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joyce-stick · 1 year

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The Beef Stroganoff Song! (arbitrary subtitle discourse edition)

So, you may have noticed here that the subtitles in this clip (from Symphogear GX episode 3) are fairly different from what you're used to seeing when people post this video, and the phrasing in the subtitles is fairly different from what the associated memes often say

For those who don't know, Symphogear got itself released on blu-ray by Discotek, and with that came with a new translation authored by Noelle (@ulsairi on twitter ) who is notable for being the only trans lesbian anime translator I know of off the top of my head.

Her translation appears, in my opinion, really rather polished and very good, and I strongly appreciate the way it's written and how much character it adds to the dialogue by giving everyone distinct voices and adapting things into more natural English. It's also a fair bit gayer. I haven't encountered many people who've seen these subs, but I think most fans of the series would consider these a net positive change. There are some people who are mad about these subtitles, and they can die mad.

Anyway, let's talk about the different phrasing of the beef stroganoff song. I'm mostly going to compare to Crunchyroll's subtitles for reference since that seems to be what most others go off of. Here's a link to that version.

So right off the bat we can see here that while CR's translation appears to be a lot more, for lack of a better word, functional, Noelle's translation tries to apply more dialectal force "it's beef stroganoff/Yes! It's THAT beef stroganoff!" And generally communicate through the tone how excited the girls are to get started. Additionally you'll see throughout that the latter is a fair bit more lyrical, there's a lot more punctuation and verbal tics and filler phrases written into the dialogue to express that they are singing, which makes sense since Japanese tends to omit a lot of the sorts of prepositions that Noelle threw in here,

Like, Yumi (yes I went and looked up her name on the wiki) just says "beef stroganoffu" because it's obvious from context that it is beef stroganoff, she doesn't need to spell it out, at least, not in Japanese

(We know like maybe ten hiragana and 1 kanji do not trust us on Japanese this is all just basic shit we learned from online guides)

So this probably leads to a rushed translator from Crunchyroll (they are notoriously crunched for time) who's just trying to Get It Done probably not really bothering to throw in extra additional connecting letters to express the tone of the character, only doing so when it's required to make basic grammatical sense in the target language. So they likely didn't think to make the subtitles have flourishes like this that aren't explicitly in the original Japanese. Noelle meanwhile had the time to consider things like this and take such liberties in order to attempt to convey the same tone that was arguably implied by the Japanese, even if not explicitly put forth

And that's about all the things I should not repeat I guess, TL;DR, these subtitles are more fun to read because the translator had more time to think about the best way to make them more fun while still being accurate to the spirit of the original dialogue, who'd have thought!

(In case you're wondering, the Commie subtitles say kind of the same thing here, and y'know, it doesn't seem like a wrong translation, but also I really dislike this subtitle styling, orange on pink with that font and that drop shadow is just kinda bad. I appreciate the effort but like. Come on. Please fansubbers, please think about if the font and colors you chose actually work with the image you're putting them on)

Moving on!

horizontal and middle rhyme with each other so you can almost actually sing this, actually let me take a moment to try it right now- never mind, I can't sing. Hahaha. I don't actually think it lines up that well with the melody But I thought it did! Didn't I? That's significant, that this actually reads like plausible lyrics to a silly song someone made up instead of a literal translation of a Japanese song

Anyway, here comes the first major difference!

So in the Crunchyroll subtitles, Yumi says "it doesn't have to be beef" which in English (in my estimation) sounds a tad scatterbrained, like, "oh yeah sure beef but whatever really it doesn't actually matter," while Noelle's subtitles rather say "Got no beef? Don't you worry!" Which implies something different.

"It is recommended to use beef, but you may substitute something else if you are sorely lacking in beef" as opposed to "Oh the beef doesn't actually matter, zoinks lol!" CR's translation is kind of a bit funnier in how it sorta comes from nowhere without this qualification, which probably lead to this phrase's memeticness, but Noelle's translation seems more reasonable to me so yeah again, tada, yay for sensicalness.

Now here's another interesting change:

Again, the flat manner in which the CR subtitles say "finish with salt" with rendezvous only being included because that's literally what they said, is sort of absent any stronger emotional implication,

Noelle's translation meanwhile going with "don't forget them, they need it" imparts personhood upon the salt and pepper. The implication being that the girls are saying, "the salt and pepper are in love, please reunite them, they must be in gay love together." Or maybe you think the salt and pepper cannot be forgotten and must be reunited because they are Only Friends.

Whether you choose to believe that this is the salt and pepper getting married, or merely subtext, or an interpretation, or salt and pepper shipping bait, this is a deeply important tonal indicator because it reminds you that these girls are ultimately playing with their food!

"And there, now you're in for a treat!" I don't think I need to explain this one.

Now, here's an interesting one!

In the Crunchyroll subtitles, it just says the memetic "boys don't know this." With no context, no elaboration, no clarity, no qualifiers. Boys don't know. Did the boys magically get their brains wiped? Are the boys biologically incapable? Who knows. Nothing is said but that.

Noelle's subtitles, on the other hand, qualify this statement by saying "Boys aren't taught to cook, so they may not know" (And note again how, it says "kno-ow" to emphasize, once more, that they're singing, and also this lines up with the long "ooooo" sound they make at the end of this lyric, so cool)

There is now context! Boys aren't taught to cook! Anime and Japan's culture in general still pigeonholes people into gender roles! And an anime translator just wrote you a hidden translation note about it! You might be a boy, you might know how to cook, but certain boys in another part of the world aren't traditionally taught cooking, so they may not know

They may not, but they could!

Trust a trans person to express gender facts with subtle nuances like this in anime translations.

And with that lovely bit of good translation and good writing and good localization of a thing to make it make sense to people

Mew!

#symphogear #symphogear gx #beef stroganoff #translation discourse #boys dont know this #(or rather THEY MAY not)#(but could if they were told how!)#you know it from anime and manga #audrey (of the joystick system) posts

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bookremedies · 5 months

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For the aspiring novelist: Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murikami

After my first novel writing attempt 9 years ago I stayed away from creative writing altogether. That was back in my mid-twenties after years of blogging and short story writing.

James Patterson had just released his Masterclass "James Patterson Teaches Writing" and after working my way through some of the lessons, I decided to try turning one of my sci-fi story ideas into a novel length work.

I now realise that the story lacked substance to go the distance of a novel but at the time I couldn't understand why it was so hard to slow the pace of the story down.

Some stories are just not supposed to be novels.

I had headed straight to the keyboard to flesh out the first chapter but found myself rewriting the same part of the book over and over again.

It was miserable writing and at the time I'd thought to myself "Really, what is the point anyway? It''s not like anyone is going to publish this." Not long after, I launched my first business which took up a lot of my time and creative juices.

So that was that. I put the story aside (I actually have no idea where it went...) and turned my attention to the world of business and marketing.

Despite feeling the tug to write again numerous times, it wasn't until I read this book late last year that I truly understood where I'd gone wrong all those years ago, and what I needed to do differently if I were to turn my attention to writing once again.

Needless to say, "Novelist as a Vocation" by Haruki Murikami was a game changer for me.

In a nutshell, what Murikami helped me realise was that novel writing was much more about habit, routine, patience and practice than it was about perfect prose, artistic torment and sheer talent.

And contrasting with James Patterson's approach of gathering, planning and structure, Murikami's method of "clocking in and clocking out" to fulfil a quota of written pages each day just made sense for the way I like to work.

I'm also grateful that I read this book during time away from work whilst traveling and in need of a creative outlet. I'd just wrapped up my business and had been accepted for a new full-time job (a job that would allow me to keep my evenings and weekends free to continue my creative pursuit). So as I read, I began to write and I could understand in my own practice what Murikami was explaining from his experience.

For instance, instead of being in the analytical, research mindset, I found myself adopting a free flow style of words pouring out onto the page. I let the characters appear and make the decisions and began to experience the joy of allowing the story to write itself.

I understand what Murikami means when he talks about being a "faithful scribe" to the events playing out in his mind - that's what writing feels like to me now and it's so much fun!

I have not yet experienced writer's block during writing the first 6 chapters of my new novel (WIP): "Children of the Gods" (@childrenofthegodsau) and I attribute this to what I learnt from this work.

A word of warning though. If you're reading NAAV in the English translation (I cannot speak for the original Japanese or other language translations) you may, like me, find the almost exclusive adoption of the "he" pronoun used for "the novelist" to be incredibly grating.

Occasionally an "or she" is thrown in but sadly there is not a single singular "they" pronoun used throughout the work. If you can get past that (honestly a struggle and distraction for me at many points when reading) there are many gold nuggets to extract from this book.

And of course, whilst there is no such thing as a silver bullet, I do believe that for many aspiring novelists out there, this book is bound to be helpful in one way or the other.

Truly grateful to Murikami for sharing these insights!

Happy Reading!

Loz

#book review #haruki murakami #novelist #writers block #writerscommunity #novel writing #writing tips #writers community #writers corner #book recommendations #book reccs

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gemsofgreece · 1 year

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https://twitter.com/nonregemesse/status/1665090309636644866?t=Wam_pcFXnis0kcl45Kg2Uw&s=19

Welp even Brits can't escape this nonsense. Teaching at universities that an important part of England history isn't real to make it anti racist?? How is it anyway??

In general i think it's some false stereotypes that has to do with skin colour otherwise i don't know why people in Europe view parts of their history as racist (and i fear USA started it).

I saw it when you sent it to me but now the Twitter link seems to have been taken down, so I found the Telegraph article on Reddit (because it’s behind a paywall in their own website)

I would like to comment on your use of the word “even��. Western Europe has been way more submissive to the expansion of American wokeness and it has been a few years it largely inflicts itself on it. It is not like in the east, where this is still more like an external trend we try to resist to, it has largely been embraced there. Of course we are talking about the problematic, hugely toxic new movement that has lost all sense and respect for historical truth in its effort to establish equality and justice in the very special and one-sided way it alone understands it. I am obviously not talking about any well-based, founded and studied movements for inclusivity of all groups of people or the respect and support of their rights in our lifetimes, which is CRUCIAL.

Back to the article, apparently Anglo-Saxons did not exist according to the University of Cambridge and the reason behind their non-existence is an attempt to stop nationalistic sentiment of British-born people claiming an Anglo-Saxon ancestry, therefore suggesting they originate from tribes coming from North and Central Europe, and therefore being white by heritage. Of course the Anglo-Saxons are one of the historical groups that make the genetic make-up of the old Brits, not the original or the exclusive one. I don’t understand why Cambridge feels the need to lower its IQ by 100 points and self-inflict a blow in its reputation just to converse with the potential dimwits who might feel superior for may or may not having some part Anglo-Saxon descent (also how can this be proved anyway?). But this is the problem with wokeness: instead of rising intellectually above its opponents, it falls on their level, except from the other side. The results are laughably sad, like in this case.

On the other hand, maybe the article is sensationalising (or the University is exaggerating) the fact that the Anglo-Saxons were more of a cultural group that developed any sort of unity after establishing themselves for long in Britain and not prior to that. They usually landed there in large spans of time as small groups of people migrating from NC Europe without any particular ethnic unity and sense of identity. It’s not like a full blown nation called “Anglo-Saxons” landed there and took Britain by force. From the little reading I did anyway, I am not all that knowledgeable on English history, even though it is fascinating and I would love to learn more in the future.

In any case, it’s evident by its arguments that the University did this for political reasons and not for reasons of exhaustive historical accuracy. And again it’s a different thing to say Anglo-Saxons were not like what the nationalists paint them to be from saying they never existed at all.

In the Reddit thread, someone has reposted the whole article.

Also spot on Greek-relevant comment in this thread under the cut:

🙃

#history #Middle Ages #European history #anti woke #anon #mail #not Greece related

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loveletterworm · 1 year

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Sonic Forces (2017) was, arguably, the only game in the Sonic series to be produced during a period where the “two worlds” canon (a retcon that claimed that the animal characters and humans in the series lived in 2 entirely separate dimensions and characters simply went between these worlds off screen between games (deeply conflicting with prior material to the point where entire plots of games no longer made sense) which itself has now also been retconned so it is no longer true) was in place and to be made with this context specifically in mind. (I personally have argued that the actual case is that the writers of Forces forgot a human population was previously shown to exist in the series and hastily made the two worlds retcon to attempt to justify the sudden lack of humans after someone pointed it out, but for the sake of this post we will act as if they originally intended two worlds in the first place)

Sonic Forces was also, as my friend recently informed me, the first game where there was an attempt to imply that the world the game took place in (at the time of the game’s creation allegedly an ambiguous “Sonic’s world”) had it’s own language distinct from any human one. (Apparently the recent Sonic Prime show is also attempting to do something similar to this, however I disagree with the idea that this concept would ever work for this specific series for reasons I’ll get into the moment)

This isn’t really unusual of a concept for a game to have, especially one that was, for a brief period of time, attempting to take place in a world entirely distinct and separate from any human world. Splatoon, for example, famously gives Inklings their own language with subtitles to “translate” spoken dialogue, as those games take place in a setting where humans are extinct and thus any human language being used would make no sense.

However, the problem with suddenly making up a new language to be commonly used in the universe of the Sonic games is that, as they only started trying to do this decades into the series, when put to scrutiny they must now constantly bump into the issue that human languages already are known to exist and be actively used within the game universe, and have been commonplace throughout the series. (Usually English, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Japanese showed up at some point as well, and I’ve been told that in the opening of Sonic and the Secret Rings that Sonic is reading the Arabian Nights in Arabic but I am not familiar enough with the Arabic alphabet to verify myself)

This clear in-universe presence of the English language essentially confirms that the Sonic characters speaking human languages is not a Splatoon-type matter of their language being translated for the viewer -- they must be actively speaking these languages in universe.

Thus, in the specific setting that only Sonic Forces (as the only two worlds canon game) tries to present, there is a harrowing implication: Contact with the human world has driven the native language of the magic talking animal world to near extinction -- even when in their own world and not in the presence of any human, the magic talking animals do not speak their magic animal language in conversation and use human language instead. Their distinct language remains only on signage, so its written form survives, but for how long can it? Will it be practical and accessible to learn the written form when the spoken form is gone? The literal Rosetta stone may exist in the Sonic universe now as of Frontiers, but it was unaccounted for in 2017 and thus we don’t know if it existed in the once-briefly-intended two worlds canon.

Of course two worlds was a terrible idea that made most of the series not make sense so they retconned it before the next mainline game could come out and the humans and animals all live on the same planet again, so that specific scenario is presumably no longer the case. But for a brief span of time, it was the only logical conclusion of the world presented by Sonic Forces. Thank you for your time

#mypost #sth #I love doing stupid as fuck analysis on the most specific nitpicky topic ever unprompted its really funny to me #long post #sorry.

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theprincientist · 2 years

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Practice What You Preach - Black Representation Challenge

THE ORIGINAL POST YOU CAN REBLOG HERE

On August 8th I made a post called "Black Art" about representation.

It was based on a video I saw on the internet by a black creative the challenged us to stop fighting for positive representation by painting white stories black.

The argument they posed was that It gives the false idea that we are represented when in reality we are not. We keep on replaying white stories.

There is the barbie and the black barbie. There is a cinderella and a black cinderella. There is a little mermaid and a black little mermaid.

The beauty standard still remains and although we are being represented it is still a sub-category.

Instead of wanting every white story to be a black version we should instead fill in the gaps in our historical memory and learn about real black queens and queens that would inspire us.

And watch ORIGINAL black movies, black superheroes, black princesses. Real black stories.

They then posed the challenge I recently finished and proposed you do with me:

"To have true representation in the media we need to seek and create our own stories and find our own positive black role models. On our terms.

The video then posed a challenge for me I propose to you as well.

We often speak of being descendants of kings and queens. The challenge: find one black king and queen in African history. Learn about their lives and accomplishments.

See a movie that was written, produced and played by black actors. It can be a movie from any country. There is a variety of them with subtitles.

Search for the history of one African Kingdom (there were many). Read about it. You'll be surprised."

Practice What You Preach - The Challenge: Part 1

- African King

I started the research in my own African country to find queens and kings. The Portuguese claim the island of Sao Tome and Principe was inhabited before they founded it. So there is no record.

But I discovered King Amador. He was a king that rose from revolution. The attempts to erase him were many, but we remember our heroes and celebrate them to this day.

He has his own statue, he is printed in the local money and a holiday is celebrated after him. A snippet of His story below:

King Amador in 1595 gathered half of the black population of the island (at the time enslaved) and led a revolution.

The revolution lasted from July 9th to July 29th where most of the plantations and sugar machinery were destroyed.

He bravely fought 3 battles with a population larger than the colonizers but heavily underarmed. The colonizers also had the help of enslaved men.

The last battle on July 28th was lost, but the sugar plantation and commerce in the island were never the same and declined after.

Read The Full History Here: choose English option on the top left corner

Things I learned:

My people were brave despite how white history describes them. It is ESSENTIAL to seek out history and positive role models in that history. To fill in the memory blanks we have where only the word slavery exists.

Our history did not start there and will not end there. We should learn from it because the biggest impact slavery left - racism - still lives and affects us all.

Even if our life is comfortable and we have access to everything we need, racism in that comfort remains. Knowing our history is our superpower to black empowerment.

One man can change everything. His impact can live on for many years and inspire for decades.

I remembered a quote: "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." - Alice Walker

Imagine if Amilcar Cabral, Patrice Lumumba, King Amador or anyone who fought for independence thought they had no power. They would be right on the side of the colonizer.

Many times we choose not to try because we think it is too hard. Remember that our ancestors had to get through so that we can be free today.

Recognize racism, how it looks like, and how it manifests. Education does not stop discrimination but it stops you from believing it. From self-hate.

Our power today lies in self-empowerment. In education, in advocating for change and justice in whichever amount we can.

Maybe it's a like on anti-racist content, maybe it's writing an email. Supporting a black-owned business or protesting. Setting boundaries at home and work from colourism speech. All those levels are powerful.

Don't be afraid to be your black self. It will inspire others to do the same.

In the fight for black freedom and emancipation, there are those who rather join the side of the oppressor for their own individual comfort. Not everyone is pro-black. Recognize their speech and actions. Don't be fooled. Act accordingly.

Part 2 Coming Soon - African Queen

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cincodenada · 2 years

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Overly-helpful phone support adventure today: tried to buy something, card got declined, my confused face lasted a few seconds before I realized "oh, this is a non-trivial purchase from an international seller, they're preemptively blocking it" and, foolishly, decided I would be proactive and just call in to tell them yes this is me the human who the card belongs to, please let me buy the thing.

So, after accidentally mangling my card number in the automated system, I explained the situation to a friendly, methodical support rep who gathered my card number and the requisite tokens of my identity. They asked if the problematic transaction was the $20 of pastries and tea from Ken's Bakeshop, the bakery two blocks from my house where for years I have regularly bought more pastries per visit than is strictly reasonable for one human, because they all look good and decisions are hard and hey I can always eat them later.

I informed my new friend that no, Kenneth was not the problem, it was instead the transaction one order of magnitude up, from [company with non-English-sounding name]. Our friend found the transaction no problem, and while they were explaining to me that they would have to transfer me to the fraud verification department, my phone told me I was receiving an incoming call.

The call was, indeed, the fraud verification department trying to call me, so I asked my friend if I should answer it, but they were not expecting this question and my time window of a half-dozen rings closed.

Then I noticed that the fraud department had also texted me and I could reply "Y", which I did, resulting in a reply telling me my card should be good to retry, thanks for your business, &c.

At this point, my problem was solved. I went back and clicked the button again, purchase went through, all was good with the world. Except that while I was doing all that, my new phone friend had opened some sort of note on my account that would allow me to successfully complete my transaction, and they needed more information.

I tried to tell them that I had actually gotten the automated text, the system worked, the charge went through, all good on my end, but they had started this account note fraud resolution process and by damn they were going to finish it.

The information they needed, turns out, was what country this company was in. Heck if I know, they're from the Internet, why do I care? So I go back to click around. Contact info doesn't give a clear country of origin, name is non-English but not immediately localizable, from searches they of course have subsidiaries in various countries.

I try to explain again that my problem is actually solved already, and my helpful friend acknowledges, then asks again for the country. I sigh and dig through the web trying to figure out which country is the Correct One despite the fact that it doesn't matter in the least because it's going to go into some note intended to help the fraud department pre-approve a transaction that has already succeeded. My friend waits patiently.

Eventually I pick a country more or less at random, and after three attempts of increasing annunciation the rep dutifully adds "Switzerland" to their note. As they do so, I think to check the transaction description, and realize that the FR at the end very likely means "France". I mutter something about this towards the phone, and then feel immediate regret when I realize it doesn't matter and we've got Switzerland in the bag already.

Fortunately my rep was busy clicking whatever buttons were next on their list and didn't hear me, having moved on to methodically explaining that I will now be transferred to the fraud department to assist me with my transaction. They carefully read out the number to get back to them if I get disconnected.

Having completed said transaction a good ten minutes prior by this point, I read along on the back of my card as they give me the number I had called to reach them in the first place. Nothing wrong with being thorough, I suppose.

When I was reasonably sure that my friend had successfully handed the call off as a job well done and moved onto their next mission, I quickly hung up before the fraud department could answer. Best to nip that one in the bud before I have to open a conversation with someone by explaining why I don't actually need to talk to them.

This is at least a lesson learned: when the fraud robots get worried and block your purchases from Switzerland, best to deal with the robots directly. They will be in contact shortly.

#silly #long post #phone support #adventures in ecommerce #conflict avoidant? me?#I would never endure an extended period of unnecessary inconvenience to avoid making someone possibly feel a little bit bad #that would be silly #writing #I guess #I don't really think of myself as a writer but I do like telling stories #so here's whatever this is

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darnedchild · 2 years

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I watched ‘Murder Most Horny’ so you don’t have to

The year is 1946 and this is Murder Most Horny. Jasper Peacock hosts a party at his English country manor house and amongst the guest are Hollywood stars, a decorated military captain, the adopted daughter of Jasper and his wife, and the local randy vicar. As Jasper gets drunk, the cracks in his relationships become clear - even the maid has a reason to have a vendetta. So when someone stabs him in the heart, it really could have been any one of the houseguests. Inspector Harrington arrives to get to the bottom of Jasper's sticky end and finds that all the guests have more than one reason to feel guilty.

Let me start by saying that I did not just randomly decide to force my husband to watch murder mystery porn with me for funsies. We did it for science.

Also because I fell down an IMDB/wiki rabbit hole while talking about the existence of a Sherlock themed porn parody with my fellow Sherlolly peeps on Discord and ‘Murder Most Horny’ was the end result.

Originally I was going to live blog this masterpiece to my fellow Discordians but things happened and I ended up handwriting my multiple pages of notes at two in the morning instead. Rather than spamming the channel, I’m just going to compile the highlights here for everyone who foolishly clicks on the ‘Keep Reading’ to enjoy.

Now on to ‘Murder Most Horny’...

1) We open with the silhouette of a very Downton Abbey-ish looking home covered in a night-time photoshop filter from the late ‘90s.

Peacock Manor 1946

2) Oh, we’re jumping right to the smut, no warning or anything. Okay. So we’ve got a maid and the butler going at it in a hall. But wait, that’s not the butler.

That’s the Man of the House - Jasper Peacock. Already, I can tell he’s a douche canoe.

Cecilia the Maid reminds her boss that she’s got a job to do and, you know, they’re in the middle of the hall where anybody could see them. She obviously would prefer to be anywhere but there, with anyone but Peacock.

Peacock threatens to fire her for not sleeping with him. Potential Motive?

3) Peacock joins the others - a Filmmaker and Starlet, a Captain, a Vicar, the Stepdaughter (who I feel the need to stress is an adult), Mrs Peacock, and the actual Butler - in the drawing room. Am I going to end up having to use those titles so I can remember who everyone is? Yes, I am.

The Captain is telling the Starlet and Filmmaker all about the one time he single highhandedly fought off some Nazis. Starlet suggests the Captain can be a consultant on the new movie.

Peacock is very drunk, disheveled, and belligerent. Douche canoe.

They’re all attempting to do their best period British accents by clenching their teeth really hard when they talk. It’s very distracting.

You know what else is distracting? I’m pretty sure this shooting location is a commercial property because there is one of those metal strike plate/automatic door closer things on the door to keep it from slamming shut.

Peacock implies the Vicar has a thing for young ladies. Potential Motive?

Everyone leaves, which annoys that adorable drunkard Peacock. Mrs Peacock suggests they all left because Peacock is a jerk. She is probably not wrong.

4) Cecilia the Maid approaches Peacock in the hall, again.

It’s a very popular hall. Possibly the only one they have permission to film in?

Cecilia is willing to do anything to keep her job. Obviously this means kitchen sex.

The camera is very careful to focus on only the one corner of the kitchen. I wonder if that’s because of the light set-up. When you don’t care about the smut, you might start to wonder about things like lighting and set design. Do you think they really had under cabinet recessed lighting in 1946?

Ever wondered what Darth Vader talking dirty would sound like? I didn’t. But I’m pretty sure it would sound exactly like Jasper Peacock trying to be hot during this smut scene that will never end.

Best/worst dialogue ever, “You’re a thoroughbred filly.” Because she’s sitting on his lap? I don’t know. I didn’t write this stuff.

In the middle of all this... action... we briefly cut to an older guy standing outside the window, like a creeper, watching Peacock and Cecilia do their thing, like a creeper. Is that the Butler? I’m going to assume that’s the Butler, even though I paid absolutely no attention to his face in the group scene earlier.

I have never seen someone look so utterly bored as Cecilia looks right now.

I was wrong, the best/worst dialogue is actually, “Oh yes, get ready to take your Master’s seed.”

Thankfully, the smuttening ends and Peacock wanders off to do whatever douche canoe thing he’s going to do next.

5) Suddenly, there is an off screen ‘wharglebargle’ scream from the hall and Jasper Peacock is no more.

Murder! Finally!

6) Time jump forward to Inspector Harrington trying to get to the bottom of Peacock’s murder.

He’s gathered everyone in the drawing room to ask his questions.

As the last person to see Peacock alive, Cecilia the Maid goes first. She says Captain Trevor Mustard and the Starlet Lauren Day were standing over the body by the time she finished getting herself together and entered the hall.

7) Captain Trevor tells the Inspector that Filmmaker Jack Hamilton - an action star whose latest movie is being financed by Peacock - had spoken to Peacock in private and returned very upset.

8) Flashback - In his room, Captain Trevor reminisces with Mary the Maid (who is different from Cecilia the Maid) about the good old days when Peacock got stinking drunk and tried to fall off the roof or something equally stupid and dangerous. Trevor says he’s going to check on Peacock. He gets distracted by Starlet Lauren in the hall and they agree to look for Peacock together. He’s not difficult to find as they overhear him committing dozens of health violations through the kitchen door.

Please lord, do not make us listen to the entirety of Darth Vader getting his groove on again.

Thankfully, they creep into the nearest room to defile a couch. It’s a really nice-looking couch. Red with a tasteful cream/white floral pattern.

My husband just pointed out that our cat makes the same noises the actress is making right before she throws up a furball. The cat, not the actress. I’m assuming.

I question the historical accuracy of Starlet Lauren’s nether region piercings, but my husband suggests I google it. The wiki rabbit hole says it’s possible, so I stand corrected.

My husband also reminds me that the remote means we can fast forward through the boring bits (smut). He’s a very smart man.

Coincidentally, Starlet Lauren and Captain Trevor reach their big finish just seconds before Peacock issues his completely realistic death cry.

9) Inspector Harrington asks Filmmaker Jack Hamilton what he’d been talking to Peacock about that upset him so. Yes, Jack, we’re all dying to know.

10) Flashback - Peacock drags Filmmaker Jack into the hall to tell him that he’s changed his mind and will no longer be funding the movie. Jack tries to remind Peacock of their old friendship. Peacock does not have time for that nonsense and threatens to expose Jack’s past working in gay porn to all his action hero adoring lady fans. Potential Motive?

Jack grabs a butter knife - A BUTTER KNIFE - off a nearby hall table (wtf?) and is about two seconds away from stabbing Peacock in the back when Peacock storms into the dining room... and finds the Vicar and Stepdaughter Stephanie Scarlett.

11) Flashback - Filmmaker Jack hears Peacock threaten the Vicar’s position in the church for being inappropriate with his Stepdaughter. Potential motive? Again?

I honestly have no clue what was going on, but my best guess is that the Vicar was attempting to either bless or exorcise demons from Stepdaughter Stephanie’s breasts.

12) Flashback - Filmmaker Jack also overhears Peacock threaten to cut Stepdaughter Stephanie from the will because she’s slept with EVERYONE ELSE they know (you go, girl) but not him. Peacock shuts the door in Jack’s face and Jack leaves because he’s not a creeper. Unlike certain older men who may or may not have been the Butler.

13) Flashback - Stepdaughter Stephanie agrees to have sex with Peacock in exchange for staying in the will. Peacock tells her to “Call me Daddy”. I do not know if she actually does because I remembered the fast forward button. I’m just assuming any dialogue while they are naked is not going to further the plot.

Post extremely repetitive sex, she asks Peacock not to tell anyone. He assures her that he fully plans to tell anyone and everyone. Potential motive?

14) Filmmaker Jack tells Inspector Harrington that he briefly spoke to Starlet Lauren (before she hooked up with Captain Trevor, just so we’re all following the same timeline) about losing the funding and then went for a walk outside. While outside, he saw the Vicar looking shifty through a window. Later on, when they all gathered around the dead body, he saw that the Vicar had blood all over his hands.

I would have thought that might be an important detail to mention earlier, but what do I know?

15) The Vicar tells the room at large – and the Inspector specifically - that he has sinned, but it wasn’t murder.

I feel as if something vaguely important to this character’s development ended up on the cutting room floor. Are we missing a flashback or something?

16) Out of nowhere, Inspector Harrington suddenly asks the Butler why he was in Mrs Peacock’s room.

The Butler drops his stuffy teeth-clenched accent and tells everyone he’s been having an affair with the Lady of the House. He makes that creepy ‘fava beans and a nice chianti’ Hannibal Lecter slurping noise and says Mrs Peacock is a tease.

Eww.

17) Flashback - We’re back to the group scene in the drawing room from earlier, only this time Mrs Peacock has her hand behind her back, holding on to the Butler’s bits like they do this every day, while they have a casual conversation about the wine. I did not need to see that. I did NOT need to see that.

Does anyone in this film wear underpants? Flies open, tallywhackers hanging out at the drop of a hat. Isn’t anyone afraid they’re going to get something stuck in a zipper?

Mrs Peacock and the Butler sneak off for the shortest PG13 “sex scene” in porn history. No nudity this time. Thank you, lord.

Mary the Maid (who is still not Cecilia) creeps out of hiding just as Mrs Peacock coyly scoots back upstairs. Mary apologizes for witnessing That Which Should Remain Unseen.

The Butler says it’s alright. Don’t worry. It’s not their (the servants?) fault, the rich people are just insatiable.

What?

18) Flashback – Mrs Peacock and the Butler have both returned to the drawing room in time for drunk and disheveled Peacock to arrive and everyone else leave.

Quick timeline recap – At this point Peacock has encountered Cecilia the Maid in the hall for the first time (but not the second), revoked funding from Filmmaker Jack, threatened the Vicar for getting up close and personal with Stepdaugher Stephanie, blackmailed Stephanie, and accused the Vicar of being into young ladies (he was probably talking about Stephanie – who, I must stress again – is an adult because that would be an entirely different level of eww if she wasn’t) and returned to the drawing room to exchange barbs with his wife.

Filmmaker Jack has not told Starlet Lauren about the money, and she has not dragged Captain Trevor downstairs for naked times.

19) Flashback - Mrs Peacock and the Butler retire to her room for their nightly shenanigans. Mary the Maid knocks on the door to bring something to Mrs Peacock, who is standing around topless with her Butler as rich women in porn often do. I’m assuming.

Behind Mary is the Vicar, hanging around in the hall, peeping through the slowly closing door. The Vicar has joined the creeper club.

I think I just figured out the Vicar’s pervy sin, maybe he’s a voyeur. Still doesn’t explain the blood on the hands thing Filmmaker Jack mentioned.

Mrs Peacock asks the Butler what he thinks about Mary and he says, “She’s hiding something under her clothes.” What? I mean... what?

Anyway, they make her get naked in a thinly veiled excuse for the requisite lesbian scene.

20) Flashback - At some point - I don’t know when because I was heavily relying on the fast forward button during all smut ever since Starlet Lauren and Captain Trevor tried to ruin a perfectly good sofa - the Butler left Mrs Peacock and Mary the Maid to do their thing. Did he see the Vicar still lurking about outside the door when he left, or had the Vicar given up and gone to look for something else to feel guilty about? Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure.

This is the point where the Butler was wandering around outside earlier (Why is everyone outside?) and saw Peacock and Cecilia the Maid doing things in places that are going to require the real commercial property owners to thoroughly bleach before they cater any special events.

Then Peacock disappeared into the hall and dies. Yay.

21) Flashback - Upstairs, Mrs Peacock and Mary the Maid finish their tryst just in time to hear... you guessed it... the cry of the dying Peacock.

22) At this point, I had to pause the movie to have a serious discussion with my husband. Assuming no one is lying about seeing or being with someone else at the exact time of the murder, we’ve only got three suspects left. Filmmaker Jack, the Vicar, and Stepdaughter Stephanie. All three have a motive.

Possibly, we are thinking about this too hard.

23) Back to the investigation. The Butler tells Inspector Harrington that Peacock was an idiot and probably killed himself.

24) Oh. Oh no. They wouldn’t. They absolutely would not.

25) They do.

Constable Hobbs, who has been kneeling next to a dead Jasper Peacock for most of this movie even though I never mentioned him before, has been doing the saddest impression of someone from CSI 1946. I don’t think he’s uttered a single line of dialogue in this entire movie. Until now.

He’s been dusting for finger prints (on what?) and... dun dun DUNNN... they belong to Peacock, himself.

Again, what?

26) The stupidest death EVER is explained – Here’s what happened.

Peacock finishes his kinky Darth Vader kitchen moment and gets a little peckish. He grabs a piece of bread, a butter knife, and a bit of butter as he leaves. In a drunken accident, he falls while attempting to walk and butter bread at the same time. He falls, stabbing himself in the heart with the butter knife, and dies. With a butter knife.

No, I will not let that go.

BUTTER. KNIFE.

27) The cops know this because they find a slice of buttered bread laying under the body.

Accidental death. Mystery solved. Show's over. Pack it up, everybody, it’s time to go home.

And the cops leave.

28) But wait, there’s more!

Once the cops leave, Filmmaker Jack turns to the others and says, “Do you think he suspects anything?”

Or something like that, I missed the exact words because I was still bitterly mumbling about death by butter knife.

29) The ‘Clue’ ending - But here’s what REALLY happened.

Everything the others told Inspector Harrington was true up until the final moments between Cecilia the Maid and Peacock in the kitchen.

Douche Canoe Peacock tells Cecilia he’s going to fire her anyway and leaves the kitchen. In a rage, she grabs a paring knife (THANK YOU) and stabs Peacock. She’s still leaning over Peacock, red handed, when everyone else rushes into the hall.

Mrs Peacock and the Butler, knowing a good thing when it falls dead onto the floor, make silent eye contact and nod at each other.

The Butler comforts the maid and tells her everything will be alright. Presumably, everyone else is on board with this.

Everyone scatters to prepare their stories and the Butler stages the most ridiculous accidental death scene ever, then calls the police.

The end.

For real this time.

30) After discussing it with my husband, we give the plot of ‘Murder Most Horny’ a 6/10. There is a mystery to follow. We did spend more than a few minutes trying to figure out who did it.

We gave the porn 2/10. My husband said you shouldn’t be reminded of that scene from ‘Family Guy’ when the dad rolls around hissing because he’d gotten hurt while you’re watching people have sex. I said that while OG Star Wars has not been completely ruined for me, it has been tainted.

I also deducted a point for the geriatric winky I had to see because I wasn’t fast enough with the remote. Nothing wrong with senior citizens having a sex life, but that’s a specific niche of smut that I did not sign up for at this particular stage of my life.

#darnedhild rambles #what did i watch?#it does what it says on the tin #tw: noncon #he's skeevy

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limi-pie · 2 years

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About TTORW Min Yoongi fanfiction

Alright, this is my third attempt💀 to write this f*cking darn update post but Tumblr keeps crashing on me and my f*cking ass! 💀💀💀

Erhmm, so this is super awkward for me🤠 to write and explain myself. But my bestie called me out for my whack behavior. Anyways, so you’ve probably been wondering about what’s been going on with me or the Mafia fanfiction I’ve been writing. I’ll explain in detail what happened under the ‘keep reading’.

Let me start by saying yes, I’m the author of the mafia-au Min Yoongi fanfiction “The taste of Red Wine” aka ‘TTORW’. For those of you who may not know, she was my first ever fanfiction that I wrote. (I’m actually lowkey proud of her, ehehe.)

I believe I posted the first chapter back in the 2020 summer, I was extremely sad and unmotivated to do anything (I believe we all were due to covid and quarantine, but I also lowkey have summer sadness) so as the smart individual I am🤓 I began reading K-pop fanfictions or even watch them on Youtube at 2 or even 4 AM instead of sleeping💀 (mind you at that time I had also just received a new full-time job at a cafe lmfao I kept f*cking my sleeping schedule so hard, ahaha.🤠)

I’m sorry letter

So yeah, first of let me apologize to those who’ve been reading TTORW and been waiting patiently for part 9 or an update. I’m usually not the type to write or update anyone on social media at least about my whereabouts or hiatus, so I just usually just disappear without telling or explaining it to anyone. Sorry about that it’s a bad habit and I’m a bad person for doing so. But I owe you an explanation and I’ve finally pulled myself to get to write this long a*s post!

Where it all started

I originally posted a prologue to that story before part 1, but I deleted it. I think it was due to the many grammar errors in it or because I thought it was awful who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So yeah back then I would regularly post each new chapter at least once a week? Even though it had like 8000+ grammar errors, no f*cking spacing, improper English, and it was awfully written too💀

I thought being a “great” fanfiction writer was to post or update frequently despite how badly structured or written it was. I thought to myself, this is sumn good sh*tz🤓 at 3 AM posting without even reading through it several times before posting it.

Also, maybe the fact the “Y/N” I created in this story is a woman of color and I thought fanfiction writing is a lot of fun. And I sorta wanted to give a unique personality or at least write her differently in contrary to the typical shy and quiet Y/N. (nothing’s wrong with that type of Y/N I just wanted something else or at least I tried to write a different Y/N.)

Another thing, since I’m a multi fan I find it very fascinating to include other idols from other groups in this mafia universe, ehehe. (I hope some of you can like see some of the small easter eggs/references🌝 I’ve placed in the chapters, ehehe.)

To be honest I actually do like writing fanfictions and I’m surprisingly very passionate about it too. I like making a plot and putting much thought into the side characters and how the dynamics affect the others too. It’s not that I stopped writing or updating on TTORW because I lost interest in fanfiction writing.

Why did you stop writing/updating on TTORW?

It’s because of several reasons I’ve listened down below.

1. I’m lowkey very insecure and often doubt myself, whenever I find myself enjoying something. I always somehow end up comparing myself to other great fanfiction writers (which you obviously shouldn’t because people are at a different level of writing and some people are obviously more experienced in writing. But I end up doing it regardless) and I end up being so harsh on myself, like saying things like “no one is going to read this or like this” or “this is extremely bad” etc. (I’m trying my best to not do that but sometimes it’s just very hard. Especially when you’re always so harsh on yourself for no reason…)

2. I’ve been super busy with work, I’m actually in the process of resigning from my old job since I’ve received a new job. This b*tch (me) keeps overworking herself because I’m a Mark Lee fan, I can’t afford to be broke and I’m planning on saving money to finally and hopefully move out or travel who knows.

3. Writing block is hitting me so hard. Sometimes I get that fire moment of just getting down and listening to my K-pop playlist and BANG! I’ve successfully written paragraphs of good Mafia/fanfiction writing. You guys don’t want to know that I have countless of long Google docs files just dedicated to NCT/BTS smut writing because I’m h*rny and can’t think about anything else than abs and f*cking… You know I might post them one day but when? I can’t answer that maybe an anon will ask me about it? Or maybe one day I will get out of my comfort zone and give in to temptation then finally I can post smut. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

4. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist. Sometimes when I’ve finally released a chapter I kept going back and forth to check if there’s something wrong with it or any wording that’s terrible. (we love bad habits in this household🤠)

5. I’m a sloth, I’m so lazy🦥 sometimes that I’m not in the mood to like to write or even think about fanfiction. Sorry about that. Also, I’ve been spending too much time on Tik Tok🦥 (it’s become a bad addiction of mine at this point.)

In conclusion

Now I’ve thought about it for a while I do plan to keep continuing and writing on “The taste of Red Wine”. To me personally, fanfiction writing isn’t about gaining the most likes and reblogs, I just do it because it’s a lot of fun and I want to keep trying in order to improve my writing skills too. I had a lot of exciting things for the story line and I’ve really looked forward to writing Y/N’s character development!🤠

I’ve read tons of good K-pop fanfiction lately here on Tumblr. I want to make a master list later when I’m home because I think it would be a great idea to keep all my chapters linked in one post. Thanks for reading and I guess for being patient, part 9 is on the way I’m expecting to release it soon.

Sincerely, Limi 💞

#Yoongi Fanfic: The Taste of Red Wine #Min Yoongi #Suga #BTS #I’ll try my best to keep updating and not just ghost you guys anymore🙏🏽#It do be like that sometimes #BTS Angst #Yoongi Imagine #Bangtan Sonyeondan #I forgot to mention that I still have no clue on how to tag things correctly or organize the genres and such...#Yoongi x Y/N #Yoongi x Reader #Mafia AU #K-pop #Kpop fanfic #Kpop fanfiction #Suga x Y/N

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mediaevalmusereads · 4 months

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The Unit. By Ninni Holmqvist (trans. Marlaine Delargy). Other Press, 2006 (English 2008).

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Series: N/A

Summary: One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty-single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries--are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders.

In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.

But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and...well, then what?

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: suicidal thoughts, sexual content, ableism

OVERVIEW: I don't remember how I came across this book, but it has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I decided to pick it up and plow through it, and boy, did I need to plow. While the premise is interesting, this book was somewhat hard to read because the writing style felt inexeprienced and uninteresting. I don't know if that's because the prose in Swedish is constructed that way or because the translation doesn't capture the feeling of the original, but regardless, I struggled to enjoy this book, so it only gets 2 stars from me.

WRITING: As I mentioned above, the writing in this book feels extremely inexperienced. The sentences don't vary much in length or construction, and there's a lot of telling over showing. There's also a lot of hedging and filter words, and descriptions are so straightforward that the author fails to create any sort of emotion or atmosphere. I know that all seems very harsh, but I can't describe the writing in any other way: it doesn't feel affective.

On top of that, the style didn't quite read in a voice that I would associate with a 50 year old narrator. This is not to say that the sentences or vocabulary should be archaic, but I felt like the voice was somewhat young.

Lastly, the level of unnecessary detail was a bit hard to absorb. Holmqvist appears to flesh out her world by adding a lot of lists: the various food items on order, the plants in the garden, the tests our protagonist undergoes. These lists are inserted into scenes that seem to have little or no purpose, perhaps only existing to show what life is like in the Unit. Personally, I didn't think all this detail didn't make the world feel any more real, nor did I get the sense that the author was trying to convey a sense of being overwhelmed by luxury. It instead just felt like a poor attempt to show how much thought Holmqvist put into imagining this place, and frankly, she doesn't do a good job creating a sense of subtle threat or dark undercurrent to all that's going on.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Dorrit Weger, a single childless woman who is whisked away to a "Unit" when she turns 50. In Dorrit's world, law states that childless, unmarried persons must submit to these Units, which use their populations to conduct "humane" scientific testing and organ donation. As Dorrit begins to settle into life on the Unit, she falls in love with a man named Johannes, and after something impossible happens, the two must decide whether to accept their fates or try to escape.

The worldbuilding of this novel is somewhat confusing. Dorrit seems to live in a world in which gender abolition has seeped into law. Gender roles, for example, seem to be illegal, and men aren't allowed to do things that "improperly" show off their strength. Dorrit is also encouraged from childhood to refuse to submit or be dependent on a man, and putting off childbearing until one's career is established is praised. At the same time, however, there are laws that designate unmarried, childless people over a certain age as unneeded, and Dorrit fetishizes being a feminine woman and submissive partner. As a result, I wasn't sure what Holmqvist was trying to critique - was it overzealous feminism? The idea of "usefulness" to society? It was never clear, and the politics seemed to contradict what I understand of feminism, leftism, and so on.

On a similar note, I felt like there was a lot of potential that simply didn't get utilized. For example, Dorrit thinks a lot about her dog, who was her closest companion before arriving at the Unit. Such a bind could have been an excellent opportunity to explore the value of relationships that aren't between married people or parents and children, but Holmqvist doesn't seize this opportunity, so Dorrit's pining feels repetitive. The same is true of the friendships Dorrit forms inside the Unit; before, Dorrit struggled to make friends because she always felt like a third wheel, but in the Unit, she finds more people like her. Again, Holmqvist doesn't seize this opportunity.

Lastly, I wasn't sure if the ending was narratively satisfying. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I can kind of see how it fits with the story. However, the author doesn't really dwell much on why Dorrit makes the decision she does, so it doesn't fully resonate with the narrative as a whole.

TL;DR: The Unit tries too hard to be a dystopia about the "usefulness" of human life but ultimately fails to be a thoughtful commentary on feminism, reproductive rights, parenthood, or any other theme it touches. Because the prose is more focused on telling than showing, it's difficult to feel invested in the protagonist and her world, and without a coherent message, it's unclear what readers are supposed to take away from the plot.

CHARACTERS: Dorrit, our protagonist, isn't exceptionally compelling, but there are some aspects to her character that make her more interesting than some. She had this strange fetish for being submissive and feminine in a world that seems to be structured against those things, but I couldn't tell what Holmqvist was trying to do with the situation. I also was never quite sure of Dorrit's beliefs. One minute, she seemed to resent being considered disposable and sneered at the concept of parenthood; the next, she seemed to fully believe that people must have a "use" for society. By the end of the book, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to get out of Dorrit's story, whether it was supposed to be a tragedy, a triumph, or something completely different.

Johannes, Dorrit's lover, was not entirely compelling either. While he was kind and gave Dorrit the sex she desired, I didn't feel like the two had an exceptionally strong emotional bond. Their relationship thus felt very surface level.

Dorrit's various friends around the Unit seemed kind, but many of them lacked depth. Elsa was probably the best written of all them, but even she was a little confusing because of her attitude towards people with children.

Even the staff at the Unit didn't make much sense to me because of the sheer number of people who were willing to bend the rules and help Dorrit. It was difficult to me that something like the Unit could exist when its own staff seemed morally opposed to its operations, and it just reinforced my belief that this story had no coherent vision.

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xoteajays · 8 months

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That depends on my dreams. Regardless if my dreams are so bizarre, sensical or nonsensical.. I always overly analyze my dreams whenever I wake up. And, if I am able to, I'd try remembering what I can actually remember from my dreams. Sometimes I would forget about aspects of my dreams, especially the most interesting aspects in my opinion.

But for any dreams that I can remember, I would write down notes, I'll probably use any ideas that seem plausible enough as a plot that may be interesting to watch or read that happen. But I'd still need to write.

Yes. Instead of episodes that are barely half an hour long, make those episodes at least an hour. Maybe longer. Everything we'd actually just said should happen.. More backstory for certain characters (including Kuryu and Warrior characters). Either a war between the SWORD and Kuryu gangs. Possibly an ally or enemy relationship with new Kuryu if that ends up happening. Revealing who or want Mr. Bulge is to them.

I might make this into a sequel. Or maybe just a long story if I actually write the damn story. Because I've had these same thoughts before.

I do think a lot of characters, from different gangs, would actually just get along if given the chance to be around those people. Which is not really an often occurrence though.. But Noboru is really used to being around people like intelligent than me, so I'm imaging how he may be reacting to meeting Seki. Seki's the least intelligent of those three.

Exactly! Sakyo and Ukyo just seem like they don't care what happens either way. So they mostly mind their own business. Kato could really keep secrets if he wants to. But, if Hyuga said or do anything that just annoys him, he would tell his secrets out of spite though. But it would be obvious that the younger Daruma accidentally mention their entire secrets frequently, more than they actually reveal too. In my opinion.

That depends on the sites you'd use. Some sites would have frequent popups whenever you'd click on the screen and other sites might end up waiting until the next episode. Every site is very different that way.

I might not mind watching a foreign show or movie without subtitles.. But only if I've watched it more than once because then I would know what was already happening in the plot. But if it's a show or movie I'm watching for the first time, I might want subtitles because I would like to know what is actually happening in the plot. I know that I'm not the fastest reader. But I would still like to know what's happening though.

I love Joong-ki's Italian accent! And if I'm actually being honest about this.. I've never had an interest in the Italian language until now. And I do blame Vincenzo for this. I know his accent is 100% - depending on the comments you'd read from Italian fans. But his accent does really have an authentic sound to that way he speaks (in my opinion). Like it is kind of funny. My grandfather's Italian. Yet a fictional character was the one that makes me want to learn more about the language. And I don't know if I would make an attempt to learn other languages.. So if I ever did learn other languages, Italian may be one of the languages.

Don't judge me.

I know Vincenzo appreciates Jang's English! Because he's actually an only character (in Korea) would can actually pronounce his name, but that can't be helped in you aren't fluent in English or Italian languages though. And I know Chayeong frequently complains whenever Jang's alternating between English and Korean when he speaks to her. She's hating his habit, but she's also kind of used to it at the same time too.

Which is why I love some of my original characters being multilingual.

Wrong! Despite Mandy being born and raised in America - before his family moved to Japan, Japanese is his native language. Which is just so weird to me since he's a mixed person... "Even though he was born outside of Japan, he was raised monolingual in Japanese and only started to study English later on in his career." Actually, there are also some videos of Takahiro teaching him to speak English too. So that is another person I know who can speak English from the Exile Tribes.

Alan's multilingual. He's mixed too. He's half Filipino. So he can speak Japanese, Tagalog and English. Never really heard his English accent.

I don't really know about in real life... But I've heard Elly speak English in H&L and in his music videos. So maybe he can speak English?

Kana Oya's half Brazilian. Her English seemed fluent in the High&Low franchise. So she might possibly be able to speak other languages.

I've also read somewhere that Naoto does speak English but I haven't actually heard him speak English.. That I actually know of anyway.

Actually.. I am sending you a link about some comments about which guys in Exile can speak English. Some are people we've already said.

Exactly! Rocky mentioned that Kizzy and Kaito lived in America when Kizzy went to get her operation. Let's say a minimum of two years. So I don't know if they actually lived there, or went there frequently when she had to get her operations. And obviously she is the more talkative one between Kizzy and Kaito.. So I can imagine her speaking English, even if her language skills are only conversational English. Now I'm so imaging her teaching Kaito, Rocky and whoever else who wants to be learning the language. Actually! Now I am imaging original characters (who are multilingual) teach Kizzy English before going to America.

Maybe Rocky wants to learn English if he meets foreign women. But.. Joking aside. Have you seen the people in the background in the club though? Not all of them are Asian. Maybe there are times when some foreigners go to Club Heaven whenever people go to Japan then? It is an idea that I've thought about before. And I'm sticking with that too.

The drinks served at Club Heaven are milky, resembling the “milk-plus” that Alex and his droogs drink at Korova Milk Bar.

The aforementioned Club Heaven posters even say “Milk Plus” right on them.

I sent you a picture of the signature drinks from Club Heaven. Which.. I have to say is funny because trying to find pictures of the drinks, I've noticed that there's an actual club called Club Heaven. Just copycats.

They should have actually made real recipes for the signature drinks - just so the older audience viewers of H&L wanted to try that drink but that could only me though. I'm so curious. I want to drink that drink if it has ingredients that I might actually want to try. I wanna try recipes though. Like how restaurants would have special menus, for food and drinks, when popular medias comes out (like they do with animanga).

there would definitely need to be longer episodes or more than just 10 episodes. i’d like to see the gangs fight again, since cobra and jesse didn’t actually get to finish their fight. and they could pit hiroto and ice against each other again. i think the rude boys would want to fight ryu since he injured smokey.

that’s why they need to make another season! since with the alliance, they can have cross-gang interactions with characters without having them fight because they’re allies now. i’d like to see rocky and noboru interact. and kizzy and cobra. i want more of smg and the daruma babies hanging out too.

i can’t watch anything without subtitles. i need to know what’s going on. i watch shows in english with subtitles on. i need the words! otherwise i just miss stuff.

i don’t know if i’d learn italian, but i haven always wanted to learn another language. i just don’t have the time or patience. i was in a japanese class for a few years in primary and high school, but it’s been years since then.

since koo had never met kizzy and kaito and he’d been with rocky for a while, i’m guessing they lived over in america for a little while. i think kizzy’s more fluent and kaito’s more basic conversational, he can understand it and speak it a little, but he’s preferable to japanese and counts on kizzy to get his point across or explain things to him.

i think there were non-asian people in club heaven and the warrior’s club (funk jungle?). i dont think rocky would mind tourists in his club so long as they’re respectful because he’ll still kick their asses if they’re rude or creepy to women.

i don’t know why i imagined the drinks in flute glasses. they did serve them in flutes at one point right?

there’s a lot of milk cocktails around, but i can figure out what looks right like in that picture. i could be some form of white russian, but the club heaven drink looks clearer, hence why i thought something with sake.

h&l, release some notes! what is that supposed to be?!

#tj answers #long post //#long post anon

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zyzix · 2 years

Text

A Mistranslation in Neo Twewy’s Secret Reports

To preface- This is NOT a post depreciating the localization choices in NTWEWY. I think the localization is basically good and the flaws it does have aren’t what’s being discussed here.

So i had been hearing a lot of slightly conflicting information about the translation of Neo’s very first secret report. It states that Joshua and Kubo played a game that caused Shinjuku’s destruction, which is something that basically everybody raised their eyebrows over? Lot’s of questions about how that would make sense for Joshua’s character or Shinjuku as a plot point- to the point that people assumed it was some sort of error. If or How it’s an error, though, I was not able to find a comprehensive answer to. Seeing different takes from people without much explanation was confusing, so even though I don’t speak japanese, I had to go take a look myself.

(I’m also making this a post so that maybe this could be something people could easily refer to and discuss on, amongst all that. I’m also still somewhat unsure if i’ve got it right so i’d appreciate it if anyone who knows the language better decided to pitch in. In fact, @gramoturtle, i hope you don’t mind me in ur mentions since im pretty sure u can check better than me)

So here’s what is says in English:

“The Executor first intruded on Shibuya three years ago. Originally from Shinjuku, this Angel started a clandestine Game with Shibuya’s Composer, which ultimately led to Shinjuku’s destruction.” -NTWEWY Secret Report 1, Paragraph 3

And here is what is says originally:

3年前、渋谷にある人物が侵入した。渋谷エリアのコンポーザーとの間で秘密裏にゲームを開始した、新宿エリアの天使であり崩壊を導いた「執行人」である。-NTWEWY Secret Report 1, Paragraph 3 (in japanese)

When you run the above few sentences through google or deepL, it does NOT result in anything intrinsically saying that a game between the two caused Shinjuku’s destruction:

Now translators are unavoidably imperfect and these translations seemed like they had their own issues, but I found it telling enough that neither of them talked about a game destroying Shinjuku that I knew it would be worth it to at least try to pick it apart manually.

The result of that attempt is this XD...

So. I did that. And I stared at it for a long time. And I kept staring because as far as I know, if it were saying Shinjuku’s destruction was connected to a game between Kubo and Joshua there should be a particle relating those ideas. I couldn’t see one there that would serve that. Hell, after looking at it too long i realized that probably if those ideas were related causally they wouldn’t be separated by a comma here?

If my reading is correct then that means it’s not saying “Joshua and Kubo played a game that destroyed Shinjuku” but instead “Kubo started a game with Joshua AND Kubo destroyed Shinjuku.” A more accurate english translation might be:

[Three years ago, a certain person invaded Shibuya. It was the one who secretly started a game with the Composer of Shibuya- an angel of Shinjuku’s who led it’s destruction- the “Executor”.]

I think that might be close enough to the original text while imparting the same information. And thats crazy, if correct. That means that the official english translation accidentally invented a whole impression-changing event in the form of another Random game scenario 3 years ago in this story’s timeline. In the first secret report!!

That creates a pretty severe AND FAR SPREAD misunderstanding about the plot, so reblogs to inform ppl (or find someone to check my work) would be appreciated!

#twewy #ntwewy #neo the world ends with you #ntwewy spoilers #neo twewy spoilers #tanzo kubo #joshua kiryu #twewy meta #ntwewy secret reports #square enix #yoshiya kiryu #scabby.txt #long post

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writing-in-april · 3 years

Text

Poker Face

Spencer Reid x Female Reader

Summary: Reader thought she could get away with speaking her desires out loud as long as they were in a different language. Turns out, someone could understand her.

A/N: Hey guys! This is my fourth fic for my 1250 follower celebration!! I got this request from @imagining-in-the-margins and if you want to see the original request go checkout my follower celebration Masterlist! I do not speak Russian, nor do I know someone who does so I made everything in italics as if they were speaking in Russian! Hope y’all enjoy reading and requests are open!

Warnings: 18+, Public sex (who’s surprised lmao), Reader is very unprofessional and probably should be fired lmao, Dom Spencer with hints of Sub Spencer in the future (dont worry all my Sub Spencer lovers I’ve got more coming for that soon!), Nickname use: Princess, Unprotected sex, Fingering, Oral sex (M receiving),Creampie

Main Masterlist Word Count: 2.1k

Words in italics are in Russian

There was no harm in voicing my thoughts I thought to myself, in a different language, Russian specifically. Especially since the only one that could understand me wasn’t near me at the moment nor would she probably bat an eye at a slightly risqué remark. Emily was snuggled up at the other end of the jet, her headphones in both of her ears. They would plug up any sound around her preventing her from translating the lusty thought that sat on my lips.

If I said my thoughts in Russian, no one would be able to catch how much I wanted Spencer’s fingers inside me. They were long, obviously dexterous- I knew they’d be able to reach places inside me that I couldn’t reach myself. I couldn’t say these thoughts out loud, in English at least,

I didn’t want Spencer to ever know. But, I wanted to get the thoughts swirling in my head off my chest, the only way to do that without embarrassment was to say it in a way that no one here would be able to understand.

As Spencer shuffled with ease and delt the cards out with his dexterous fingers my lusty thoughts were too pressing for my lips to be able to contain. So I spoke quickly with my voice slightly lowered, maybe Spencer and the people around me would miss my transition into a different language, “I wished you would use those fingers on me instead, preferably inside of me.”

Spencer blinked back at me, obviously confused by my words.

“Sorry, just spaced out for a second, didn’t realize I had switched to Russian.” I giggled out, mostly because I was amazed that I had gotten away with it. I moved on quickly not wanting to linger on my ‘slip up’ any longer, plus I finally wanted to try and play against Spencer in a poker game, “Let’s see if your poker face is as good as everyone says it is, Spencer.”

—-

“Please, fuck me?” Over the course of my daring adventures I had become increasingly louder with my declarations. Last week I had commented about how much I wanted his cock in my mouth, of course in Russian and the week before that I had made my initial comment about how much I wanted his fingers inside me.

This one happened to be the loudest out of the three little sentences that seemed like innocent slips into another language to everyone else, but to me and only to me I was voicing my desires. Each time I did it a little rush of adrenaline sparked through me, no one besides Emily would be able to translate, who wasn’t with me in the file room. It was only Spencer and I in here right now, the rest of the team had gone home for the night.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do that at the office, but if you asked me again somewhere else I’d do it.” He answered me back and in perfect Russian as well.

My entire being withered in embarrassment as soon as I had translated Spencer’s words, he understood me. He had understood all of what I had said, every last word. I should’ve remembered that he spoke Russian, we had a case where he spent the whole time translating, I couldn’t believe how idiotic I had been. I wanted the earth to swallow me up in that moment, just so I could escape Spencer’s piercing gaze. I couldn’t tell from his words or the look on his face what exactly he was feeling about my words, some profiler I was. He didn’t seem angry at least, maybe a bit bemused?

I shrank back a little more over fear if he was making fun of me or not. If I hadn’t been feeling so mortified I would’ve realized that Spencer wasn’t one to make fun of anyone, hindsight is 20/20 after all.

“Your poker face is spot on.” Was the only measly response that I could find myself to come up with, in an attempt to cover my embarrassment if only a little bit. A bunch of apologies also felt like they were crawling up my throat. I was absolutely mortified that I had been caught red handed, it was beyond unprofessional- I don’t think there was even a word for it. I had crossed the line so far I might as well have leaped over it, forgetting that it had ever existed.

“Well- I am from Vegas and before you start apologizing, you don’t need to. I liked it.”

Silence fell between us again after his smart remark. It was like we were sizing each other up, deciding what to do.

“You know- there’s no one here tonight, everyone’s gone home…” My confidence seemingly had come back after being knocked down a few pegs. I tapped my fingers absentmindedly on the large desk in the file room, my mind wandering to think about what it would be like if he bent me over it.

“That’s true.” A smirk was on his face now, one that I didn’t see often from him. I felt like I was going to be ensnared by him as soon as I took the time to blink.

Sure enough in a flash he had brought me into a bruising kiss that I got swallowed up by so fast there was no chance for me to try and win back any dominance.

In no time he had me bent over the table, my face pressed into the cool silver metal with my back arching up trying to reach his touch in any way I could. He gripped the waistband of my skirt roughly, but did not pull it down right away. He pulled my skirt down ever so slowly that by the time it reached the floor I impatiently wiggled to step out of it.

“You’re impatient.” He stated simply. I couldn’t deny it because of how true it was, all he’d have to do was pull my black lace panties off to see how wet I had become.

Instead I decided to lean in on how needy and impatient I was by whining out, “Spencerrr, please?”

“What do you want? Is it the same thing you said to me on the plane?” He pressed a kiss to my hip as he pulled down my panties just as slowly as he had done with my skirt, making me squirm again. Once I was bare from the waist down before him he paused for a moment to look at me; I withered a little under his gaze. I whined again when he carefully took his long fingers to just slightly part my folds before speaking again, “Tell me.”

I hesitated a little for a moment trying to focus to remember exactly what I had said on the plane. When I had collected my thoughts I whispered out in Russian, much more shaky than I had said on the plane, “I wished you would use those fingers on me instead, preferably inside of me.”

He was seemingly satisfied by my breathless reply, immediately beginning to work me up to orgasm. As he started to work his fingers inside of me he pressed his other hand down on the small of my back, a silent warning to not move.

I contemplated disobeying him, but when two of his fingers curled inside me to perfectly hit my g-spot it felt too good to lose.

“You gonna cum so quick for me, princess?” I got even wetter when he said princess like that, in Russian made me get even wetter than I already was. I was practically dripping down my thighs- and Spencer’s fingers.

“Yes! I’m gonna cum soon!” I gasped out and tried in vain to wriggle my hips to gain more friction, his hand on my back however was unyielding.

“Ask nicely and I might let you.”

“Please?!” I even asked it in Russian to make the plea possibly better in Spencer’s eyes. He didn’t respond right away, only picking up his pace faster. I tried to hold off my orgasm as best as I could, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold it. “Please, sir?”

“Alright, since you asked so nicely. You can cum, princess.”

I gave up the fight of holding off my orgasm, it immediately washed over me. My legs shook with the force of how hard and fast my orgasm shot through me, causing me to cry out as well.

Once I had come down from my high I slid off the table and down to my knees to repeat what I had said while at the round table a week ago “I want your cock in my mouth.”

He looked at me with wild eyes and obliged me, letting his cock free from his slacks. My mouth watered at the sight of him, his tip was bright red and dripping with precum. He had obviously not been the only one to be turned on.

As I grasped him in my hands and jerked him slowly I relished in the way he felt in my hand. He felt hot and heavy, I couldn’t wait to take him into my mouth.

I wrapped my lips around his tip, sucking lightly. Spencer’s head tipped backwards, his hands curled into fists as if he was trying to prevent himself from grabbing my hair to fuck my face. Little did he know that was exactly what I wanted.

When I guided one of his hands to the back of my hair to reassure him that I didn’t mind if he took control that way he almost let out a groan, but successfully stifled it by biting into his other fist. He then fisted my hair harder, wrapping his hand around so tight that tears prickled a bit in my eyes. It wasn’t a bad feeling at all, I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it even more when he started to use his hand to guide my head up and down. He set the pace to the one he desired. It wasn’t too fast or hard, it was actually quite slow. He dragged out each of my movements and when my nose nuzzled at the base of his cock he had me stay there for a moment each time. Each time I gagged a little on him he let out an almost whine, it made me wonder whether or not he’d look good underneath me as well. Though I was thoroughly content with being underneath him at this time.

Even though I had already had one orgasm the tingling between my thighs was not satiated, looking up at Spencer’s blissed out face only served to make me even more turned on.

“Stop.” I blinked up at him like he had done so at me on the jet, confused. I pulled off of his cock, a slight pop echoed in the air. He then lifted me up onto the table with my legs wrapped around his waist before I could ask him why he wanted for me to stop.

“Now what was that last thing you said to me? I want you to ask me again. ” His cock was running up and down my folds teasing me. My head fell back and I moaned when he bumped my clit.

“Please, fuck me?” My breathless voice sounded wrecked already.

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” As he slid into me my eyes rolled back into my head as he slid into me. His pace was faster this time than what he had done while fucking my face. I was squirming with overstimulation and my orgasm was going to come ridiculously fast. Spencer could sense it too and brought his hand down to my clit to bring me over my peak even faster.

“You can cum again, princess.” My second orgasm was much longer than my first. It sparked through me slowly, almost in waves that felt like they had multiple peaks.

He too, was not that far behind me. When he tried to pull out to probably cum all over the tops of my thighs I kept him locked in place with my legs around my waist and asked, “Cum inside me?”

He obliged me with a groan pumping into me a few more times before spilling inside me. We were both slick with sweat, making me wish for a shower. As soon as I got cleaned up that would be the first thing I’d be doing when I bolted home. Maybe I could bring Spencer along for another round, I could hear him speak Russian to me all day.

“I’ll go get something to clean you up.” He spoke softly as if he was afraid I’d break, you’d think after the way he had fucked me that he’d realized I was not so breakable. I’d have to fix that later. As I sat there with his cum dribbling down my thighs waiting for him to return , mixing with my own I knew that I’d never underestimate Spencer’s poker face again.

—-

Tag list (message me if you want to be added):

All works:

@shotarosleftpinky @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg

Spencer Reid/CM:

@calm-and-doctor @destiny-tsukino @safertokiss @slutforthegubes

Dom Spencer:

@rainsong01

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid smut #matthew gray gubler x reader #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #matthew gray gubler #1250 follower celebration #1250 followers

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tomatograter · 3 years

Note

Do you think Dirk saying that he doesn't like to label himself as gay means he has internalized homophobia? Or does he really just don't like to put labels on himself? I've seen ppl saying it's homophobia but there's ppl in real life that don't feel comfortable with labels so I'm a bit confused honestly, cus we are talking about Dirk and he's... Dirk after all

Easy answer: Dirk is Gay.

Prolonged answer: I think it's kinda weird how some fandom discussion around "Dirk dodging the label in One pesterlog" has largely spiraled way outside of its original context to be talked about in a vacuum, especially when that context is crucial to understanding what is actually being said, AKA — it belongs to a deeply awkward conversation between Dirk and Roxy. One of Many they are implied to have had about the subject of Roxy's sustained, unwelcome, and oft drunken advances towards Dirk (& his splinters).

I'm going to reproduce it plus another bit of text down below, for the sake of comparison.

(To prevent the trickster text from looking like absolute shit, I have altered the background. Read the original here, if you're nasty: https://www.homestuck.com/story/5754 )

Now that we've been reacquainted with how and where that sentiment is expressed, let's try to break down what Dirk is doing here.

He is not receptive to Roxy's early advances, and spends most of the 'intro' for this conversation (not pictured) ignoring when Roxy flirts with him, until she gets upset at how 'boring' he is being right now.

Dirk is the one compelled to apologize.

He proceeds to shut the scenario down as an unwanted probability, eliciting further guilt-babbling from Roxy over how Dirk never wants to play along with the perfect traditional family fantasy, until she finally blows up and says it's because he's gay.

"I mean, yeah, that's what I thought."

Dirk, rather than saying I Am Not Gay, since he looooooves changing a conversational subject, claims that "Gay" is not entirely historically appropriate for this situation, given the non-negligible passage of time and the wildly dystopic circumstances* they find themselves in.

Dirk reassures Roxy he does still care about her.

Dirk is absolutely terrified of a similarly inclined (and intoxicated) Roxy up close. This is the most exclamations he's ever used.

Now, *These circumstances? The loss of 99% of the human race, including their society, customs, culture, and prejudices. (ALLEGEDLY.) It's important to remember that from Dirk and Roxy's side of the timetable, troll culture has been pushed as "the norm" for actual fucking centuries. HIC tried to recreate the caste system by artificially coloring human blood, leading to the death of billions. Faygo came out of the water tap, not water. Troll slang was incorporated into the English language. Humans ceased to organically reproduce. They were actively Discouraged from reproducing, since that's not something HIC could have total genetic control over; rendering traditional marriage and the concept of the nuclear family pointless.

You could also argue that same-gender relationships are not uncommon in Alternia, making "gay" altogether unnecessary by proxy, and that's true! But my point is this one: any union (or at least our society's holy concept of it) between straightie humans would be by definition undesirable under HIC's rule, too. She is the church, the president and the governing body. The population is only as good as they are assets for her to do whatever she wants with, including mass murder.

But wait! While that tracks… Roxy clearly still holds onto very 'conservative' definitions of romance for most of Homestuck. We see this multiple times. Dirk, as proved in conversations with Jake, uses 'gay' as an ironic pejorative. Suddenly it's not Historically Inaccurate anymore, Jake's interests are just gay.

Does this mean the context above is basically worthless, since they don't seem to have internalized it? No.

What must be kept in mind is this: Dirk and Roxy's only "active" link to de facto humanity is our society as it was in the early 2010's. Those glimpses they get by talking with jane and jake. They have all that dystopic context, yes, but the reality that seems the most "unfucked" to them for a grand majority of their lives are the halcyon years before the Condesce's rise to power: back when weed was illegal, BlogSpot was popular, movies sucked, MTV was still a hip channel, and gay generally meant something real bad. The wave of homophobia as a punchline or fear mongering tactic was at THE HEIGHTS. Marriage equality was a hot debate topic. Those were the dayz.

Dirk is keenly aware of the taboo implication the word "Gay" as a self-denomination carries. He's no dummy. But he's rarely direct with his intentions either. He's slippery as a bar of soap. (He's never "straight about his feelings", if you prefer.) And for a guy that cares so much about his reputation and maintaining a curated sense of utter coolness, he wants to avoid outing himself as any sort of weirdo no matter the cost.

But that's not all. I think the gravity of just how much Dirk believes he *owes* Roxy simply for existing as the last human in the same timeframe as her is a severely underplayed aspect of Dirk's core character, together with how much he tries to avoid her sexual advances only to end up feeling like absolute shit over it, because — if they truly are the last people on god's blighted earth, isn't he being "selfish" and "irrational" about not feeling shit for Roxy, in the grand scale of things? Is Roxy not his only friend in tangible reality, even if he avoids the mere suggestion of visiting her? Even if she gets black-out drunk and tries to push him into indulging her, regardless of how many times he's already said no?

(Spend enough time here and you realize how it directly mirrors the jane/jake experience.)

Dirk cares a lot about each and every one of his friends.

He pointedly adapts his speech based on whichever one of them he's talking to in an effort to express that investment. May it be reassuring Jane, fooling around with Jake, or trying to prevent Roxy from falling into a total catatonic doom-spiral; he avoids telling them anything that would be too crushing to hear. That's not what he's trying to do here. Not to say that he isn't bitchy sometimes, but that’s far from the central thing he does. The Epilogues have retroactively led people to believe that Dirk abhors and despises every single person he's ever been close to before (god forbid) LIKING them, and I think buying too much into that assumption ignores the foundations of his canon text, as well as the central motivation behind 99% of his actions in the story. This is the guy that grew up on Friendship Is Magic, has a picture of rainbow dash shamefully glued to one wall and a rainbow poster of Jake's symbol stapled to another, and everything he does is a little cringe attempt to demonstrate his worth by showing how much he cares about people, even when he's punching his actual feelings down instead of up and saying them.

Which brings us back to the load-bearing part of this question: Admitting to Roxy that there is absolutely no fucking way he will ever agree to having her babbys because he is gay is precisely the opposite of what Dirk wants to say, if his intention isn't pulverizing her. So he doesn't. And his worry on this regard is such that it prevents Dirk from even telling Roxy that he does love her, in the platonic sense, as a friend and hell-earth survivor, because he knows that specificity is what that would disappoint her greatly. (He only ever confesses this to Jane, on the death slabs.)

But also I think this is a really funny visual of Dirk's relationship with the word gay, to put statements into perspective:

#homestuck #meta #dirk strider #roxy lalonde #dirkroxy #long post #janejake

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gb-patch · 3 years

Text

Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference!

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked.

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :)

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right?

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty!

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe?

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in?

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more!

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch?

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :)

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂).

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4?

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc.

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before!

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that?

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever?

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :>

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game?

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1.

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you?

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing?

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc?

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments?

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn’t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress?

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #all projects #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever

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fanficwritersinterviewed · 2 years

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MCM, shey

<<This post is a part of a longer conversation about fanfic writers, how they view fanfic, and their writing process. All views are the fanfic writer’s own, and whatever fanfic they choose to write is entirely their own decision. No judgment value will be placed on fic content. These conversations are meant to provide insight for other fanfic writers in whatever stage they are at in their writing life>>

Meet-Cute Monday (with Shey, @shey-elizabeth )

Pseuds: Shey Pronouns: she/her Current fandoms: Teen Wolf Current pairings: Steter, Stetopher (Stiles/Peter, Stiles/Peter/Christopher) How many total fic: 13 How many fandoms: 1 Total word count: 163,284 Long fic word count: 68,690 Shortest fic: 1,216 Highest kudo count: 2,429 Lowest: 184

What's the story behind your pseud? Shey was actually the name of my very first D&D character back in college! When I made my AO3 account in 2015 it was something easy that I would be able to remember, and shey-elizabeth happened when I made my Tumblr account. I couldn't have "Shey" so I added my real middle name to it.

How long have you been reading fanfic? I've always been a voracious reader (head in a book 100% of the time from elementary school on). I discovered fanfic sometime around 1998 on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer forum. It was one of those forums for talking about the latest episode and someone posted a Willow/Oz drabble. It all snowballed from there! I went from BtVS to Highlander, The Sentinel, and Mag7. Then I got into a few anime fandoms.YuYu Hakusho and Ronin Warriors in particular. After that I did a deep dive into Gundam Wing that lasted until that fandom died.

When did you start writing fanfic? I really started writing fic towards the beginning of 2019 (because we're going to ignore my brief, embarrassing attempts that never went anywhere way back in the day). I had been obsessively reading Teen Wolf fic for about a year at that point, and thought I'd try my hand at a short, smutty PWP fic, just for the hell of it. That fic is now my longest at 68K

Were you writing original content before you started writing fanfic? Nope. I dove right into fanfic. Unless we count that time in seventh grade that I wrote the first two chapters of a book. My closest IRL friends have been writing fanfic for as long as I've known them, so for 20+ years. It's always been a thing most of my friends were doing and sharing. I was a pre-reader and cheer-reader (not a beta cause I couldn't find a grammar error to save my life) for ages and writing fanfic was never taboo in my friend group.

So what were you hoping to get out of writing fanfic? I didn't really expect much from my first fic. I was hoping I'd maybe get 100 kudos and a couple comments if I was lucky. But it actually did surprisingly well! I had one of my friends (poor thing isn't even in the fandom) beta read it for me and help with my complete inability to understand how commas work. I didn't think it would get much attention since I was a complete lurker in fandom. But I got lucky because the Steter (Stiles/Peter) fans are incredibly welcoming. I've gotten such an amazing positive response to my fic, that, instead of one little PWP I've got 160k worth of words on AO3 and several more WIPs. So I guess you can say I'm enjoying it!

Any lessons learned along the way? I've definitely noticed that the longer I do it, the harder writing gets. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I've always been very eager to learn how to improve my writing. The flip side of that is the more I learn, the more difficult it is to just throw some words on the page and call it good! Writing is hard for me. It's also very satisfying when I finally get a scene to flow the way I want it to. When I started, I thought practice would make it easier. But I've realized the more you work at improving, the more you see your own mistakes. It's definitely a catch-22! At the same time, I can also recognize how much the quality of my writing has improved, so that makes the struggle worth it.

I'm really lucky in that I made an amazing friend through fandom who is not only a phenomenal writer but is also willing to beta-read and handhold me. She gets a ton of the credit for guiding me through the learning curve. (We've had days long email chains with her patiently explaining how punctuation works. I wish my high-school English teachers had been half as effective as @queerfictionwriter.)

How has writing changed the way you read fanfic? Oh man. It's changed it so much!! The first thing I noticed was that I started reading so much less because the time I used to put towards reading is now going towards writing. I work full-time, so my writing time is already limited. And I'm slow so if I want to get something out in the next decade I need to budget my time.

The second thing I realized was that I had to take long breaks from reading fic in the fandom I was trying to write in, because I would lose the characterization for my story. This actually led me to reading a lot more pro-fic (professional fic), because I was desperate to read, but I didn't want to lose track of my characters by reading someone else's take on them.

What are some changes to your writing that you’ve been working on improving now that you see them? I feel like I'm working on improving everything all the time! I spend so much more time editing and tweaking my words than I do actually writing. I'll write a couple thousand words in a few hours, and then spend two weeks editing and rewriting.

Something I've been trying to focus on more is letting the reader fill in the blanks and connect the dots. I want to find the balance where it's obvious what's going on in the scene without me explaining where every arm and leg is. Along the same lines, I want to get better at this with the plot too. I want the reader to be able to infer context without me spelling things out. Some of my favorite writers are excellent at this. It's that moment when you're reading and the character mentions something for the first time, but you know exactly what they're referencing—even though it happened off the page.

Yeah, I get that. When done right, that sort of thing does feel like magic.

#fanfic writers interviewed #shey #meet cute monday #fanfic #fanfic writing

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