth.

“Ribbit.”

Ever with the best timing, the door slid open and Bones strode into the room with a medical kit and a tricorder slung over his shoulder.

“Now, Jim, I’m not sure what all the fuss was about, but you sounded nothing short of hysterical over the—” His eyes fell on the frog still clenched in Kirk’s hand. “Funny. I didn’t think they made those on other planets. Are we having a grade-school dissection, then?”

Kirk clutched Spock the Frog to his chest and held him away from Bones reflexively. “I should hope not. Doctor, this…this… frog is Spock. They… Her Eminence, the Southern Priest, has turned Spock into a frog!”

Bones raised his eyebrow and glanced over at the fretting High Priest, speaking to his counterpart in low tones. “Why in the world would Her Eminence do that?”

“Good question.” Kirk held Spock out to Bones. “Just take him and look after him until we can figure this out.”

Wrinkling his nose some, Bones took the wand from his tricorder and reached for Spock with his free hand, and began scanning him. “Seems fine, Jim," he announced. "Perfectly healthy.”

“Perfectly healthy,” Kirk echoed with a shake of his head. “For a Vulcan or a bullfrog?”

“One and the same now, I think,” Bone replied, holding Spock up with a smile as he replaced his wand.

“Just…take care of him. And try not to seem too happy about it. And, uh, don’t let him…dry…out…” Kirk shrugged and went to wipe his face with his hand—before he remembered it was covered in frog mucus. He wiped them on the front of his pants instead.

“Don’t you worry, Jim. I think I’ve got a nice little terrarium with plenty of water to swim in and some pond scum to eat. I'll keep him away fro the flies. That'll just give him indigestion.”

“Bones…”

“You’ll figure it out, Jim,” his friend told him in a low, soothing voice, clapping him on the shoulder. “You always do.”

“Ribbit,” Spock agreed.

Grinning, Bones held Spock the Frog up to their faces. “Do it for him, will you?”

Kirk shook his head. “Won’t you try to treat him with a little respect?”

“’Course! Wouldn’t dream of doing anything less.” Bones then turned to their guests and bowed to each in turn. “Your Excellency. Your Eminence.”

The Haijinns looked up at Bones and clicked distractedly.

“Now, one more time—” Kirk began with a sigh as soon as the doors had hissed closed behind Bones.

Mailak stood. He looked, for the first time, deflated, like a tiny creature wearing too many clothes that didn’t fit him. “Captain,” he crooned, “while regrettable, it is as Eimmeel has said. There is nothing we can do to undo the oiimaige once its intent has been sealed by the Oiim. I am sorry.”

Kirk waved him away and leaned forward onto the table, not yet ready to believe what he was saying. “There were some words that aren’t translating. I don’t want to misunderstand. Can you explain—”

“When my people create something, we must define certain…parameters around our creations. A set of rules that can cause our will to exist in the physical plane. Once something has been created within the confines that we set, it cannot simply be undone unless the creator has made specific rules to do so. We cannot help your first officer. Our interference was not woven into the fabric of the reality of his transformation. I am sorry, Captain.” And he did look sorry, for whatever that was worth.

Which was very little to Kirk in this particular moment.

He tapped his finger on the table.

They couldn’t change Spock back because of some law of physics around their powers and how they connected to it, that much he understood. He hated to hear it, but he refused to believe there weren’t other avenues to de-frog Spock.

Someone had to have the technology or the ability. Kirk just had to find them.

“I can’t very well have an amphibious first officer,” Kirk sighed. “And what do you think I should tell his family? There has got to be another way and…you are the only ones that can help me find it. Please. No one else in the galaxy will know your Oiim the way that you do.”

The Southern Priest bobbed forward and chittered excitedly. “But I did factor in the parameters to change him back, Captain,” the translator recited her words through its speakers.

Kirk hardly dared to hope. “Great. How?”

“I was inspired by all your stories!”

“Our…fairy tales. Yes, you’ve said that. But, how does that help Spock?”

“You have to change him back like in the story!”

Dread trickled into Kirk’s chest and made it difficult to breathe. Which story? There were thousands—no, millions—of possibilities. He was already calculating how long it might take for him to search the computer terminal where the Southern Priest had sat and attempt to decipher which story had inspired her.

He didn’t need Spock’s computer-like brain to know that would take too long.

“Forgive me, but, you’ll have to be more specific,” he said hoarsely.

Eimmeel turned sharply to the pile of isolinear chips beside her and picked through them until she produced a blue one. Kirk took the proffered chip, and glancing at her, slid it into the slot beneath the table.

An image appeared on all the triangular screens. It was the title page of a very old and well-worn Earth book. An illustration of a violently green frog gazed demurely at them from a lilypad. The gilded golden lettering over the cover read: The Frog Prince.

Kirk blinked. He really had no idea what to say.

But Eimmeel rocked back and forth with obvious excitement. “A gift!” she squealed. “So many of your stories are centered on true love. I asked Commander Spock if he had ever known it and he replied that his kind do not love. I felt so sorry for him. The stories all made it sound so beautiful and fulfilling. I thought, that if he became the frog in the story, then he could find his true love and become whole! True love's kiss will turn him back!”

So many thoughts rushed through his mind but Kirk was stunned into silence. True love’s kiss? For Spock?

Oh, god…

Kirk was going to have to inform Sarek that his son would be a frog forever.

After profuse apologies on both sides and a joint promise to reconvene to discuss trade relations at a later time, Kirk had seen all the Haijiin transported off the Enterprise—good riddance—and half-sprinted to sickbay.

He was out of breath with a small stitch in his side when the doors slid open to reveal rows and rows of unoccupied biobeds beneath bright overhead lights. Kirk nodded at Nurse Chapel and continued straight into Bones’ office in the center of the room.

“How is he?” Kirk asked as soon as he entered.

His friend looked up from his PADD and glanced back at a glass terrarium on the wall behind him. Within sat Spock the Frog, half-submerged in water, half sitting on a raised flat stone. He croaked, his throat expanding briefly… and then licked his left eye with his long pink tongue.

Kirk sighed.

“Never did understand a single word he said, Jim, but we do always have a mighty fine time,” Bones said with a smile.

Kirk stared blankly down at the doctor. “Glad you’re so enjoying yourself,” he said dryly.

“It’s not so ter-ribbit-able.”

“Leonard, please!” Kirk cried, throwing himself into the chair sitting across from Bones’ desk. He propped his elbows on his knees and let his head fall into his hands.

“Oh, come on, Jim. I’ve spent the last hour thinking up a whole plethora of frog puns!”

“I don’t want to hear them.”

“Well,” his friend replied, chewing on the inside of his lip as he turned his attention back to his PADD, “your loss, then.”

“What am I going to do?”

“They say anything about how to turn him back?”

“Apparently, it’s all linked to that ancient story, The Frog Prince. They said ‘true love’s kiss’ would turn Spock back into a Vulcan.”

Bones looked up at him, his eyebrow arched. “That so…?” he murmured thoughtfully.

“I know!” Kirk cried. Unable to contain his restless energy anymore, he leaped from the chair and started pacing the small transparent aluminum-enclosed room. “Does such a thing even exist for a Vulcan? True love doesn’t even really exist for Humans, and we’re the idiots who made the damn thing up!”

“You need to take a deep breath, Jim,” Bones sighed, laying his PADD aside and interlacing his fingers over his stomach as he leaned back in his chair. “Why don’t you think about it logically?”

“Ribbit!”

Bones grinned and stuck his thumb out over his shoulder. “See? Spock agrees with me.”

Kirk thought Bones was taking the entire thing too lightly— making jokes at Spock’s expense, sticking him in a terrarium, and now trying to tell him to relax. He was about this close to exploding on his friend.

“Is there anything you can do?” Kirk asked instead. “Anything in some medical file or—”

“That’ll undo magic? No. Can’t say that I’ve found anything like that.”

“It’s not magic, Leonard, it’s—”

“I know what it is, Jim,” Bones raised his voice over Kirk’s and the tone surprised him out of pacing. “It’s far too advanced for anything we have in the Starfleet medical database and it’s like nothing that I’ve ever heard of, besides in tales about evil witches. What do you expect me to do? I can’t turn a frog into a Vulcan through medical science—it’s simply not possible! The only option we have is to follow their directions. If we need ‘true love’s kiss,’ then that’s what we need. You need to think logically and figure out what you should do next.”

But Kirk was flummoxed. He had no idea what to do next. Spock never loved anyone. ‘True love’ wasn’t something that he thought any Vulcan would be familiar with.

Unless the definition of ‘true love’ could be broadened somehow…

Bones broke Kirk’s train of thought by speaking softly but with determination. “Think, Jim. Think back to all of Spock’s past actions. I think you’ll find his ‘true love’ there.” He leaned forward, a partial smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “I think you’ll know what you have to do…”

Kirk narrowed his eyes at his friend. “You’ve already got an idea, haven’t you? Well, out with it, then.”

Shrugging, Bones leaned back into his chair and picked up his PADD again. “Just a theory, really. I’d rather you come to the same conclusion yourself. If I tell you, well, then that’s just too easy. After all, the frog prince had to convince his princess to kiss him, didn’t he?”

“Ribbit!”

“You’re incorrigible,” Kirk told him, rapping his knuckles on Bones’ desk. He decided not to call his friend’s bluff because Kirk didn’t need his help. Kirk already had his own idea of what he needed to do. He just hoped that it would work.

Nerves bunched up in Kirk’s stomach long before the lovely face of a grey-haired Human woman appeared on the screen on his personal communications terminal in his Captain’s Quarters. A thousand explanations had run through his mind, but in the end, he’d decided that saying as little as possible would probably be the best course of action. After all, no mother wanted to hear that their only son had been cursed into a frog.

“Captain Kirk,” Amanda Greyson greeted with a bright smile. “This is a most unusual but welcome surprise.”

Kirk smiled back, but it only went skin deep. “Hello again, Lady Ambassador. I hope I did not disturb you.”

“Oh, no. It’s quite alright, Captain,” she replied with a wave of her dainty hand. “The Ambassador is resting and I was happy to take your call in his stead. Tell me, how is Spock?”

Kirk’s gut wrenched painfully. “Doing well,” he lied. “Busy…with the First Contact we are delegating.”

“How just like him, to be so busy working and miss his mother’s call. He is so like his father.” Her eyes grew unfocused and faraway. Any other time, Kirk might have asked after her. He was quite smitten with Spock’s mother and liked to think the two of them got along quite well.

But he was here for business, not pleasure.

“Lady Ambassador,” Kirk began, tapping his fingers against his chin. He’d rehearsed his question several times over before even making the subspace communication to Vulcan, but that didn’t stop him from being anxious about the questions Amanda might ask back. “I was wondering if you had a way that you could put me in contact with…with T’Pring.”

Even over the video, Kirk could tell that she started. “Spock’s betrothed? Whatever for?”

And here it was. Remember: keep it simple! “I…believe that she might have some…invaluable insight on our current mission.”

Amanda tilted her head, regarding him, and Kirk hoped she wouldn’t ask any more questions. “Doesn’t Starfleet have its own xenoscientists, Captain?” she asked in a calculating voice.

“We do,” he responded too quickly. “However, this race… they have strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities.” An idea occurred to him. “Spock had recommended I attempt to contact her about them. He would have done it himself but…after what happened…he didn’t think she would be as responsive to his call as to mine.”

“So why call me and not ask my son for her communication code?”

Kirk shrugged and a hysterical laugh escaped his lips despite his best effort to contain it. “I just didn’t want to bother him. Besides, I didn’t think about it until it was too late.” Hardly a good excuse, but it might just do the job. “Please,” he continued quickly, leaning forward and batting his eyes, “will you help me?”

She was silent a few moments more, with a crease between her eyes and then she sighed. “I can connect you to her, but I’ll make no promises about her responsiveness.”

“Wonderful!” Kirk released the breath he had been holding. Relief blossomed in his chest as he smiled. “I greatly appreciate it, Lady Ambassador.”

“Of course, Captain,” Amanda replied offhandedly as she pressed a series of buttons Kirk couldn’t see. “But, James?”

“Yes?”

Her eyes flashed. “I do hope you will tell me the truth the next time you call for a favor.”

“I—” he choked.

But Amanda had transferred his video. Only a series of Vulcan words remained in her place.

T’Pring had not answered. Kirk left her a message detailing their predicament as best as he could, but he didn’t really believe that she would return his communication. Something in his heart told him she wouldn’t, anyway.

He rubbed his face in his hands and tried to think of another logical thing to do.

How to find Spock’s ‘true love’s kiss’ and change him back? There was nothing he could think of because Spock didn’t actually love anybody. It wasn’t in his nature! He had said so himself over and over again.

Briefly, Kirk considered calling Amanda back in the hopes that a mother’s love would be considered ‘true’ enough to do the trick, but he immediately dismissed it. Not only did the original story not use such a loophole, but it would never matter how much Amanda loved Spock. That wasn’t how he remembered the story going.

Spock had to love the person who kissed him, in order to break the spell.

So who in this wide, wide Universe did Spock love?

Kirk dropped his hands to his desk and shook his head. He was about ready to hang up a sign on the sickbay doors and make it a free for all. Any woman willing! Come, line up to kiss a frog!

With a deep sigh, he decided to slouch his way back to sickbay. Maybe he could convince Bones to tell him his secret theory.

“Back again, I see,” Bones greeted the second Kirk was through his door. He glanced up from the biobed whose control panel was in pieces in front of him. When Kirk threw him a questioning look, Bones answered, “Just some software updates. Routine things, you know. You find what you were looking for?”

Kirk narrowed his eyes as he stepped closer, about to give the other man a piece of his mind, but he was interrupted by Uhura’s voice coming from the intercom.

“Lieutenant Uhura to Captain Kirk. Incoming subspace message from Vulcan, sir. Priority One.”

Grinning, Kirk grasped Bones’ arms and shook him gently. He didn’t bother explaining, despite Bones’ look of confusion. He bounded to the intercom on the sickbay wall and smashed the button.

“Go ahead and patch it into Doctor McCoy’s office. I’ll take it there.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jim! You can’t just go and commandeer a man’s computer console—”

“Ah, yes I can,” Kirk sang, wagging his finger at Bones as he strode away and into his office, “because I’m the captain.”

He sat at the terminal, nervously ran his hand through his hair, carefully wiped the smile from his lips, and punched the accept button on the side of the screen.

T’Pring, as regal and unaffected as he remembered her to be, appeared on the monitor.

From somewhere behind him, he thought he heard Bones swear.

Kirk held up his hand in a Vulcan salute and T’Pring returned it. Though, somewhat begrudgingly, he noted.

“Thank you for answering my communication, T’Pring. I hope you are well?”

If possible, the hard line of her mouth deepened. “Save me the Human frivolities, Captain. I am uncertain that I understood your request. I require more clarification from you.”

“Well, you see, Spock is—”

“A Terran amphibian.”

“Er. Yes. And we need for you to—”

“I do not understand what the merits of ‘kissing’ would be.”

Kirk gulped. Somehow, he hadn’t anticipated T’Pring to be so… uncooperative. Thinking back to the way she acted on Vulcan, it was a wonder that he ever thought this would work.

“Its merit is that ‘kissing’ Spock in his present state appears to be the only way to turn him back into his regular self. I said that to you already in my message,” he said, staring hard at the screen, willing her to understand.

“And why should I kiss him?”

He had gone over this too, but Kirk drew a long breath and willed himself to remain calm and not let the hysteria that threatened to engulf him edge into his voice. “You…were betrothed to him. Surely there is some residual—” Not 'feelings', because she was Vulcan and Kirk didn’t want to offend his only hope of getting Spock back. Kirk wracked his brain for a different word. “—affection, that stems from that connection. Enough, to turn him back into himself.”

T’Pring raised a lovely slanted eyebrow and ‘harumf’ed so sharply that Kirk could have almost mistaken it for a laugh. “There was hardly affection when we saw each other last, and there certainly is none now. I am not the savior you seek, Captain Kirk.”

Kirk couldn’t help it. His face fell. His shoulders caved forward into his chest.

“Frankly, I am astounded that you contacted me at all—” She looked away for a brief moment, collecting herself. “—given your display in the ancestral sands.”

His eyebrows knit. What was that supposed to mean?

Behind him, Kirk heard Bones groan.

“I…” Kirk blinked, shook his head, and tried again, “I-I-I don’t believe I understand your meaning, T’Pring.”

She scowled. “It is not for me to say,” she responded roughly. “I cannot help you in this.”

A second later, her display darkened.

“Sir,” came Uhura’s voice, “I’ve lost the communication to Vulcan. Should I attempt to re-establish—”

“No, Lieutenant,” Kirk sighed. “Thank you.”

That was it. There were no more options. There was nothing else that Kirk could think of to help Spock. This was it! The end!

And now Spock would remain a frog for the rest of his life.

Would he have a frog lifespan or a Vulcan lifespan?

Kirk didn’t want to think about it—his friend trapped in a tiny frog body for another hundred years… What kind of life would that be?

“Are you finished making a damn fool of yourself?” Bones exclaimed so suddenly that Kirk jumped in his seat.

He turned to look up at his friend, confused. “What?”

“All this nonsense about affection—T’Pring was right! She can’t help you! I didn’t think you’d be fool enough to call her, of all people.”

Kirk’s mouth worked but no sound came out in the face of Bones’ icy stare. “W-well, now, see here, Bones—”

“No, you see here! I tried leading you to the obvious answer. I tried tellin’ ya to think back to Spock’s past actions and you thought of T’Pring? Lord in high heaven, have mercy. You’re more hopeless than I thought!”

Bones stomped past Kirk to Spock’s terrarium. He reached in and unceremoniously plucked Spock from his large, flat stone with a soft squelch then brought him back to Kirk. He watched Bones with his mouth open as his friend adjusted his grip and then held Spock the Frog out to him.

“Pucker up.”

“Are you out of your mind, Leonard McCoy?!”

“Kiss. The DAMN. Frog. Jim.”

He shook his head. Bones was crazy. This was his big theory? It was never going to work!

Softly, Spock croaked, and Kirk looked at him longingly. If only it could have been true, but Spock didn’t love him. They were friends, maybe. A team, definitely. There was no one else in the universe that Kirk trusted more, but…

No, it was impossible.

He looked up straight into Bones’ eyes. “You’re crazy.”

“Am I?” Bones replied softly. “Who did he trust with his greatest secret when he was starting to go through that Pon Farr? Who helped you identify your vicious half from your good half, and who brought the two of you together?”

Kirk shook his head.

“Who insisted you were innocent, even when Commodore Stone had all the evidence against you? Who pushed you out of the way and took those poisonous flower darts for you, for christ’s sake?”

“Yes, you’ve made your point, Bones…”

But he didn’t stop. “What did you say Spock told you when that infection from Psi 2000 ravaged the ship?”

“Ribbit.”

Kirk shook his head, but he remembered the words as plainly as if they were yesterday. “When I feel friendship for you, I…I’m ashamed.”

“Yes, Jim. Now, what do you think the only logical reason for a Vulcan to feel something like shame could be?”

“It’s not going to work,” Kirk sighed, but something new rose sharply in his chest. A question he hardly dared to dwell on.

But what if it did?

“So? Will you kiss the frog now? Or do you want to take him out to dinner first?”

He shook his head again, but Kirk held out his hands. Bones carefully placed Spock in them and took several steps back. He looked excited. Kirk glanced up at him, still doubtful.

But what if?

His heart raced.

What did kissing a frog feel like, anyway? Would kissing Spock’s wet cheek be enough?

Spock adjusted his delicate legs and nestled snugly into the palms of Kirk’s hands. “Ribbit,” he croaked quietly.

Kirk lifted Spock up to his eye level. He could almost believe the Vulcan had retained all his intelligence, and he knew what was about to happen. His gaze looked soulful and longing. It was much the same sort of expression that Kirk had caught a time or two on the bridge. Always when Spock thought he was too busy to notice.

But he had noticed, Kirk had just convinced himself that it was nothing.

True love’s kiss…

Would Spock really change back? For him?

“Ribbit.” Get on with it, he seemed to say. It is illogical to waiver when there are no other avenues open to you.

Kirk took a steadying breath through his nose—

—and raised Spock’s little frog lips to his own.

Heat tingled and blossomed between them. If the sun could be contained within a being, then Kirk thought that this was what that might have felt like. Kirk couldn’t pull away, even if he had wanted to.

The air crackled and swirled around them. The frog he had known to be in his hands grew larger and larger, expanding until a heavy weight settled comfortably in his lap, his hands laying on either side of it.

Kirk couldn’t hear anything outside of the roaring in his blood. He was overwhelmed by the sensation in his lips, in the pressure there, and in the soft caress of a nose against his cheek.

Spock pulled away, but Kirk didn’t want to open his eyes.

The weight in his lap, the mass in his arms… it had to have worked… but he was terrified that if he opened his eyes, the spell would be broken.

This spell, the spell of the true love that Kirk had kept himself from dreaming of.

“Captain,” Spock’s deep voice reverberated through his body from where they touched. Almost a purr.

Kirk allowed his eyes to flutter open and he found exactly what he’d always wanted: Spock, close to his face, his hands resting on Kirk’s chest, with his head tilted and the forbidden ghost of a smile on the edge of his lips.

Kirk wanted very badly, very suddenly, to kiss him again.

Bones grunted and had an obnoxious coughing fit, drawing both of their attentions.

“Now, we are all very glad that Spock is Spock again, and I will tell you that I told you for the rest of your life, but if you two are going to keep canoodling like that, you need to find a different room to do it in.”

Spock shook his head. “Doctor, after my dubious treatment at your hands, I believe that ‘you owe me.’”

Bones spluttered. “Dubious!? I didn’t feed you flies, did I? Get out of my office before I make you wish you were still a frog!”

#trekbingo2020 #Star Trek #TOS #Spirk #Star Trek: TOS #The Original Series #Jim Kirk #Mr. Spock #Bones #Fiend writes

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studythenight-away · 5 years

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How I Study Korean

Hello hello! To thank y’all for 7k followers I thought I’d make this quick post about how I study Korean. I’ve been in Korea for around 11 months now and while it’s been really hard to keep the motivation going sometimes, I’m really proud of how far I’ve come with studying the language. I think I’ve finally found a way to study the language that is both fun and effective, so I thought I’d share!

For some context, I came to Korea knowing only the Korean alphabet (and it still took me a few seconds to remember it). On my first day of Orientation we learned 잘먹겠습니다 and I was like chal-mok-uh-what? We had six weeks of intensive classes before heading to our placements (more info about my Fulbright experience here) but it wasn’t very helpful because the class itself was pretty poorly structured. Essentially I’ve studied the whole language only on my own. Now I can understand a good portion of what’s said at my workplace (ok like 30%), can use enough Korean to fool people into thinking I’m Korean hehe, and most importantly just feel overall less overwhelmed about being surrounded by a language I don’t speak.

So how’d I get here?

Vocab - you can’t really do anything without vocab. I use a TOPIK I vocab book because even though I’m not taking the TOPIK, I figured the words they expect you to know are probably helpful (they are). I talk more about that book here.

Grammar - Currently I’m going through the TTMIK books. I put all my grammar in one place because then it almost becomes like a grammar dictionary for me when I have a question. I try to write as many sample sentences as possible so I remember how to use them. Before TTMIK I used KGIU Beginner (and will soon move onto KGIU Intermediate). I talk about my grammar books in that same post here.

Writing sentences/daily diary - I then use the words in each chapter of the TOPIK book along with the grammar I learned together in sentences. That helps with me actually producing content using what I learned, instead of just memorizing everything.

**Just memorizing words will not get you anywhere. I saw a HUGE improvement in my Korean once I actually started to write sentences instead of only memorizing grammar and vocab**

Learning Korean songs - My new favorite thing to do. Everyone says that when you learn a language you need some connection to it to help you stay motivated. I’ve been going through a lot of popular Korean songs (prepping for dem norebang nights amiright) and doing the following: I define all new words that I see, explain all foreign grammar, and directly translate all the lyrics.

Note that some vocab in the songs is not commonly spoken vocab. Just like how poets will use a lot of words that might be weird to say in daily conversation. I recommend looking up the words in Naver dictionary and looking at the example sentences to get a feel of when it’s used.

Also note that song grammar is often not proper grammar. They take liberties. I don’t recommend you focus on the grammar in songs until your Korean is at a high enough level where you can sort of decipher that and google the right thing. For example, they’ll mush particles into words which might confuse you or mess up the sentence order for it to sound better.

Lastly, I use Color Coded Lyrics because it has not only the Korean lyrics to songs but a rough English translation. I only use the English translation to make sure I’m somewhat going in the right direction, but try not to refer to it that often. The purpose is to make sure that I can understand the song by myself first before checking the translation. (Also the link is to the first song I ever learned, Mikrokosmos by BTS)

Other resources I often use

TTMIK’s QandA videos. All their videos are good but their Q&A series is the most useful in my opinion because it goes through examples of things that are genuinely confusing about Korean, especially when you try to speak it. Hyunwoo always gives amazing (and numerous) examples. Here’s the playlist.

Anki. YAS spaced repetition is the key. Make sure to use it every day (I forget to and uh yea I should). As long as you need to absorb new vocabulary, Anki is great. But please please remember that just flashcards will not help. You have to actively use this vocabulary in conversation or writing to remember it. Also check out this hilarious article about how you really should not be using Anki.

Also I recommend syncing your deck across devices so you can use the web version on your phone (instead of downloading the app you have to pay for on iOS)

How to Study Korean. I used to use this as my only source of grammar learning but I found it a bit too dense. He really packs a lot into each lesson and as an early learner it’s a bit overwhelming. But from the perspective of wanting an in-depth explanation to a grammar point, it’s incredible. Usually I just google the grammar point I need and use his explanation.

Language Learning with Netflix. Listening skills are also super important so I use this Chrome extension to be able to see both the Korean and English subtitles at the same time. Especially in the early stages of learning, I definitely couldn’t tell you exactly what words the actors were saying, so seeing the English translation really didn’t help much. With the extension you can also have it auto-pause after each line if you really want to hard-study. I usually just pause and write lines down when I think I might say something like that in conversation.

Apps

Papago. This is a better alternative to Google Translate because apparently they have user competitions to find the most natural ways to translate things, so it’s not just based on machines. It’s also helpful because you can take pictures of Korean text and it’ll translate it pretty effectively.

Naver Korean Dictionary. This app is great because it has a “Conjugation” button when you look up verbs and adjectives, gives you samples sentences, and also lets you connect easily to naver.com if you need to search for a good cafe. More importantly though, this app also has Papago within it. While it doesn’t let you take pictures of text like the normal Papago app, it does list all the new vocab in the sentence you translated, which the Papago app doesn’t do. This is incredibly helpful when sometimes something is conjugated weirdly in the sentence and you can’t decipher what the base word actually was. Naver will tell you!

Let me know if you have any questions!! I hope this helps someone :)

#langblr #studyblr #studyspo #study tips #language studying #korean studying #korean #korea #studying korean #studytna #ttmik #talk to me in korean #how to study korean #KGIU beginner #topik #topik studying #original #mine

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sharinluna · 5 years

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Love and Producer(MLCQ) Kiro Kiss Date Translation

Copy pasting my translation from Reddit.

Kiro's Kiss Date is a future karma but the timeline of the date is assumed to be during chapter 12 before Kiro announces his retirement. So I'm posting my translation based on KR text. I translated about 80% and tried to keep to the original Korean text as possible, but took liberty to paraphrase some sentences to make it sound more natural in English.

Also, MC’s name is Yōurán because that is the unofficial default CN name.

Star Cluster Date

I underestimated Savin’s work as Kiro’s agent. It was just as, no, harder than my job as a producer. I went over the schedule again, checking each item with my finger one by one.

Yōurán: 9:30 is rehearsal, then we have to try on the stage costumes, then to the concert… oh no! I screwed up!

Kiro: Screwed up what?

Just then Kiro slided next to me and glanced at my notepad, then he sighed in an exaggerated manner.

Kiro: How cruel, Yōurán! You didn’t even give me time to eat!

Yōurán: That’s why I yelled “I screwed up…” But we still have time to order some takeout…

Kiro: But I was looking forward to a lunch you cooked out of love!

He pursed his lips and began to torture my conscience with puppy eyes. In the yellow light, his eyes looked even more pitiful. He must have practiced making that face!

Yōurán: All right, all right… Today is late, but how about tomorrow?

Kiro: That’s a promise. I knew you would care for me! I hope you become my one and only agent from now on.

Yōurán: Savin will be upset when he hears that…

Although I said that, my heart was fluttering. If I could continue being Kiro’s agent… My thoughts went back to the day Kiro barged into my house in the middle of the night to ask me about this.

Kiro: For real! Just for a week!

I wanted to help him of course, but I couldn’t readily accept this kind of offer right away!

Yōurán: But… I have never worked as an agent before, do you really want me to? You must know other people who are more experienced in this job.

Kiro: But there’s no point if it’s not you.

I couldn’t say no to his insisting. Truth was, I was also eager to accept this offer.

Yōurán: Okay, I’ll do it.

As soon as I answered I heard a yell through the receiver. I began to feel excited as well.

Kiro: Great! Get ready because I’m going to your house in 30 minutes!

Yōurán: What, now?! What’s all the hurry?

Kiro: There was a change of plan, my friend wants to start practicing tomorrow. Why else would I bother you like this in the middle of the night?

Yōurán: But like you said, your schedule is tomorrow… why do I have to start tonight?

Kiro: To get to know each other more intimately, of course. For an entire week we have to be the best of partners sharing our daily schedule from meals to transportations.

Wait, was this also part of an agent’s job? So, I have to stick to Kiro every moment of the week?

And he really took me along everywhere he went for the following week. But I did little to manage his schedules as a celebrity. It felt more like I was getting to see his world that I have never seen before.

Even without my clumsy help he was already the perfectly radiant sun. Whether it was rehearsals or social relations, he managed his affairs meticulously. I doubted whether he needed me as his agent in the first place.

Yōurán: You can manage yourself just fine without my help, right?

Kiro: Don’t lower your worth like that.

His answer was serious. I could faintly smell his sweat that still remained from his rehearsal as he came closer. His voice lower than usual surrounded me. I could feel heat emanating between us.

Kiro: I wouldn’t know what to do without you.

Yōurán: But I didn’t do anything…

Kiro: You’re next to me, that’s all I need.

Kiro: Do you think it’s childish, wanting to show only your best side to someone you like?

He looked softly at me. Underneath the light his eyes were like honey, sweet and profound.

My head was filled with his words “someone you love”. I couldn’t find my voice, so I shook my head to tell him that no, I did not think it was childish. Which he must have found funny because he laughed out loud. His hair tickled my neck as he shook with laughter but I couldn’t push him away.

Kiro: Haha, look at you all worked up.

Yōurán: It’s because you’re suddenly being all mushy…

Kiro: Then, get used to it from now on…

He pulled me into his arms and his continued confessions conquered my ear, defeating all coherent thoughts left.

Kiro: I love you… I love you, Yōurán… I love you the most in the world…

(like 好きだ in Japanese, 좋아하다 in Korean means “like”, but it can also mean “love”. So Kiro and MC are repeating the same word but the meaning slowly changes from “like” to “love”.)

His hand was supporting the back of my neck, preventing me from escaping the sweet whirlpool that I was slowly drowning in. My hands landed on his shirt after not knowing where to go, and his palm covered them warmly.

Kiro: If I ever leave…

He was whispering next to my ear, but I felt like I could hear him from a thousand miles away. I hugged this sensitive, lonely soul without knowing what would happen in the future.

I knew that his “leaving” meant something serious, but I felt like I should inquire like everything was normal.

Yōurán: Are you leaving the country again? How long are you going to be gone this time?

A short pause passed, then he resumed his playful way of talking.

Kiro: Yes. I’m going somewhere very, very far, and will be gone for a very, very long time. You’d better not sob your heart out for me because you miss me. (He is saying “sob/sniffle” but in the sense of “crying like a little kid.” I don’t know which is the most appropriate, sob? wail? bawl? sniffle? whine?)

Yōurán: I’m not going to! I’m not a child!

Kiro: But I’m going to.

Kiro: So, will you promise me? That you won’t forget me if I’m gone.

I had so many things I wanted to say to him, but I had to accept that there must be a reason he was like this. So I nodded firmly, then he laughed lightly and our foreheads touched. It somehow felt like a farewell.

Since that day, he never once brought up anything about “leaving.” It felt like I was worrying for no good reason. I didn’t know where the “somewhere very far” was, nor did I know how long was “a very long time”.

Two days later, I heard him talking to someone on the phone in the dressing room. The voice was him, but I’ve never heard him sounding so cold like that.

Kiro: …………more time……... ………after I leave…………

The way he spoke reminded me of what he said earlier, and I couldn’t ignore it. My head told me to walk past, to not concern myself with this. Everyone has a side they don’t want others to know, and Kiro was no exception. But concern that was growing bigger in the silence made me go toward the door.

While I was hesitating, the door – which turned out to be unlocked – pushed open by itself. Kiro hurriedly ended his call when he heard me. His face was calm just as always.

Kiro: What’s up? Are they looking for me?

Yōurán: Umm… no, I was just…

My eyes landed on his phone before I could come up with an excuse. His eyes followed suit and glanced at his phone, then he gave a sigh full of meaning and approached me. The sharp way he held himself made me take a few steps back, but I couldn’t escape the flick on the forehead.

Yōurán: Oww!!

Kiro: It’s bad habit to eavesdrop on people.

Yōurán: I wasn’t… I was just passing by and happened to…

Kiro: That’s not good either. I can tell by your face. You heard everything right?

Yōurán: But I really didn’t….

Kiro: That was classified information. What should I do with you now?

Yōurán: I will never tell anyone!

Kiro: You’d better, or else…

His always bright and cheerful eyes narrowed to emit a threatening atmosphere. I was suddenly reminded of the “You know too much, I’ll have to kill you.” scenes in movies. I felt a shiver in my back.

What was he hiding? What did this have to do with his “leaving”? Was he in this willingly? Or did he get caught into this without a choice? If the latter was the case, he must be facing a really difficult predicament. What should I do to help him then?

Having reached this thought, my desire to help him get over this drove away my fear. Making my decision, I spoke from my heart.

Yōurán: Your phone call… does that have to do with your “leaving”? If you could let me help…

…then could you stay? Instead of going someplace far away from here?

But my words were interrupted by his sudden burst of laughter.

Kiro: Hahaha! You got it very wrong!

Yōurán: But you said something about leaving on the phone…

He laughed even more harder when he heard my words. He laughed so hard that tears were hanging on his long lashes.

Kiro: That was my line from the new movie I’m going to shoot. I was acting as an emotionless killer. I was practicing on my own, but I had no idea that you were listening.

Yōurán: And the classified information thing…?

He motioned exaggeratedly to be quiet. The icy atmosphere was long since gone, everything was warm and bubbly again.

Kiro: Shh… Of course it’s classified. It’s not even announced to the public yet! Savin won’t let me hear the end of it if he knows. So you have to keep it a secret!

So everything was concluded as his impromptu prank.

Yōurán: You should have told me earlier.

Kiro: Sorry, sorry! But you should have seen your face! I just had to tease you a bit.

Yōurán: Thanks to you, I’ll probably get “The Best Reaction Award”.

Kiro: Then I, Kiro, will award Miss Chips “The Best Reaction of the Year”!

He went along with my bad joke in a witty way.

Before I could say anything further, he removed the pendant from his neck. One could immediately tell how much it meant to him. His lips held the silver pendent, giving it a kiss, then he continued his speech.

Kiro: Will Miss Chips kindly come up to the stage to receive her award?

Then he placed his pendant on my neck like it was a medal. His fingers brushed the sensitive skin on my neck and I held my breath. I thought he would take the necklace back after he was done joking, but he clasped the chain and stepped back.

Kiro: Keep it safe for me while I’m not around.

Yōurán: Wait! This necklace means so much to you! I can’t have something like this!

Kiro: That’s why I’m putting it in your care.

He stroked the pendant with utmost care, a forlorn look appeared on his face for the shortest moment.

Kiro: I’ll have you again when I come back.

I didn’t know whether he was talking to the pendant, or to me whose hand was still caught by his.

And did my heart feel like it was being teared apart because I knew he was leaving? Or was it something else?

My one-week experience as Kiro’s agent was about to end. And the show was about to start. Kiro did his best to ensure that this show was perfect. The show started at night, but he'd begun preparations since morning. He was always ready to help the staff with a welcoming smile.

Under the spotlight, with the stage and music, he will always be a star. But seeing him like this only made me fear more about his leaving.

If Kiro the sun leaves, what should they do – the crowds cheering for him under the stage?

What should I do?

My thoughts were thrashing and turning as I listened to his music. I clutched the bouquet for him tighter.

What stance should I take when I give this bouquet to him? As his one-week agent? As his ardent fan? Or….. as Yōurán, who doesn’t wish to see him go.

Before I could find the right answer, the show ended with thunder-like applause. The audience kept shouting for an encore.

Kiro: Do you have anything to give me?

I held the bouquet out to him, my hands still shaking from all the excitement. He was smiling tenderly like always, but his eyes held so intense an emotion.

Kiro: The flowers are really cute. But that’s not what I want.

Yōurán: Oh, don’t you like them…?

Kiro: I like them. But what I want right now is…. you.

He reached his hand out and pulled backed the clothes hanging above me, and trapped me inside the narrow space.

His bangs brushed my nose as the abrupt kiss landed on my lips. His tongue pushed inside roughly and hastily. I put my hands against his chest but couldn’t find it in me to push him away.

I could hear the fans shouting for an encore not far away, but their din faded out in my ears. All I could hear were us breathing heavily. Our breaths entangled drinking in each other, and I was out of oxygen. I felt dizziness and couldn’t think anything. I could only open my mouth wider and thirst for more like a fish out of water. He held himself while checking my response, then moved in deeper to meet my craving. It felt like my every cell was getting infected by him. I couldn’t keep myself from getting closer to his body, wanting, asking for more.

We forgot that we were at the backstage with the crowds waiting behind, until we heard his friend looking out for him.

Friend: What about Kiro? Where is he? He was right next to me just a moment ago.

Yōurán: They’re looking for you!

He released me reluctantly, then he leaned down to kiss the pendant on my neck.

Kiro: Next time, it might be you who have to find me. No matter how far and long I’m gone, it’s up to you to find me.

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

Yōurán(MC) already knows that something's going on, but she chooses to go along with Kiro and pretends that nothing wrong is happening. But they both know that their time together is about to end soon.

#mlqc #mlqc spoiler #mlqc kiro #love and producer #mlqc translation

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tarasharmashow · 3 years

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A v Happy New Year blog post and some ponderings on getting to know ourselves & our own priorities and paths & not comparing & competing in races that may not be ours’..Chill Be Happy & Each to their Own Do write in with any comments & apologies for the ramble haaha

Most often I spend about 3 months saying #HappyNewYear and then another few months questioning how is it already so many months in! In an attempt to keep wishes time sensitive and relevant I’m writing this post. Good health for us all forever and being humble, good, happy, empathetic, kind and successful people touch wood:) continue to be a line up of wishes. The list goes on, but I am trying to keep this brief as if you have been following my blog for the last 10 years or so of it’s existence you will know consistency is kinda my middle name and there is perhaps little difference in the values I hold dear and the wishes each year.

Now that that’s out the way, how are you? How has the extended lockdown treated you or rather how have you adjusted to it? Not sure how one comments on here but if you figure it out please do write in. Never sure if there are readers on here or if this is an exercise of thinking aloud and writing to oneself haaha. Either way it is therapeutic.

We are fine touch wood:). I assume you would have asked a question warranting that response if we were conversing face to face, hence I took the liberty of replying un prompted. Our new normal, as everyone describes it, has made virtual conversations the norm and going a step further anticipating the flow of a chat seems plausible.

I say this often on my lives, so if you follow those, apologies for the repetition, but for those who haven’t heard my mantra, here goes. Deep prayers and thoughts for those who have been directly affected by #covid. We all hope it goes and the good parts of normal resume touch wood:). But I also do see the silver linings that this time has brought for many. Bonding with family, reassessing priorities, focusing on things that really matter, appreciating nature, to name a few. With that comes often subconscious frustrations and perhaps some angst at what sometimes feels like a pausing of time.

I for one, feel grateful for a lot. And almost in parallel I sometimes feel useless. Almost like a pendulum I find myself often oscillating between feeling great contentment and thankfulness for us all being healthy and together as a family and having created work, that enables us to work from home and earn and be with each other touch wood:), and then almost like Jekyll and Hyde emotions switch to self doubt and questioning if I shouldn’t be out acting more and doing bigger work things and earning more etc etc etc. Comparing myself to colleagues or random strangers that social media shows me. Once the wave of doubt flows, almost instantly I reprimand my mind for being so ridiculous and self pitying and I swing back to optimism, positivity and a few #YogaWithTara sessions, to re group and get back to my trademark optimistic self. Do not compare yourself to anyone else. Each to their own. Success and priorities are different for different people. Having a loving family and us all being together, healthy and happy with a good dose of work ambition to earn enough to be happy and comfortable and help those we are able to touch wood:), are values my rational side reminds me, are most important to me. Not climbing a comparative ladder whether in entertainment or business, but being aware that each of our paths are different and unique. And being happy, grateful and content in that awareness.

All the lives I do have perhaps made me more of a philosopher than I already was. Ponderer rather. As most of those are in the visual medium where I have the ability to interact real time with viewer comments rolling in, often helping me shape my often dichotomous thoughts. Apologies if translating those conversations to the written word, have turned this into a bit of a ramble, but I do find tremendous joy in writing, even if sporadically, and not very well.

Thank you. I have been helped greatly in lockdown and always, by my social media audiences. Whether reading this or not, whether listening or not, whether appreciative of my content, or not, you all have often given me the platform that back in the day, a person like me, may not have had. I am not a big shot actress and not a big corporate person, but a sort of mix of actor, entrepreneur, a devoted Mum, creator, yogi, fitness enthusiast, ponderer and more, trying to create and find ways to work and earn and stay relevant while being with my family. Your kind words and encouragement along the way, have always helped me, so thank you. And know that you are all super special in your own way. And your unique paths are just as important as anyone else’s.

I have been grateful to have received an offer to act in something and this post was sort of triggered by the games my mind was playing in trying to make the decision about how to respond to the potential offer. Would I be okay filming for 12 hours a day, away from home, although fortunately this one would be in the same city. With Covid cases much lower and hopefully covid on it’s way out and us all fine forever touch wood:), but still a need to stay safe, would I be ok going to a set with lots of people each day? If the money is good, is it worth sucking it up and doing it? I want to act more but the luxury of creating and co producing my own show for the last decade and working on my own terms creating what I like to believe is quality content which may not have a huge mass audience but does seem to have a loyal, engaged high quality one that respects the quality of our content #TheTaraSharmaShow and more. Is it time to create Season 6? Hunt and pitch to sponsors and try and woo more inspiring guests? It is hard to make it, as any good work often is. Or should I create that new fiction show I have been writing? Should I push myself and give myself the boost of confidence that has perhaps been holding me back?

Sorry to be thinking aloud. Other parents out there probably have similarly divergent thoughts.. Cliched as it sounds, balancing it all is often not just hard but a lesson in learning who you are and what our priorities really are. I think for me creating work around my family was perhaps the main inspiration of my starting my show all that time ago, and yes unless an amazing role in an amazing film or show, perhaps I am actually content with the pace of work I have. Jobs come and go. Money and practicality are no doubt important, but the metric of valuing what matters most is often intangible, and only you know what that is for yourself. So I guess this post is about wishing us all and also saying chill, don’t stress, know yourself, do what’s right for you and your family and don’t compete in a race that’s not one you want to be in, but question, ask, ponder and create or choose your own path!

Have a super day all and stay safe. Tarataratara!!

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fe8meta · 4 years

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Seth vs. Valter, EN vs. JP

In the Japanese version of the Prologue’s scripted duel, Valter basically treats Seth like he’s an accessory to Eirika and otherwise doesn’t treat him like an existence. It’s difficult to express in English without sounding odd, which is why the official translation makes him speak to Seth more directly, while Eirika is the one who takes the brunt of the disrespect.

Pre-Battle Quote

English:

You there, with the girl. Tell me, would that be the wayward princess of Renais?

Japanese:

女連れだな。(You there, with the girl.) その女がルネス王女か？ (Is that woman the princess of Renais?)

The Japanese language can imply the subject and avoid using subject markers, which is on display in the first sentence. “You there” isn’t literally in the JP script; it can be implied that he’s speaking to Seth since だ designates the state of being accompanied by a woman.

I also chose to use “woman” rather than “girl” as the English translation, since 女 more typically means woman/female rather than girl, though it can still be translated that way depending on context. The way Valter uses the word is exactly as blunt and crass as it sounds. It’s like addressing someone as “that woman” in English, which can be somewhat condescending depending on the way it’s used.

As for the second sentence, you can see that the English version lengthens the sentence. There’s nothing describing her as “wayward” in the original script. (If you’re like me, and knew the term wayward in passing but not its actual definition, it means someone that’s disobedient and difficult to control.)

JP!Valter’s speech is meant to be blunt, brusque, and rude. The English version turns it around and uses flowery language, giving an uncomfortable sense that he’s toying with the person he’s talking to.

English:

Well, this must be my lucky day.

Japanese:

くくっ　どうやら私が (Heh heh. It seems like I’ve 当たりを引いたようだ。caught a big one.)

My translation took some liberties here. 当たり has a few meanings, varying between “success,” “prediction,” and a “bite” (as in fish taking the bait). 引く has the effect of “pull in”.

Japanese dialogue media tends to use more onomatopoeia and non-verbal cues (by which I mean using only punctuation to express surprise or pensiveness) than Western literature and writing, which puts localizations of Japanese media in a tight spot. FE7′s translation retained most non-verbal cues in the original script; I saw it get some flak from game reviewers who chided the “lazy” translation. Perhaps such sentiments were common back then, as FE8′s translation did away with quite a bit of it and adjusted the script to have more dialogue.

In this case, Valter’s chuckle was removed. Instead, the writers made his line sound more casual, again reinforcing the idea that he’s toying with them.

English:

You’re a dead man. The wench goes with me.

Japanese:

男は死ね。(The man dies.) 女は私がもらってやろう。(The woman goes with me.)

Here is where it becomes obvious that Valter barely even registers Seth as a person in JP. He dismisses him as “the man,” which would sound extremely stilted in English when his previous line already addressed Seth directly. So here, they shifted the subject from third-person to second-person.

In the second sentence, the official translation adapts 女 as “wench” (meaning young girl, or in its modern connotations, a prostitute). As it so happens, the second definition is a valid way to read 女, too. Basically, it’s there to show how off-puttingly crass and vulgar he is.

Battle Banter

English:

I am Valter, the Moonstone, Grado’s finest general! And you’re just a corpse who does not know he is dead.

Japanese:

我が名は【月長石】のヴァルター。(I am Valter*, the Moonstone.) グラド帝国将の一人 (A general of Grado.) 貴様は私に食われろ。 (And you are just my next meal.)

* Technically, his name is Walter in JP.

The first two lines of the original script here were merged into one sentence in English since it doesn’t sound natural to us. Notably, though, he doesn’t call himself Grado’s finest general; just says he’s one of them.

The third line is significantly different. Valter makes a few references to his appetite for strong opponents, and in one case it is said that his wyvern is literally fed people. Although the script retained the other similar lines, it has completely changed this one (to be fair, it is one helluva memorable line).

This line is very literally translated to “You will be devoured by me,” which would normally be rewritten as “I will devour you,” but it doesn’t sound quite as cool when contrasted with his previous line. Hence its above translation.

Also notable is that Valter actually refers to Seth with “you.” It’s the infamous 貴様 (kisama), which is (now) a derogatory way of referring to someone. A mildly relevant link, for the fun of it: Glen uses it on Valter too.

The Escape

English:

Such terrible wounds, and still he holds to his duty? How entertaining. Fly away, little man. Fly away. Try to outrun death. More time to savor the hunt… and the kill.

Japanese:

ほう　あの傷でまだ動くか。(Oh? Still moving around with such a wound?) 面白い･･･ (Amusing...) 逃げろ逃げろ。(Run away, run away.) 死ぬ気で逃げ惑え。(Try to outrun death.) 私たちの楽しい遊びを (Can you drag out 少しでも長引かせてくれよ？ this fun little game of ours?)

The JP version lacks the “still he holds to his duty” part, as you can see. The EN line gives the impression that he’s impressed by Seth’s dedication to protecting Eirika, while the JP line makes him more impressed that the dude’s still alive.

The last line is a little bit different, but the EN still captures the spirit of the JP. I’m not sure how deeply ingrained hunting for sport is in Japan, but it’s still very much a thing in the U.S., so it’s just converting the phrasing into something that’s familiar to the audience.

#FE8 #magvel #seth #valter #script #translation #meta

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girls-scenarios · 5 years

Text

To Meet You

Idol: Sooyoung (SNSD)

Prompt: maybe a sooyoung scenario where she and the reader meet while snsd is having promo in another country and sooyoung sees the reader in a coffee shop or something cliche like that and they hit it off even with the language barrier? i'm not sure if this prompt makes a lot of sense but anything similar to that would be fine. thanks for warning me early enough☺️

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: I have a midterm due tomorrow but instead of studying for it I’m doing this... Oh well. Also Sooyoung can speak pretty great English but I didn’t want to specify one country so I didn’t mention what language it was. I did take a couple liberties with the prompt but I hope you all still enjoy!

♡ Tip Jar♡

Getting to rest while in a foreign country was the best. Sooyoung had come to promote her new movie, but one of the interviews had been cancelled and moved to another day, leaving her with one day to just relax and explore. And she couldn’t be happier. After letting her manager and coworkers know she’d be going out for a while, she left with a skip in her step, enjoying the warm summer air as she walked through the streets, taking in the sights.

It didn’t take her long to realize that she was hungry, though, and she quickly pulled out her phone to look up nearby places to eat. Although she loved Korean food, she wanted to try something new, so she scrolled until she found a cafe that caught her eye. Colorful photos of the inside of the cafe caught her eye first, but then she saw the food and immediately, her mouth began to water. It was brunch, and she loved brunch. Even more, the unique coffees and teas on the menus looked great as well, and she didn’t hesitate: the address was in her GPS and she was on her way to eat some great brunch food.

The inside of the cafe was cute. A huge, light-up sign with the words “eat” was on the wall, and plenty of tables lined the inside, as well as a bar area. The light fixtures were metallic and blue balls, which matched the colorful blues on the walls. The green of the plants near the windows and behind the bar acted as another pop of color, while white bricks made the bar itself stand out. The tables and chairs were all made of a purposely-faded wood, and little vases with small sunflowers and daisies sat in the middle of each table. The windows let in enough natural light that it felt bright and alive, and Sooyoung couldn’t help but smile as she sat down at one of the tables and looked around, loving the decorations.

It was the perfect place for an Instagram photo or two, so she pulled out her phone to begin snapping a few photos before turning her eyes to the menu. Oh, right. Of course the menu wouldn’t be in Korean. She squinted at it, trying to read the best she could. Thankfully, the menu had photos beside the items, and she knew how to say “this one, please” so she should be able to survive with her limited vocabulary.

“Hello and good morning! My name is (Y/N) and I’ll be taking care of you today! What can I get started for you?” At the sound of a voice and a glass of water being sat on the table, Sooyoung quickly looked up. And her heart skipped a beat as her breath caught in her throat. Were all servers here so attractive? She hoped her face wasn’t heating up as she cleared her throat and turned back to the menu, trying to remember all the vocabulary that had just disappeared at the sight of you.

“U-um, this one, please.” She pointed at one of the brunch sandwiches before flipping the page and pointing at one of the espresso drinks. “And this one.” You smiled at her, and she felt a bit faint as she handed you the menu, trying to get a hold of herself.

“Alright, I’ll get that going for you!” You walked away and she watched you go for a moment, mouth dry until you disappeared into the kitchen and her breath finally came back to her. Surprised by her own reaction, she reached over to take a sip of her water to cool herself down. What was that?

You’ve never seen a server that attractive, her brain said, but she tried to dismiss the thought, too nervous to let it stay. How would a relationship like this even work? Shaking her head, she pulled up Instagram to distract herself, quickly editing and posting her photos before beginning to scroll through her feed.

As she was looking at her (secret) favorite Harry Potter fan page, you walked up with her coffee and laughed softly. “Oh, you like Harry Potter too?” You asked as you placed down her coffee, making her cheeks color slightly.

“Oh, um. Yeah! Harry Potter is cool!” She gave you a thumbs up for a lack of anything to say, but you didn’t seem to mind.

“Sorry to look over your shoulder! Um, I like that account.” You pulled out your own phone to show you that you were following it too, and she smiled, happy to at least understand half of what you said.

“I’d like to dress up one day, too,” she said, almost wistfully as she peered at one of the cosplay photos.

“Me too!” Smiling brightly (so bright that it made her heart jump around) you slipped the phone back into your pocket. “I’ll be right back with your food, okay?”

“Okay!” As you walked away, she quickly looked up Google translate and swallowed, putting in the phrases that she wanted to know how to say, heart beating a little faster than usual. What was she even doing? Did she really think this was going to lead anywhere? You were probably just being nice.

But it didn’t hurt to try, and she knew that. So when you came back, she tried out one of the phrases that she’d learned, hoping that Google translate hadn’t screwed her over.

“Here’s your sandwich,” you said, placing the plate on the table, and she gave you her prettiest smile.

“Thank you! Are there any other accounts you follow?”

Your eyes lit up a little bit and you glanced around to make sure your other table was okay before pulling out your phone again to show her. There were a few more you followed, some art accounts, and a few she followed herself, giving the two of you something to talk about. Even though the two of you communicated through a language barrier, she found that it wasn’t hard to talk to you. You knew a little bit of Korean, and although your pronunciation wasn’t perfect, it felt nice to see you try and communicate like she was trying to do with you. She asked if you were in school and if you liked serving, and you asked her in return what she did. Upon hearing that she was an actress, you gasped and asked to follow her on Instagram, making her laugh and follow you back.

The two of you ended up talking so much that it would have been bad if there was another customer there, but your other table had left, meaning that Sooyoung didn’t feel bad about monopolizing your time. It also seemed like you liked talking to her, too, so she was happy with how things were going. Time just flew by as she talked to you, and before she knew it, she was done and her manager was asking where she was.

With a sheepish smile, she looked up at you from her phone. “It looks like I’ve taken up a lot of your time.”

“No, no! It’s okay! I’m having fun talking to you. I’ll be right back with your check if you need to go.”

“Yes, please.” As you left, she wondered how she should go about getting your number.

It was only when she opened up her KakaoTalk to answer a friend that she remembered: it had a translation feature! Trying to hold in her excitement as you walked back over, she put on her best smile once again, thanking you for the check. Then, as she was about to leave, she took a deep breath and turned to you one more time.

“Do you have a KakaoTalk?” She raised up her phone, just in case you didn’t understand, showing the app. Your eyes widened a bit and you pulled out your phone, nodding your head.

“I do! My friend had me get it!”

“Good!” She smiled brightly. “If we add each other, it can translate!”

Your mouth dropped open and you looked down at the app curiously. “Wow, really? Let’s add each other, then!” You held out your phone to her, and she felt like her heart might jump out of her chest as she added you to her friends list, smiling when your name popped up.

“There, we’re friends now.”

“How exciting!” You laughed, and she felt giddy inside for the first time in a long time. “I can’t wait to text you, Sooyoung. If you can, stop by again, okay?” Your smile was still bright, but it was different than the customer service smile you’d given the other customers, and she knew this meant that she had a chance.

“I will. I promise!”

As she walked away, texting her manager to let them know she was still alive, she couldn’t help smiling like a weirdo, even humming to herself as she walked with a slight skip to her pace. Once again, she looked at your name in her contacts before slipping her phone into her pocket and looking up at the clear sky. This was a place that she might not have ever come if she wasn’t promoting, but here she was. Acting had led her to this place, and to you, with your bright smile and now-familiar laugh.

And she was so glad she’d decided to become an actress.

#snsd #sooyoung #femifics #snsd scenarios #snsd scenario #sooyoung scenario #sooyoung scenarios #girl group scenarios #kpop scenario #girl groups #kpop girl groups

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clevercatchphrase · 5 years

Text

You Monster Chpt. 34

(This story is also available on ao3, under the same username as here~! I am no longer linking the chapters here, or else tumblr would hide the results in their search engine. Sorry for the inconvenience!)

It’s a couple hours before all the amalgamates are back with their rightful families.

With you, Sans, Papyrus and Undyne as her moral support, Alphys makes her way through each of the Underground’s main regions, returning Reaper Bird, Lemon Bread, Endogeny and Mrs. Drake to their respective homes.

While there were a few harsh words given to Alphys, mostly from Astigmatisms and Snowdrake Senior for not telling them what had truly happened to their loved ones, most of the monsters seemed so overjoyed at having their relatives back, they couldn’t have cared less if their appearance had changed, or if they now shared a mind with a dozen other monsters. All that mattered was that they were alive and they were home.

It’s almost midnight when you finally get back to Hotland.

“Hey pal,” Papyrus says when he catches you yawning on the couch near Alphys’ huge monitor. “While we were in Snowdin, I ran by my house and got your things.”

He hands you a plastic bag with your yarn and green sweater.

“Thanks Papyrus. You didn’t have to.” You smile. “I was gonna trade them back for your cellphone, remember?”

“Yes, I know, but…” Papyrus trails off. “I figured giving them to you now would make the inevitable goodbye a little easier… in the future.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you.”

“I also took the liberty of washing your shirt. I remember you remarking how it felt nice to change into clean clothes, and figured it was a small kindness I could do to make your day a little easier.”

“Yeah, I could REALLY go for a shower right now,” you say. “I think I saw one in the basement lab-”

“W-wait, I do have a bathroom on the ground floor, believe it or not,” Alphys says. “It’s the first door on the left by the front entrance.”

“Thanks, Alphys,” you yawn a second time, suddenly drained as all of the day’s excitement catches up to you. “Guess it’s too late to go to the king again, huh? But tomorrow for sure, yeah?”

“Y-yeah… Say! Let’s have a slumber party!” Alphys suggests. “I’ve still got the movies queued up, a-and we’re all already here, a-and… there might be more things I need to get of my conscience. It would be nice to have some friends nearby.”

“Hey! Yeah! A slumber party sounds like fun!” Undyne agrees.

“I second that notion!” Papyrus says. “We can tell secrets and make friendship bracelets! It’ll be great!”

“I dunno, guys,” you interject. “I should probably get some sleep if I want to see the king first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Kid, you’re within spitting distance of the stinkin’ castle now!” Undyne points out. “All the elevators are fixed, so it’ll be a straight shot up there tomorrow. I think you can afford to watch one more movie with us!”

“Y-yeah! You can’t go back to the Ruins before I can get a chance to introduce you to anime!” Alphys pleads. “Please? Will you watch just one with us?”

You shift your eyes to each of the puppy-dog faces and sigh in defeat.

“I guess just one more movie wouldn’t hurt…”

“Great! F-feel free to take a shower while I go g-get some sleeping bags!”

Thirty minutes later you’re sitting on the couch with Papyrus, freshly washed and fiddling with the new features on his phone while Alphys rewinds the deer movie you had left off on, and while Undyne makes a fresh round of snacks. Together, Papyrus and Sans introduce you to the world of texting, showing you how to make faces out of the letters and symbols while the movie more or less plays as background noise.

The deer movie ends, and the third one, the one with the lions, starts to autoplay. Alphys perks up excitedly. The royal scientist says this one technically isn’t anime, though it’s argued that it might be a rip-off of an anime with a similar name. Undyne asks why they don’t just watch that one instead, and Alphys explains with a bit of nervous apologizing that she doesn’t have that many episodes on VHS.

You shrug it off, and turn back to the screen to give the movie your full attention. Based on Alphys’ reaction, this was one of the better movies she had and you wanted the best experience, but as you watch the movie, that curious sense of familiarity begins to tickle the back of your mind. There was something about these characters and songs…

“I think… I’ve seen this movie somewhere before…” you say vacantly, staring at the screen.

“Impossible!” Papyrus interjects. “You confessed yourself you didn’t know what TV was until two days ago!”

“I… didn’t see it on tee-vee…” you trail off.

That strange déjà vu feeling was beginning to rear its ugly head yet again, and this time you weren’t going to let it get away. Sensing it coming, you mentally grab it, and focus on it until-

You see flashes of darkness and a bright screen in front of you. There are other kids around you, laughing, crying, screaming. The air smells sweet and savory, much like the popcorn you’re eating- JUST like the popcorn you’re eating. There’s an adult on each side of you, telling you to sit up, listen up, SHUT UP, you should be happy They’ve given this treat to you, you should be thankful because They’re being nice to you when you haven’t earned it, but the room is too cold and the noise is too loud and you don’t like it, so you hum nursery rhymes to yourself until it’s all over, and on the car ride home all the streetlights blend in with the stars above, and the air smells like cigars and alcohol, which you don’t like but don’t mention, because if you complain then They will give you something to REALLY cry about-!

You don’t realize you’re convulsing until strong arms are holding you in place. People are yelling at you, but their words are meaningless. It’s just noise, noise, noise, too much noise-

“Kid! Kid!” A concerned voice breaks through to you. “Deep breaths! Stay with us!”

You force yourself to inhale and blink until the halo of faces staring down at you come into focus. Everyone is staring at you in fear and confusion.

“A-are you alright?” Alphys asks.

You roll your eyes to see the legs of the couch beside you. Cold tile presses against your cheek.

“Why am I on the floor?” you croak.

“You tell us, kid,” Sans sighs, rubbing his neck. We all thought you were super into the movie the way you were just staring at the screen. The next thing we know, you’re eyes are rolling back and you’re having a seizure. What happened?”

“I… don’t know…” You admit. You touch your face to find your cheeks are wet with tears. You don’t remember crying. “I… I don’t think I want to watch this movie anymore,” you sniff.

“Th-that’s okay! All these Disney movies are kinda wearing me out too. W-would you like to skip to anime now?” Alphys asks.

You shrug, not really caring as you cradle your pounding head.

Alphys skips ahead to her last movie while you snuggle between Papyrus and Undyne on the middle cushion of the couch. You try your hardest to read the captions on the screen translating what the characters are saying, but your mind keeps drifting back to the vision you had, struggling to make sense of it. What was that place you saw? Who were those people? And why did thinking about it fill you with such dread?

You shake your head, trying to force yourself to stay focused on the screen in an effort to distract yourself, but it isn’t working all that well. Your most recent episode seems to have drained you to absolute zero with how heavy your eyelids feel. Blinking several times, you struggle to stay awake and look back to the movie. You forget what it’s called, but it’s about a goat and a wolf who become friends despite being natural enemies. The animation gets a little weird now and then, but the colors are nice, you guess. You have no idea what the story’s supposed to be about since you keep nodding off. Before long, you decide to rest your eyes and just listen to the movie, despite not being able to understand a word. It’ll only be for a little while. Just until your eyes stop stinging. And at least the music is calm and soothing… and without even realizing it, you’ve fallen asleep.

________________________________________________________

Sans is first to notice that they’re out cold. He nudges them with one slippered foot, but they don’t respond.

“Welp, looks like they’ve finally checked out for tonight,” he says. “It’s nearly three a.m. With any luck, they’ll sleep through the whole day and give us a few more hours to come up with a better plan for what to do next.”

“Phew, I’m glad they feel asleep during this,” Alphys says pausing the VHS. “The only other movies I have that don’t have humans in them are the Ice Age sequels and I wouldn’t want to force anyone watch those. That would just be cruel and unusual torture.”

“I’ll put them to bed,” Undyne offers, carefully cradling the child in her arm as not to wake them, and takes them upstairs.

“So… What do we do now?” Alphys asks. “W-we can’t just let them go to the king. He’ll exicute them as soon as he sees them.”

“Should we call ahead and let the king know?”

“And what would we tell him? ‘Hey, Asgore! We’re bringing the last human soul needed to break the barrier to your place because they need a favor of you! Could you be so kind as to let them live, pretty please? They’re a real good kid and we like ‘em, so we’d prefer you don’t kill them on sight?’ Get real.”

“We could go with the kid and meet him there?”

“Oh, and have him say, ‘thank you my loyal subjects and royal scientist and guard for personally hand delivering me this human. As a special treat you can watch me take their soul?’”

“We could always tell the kid the king got sick and he doesn’t want us to catch it!”

“Do you really think they’d fall for that?”

“We could say he’s out grocery shopping!”

“No, that won’t work either.”

They toss ideas back and forth, bringing up dozens of potential scenarios and shooting down why each one wouldn’t work. Soon their arguments become circular and repetitive, with still no solution to be found.

“The thing is, none of the ideas will work ‘cause the kid won’t believe us.” Sans says. “They’ve caught wise to us and know anything we try now would be a ploy. We can’t try to hold them back now or they’ll cut us off and go it alone, which would be a certain death sentence. We gotta find a way to make ‘em choose not to go to the king.”

“We’ve guided ourselves into a corner…” Papyrus nods glumly.

“Nothing else much we can do at the moment…”

“And if anything… we can at least say we tried.”

“Well… th-there is one last option we have…” Alphys says. Undyne, Papyrus and Sans look to her, waiting for her answer. “W-we can tell them the truth; let them know the s-situation, gently break it to them.”

“Alphys, you know we can’t do that.”

“A-and why not?” Alphys argues. “They’re g-gonna find out sooner or later! I-if not tomorrow, then for certain when they meet Asgore! What’s the worst thing that’s going to happen? If they go to the king tomorrow unaware or not, they’re going to die. I-I let a lot off my chest today. I came clean with all my secrets, but being a part of this one m-makes me afraid I’m going to relapse into a fibbing mess again! I can’t keep making exceptions like this, or I’m just going to go back to my old ways.”

“Maybe… maybe we should just go to Asgore first without the kid and explain the situation,” Undyne suggests. “I’ve trained with Asgore for years, and I know the guy. Sure, he can fight when he needs to, but he probably doesn’t want to. He’d spare an innocent child… right?”

“He didn’t the last six times,” Sans points out.

Everyone looks down solemnly at their feet.

“Say, we’re all p-pretty tired,” Alphys says. “L-let’s sleep on it a-and see if we can come up with any new ideas tomorrow before the kid wakes up. You know, it’s always easier to tackle a problem with a clear head and fresh eyes.”

The four agree, seeing no better solution in the moment, and reluctantly head upstairs to join their sleeping friend, and secretly praying tonight’s dreams wouldn’t be their last.

_______________________________________________

You sleep. You dream. You see your reflection.

And yet…. The closer you look, the less it looks like you. You know your skin is not that pale, and your hair is not that light, and your eyes are not that RED. The reflection tilts its head and you find yourself copying it, and that’s when you realize with rising panic that this is not your reflection-- you are ITS.

“You have come so far,” the doppelganger mouths, and you startle when it’s YOUR voice that comes out of YOUR mouth though you didn’t put the words there.

“I realize what you are trying to do,” the voice says against your will as the replica in the mirror speaks. They look straight at you while they force you to talk, yet you cannot help but feel as if these words are not for you, but are instead directed at someone else. “Your plan is noble, but ultimately it will not work. They have impressed upon too many.”

You want to look away, but you can’t. Your actions are left to the mercy of the onlooker, whose movements you are slave bound to. As long as they stay focused on you, you have no choice but to return the notion.

“But maybe…” the person in the glass blinks at you, as if seeing you for the first time. “Maybe… if I can take it NOW… I can make a difference.”

The reflection raises its arms and you’re forced to do the same. They bring their fingertips up to the glass, until they’re touching. Your hands stop against the cold surface, but the copycat’s don’t. You can only watch passively as your mind yells in horror as the hands phase through the glass while yours are stuck in place.

The apparition’s arms pass through yours, and then violently grab your sleeves and start pulling, pulling, pulling you forward, trying to force you to go through the mirror, trying to take your place, and with every ounce of will power you can muster you scream in your mind, desperate to move even a single muscle but to no avail.

The hands are clawing up your shoulders, grabbing at your shirt, at your chest, at your SOUL-

You jerk awake. Your eyes fly open and you almost scream. Beside you, someone grunts in annoyance, your spasm apparently disturbing their rest.

You try to sort out where you are and the memory rushes up to you like a tidal wave as it all comes flooding back. The amalgamates, the slumber party, the movie. You sigh in relief. It was just a nightmare. It wasn’t real. Already it was quickly fading from your mind as if it had never happened, and you decidedly chose not to think about it to let it be forgotten even faster, but when you close your eyes you can’t help but glimpse the bright red afterimage of two eyes staring back at you on the inside of your eyelids.

Geez, you hadn’t had a night terror that bad in years. But you were admittedly close to the CORE. It wasn’t unlikely that stray magic could reach this far in high concentrations and mess with your dreams. Unfortunately you were far too awake now to go back to sleep.

You sit up carefully and look around to find your friends dogpiled around you on the bed and half hanging off the sides. You exhale with a smirk at how tightly everyone is packed on the mattress. Who thought it was a good idea for all five of you to share one bed when Alphys got sleeping bags for this very reason? You had to admit, though, with friends packed together so close, you certainly did feel safe and secure.

Gingerly you untangle yourself from the pile, trying your hardest not to disturb the other sleepers until you extract yourself from the mess. You stand up and stretch and search for your borrowed phone. It’s just past six a.m. You know you didn’t receive a lot of sleep, but you feel remarkably rested regardless. The rest of the Underground should be waking up in the next hour or two.

You look back at your friends, heart panging with melancholy. Right from the moment you met each one of them you knew you would be dreading the minute when you’d have to say goodbye, but for now they were at peace with serene faces, blissfully unaware of your fast-approaching departure. At least they weren’t looking at you with sadness or worry anymore. You decide to cherish this moment of tranquility by letting them rest a bit longer. They would wake up when they were ready.

As quietly as you can, you pad over to the escalator and make your way downstairs. Alphys has packets of instant noodles in her fridge along with a few cans of soda and a carton of ice cream in the freezer. You take a packet of noodles on the assumption it was the healthiest of the three options and try to read the cooking instructions, but it’s all written in a language you don’t understand. Out of famished curiosity, you try eating the noodles dry and discover that they aren’t half bad uncooked. You throw out the flavor packet, though. You can pick out enough context clues to decipher the nutrition label and would rather not ingest something that contains enough sodium to kill a small mammal in one little bag.

Nibbling on dry noodles, you go back to the television, turn it on and turn the volume down way low so you don’t wake the others. Inside the tape player is still the movie about the goat and the wolf. It seems Alphys and the others paused it right after you fell asleep, so you continue watching from where you left off. You still have no clue what’s going on, but thank goodness for subtitles so the TV isn’t too loud and noisy.

Wrapped up in a blanket burrito, you passively watch the movie while you wait for your friends to wake up, but apparently you were a lot closer to the end of the movie than you realized, because the next thing you know, the names of the cast are rolling. You search the couch for another movie, but all the ones available are the ones you already watched last night, and after your episode yesterday, you don’t really want to risk triggering another one by watching the same thing that caused the first. Wait, didn’t you see a room filled with video tapes down in Alphys’ true lab? You bet that’s where Alphys is keeping some more. Surely she won’t mind if you browse for another movie? She was very adamant about introducing you to anime after all.

Dragging half of the couch blanket with you, you shamble over to the elevator door and stumble sleepily inside. The doors close behind you and lower you down. Alphys’ true lab is a lot brighter now that the amalgamates are gone, especially Reaper Bird with their photosensitivity to bright light. The place practically felt hospitable.

You retrace your footsteps, even following the arrows Undyne had carved on the walls until you stumble upon the video room. There’s a television ready and waiting on a table in the middle of the room. Four tapes are scattered in front of it, with one tape already in the player. You scan the shelves for a potential movie, but nothing catches your interest. Every title is either a documentary or in a language you can’t read. You skip over them without a second thought.

When nothing the shelves have entices you, you turn to the TV and push in the tape just to see what Alphys was watching last, grab the remote, and hit play. The screen flickers from a dull grey to black, and muffled audio crackles from the speakers. Huh. Either the TV or the tape was on the fritz. You’re just about to hit ‘eject’ when suddenly the audio pops and comes through loud and clear.

“Howdy, Chara! Smile for the camera!”

You freeze, finger poised over the button, and listen closer.

“Ha, this time I got YOU! I left the cap on... ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for noooo reason!”

Your heart skips a beat and a strong sense of foreboding grips you. The speaker said your name. They were talking to you, but you don’t recognize the voice. You don’t remember this conversation. Heart pounding, you shift your fingers away from the pause button and hit rewind instead. The gears inside the tape player cough and chug as they scroll back the tape, and you watch the screen closely for any clues, but the video remains dark until-

There’s a flash of white, a blur of green, and suddenly two kids are on the screen, doing rapid movements in reverse. Your fingers fumble with the remote, mashing the play button repeatedly until the TV finally gets the message.

The tape stutters and chokes and then at last a grainy image comes on the screen. At first you can’t tell if the recording is out of focus or if it is just the kid; a young monster with white fur and long ears. Looking at him fills you with a sense of apprehension. Half a thought forms in the back of your mind that this is what you’d imagine your mom would have looked like when she was younger, but you’re far too focused on the other child in the background. That kid- that kid with the brown hair and pale skin. Something about that kid is making alarm bells go off in your head. You’ve SEEN them before. It’s the same kid you’ve seen in your dreams. In your nightmares.

That kid... there’s something unsettling about that other kid. You realize with horror and awe that they look just like you.

Well, maybe not exactly- their hair was lighter, their skin paler, and their eyes were unique shade of brown that bordered on being red in the right light, but you looked so similar you could have been siblings. What’s worse, they have your NAME. But why?

The furry child smiles, his face far too close to the camera. “Okay… the red light is blinking. I think that means it’s working now…” He mumbles to himself, before turning the camera around onto the other kid. The recording bounces in time with the filmmaker’s footsteps as they get close to their subject who’s reading a book.

“Hey, Chara,” the filmmaker snickers. “Look over here.”

The other child looks up, semi-annoyed at the request. When their eyes meet the camera they flinch and throw their hands up to cover their face.

“Stop it, Asriel! I don’t want to be filmed!”

Asriel… You’ve heard that name before, but where? Didn’t… didn’t Kid say something about a monster named Asriel once?

A cold, nervous sensation starts to grow in your gut and spread up your spine.

You pause the video and take several deep breaths. Something ominous lingers on the edge of your awareness. Something warns you not to turn your head to see it clearly, because once you see it- once that connection is made it can’t be undone.

Curiosity and caution war within you as your trembling fingers hover over the play button. Who was this monster who looked like you and had your name? You… you want to know, you have to find out- and yet, something deep within you warns you you’ll regret it if you do. You hesitate, thinking and thinking… and against your better judgement your curiosity wins out. You hit ‘play’.

“C’mon, Chara! You promised me you’d make one video with me after I got the camera fixed!” The child wielding the camera whines.

“Oh, alright, put it on the table and I will be in your silly vlog. Let us get this over with.”

The camera is set on the table and faces a blank wall.

Wait, you’ve changed your mind. You don’t want to watch this anymore. Shaking, you grip the remote and hit the stop button, but the TV doesn’t respond.

The goat kid jumps in frame from the right. “Howdy! I’m Asriel! Prince of the Underground!”

“Greetings, I am Chara,” says the other kid stepping in from the left.

You desperately hit stop again and again, but the TV’s sensor is old and unresponsive. You don’t want to see what happens next, intuition tells you that you already know. Something bad was going to happen if you kept watching, if you kept pushing. You had to stop it, stop it, stop it now!

“And together we are the future!”

“-Of humans,”

“-And monsters!”

The children clasp their hands together and raise it triumphantly over their heads before dissolving into laughter over how silly it looks.

The remote control falls from your hands and hits the floor with a hollow clack. The tape finally stops and jams on the frame of them together.

“No…”

Humans... and monsters. Humans and monsters. Prince Asriel. You remember now, the story Kid had told you in Waterfall, how he had befriended a human who fell here years ago.

“No.”

A human child that had gotten sick and died which in turn led to the death of the prince. A human child named Chara that looked like you, because-

“No, no, NO! IT’S NOT TRUE!”

The room around you begins to spin and you’re stumbling backwards as you lose your sense of balance, but dare not take your eyes off the TV, all the while shaking your head in denial. Your knees give out at the same moment your back hits the wall, and you slump to the ground, grabbing your head as the world falls apart around you.

_______________________________________________

On the ground floor, the credits finish rolling on the VHS left unattended, and the screen fades to black before flickering to a soothing blue. Despite the TV’s volume being turned down to nearly zero, when the tape hits its last inch of film, the blue cuts to static that thunders like a thousand avalanches crashing at once.

Upstairs, the four monsters jolt awake, and tumble off the bed in a tangled heap of bones and scales.

“Whaszat!? Where��s the fire?!” Undyne demands in a drunken daze.

“Did someone turn the TV on?” Alphys says.

“Hey, where’s the kid?” Sans asks.

Everyone scrabbles to their feet to check if one of them accidentally flattened the kid in their sleep. All eyes turn to the bed only to find it vacant. A wave of dread washes over them.

“Q-quick! Downstairs!” Alphys says. Papyrus and Alphys dive for the escalator while Undyne vaults over the loft’s railing and Sans winks himself down. The couch in front of the TV is empty.

“Look!” Papyrus points to the blanket trailing off the couch. It’s pointing to the elevator.

“They went back down to the lab?” Undyne asks. “Why?”

Beside her, Alphys gasps. “I have more tapes down there.” She says. “B-but If they’re not careful, they could end up seeing something they shouldn’t!”

“Well then what are we standing around here for?” Sans says. “Let’s go stop ‘em!”

The four monsters pile into the elevator and travel down. Alphys takes the lead when the doors open, dashing off straight to the tape room. The four monsters sprint through the halls, skidding around corners until they all close in on the open door.

No one speaks when they get there. The TV is on, a tape frozen on a scene Alphys has re-watched more times than she could count.

The sound of erratic breathing draws their attention to the side. There. Huddled against the wall is the kid, curled into a tight ball. They’re staring at their trembling hands, their tiny body hyperventilating so hard it makes it looks like they double to twice their size with each breath. Their eyes are wide and wild. They turn to the monsters in the doorway.

“I… I… I’m… I am…” They try to speak between exhales, but either they can’t find the words or they don’t want to say them. They swallow hard and try again. “I’m… human?” The choke out at last. They stare at them, silently begging one of them to say it wasn’t true, that the film was wrong, but no one says a word. No one looks them in the eye. Instead they look to one another, lost for words, and then off to the sides or at their feet.

The kid watches them unblinking, a horrible realization clicking in their mind when no one replies. Their eyes go narrow, and then alarmingly wide as all pieces begins to fall in place.

“You… you knew…” They accuse. “ALL of you? And you didn’t say anything? Why-” They cut themselves off from finishing the question. They already know why.

“Pal, it’s not what you think,” Papyrus says.

“Not what I think?” The kid spits back, their voice laced with venom and hurt. Slowly, they unfold themselves and stand. “No… No, I get it now. I GET it. You all lied to me!”

“We were doing it to protect you-”

“Protect ME?” The kid shouts, their face sneering in disgust. “Are you sure it wasn’t to protect anyone else? Because as we all know, humans are malicious! Humans are violent! Humans do nothing but destroy!” They look at each of the other monsters in turn.

“Is this why YOU wanted to study me?” They glare at Alphys, who cowers in shame. “So THAT’S why YOU cut the bridge.” They snarl at Undyne, who flinches like she’s been slapped. “And that’s why YOU attacked me in the kitchen,” they spit at Sans, who eyes go dark as he tries to shrink into his hoodie. “Because I’m human and that means I’m inherently dangerous! Is that why you don’t want me to go to the king as well? Because you all think I’ll hurt him?”

“No! That’s not why at all!” Undyne interjects. “Well, i-it was at first, but not anymore-”

“All this time… All this time I thought you were trying to help me when you really only wanted to stop me. I TRUSTED you, but you NEVER trusted ME! Better not tell them or it could make them unpredictable! Just like I‘m feeling right now!”

“Kid, we were trying to help-”

“I can’t believe you,” they cry as hot, angry tears rolls down their face. “I…I...! I hate all of you!”

The human surges forward. For a split second, it’s everyone’s worst nightmare coming to life; the kid knows the truth and now they’re turning on them, but no one can find it in themselves to fight back. Everyone is frozen to the spot they stand, unable or unwilling to put up a defense. They brace themselves for an attack, but a blow never comes. Instead the human roughly shoves them aside as they make a break for it.

“Kid, come back!” someone shouts, but they don’t heed their words and vanish from sight.

“Shit! Catch them!” Undyne commands. Nobody needs to be told twice. All four monsters leap for the doorway at once and successfully end up bottlenecking themselves.

“Sans, you’re stepping on my tail!” “Undyne, you’re kneeing me in the spine!” “Papyrus, get your elbow out of my eye!” “Alphys, will you stop clawing my ribs?”

Precious seconds are wasted as the four untangle themselves painstakingly slowly until they at last squeeze out the door and race back to the elevator, only to arrive too late. The elevator has closed and was on its way to the ground floor.

“Quick! The emergency exits!” Alphys says, pointing to a door for a nearby stairwell. They burst into the hall and climb the steps two at a time.

Everyone is breathless by the time they get back to the ground floor, but Alphys’ upper lab is empty. Together, the monsters race out onto the streets of Hotland, only to find them vacant.

“Where’d they go?” Papyrus frets.

“Sans, can’t you just do your weird space jumping powers to find them?” Undyne demands.

“It doesn’t work like that, Undyne!” Sans complains. “It’s not a homing device! If I don’t know where they are, I can’t magically find them!”

“M-my access card is missing!” Alphys gasps, catching up a minute later. “Th-they could be heading back to the CORE!”

“Or they could have used it to ride the ferry back to Snowdin!” Papyrus suggests.

“I think I saw something running towards Waterfall!” Undyne says.

“We need to split up,” Sans says turning to the group. “Alphys, you search Hotland. Put the entire region on lockdown if you have to. Undyne, you know every inch of Waterfall. Rally the other royal guards. Papyrus, you and I will take Snowdin.”

“W-what if we can’t find them?” Alphys questions.

“We will find them,” Sans assures, refusing to let doubt enter his soul. “We have to, before they end up hurting themselves.”

“And if they end up hurting someone else?” asks Undyne.

Sans pauses, his eyes going dim for just a second. It was a possibility they had all considered, but didn’t want to acknowledge. “We can’t let that be an option. I hate to say this, but the kid was right. Their entire world view has just been shattered, and right now they’re unpredictable. Do whatever you can to stop them, but proceed with caution. We may have a volatile human on the loose.”

#Undertale #Fan fiction #my writing #you monster #frisk #undyne #alphys #sans #what happened to the line break option on text posts #why can't I find it #also these chapters are going up every friday on ao3 for the next 3 weeks #and then will be queued to cross-posted over here on tuesdays

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yiulee999 · 5 years

Note

Hey! What do you think of OPM season 2? I still love it & am looking forward to next weeks new episode but i just wish Saitama had more screen time ;-(

hey nonny~!

apologies for the late reply, its a combo of not getting notifications (tumblr u useless trashbucket) and being on surgery rotation (i miss sleeping so much)

firstly, i am truly glad you still love it and look forward to the new episodes!!! 💖💖💖please dont let anything i say from this point on dissuade you from that enjoyment

THAT BEING SAID

///cut for length

ive only watched up to the second episode, and i am having Such Difficulties convincing myself to keep watching. i know my rxns to ep 1 were overall pretty positive and I stand by it but the more i watch the more the Cringe/Hypercritique starts take over.

Turns out, the art style had a bigger impact than i thought on the length of which i enjoy shows. personally, i just really like when anime/shows have a happy marriage between writing and artwork. and when show directors know how to interpret writing, how to set up a scene (the angle, the music, the pacing), and then communicate with artists who have the skills to bring that idea to life using the medium they’re given -- that’s when writing becomes storytelling. OPM’s writing is still fantastic since they’re going off ONE (whereas GoT has the opposite problem where the production value is 4K and the writing is early 2000s livejournal/fanfiction lol god why is everyone dropping the ball in 2019??)

As for the art, since opm switched to jc staff and shingo natsume & co. left for other projects ( ;;_____;; im emo ), its inevitable we would see a drop in animation quality and i find myself constantly getting distracted by things i never used to get concerned about in the first season (bc of the high bar of expectations set by s1 artists/directors, like theres just no way jc staff would match up it to all of that and i feel bad for them, they’re trying their best but that doesn’t mean theyre immune to critique on the artistic liberties that they’ve taken that i feel as a viewer, may not have been the best choice?)

the shading: no, just, unnecessary and distracting and why is it the center of saitamas face, im by far no expert in lighting but a bish can tell something doesnt look right???

the shading pt II: color choices. just gonna say i was not expecting sai’s ‘hair shirt’ in ep 1 to be bright-ass neon green, it was a little jarring at first and i miss him in red ;-; i get hes supposed to have poor fashion choices but i dont see him as the type to pick something that stands out so much in the crowd, like he likes to be left alone. NEON doesnt really relay ‘hi dont mind me im just barely existing here lol’

the shading pt III: genos arms/neck. okaY so the bby looks good in screenshots. like he’s shiny and nice to look at when nothings moving. bUT this is animation?? movement of objections is different from still life manga so making every single scene almost 99% like murata’s panels translates a little awkwardly to the screen (like staff is lucky bc murata’s a force of nature with his panels playing out like a movie for ref). but when genos moves, the arms are just distracting bc everything around him is drawn simply without shadows so they stand out by themselves and i (visually) forget about the rest of him haha.

the pacing: it feels scripted, person A says this so we’ll show person A in the shot, then person B is saying something so we have to cut to person B, etc etc like keeping pretty steady to manga lines to the point where i was starting to get bored bc i knew what was coming. it was really intervaled? like someone had to be saying something at a certain effect and i think s1 had more dramatic pauses (lol) but thats how you can place emphasis on scenes to have an emotional impact if the character doesnt say anything and just let the soundtrack do some talking and the cadence of the script will change too (im 10000% talking about the sunset scene in s1 god bless. like it was slow, there was MOOD there wasn’t any rush and really gave the viewer time to think about the relationship between the two characters and what that moment meant to each of them) i feel like there were several scenes that could have been more like in the scene where sai protected fubuki, could have been a little more dramatically emphasized (aka just a pause) so the viewer could get a chance to understand that he purprosefully shielded her or when genos says that strong heroes are drawn to saitama--bUT nope its the same pace, like c l o c k w o r k just like my t eARS--

the fight scenes: how do i even start. the one scene that got me INTO opm (like watching the anime, reading the manga, drawing fanart, writing fanfic, reading fanfics etc) was kickstarted by the fight scene between genos and saitama in s1 that was circulating on tumblr a while back. i thought the characters were interesting and the fight was badass and it just looked SO COOL. (also the forehead flick at the end just kinda sealed my fate). going from that to s2 fight scenes where its mostly cut scenes and freeze scenes?? where theres a cut out behind the characters back?? during a fight scene????? this isn’t a calling card or an anime opening??? i dont understand. when they dont do cut scenes, its interesting but my initial impression is just underwhelmed. i can find good parts but it feels like i have to replay the scene to notice it? theres also an overwhelming amount of graphics/cgi manipulation that overpowers the actual art sometimes. its lacking some of the fluidity that comes from hand drawn fight scenes from first season. OTL

the sound directing: so i thought that the mood just felt off for certain scenes and the sound didn’t seem to support the scene as well (unless it was like the character’s theme or smtg) and i looked it up and the sound director was also replaced (Yoshikazu Iwanami replacing Shoji Hata). i have no idea if the sound director is also in charge of character lines but there were parts were fubuki was monologuing and i had no idea she was inner monologuing, i thought she was talking out loud and that just took extra effort on my part to re-orient myself (im nitpitcking i know but its just how i watch shows lol)

there are still some parts i like about the animation:

fubuki looks bangin and i love her👌👗

all of this just made me realize how insanely lucky we were to have an amazing s1 and just have it exist and how i really could not care less if they had just waited forever to make s2 as long as we had the same crew come back. but anime is still a business and the quicker they dish out merch/seasons, the more money they can bring in. which they do in the short run but they would bring in more if they spent a little more on quality in the long run and it becomes one of those classics that ppl will rewatch and keep recommending to ppl who want to get into anime and oh my god we’re never gonna have that now, are we. if im gonna rec it to a friend its gonna be ‘read the manga!’ or ‘just watch s1!’ uGH. its just an unfortunate situation, its not one person’s fault either, so many factors go into what made opm s1 so spectacular and seeing s2 just made me appreciate s1 more. i guess im happy to have a s2 regardless?

i’ll still watch to support (and bc i like suiryuu and wanna see sai in a karate gi and wig lol). maybe i just have to get used to the new style.

so in summary,

#this got outta hand real quicc #sorry nonny u really didnt ask for this😅😅😅#i just have paragraphs of emotions #my inbox is open hit me w discourse if u disagree lol #this is just imho #Anonymous

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thehikingviking · 3 years

Text

Cerro El Pital y El Picacho, The High Points of El Salvador and San Salvador

We were picked up at Cadedeu Residence at Lago de Coatepeque before sunrise. We first drove through San Salavdor and then up towards La Palma. We followed a steep but paved road up to Rio Chiquito.

Our driver Eric parked at a dirt lot along Calle El Pital. We could have driven further, but we were here to hike and were already less than 2 miles from the summit. From here Gerardo would show us the way to the summit. Shortly after starting out, I noticed a snake that was run over by a vehicle, reminding me that it's probably best to stay on the cleared path. Shortly after we reached the park boundaries where Gerardo paid our entrance fees.

I was told to pack warm gear, as this is the coldest place in the country, but I found myself sweating profusely.

They were locked within the gate, so I paid them no heed. I found the benchmark embedded in a small concrete pedestal just to the left of the building.

To the east was Honduras.

To the south-southeast was Chinchontepec, also known as San Vincente Volcano.

To the south-southwest were El Picacho and El Boquerón, also known as San Salvador Volcano.

I had expected to find armed guards at the summit, but we were the only ones around. I guessed that all police were being mobilized elsewhere in preparation for the elections the following day.

As this was also the border of Honduras, I took the liberty to walk into the aforementioned country. I did a small loop through the forest, checking another country off my list.

We hung out at the summit for a while, enjoying the peaceful and temperate setting.

We started back down the road once we were satisfied. The cacophony of barking started up again as we passed by the building, but soon we were beyond the nuisance.

We stopped along the way to visit a second benchmark that also marked the border between El Salvador and Honduras. This was in the middle of some crops so we gingerly walked around it.

Once back at the saddle, I could finally relax and enjoy the great views.

After another long drive we arrived at the trailhead for El Picacho. There was no information of this hike online, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Here we met our local guide Chico at a roadside pupuseria at the saddle between El Picacho and El Boquerón. We started up a local trail through a coffee plantation.

-El Picacho

Chico stopped to show us some coffee beans growing alongside the trail.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker so most of the dialogue went in one ear and out the other, but I think the average cafephile would find it quite interesting.

I took note of a pointy peak along the coast, which I believe was El Peñon de Comasagua.

We stopped at a clearing where we had great views of San Salvador below.

-Chinchontepec y Lago de Ilopango

I found a rope swing here, and it felt appropriate to risk my life on it.

Chico then climbed a tree and cut off a plant with his machete. I still don’t know why.

We continued along the trail, walking past a tree stand. I don’t think this was used for hunting animals.

The trail eventually led to a road, which we followed a short distance to the radio structure at the top.

I was disappointed to say the least, so I went to the highest legally accessible point and snapped a photo.

I stood there for a while, but there was no way around it. In my mind, I tried to justify the failure as a valiant effort nonetheless. My mind raced as I walked back down the road. I wondered if I could somehow still reach the summit while staying outside of the enclosure. I asked Chico if I was allowed to try from another angle, and he hesitantly agreed suggesting that it would be fine so long as I didn't cross the fence. Before he could change his mind, I began bushwhacking up the steep and loose east facing jungle slopes towards where I expected the summit to be. Snakes and guerrillas filled the back of my mind, while in reality all I had to contend with was thick brush and garbage. It seems that some of the tower workers simply throw their trash over the fence. I pulled on small trees and avoided stepping on the empty liquor bottles. At the end I was swimming through a grassy bush, and I eventually popped out at the fence, which was also the bulldozed high point.

I snapped one last photo of Chinchontepec, Lago de Ilopango and San Salvador before descending.

What a relief! I carefully descended the steep slope, but not carefully enough. I dislodged a big boulder from underneath the dirt, and this accelerated quickly towards where the others were waiting for me. I yelled rock, but Guillermo stood there like a deer in the headlights. Luckily, this boulder flew right past him and no one was hurt. The boulder continued to thrash down the steep volcano, and it's probably still falling today. The other's looked at me as if I was some sort of lunatic, and maybe they are right.

Our descent went quickly and soon we were back down at the saddle looking up at El Picacho.

I had wanted to climb El Boquerón as well, which is the crater of the greater San Salvador Volcano, however there were some challenges. While it is possible to hike to the highest point along the crater, it's currently not the safest thing to do. Gerardo expects that in a few more years, the national park service will clean up the area, making it safer for hikers.

-Berries

Once at the bottom, we ordered some yuca and chatted with the locals.

Zach got his yuca with chicharón and I got mine with Pepescas. Zach made the smarter decision, as I got pretty sick afterwards, so for all future hikers, get the pork!

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