#though I don't think...they speak the language?

[dokkamj]

BATHROOM

|before you start to read! this story is 18+ MDNI! and also i wanna say that english is not my native language! sorry for grammar mistakes etc, thank you and enjoy.

-song: bathroom by Montell Fish.

It was all Gaz's fault, if he hadn't provoked you by challenging you to a shot contest you'd probably still be sober, but at least you'd have won.

But when Simon approached you at the bar where you were sitting with the others, you snorted. The two of you hardly ever got along, always fighting over little or big things, even though you were not on the same team, you often found yourselves together, either for training or because Captain Price knew your captain well.

"Mm, am I mistaken or are you taller than usual? princess." you didn't dignify him with a look, you didn't feel like arguing or even ruining anyone's night, so you stood there sipping your drink, your elbows resting on the bar.

Simon was watching you, almost eating you alive with his eyes, but you didn't take much notice, after half a bottle of fruity vodka and a few drinks here and there, your mind wasn't that capable of understanding everything around you.

Maybe it was the way you were dressed - Simon was too used to seeing you in the usual military uniform and your hair tied back - but tonight.

You were wearing a black corset with little red roses over lace straps, a miniskirt that covered just enough and those heels for Christ's sake you were killing him dressed like this.

Your hair down and that dark somewhat heavy makeup looked great on you, your lips dyed a crimson red.

you sip your drink before lighting a cigarette and bringing it to your own lips taking a small puff "do you smoke now?" he asks tapping his fingers on the wood of the bar counter, you sigh and finally give him a look "only on certain occasions." you reply cordially before offering him one of your cigarettes which he doesn't think twice about accepting.

"thank you little one," and even though you couldn't stand him, you couldn't suppress the smirk that formed on your lips, you usually couldn't stand it when he spoke to you that way, yet tonight, maybe because of the alcohol you found Simon more likable than usual.

Take another drag from your cigarette, and Simon couldn't help but stare at those delicious red lips. Simon always thought you were a beautiful girl, no one would have denied but tonight? tonight there was something more in your eyes that intrigued him to stay close to you.

you pull your phone out of your purse checking to see if anyone had texted you and Simon kept thinking maybe there was already someone in your life, he clenches his fists biting his lower lip before speaking "has the princess found her prince?" he joked but you shake your head laughing "Absolutely not, you must be kidding," you say before taking another sip of your drink.

"Oh, so you were alone." Simon mumbled to himself, even he didn't know what was wrong with him, he usually couldn't be around you for more than two minutes before he started arguing, when Gaz got your attention back by making you turn around, Simon's eyes landed on the back of your thighs, you were fucking perfect, despite the bone-crushing training the military put you through every day you managed to maintain your femininity and that triggered something in Simon.

Your gaze turns to Simon and you notice that there is something different about his behavior, but you don't want to pay attention to it, not now, you don't want to make him the center of your attention and your discontent, not today, so when Gaz asks you to dance with him in a friendly way, you accept by going out on the dance floor with him.

Simon didn't want to make you the center of his attention either, so while you were dancing and moving that gorgeous butt that he couldn't stand until yesterday, he decided to drink a shot contest against Soap, what could go wrong?

The minutes tick by and when Simon manages to win, he's already giggling half-drunk, "I told you you didn't stand a chance against me, Johnny." Soap snorts now defeated.

The two stared at the now almost empty bottle of Jack Daniel's, damn, tomorrow is going to be a really hard day after this drink, but nobody cared because they weren't working tomorrow.

His eyes land on you again and he stares at you as he has all night, you are tired of his strange behavior, so as soon as you finish dancing with Gaz you rush up to Simon and pull him by the collar of his shirt into a dark corner of the disco.

"Can you explain what the hell has gotten into you?" Simon asks, raising his voice, although your hand brushing his neck was not so bad.

"You're staring at me," you point out to him while nervously lighting a cigarette, fortunately the club for some strange reason allows smoking in the entire club.

"So what?" asks Simon apologetically, you get angry, he never acted like that, he was never interested in you, why now?

"So stop it, it bothers me," you tell him while you nervously smoke the cigarette.

"It's not like you're the Monnalisa y/n, stop playing hard to get." Simon snorts and rolls his eyes in annoyance, but in reality you were just like the Monnalisa, right out of a painting, breathtakingly beautiful, but above all only to be looked at, not touched.

And when you give him that nervous look, like you can't stand him, like you just want him to go away, his jeans suddenly tighten and his heartbeat speeds up, fuck, why you have this effect on him every time?

"Will you stop being an asshole all the time!!!? It's okay that you don't like me, but tonight you don't even have to be near me, so why are you being like this, why do you have to be so damn attached to me?" you ask him nervously.

At this point, when he doesn't answer, you don't even know what to say anymore, but you come closer with an angry look and the blood boils in your veins and then your breath stops and the cigarette that was between your fingers falls to the ground as his hand grabs your ass and squeezes it while with his other free hand he grabs your neck and kiss you, His lips are soft and full, they taste of whiskey, at first you don't return the kiss, too many thoughts were going through your head at that moment, but then you pull him closer and kissed him back.

When you pull away to get some air, he looks at you, his hands caressing your neck, "Shut the fuck up, you give me a headache," he murmurs between your lips before tracing the line of your jaw with his thumb.

"You're an asshole," you insult him before pulling out of his grip, your cheeks flush and your legs are weak, why did this kiss make you feel so many sensations, you don't know and you don't want to know, you take a step back but he grabs you again, "Don't run away from me doll." he murmurs in your ear.

Fuck you were colleagues, it would be messy if anyone found out, but there was a part of you that wanted this, that wanted it all.

You look at him, still dazed from the kiss, his hands slipping under your miniskirt once more.

"Fuck, you look beautiful tonight," he mumbles, licking his lips in anticipation, and you feel too weak to even respond. If only to say something. Your hands rest on his pecs.

He looks at you hungrily, hungry to taste you like a Christmas cake, but before he can say a word you slap him, taking full advantage of his cheek.

"Fuck Princess, that hurts," he mumbles but he looks more excited than before, you grab his collar and kiss him harder than before, at this point you didn't care anymore.

You always thought Simon was a sexy man if it wasn't for his damn tongue and his asshole attitude.

"You want to play rough, huh? let's play rough," he says before grabbing you and slamming you against the wall of the disco, completely ignoring who was around you.

His hands slide over your thighs before grabbing them and giving light slap, your lips are on his neck sucking and biting him.

He could feel his cock throbbing in his pants, "my little princess," he murmurs in your ear with a small grin on his face.

"Fuck— ya’ feel so good," you moan at his touches as one of his hands under your mini skirt strokes your intimacy with two fingers. "so wet for me—" he asks you and it was shamefully true, damn true.

"Let me take care of ya’, wanna make you tremble for the pleasure," he says before dragging you to the bathroom and locking the door.

But he is surprised when you push him to sit on the toilet seat and sat on top of him, thighs at the sides of his hips, hands slide over your thighs before grabbing them and giving it a light slap, your lips are on his neck sucking and biting him.

His big calloused hands lift your soft mini skirt and he gives you a slap on the ass worthy of a good bruise, you moan into his mouth and press your breasts against his pecs.

"Fuck princess, look what you are doing to me," he murmurs against your neck before grabbing your hand and bringing it to the crotch of his pants, your legs going soft as you feel his throbbing hardness against the palm of your hand.

"I have to make you think that I hate you because if I lose control at the base..." he trailed off as you slipped a hand under his t-shirt making him catch his breath, you could feel him start to play with your panties.

You weren't sure of anything, but you were sure that if anyone could do this to you, it was Simon. The excitement grew as the two of you devoured each other's lips and you moaned into his mouth.

"So needy you are," he said as he felt you grinding even harder against him.

"I need you," it had been too long since anyone had touched you, it was true that you preferred to be alone, but not anymore at least not now.

"Sweet fucking thing ya’ are, ask nicely," he murmured in your ear.

"Please, please, I want to feel you inside me," you moaned, you were shamefully wet for him, for a colleague of yours, but what the fuck came over you? But you didn't care.

"Good girl—" he said smirking before you kissed him again, biting his lower lip desperately. He makes you stand before he drops to his knees, the sight of him like this was too overwhelming, Simon fucking Ghost Riley on his knees for you.

His breath tickles the skin of your thighs before he leaves a bite, you smell so fucking good. He grabbed your red panties and ripped them off, you gasped as you felt his hot mouth close to your needy cunt.

Your back against the wall, Simon's hand grabbed your thigh, bringing it to one of his shoulders, "fuck- you are so perfect y/n..." he murmured as he began to eat you.

His tongue on your petals, the first lick is to tease you a little,Your hands slid over his head at that moment, you wished you could see his face but you knew he would refuse, after all this was nothing serious.

His tongue sank into you, making you moan as you held on to him as he ate you alive. "You taste so damn good, sweetheart," he moaned as he keep eating that cunt of yours, you were honeyed yet sour, a mixture that made his head spin.

Your breathing became harder and harder as you almost cried with pleasure, and when you finally came on his tongue, he had to hold you as your legs were too weak to even stand without struggling.

"Fucking hell—" he murmured as he rose to his feet, "such a pretty cunt you have, so sweet..." he whispered into your ears, he couldn't wait any longer, he needed you now.

The orgasm he had given you was not enough, you needed to feel him "please" you begged him one more time, one of his hands stopped on your neck and kissed your cheek while he unbuckled his belt with the other.

"You must be very quite, don't make me mad, understood?" he murmured against your lips, you slipped a hand into the elastic of his underwear and wrap your hands on his cock, and with your thumb tease his head, he moaned in anticipation.

Your hand where soft and so damn gentle comprare to his one “fuck—“ he moaned as he pressed his dick against the palm of your hand, you kissed his cheek and start to move your hand slowly and in a teasingly way.

He sunk his face in your neck as he moan gripping your waist.

He can’t wait any longer.

you pull down his pants and his boxer just enough to expose his dick as you tease his shaft once more by brush your thumb on his head once more, he was going insane biting on your neck as his breaths get irregular and heavier, with just some touches.

Fuck only you could do this to him, no one else.

He grab the back of your tights alf lift you up, making your legs rest on his hips, you where trapped between the wall and him.

“shit!” he said madly as he tease you whit the head of his cock by rubbing it on your entrance “what..?” you moaned, you just want him inside of you.

“don’t have any condom with me” he said breathless still stroking himself on you “it’s okay” you blurted without hesitation “i’m on pill, i’m clean Simon, just fuck me please.” you said as the tension was getting painful.

he didn’t let you say it twice as he push himself in you, you could feel your walls stretching around him, you moaned as it was painfully good.

“so tight-“ he moaned biting your neck as he started to trust in you making your eyes roll back in your skull.

He holds you as he keep pump into you with deep trust that makes you almost drooling on his neck “Oh fuck Simon—“ you moaned breathless.

“so good, taking me so well in the bathroom of a club” he said with a devil smirk feeling your walls squeezing him making him moan in pleasure in your ears as his bing hands hold you and squeeze you at the same time.

you kiss him, sloppy kisses as his thrust became more faster, your lipstick melting on his lips, your nails scratching his back.

You wanna see him so bad but you can’t, you just ripped off his shirt making the little buttons fell on the ground as you look at his perfect body with war scars.

“such a little slut ya’are, ya’ cunt suck me back in on each thrust” he said making you almost ashamed for how wet and needy you were for him. You moaned feeling the second orgasm “good girl, come for me yeah?” he said biting your neck and thrust deeper in your and faster.

your legs start to shake as you try to contain your moans, and you came on him as your wet and warm liquid drips on his shaft until his balls, you look at him with heart shaped eyes.

“ be a good boy for me and came inside of me” you said on his lips, caressing his neck licking his earlobe, fuck he really can’t resist you, another deep thrust and he came in you, filling you up, he was breathless as this were one of his best orgasm ever.

“Fuck y/n” he said trying to realize what they just did in damn bathroom of a night club this was so wrong, but it felt so right.

he pull out of her and let her get on her feet’s once again as she start to grab a tissue to wipe away his seed that was dripping off her, fuck he need to contain himself before he will get hard once again.

he clean himself quick and then helps you “here, wait” he said as he grab a tissue and soak it with some water, getting on his knees and clean you up.

you blushed, no one did this to you after sex.

“thank you” you murmur breathless and sweaty he finish to helps you and then he gave you a kiss on your forehead.

“you always remain unbearable. Unbearably sexy.” he says before kiss you.

congrats, you read 15.358k words of smut🫢

#mw2 141 #mw2 x reader #mw2 simon riley #mw2022 #price mw2 #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #mw2 smut #mw2 oc #call of duty #cod mw3 #smut #alejandro mw2 #mndi #oneshot #short story #simon riley x you #simon ghost x reader #simon riley smut #ghost mw2 #ghost cod #ghost x reader #ghost x you #ghost x y/n #ghost x oc

[oblonger]

I have no idea how or why my brain decided to come up with this idea while I read this post, but it's making me mentally unwell.

The idea is as follows: What if Dusknoir finds and befriends the hero before they meet Grovyle?

Like, oh my goodness gracious the POTENTIAL!!

Dusknoir finds this human child, and takes them in as a form of pity. They are weak. Incapable of defending themselves. But they deserve to have a chance to live. As miserable as a life in this world would be.

He keeps them protected and fed. They grow on him. They trust him more than anything because there was nobody else that gave them that trust. And he loves them more than he loves himself. They are his child now.

Then something unforseen happens that gets them separated. He wants so badly to search for them. But Dialga keeps threatening him. Telling him that if he does, he will make certain that those Sableye he also cares for will not live to see another moment, and he will force him to watch.

Meanwhile, the human is taken in by Grovyle. They grow quickly on him as well. They can't really understand each other, not as well as he would want, but they occasionally say something about a 'Dusknoir' he thinks. And they clearly speak about him with fondness.

Eventually, Grovyle and the Hero meet up with Celebi, who is being chased by Dusknoir. Dusknoir doesn't actually know that the human is with them until he sees them fall into the passage that turns them into a pokemon.

But the hero does know. They catch a glimpse of him while hiding at one point. It's crushing. He's tried to kill Grovyle and Celebi multiple times. They want to try to get them to understand, but Grovyle doesn't understand the language they speak. He stops them whenever they try. and they feel too scared and betrayed to approach him.

Dusknoir thinks that he killed his own child. He's sent spiraling into complete and unquestioning devotion towards Dialga. He's experienced such a horrific loss that he can never get close to anyone again. Treating the Sableye that work for him with a cold detachment that only gets worse as time goes on. He still cares for them, but he would never admit it.

Grovyle is extremely angry, because he saw the hero as a sibling. And it's clear that whenever they used to talk about Dusknoir, they did it with a fondness. So not only did he kill Grovyle's only family, he also betrayed them.

The Hero loses all of their memories, even forgetting their name, but they don't lose that feeling of betrayal they felt as a human. They are reluctant to trust the partner because of it.

Things continue like they did in eos up until Dusknoir arrives in Treasure Town.

Being around him makes the hero feel those same emotions of betrayal that they had thought that they had gotten over after becoming friends with their partner and other guild members.

Dusknoir doesn't recognize the hero. He's under the impression that they died when they entered that tampered passage. He still puts on the act, but the more eagle-eyed members of the guild can tell that it's just that. An act. They can't figure out why though.

The incident happens.

Dusknoir goes through that whole, cartoonish villain song-and-dance monolog before finally ordering the execution.

The Sableyes barely begins when he, in an uncharacteristic moment of emotion and panic, (to everyone but him) demands they stop.

He recognized the way the hero winced when the Sableye began their assault.

They're alive.

Sweet heavens above. His child is alive.

...

And then everything made sense. Why they were staying with Grovyle. Why Grovyle talked about them they way he did the few times that they did talk mid-fight. That look of utter terror on the hero's face that he refused to accept that he recognized.

He betrayed them.

Twice.

No. Three times.

First by not searching for them when they were alive.

Second by hunting them down.

And now by this.

He treated them like they were his child.

He loved them like they were his child.

And now he's the greatest evil they could ever conceive.

#text post #pmd eos #writing #pmd #pmd2 #fanfic ideas #dadnoir

[dropintomanga]

AI Can't Be the Whole Solution for Manga

So this week I found out out a Japanese start-up called Orange, who wants to be the Netflix of manga by translating a lot of manga with new apps and tools for the world to fight against online piracy. And to do so, the company will use AI to machine translate all of their manga into English. They also received $20 million USD in funding (one of their investors is Shogakukan) for their goal. This company wants to release up to 500 titles a month at some point.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this.

I read a more in-depth report from Deb Aoki of ComicsBeat and Mangasplaining about this whole startup. There's a lot of tout given by Orange about how this will help the manga industry overseas. Terms like deep learning, accessible content, influencers, reducing cost of localization, etc. are thrown around. Orange already has done some work for Shueisha for some of its MangaPlus titles. While it's apparent that the North American market only gets a small fraction of the manga published in Japan, there's concerns over whether this endeavor will end well.

A good number of manga translators and editors in the North American localization scene have commented on how bad this can be. AI machine translation is far from perfect. While DeepL (a Japanese language translation app similar to Google Translate) is arguably better than Google Translate, there's still errors abound. AI machine translation doesn't seem to be at a stage where you can just show it off to the world and have it translate something like a research paper with context. And even if the translation was good, there still needs to be people to fix errors AI will miss and the jobs to fix those errors don't necessarily pay well since they're the equivalent of "data entry" jobs.

And speaking as someone who reads up on mental health news, AI is not good for picking up nuances and differences that can help people for the better. It's only good for standardizing universal treatments. AI can not be open to the vulnerabilities of other people. One recent story I read last year was about a eating disorder helpline that created a chatbot to help those with eating disorders and how it bombed. There were complaints about how the bot didn't address patients' concerns that they were feeling down or bad about their bodies. Even worse, the chatbot gave some horrible advice by telling people to follow behaviors that led to their eating disorders in the first place. The support staff was fired in favor of the chatbot and while the chatbot was taken down after the complaints, it still left a bad taste in my mouth because mental health problems can never be solved without the human element.

I see this with what's apparently going to happen with manga. I don't see this creating a better world for manga readers. I'm well aware that there are a few professional manga translators in the scene who aren't doing a good job, but I feel they're doing fine for the most part. There's a glaring issue though that most people aren't thinking about - the amount of content we have out there.

We're in a golden age of having so much catered to us that it's ridiculous. Anime, manga, webtoons, video games, board games, music, etc. There's a lot out there. And to have a Japanese startup proclaim that they want to put out up to 500 titles a month, who realistically has the time to read all of them? I wonder if that's the point of these ventures - beat down consumers with so much material to consume that they become apathetic to what's going on behind the scenes.

I do want people to read manga, but I don't want them to become so overwhelmed to the point of burnout and numbness. That's the last thing any manga fan should want. I'm already hearing complaints from my fellow manga peers about the amount of manga we're getting here. It's nice to see bookshelves and libraries filled with manga, but which titles are really being read?

I also think there seems to be no universal standard that EVERYONE can agree with regards to localization. You have the professional side that knows a lot due to being inside the industry, but can be hindered by the Japanese publishing side and pestered by fans who think they know better. And you have the fan side that thinks they know everything because of scanlations and miscellaneous fan translations.

If you're a professional, it's a rough job and I applaud all manga freelancers who do it. Sometimes, I may not agree with the localization choices. But I'm not going to raise a pitchfork and treat them like they're witches. I know a few of those folks in-person and see the human in them.

If you're a fan, you can't expect a very casual reader to understand Japanese terms being spoken out right off the bat. It takes a while to get used to those terms. I'll use myself as an example as a riichi mahjong player. I throw out terms like suji, kabe, mentanpin, ryanmen, etc. to my fellow players. However, if there's an absolute beginner I'm talking to, they will have no idea what the hell I'm talking about.

I know some fans are like "Whatever, understanding those terms make me stand out. Yeah, I'm different! Screw the normal world!" But that makes it sound like gatekeeping to a certain degree. It's fine to have that kind of knowledge, but binding it to the very fabric of your identity is not healthy when circumstances change.

Orange seems to want a universal standard for manga translation by incorporating a variety of people into their process, but the fact that people will only be involved AFTER the translation makes me skeptical and the company is being called out for some things on their website. Both professionals and consumers will be screwed here. AI is being pushed so hard by corporations because it can readily applied to real life jobs and regular people in many ways, compared to cryptocurrency/NFTs, which applies only to people with a crap ton of money to spend. I've seen instances of AI usage at the company I work at - some of it good, some of it bad.

But nothing will beat the will and heart of the people. I think that's what scares AI-promoting people. Turning us into total mindless consumers prevents us from being mindful people that want to do right by others. Sure, reading manga makes me happy. But I don't want to be the only one who's happy. I also want people to make informed choices about what to consume.

I also want some people to stop assuming that Japan is the most "anti-woke" country alive out of their rage against localization because it's totally not. Japan has problems and there's people living there speaking out against them. They're "woke" in their own way. I swear that almost everyone who thinks Japan is better than the West hasn't lived there at all and are basing things from a very filtered point of view. I actually feel sorry for them because their lives are just so focused on consuming without thinking for themselves - a perfect market for the AI-pushing crowd.

I'll finish by saying that this AI-powered manga translation venture needs to happen with the right kind of people already on the table through the whole process and where everyone benefits. Everything bad with AI, as far as I've seen, has left people behind with no compassion or empathy. Manga has taught the wonders of compassion and empathy for all and I don't see the Japanese business side of things preaching what their works speak.

#manga #community #AI #mental health #technology #culture #internet culture #manga culture

[bookwyrminspiration]

just found out apparently there is a song in hozier's new album abt language! wanted to rec it to you both because. it sounds very beautiful and also obviously because lyrics: butchered tongue

Oh, really? Cool! I've seen that Hozier songs have been coming out, but I haven't kept close track and didn't know there was a whole new album now.

I'm listening to it now and ough. Okay wow yeah that hurts. Especially that "Until the distance has been shown between what is lost forever / And what can still be known" line, that's incredibly reminiscent of several of the convos we've been having about trying to reclaim what we can, but how it will never be quite the same as what it could've been. And trying to reconcile and be okay with who we are while still feeling the righteous anger at what was taken from us culturally and linguistically.

And then "A butchered tongue still singin' here above the ground". I don't even know how to explain it, but you get it, right? We are butchered tongues, we're alive but with this piece cut from us. But we're still singing, we're still trying, we're teaching ourselves as many sounds and words as these butchered tongues will accept because we're not letting our language passively go. And despite our difficulties and how it's never be quite the same, we're still persevering.

I love this language...partnership? Camaraderie? Connection? Solidarity? we've accidentally discovered--thank you for sharing this song with me <3

#hozier #quil's queries #soryasongsaa #ough the guilt and grief and everything wrapped up in having a butchered tongue #that song just punched me in the chest #and also reminded me. gaelic is another language I'd like to learn #there's irish ancestry on my dad's side. I don't know how much but they're very loudly proud about it #so regardless of the amount because of that I understand that part of my family (and therefore myself) as irish #though I don't think...they speak the language? #idk I'm not close with them #but anyway! #just thought of that since. the song

[taichissu]

here's a friendly reminder that if english is your second language it's not "to be expected" or "the bare minimum"; it's actually so impressive and so much work to learn another language, let yourself be proud of it

#i don't see this attitude with any other language; only english #why is someone who speaks german or french seen as more of an intellectual than me even though we both went through the same journey? #learning another language is difficult and shouldn't be something we just expect of people just bc it's such a widespread language #notice how one of the first phrases you learn in a foreign language is 'do you speak english' even when english isn't your first language #it really makes you think

[esleep]

the whole "cats choose their owners" thing is really funny to me because ivy very much did NOT choose me. she was a slightly dim-witted and very rambunctious feral kitten, and that combination led to her getting herself stuck inside an old chipmunk nest halfway down the steep bank of the creek by my parents' house. from there she proceeded to scream her head off until both my mom and i came out to see what on earth was making all that racket, then we excavated her out of that hole like a sad little potato. she was grateful for the rescue, but definitely NOT grateful for the ensuing flea baths and conversion to indoor cat life at my apartment, which she reminds me of regularly. ivy i'm sorry for saving you from an early death due to predation/disease/cars, but can you stop biting me every day of my life please

#even every other day would be an improvement. #i do in fact take her out for leashed walks regularly when the weather is tolerable but it hasn't been possible for months and she's FED UP #however. i say all this but she routinely climbs into my lap for naps & greets me at the door purring & headbutting every time i come home #so clearly she's not that unhappy. her tolerance for regular cat-owner shenanigans however is essentially non-existent. #after 6 years though i can read her like a book. i know exactly how many head smooches i can get in before she gets too annoyed #and exactly how long she wants to be held when i come home before she wants to be put down #and exactly what she means when she 'gently' chews on my ankles ('play with me now or i'll bite harder') #but strangers on the other hand? guests in my home? my beloved human friends? they do not speak her language. #and the margin for error with her is razor thin. if you don't listen immediately when she says 'stop touching me' she will go from lovey #to SCRATCHING YOU BITING YOU HISSING HISSING HISSING almost immediately. #i have tried everything to convince her that's unnecessary but i think she is just SO sensitive she can't handle it #but i still love her so much. i understand her and she understands me. idk WHAT i'm gonna do when she eventually dies i'm gonna be a wreck. #in a lot of ways we are SUPER similar. i also lash out when i'm overstimulated & i also have a much lower threshold for that #than most people. #i get it.

[difeisheng]

learned tonight that cheng yi is representation for those of us messy bitches who get needled at by their families for their accent in their 家鄉話

#although rip to cheng yi because i don't think i had it quite so bad as #“好了有一次我说老家话跟我妈还是我妹 说老家话被她们听到了 她以为我是泰国人” 😭😭 #hearing actors speak dialect is so fun no matter what though and i'm glad i found clips #cheng yi #ashton originals #language fuckery #sigh i do distinctly remember asking my mom at age 13-15 somewhere in there whether or not my canto sounded 鬼佬 #and her answer was yeah a bit #i've gotten SO much better the last few years however and i can hear that #to the point that a lady i briefly talked to last week assumed i was born in hk and moved here when i was younger #(the answer is no but that was flattering thank you)

[what-breaks-my-heart]

#look I'm just OBSESSED with the way they gaze at each other okay #they are literally each other's what the arabs say qurratu ain #we have the word in my language (I don't speak arabic though I just learned it back in school) but I don't know what the English equivalent #the closes I can think of is apple of the eye #but it's not the same #the concept is similar but not the same #anyway #this post is about #GAZING #yeahhhhhhh #nothing but you #cdrama #wu lei #zhou yutong #ooopps I forgot the most important tag #THIS IS A RELATIONSHIP PROPAGANDA!!!

[sysig]

Okay but what if (Patreon)

#Doodles #TSP #Stanley #Me while reading: Now don't make a papercraft okay? Don't make a papercraft don't make a papercraft don't make a- #Predictably lol #It's the kind of structure that invites speculation! Who would you choose and what would their name be and how would they adapt #And The Stanley Parable wasn't even out at the time!! FJkldsafdf #Me when anything: I want to #Stanley would be so fun to play as ♪ Small but close-knit cast and since it's an institute it should have accommodations for his mutism #And he's no stranger to painful and confusing situations haha #You can see my indecision on which sign language Stanley knows haha #He never speaks so we don't know what accent Stanley would have but we know the Narrator is British! So #But I also don't know any British Sign Language and I know it's different than ASL òuò; #Granted my knowledge of ASL is far far far from fluent but I do know some at least so if /I/ was the one playing as him- #Anyway moot point since languages are directly translated anyway :P Though I wonder about sign language #I assume there were some nonverbal patients I just haven't seen any myself :0 #I have also made a Narrator card to match Stanley 😔 #Actually - hehe - I had a lot of fun picking their ''real'' names ♪ #The Narrator's was pretty easy honestly I knew I had to give him the first name Kevan and then I wanted to keep his last initial #So I went with ''Baker'' since it's a common name :) Very cute! #And then for Stanley since I headcanon him as being Greek/Latino - heavier on the Greek side - I gave him a Greek name! #Again same first initial - couple letters even for that ''St-'' sound :) - and scanned through some Greek last names #And liked the sound of Psomas with Stefano - but ♪ You'll never guess ♫ #It's a similarly common name for a reason - ''Psomas'' translates to ''bread maker'' #Kevan and Stefano Baker they're husbands fr your honour #Hghhghh I just think it's so cute!! And I didn't do it on purpose it was just a happy accident!! I love them <3

[coquelicoq]

it's interesting, a few people on my post yesterday about the dandelion dynasty told me they were taking it as a rec for the series, but i didn't actually recommend the series in that post. it's making me think about whether i would rec it to people, a question i hadn't fully considered yet (as it is a very different question from "do i like this book?"). so this is me figuring out the answer to that question. i'll keep it spoiler-free (though i make no promises on brevity).

i just finished book 3 (of 4) and each installment has left me more invested than i was before, but the series started out very slow, and i didn't really get into it until halfway through book 2. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people bounce off the first book; i didn't, but only because 1) i almost never give up on a book that i've started (it's a character flaw of mine 😕) and 2) my trust in ken liu is ridiculously high because the other stuff i've read by him is so beloved to me. so my reaction to feeling kind of meh about book 1 was "okay, let's see where he's going with this" rather than "i guess this just isn't my cup of tea."

i should say that the problem might just be my own ignorance/lack of familiarity with the form. i don't read a lot of epic fantasy - in fact, lord of the rings is the one series that i have given up on reading a couple of times because it just left me totally indifferent. so if you like epics, you are starting out way ahead of me and can maybe just ignore the rest of this post lol, but i think i had to adjust to what the form is asking of me and what it's best suited to accomplish before i could get fully on board.

the main thing i struggled with is the writing, like the actual sentence-level mechanics of voice and style. this surprised me, because i usually find his writing very beautiful, or, when not beautiful, i can get a sense of the effect he means to achieve by employing a certain style. but in this series, the writing came across as kind of awkward and one-note to me at first, and i couldn't see a reason for it to be that way.* the dialogue especially - different characters don't really have different ways of speaking, they all feel pretty much the same. this was one of the main things i had to adjust to, but i do get it now. i don't just mean that i got used to the style and it doesn't bother me anymore, though that is true; i mean that i now understand the effect he means to achieve by employing this style, which gives it purpose and inextricably ties it to the story he's telling (this becomes especially clear in book 3, as it's directly related to a major theme of that book). if the style were different, he would be telling a different story; that's the sign of a successful execution, i think.

i said in the tags on yesterday's post that one reason the series doesn't have much of a fandom on here might be that the characters aren't natural blorbos. of course every character is probably the blorbo of somebody somewhere, but i don't know that these characters were designed to be blorbos, if that makes sense. not that they're plot devices either! every single one of them is conflicted and complicated and compelling, and most of them are followed over a period of many years, so we see them develop as people over time. but there is no protagonist, for example. you could also say that every character is a protagonist. the "list of major characters" at the beginning of book 3 is six pages long, and there are stories to be told about each of these characters, and none of them are told in isolation. but in a way, the characters themselves are not the point, or if they are, it's in aggregate - it's in the ways they're all complex, the ways they all have motivations that make sense to them (and that make sense to us, once we get to know them). and it's about power and the roles that the characters play in their society, rather than the roles the characters play in the story. or maybe those are the same thing! because ultimately, the main character of this story is the society. and the plot is the history of this society, rather than the journey or life of a single person or handful of people.**

(sidenote, there will be a period during book 1 when you will think to yourself, "wow, all the women characters are super one-dimensional and the narrative doesn't seem to respect them." this is on purpose. just keep going.)

the plotting is intricate while also feeling very organic. he's got dozens of plates in the air at once, he's maintaining them over a long period (these books are MASSIVE), and he's somehow making it seem like a real history, not like an author pulling strings. i haven't finished it yet, but my guess is that he's going to pull off a very satisfying conclusion that's at the same time very open-ended. definitely looking forward to it.

and the worldbuilding. oh, the worldbuilding. this is some of the most detailed, complex, realistic*** worldbuilding i've ever encountered, and he covers SO much ground. you want linguistic worldbuilding? you got it. philosophy? it's here. psychology of empire? coming right up. the nitty-gritty of everyday governance? buddy, pull up a chair. mechanical engineering? how much time you got?? (it better be enough time to read 3504 physical pages, because that's how long this series is.) and he's drawing on chinese history and cultural narratives rather than slapping lipstick on a tolkien clone (see his comments here, but stop reading at "In this continuation of the series" if you want to avoid spoilers). he WILL go on for a hundred pages about a single invention, but it's SO interesting that he is allowed. this is a story about how technology (including language, and schools of thought, and agriculture, and...) shapes, and is a product of, its time and place and people, so again, this is all to purpose. but it's also just. really cool.

the last thing i'll say, and this is mainly for other ken liu fans, is that one of the things i most love about his short stories is how they tap into emotions i didn't even know i had, as though they're reaching inside of me and drawing to the surface ways of experiencing consciousness and love and mortal life that i had no idea were in there. this series is not causing emotional revelation for me in the way his other stories do, which isn't a bad thing - i don't mean to say the series is not engaging or that it inspires no emotions! i just mean, iykyk. if you've read the paper menagerie and are expecting that experience, you will have a better time here if you leave those expectations at the door. i am invested in this book because it's engaging my intellect, curiosity, sense of wanting to find out what else the characters will learn and what's going to happen next...less because it's turning my heart inside out inside my chest. and like thank goodness, because i don't think i could survive four entire 900-page books' worth of that! but anyway. word to the wise.

tl;dr: yes, i recommend it, especially if you like epic fantasy. if you're a fan of ken liu's other work, this is quite different, so just know that going in!

*this opinion is of course subjective and not universally shared. for instance, see this review of book 3 (full of spoilers, so don't actually read it lol) which says "There's Liu's voice to hold onto, though — beautifully deployed here and fully in command of the language of his imaginary universe." so ymmv. maybe it's an epic fantasy thing.

**this is making me realize that the story is commenting on this very thing through a tension between bureaucracy (founded on interchangeability) and monarchy (informed by a specific personality). dude. that's so meta!

***though sometimes i'm like, "really? you scaled up that invention to use untested on the battlefield in the span of like two weeks? sure, jan." so sometimes he falls down a little on translation of ideas into logistics, but it makes for such a great story that i'll allow it.

#i kind of want to call it epic science fiction rather than epic fantasy #i know the categories are very porous. but if you think of fantasy as having 'magic' and scifi as having 'technology' #this is scifi #there's no magic. unless you count the gods creating weather patterns etc. to help or hinder their favorite mortals #but i don't count that as magic #okay i guess maybe Gitré Üthu is magic...but again that's a god thing. so there's a gray area #the aesthetics are more fantasy than scifi. these terms are meaningless though so just ignore me lol #another thought. it occurs to me that some of the style choices he's making might be related to comments of his that i've read #on translation...and how when he translates a story he tries to retain a sense of it having been written in a different idiom #he likes people reading a chinese story in english to be able to tell that it was not originally written in english #this story was originally written in english irl. but in the world of the story itself they are speaking other languages #like for instance page 1 of book 1 features the lyrics of a song. they read kinda awkwardly. but don't translated lyrics almost always #look like that? because the rhymes and cadence and number of syllables etc. are so dependent on the language of origin? #the dandelion dynasty #ken liu #the grace of kings #the wall of storms #the veiled throne #my posts #links #wow this is NOT how i planned to spend my evening. and yet here we are. time to shower and then start thinking about bedtime #why does everything take me so long???? how are people so fast. ugh. it takes me hours just to have thoughts #and then writing them down? fuhgeddaboutit.

[uncanny-tranny]

Okay, if I had to simplify my gender into one song, it would absolutely have to be Libiamo ne' lieti calici. Like, I am going absolute feral right now. Do you see this vision of mine.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #mtf #nonbinary #i somewhat flip flop between my favourite pieces of opera but i LOVE how this song can be done #when it's done well i think you should feel almost seduced by BOTH violetta and alfredo's points of view #it is a VERY well-done argument alongside the chorus who affirm and almost seem to whisper alongside you... #...and (at least for me) i feel like i'm almost invited in a circle of people gossiping #i usually listen to pieces in isolation from the rest of the performance which does take the song out of context in a way #i think i just really like music (especially when i cannot understand it due to the language) #i find that people who listen to songs not in any language they speak they will enjoy it in a COMPLETELY different way #when you start understanding the song though you have your own interpretation of it that is often seperate from a natuve speakers #and frankly i LOVE that i am obsessed with it and i think we all need to find songs we don't understand and just LIVE with them #anyway feel free to recommend non-english songs and/or expand with your own song that you would say is gender idk!!!!

[youkah]

As a disabled person who has a hard time drawing half the time I think anyone who defends AI art saying it's accessible to disabled people should fuck off

#text #and then using self checkout as an example of like. #'if you're against ai then you should be against this thing that steals jobs!' #'you don't value caahiers as real people and put art over them!' #like they use that as some weird gotcha #look I don't have an issue with AI art that is sourced with permission #and the person who used the generator is honest about it being that #like if you use Adobe firefly which uses its own stock library then w/e #but the moment you use ai that is trained without consent of artists #and put people out of jobs at the same time #then fuck off #also as a note for self checkout #i personally find it to be an accessible option of checking out #like for example people who can't speak the local language have an option #and also people with social anxiety #but I do not like it when every register is replaced with self checkout #i do think that it should be an option though #anyway that's my rant as an artist lol

[grapejuicegay]

I need a big focus on the cooking for Cooking Crush. I need them to spend time explaining recipes. I need time spent on exploring how food is a part of the growing relationship. I need the food to be a main character and not a prop. please

#it's not going to be an uwma and i don't expect it to be #but food as a love language is a very prominent trope #and this is a show about cooking #i need them to explore the food as well as the love #i need the food to be the language and i need them to speak it #I DON'T THINK I'M ASKING FOR TOO MUCH? #....it looks like a fun chill show though #cooking crush #cooking crush series

[cereal-abyss-mage]

i'm learning russian and french at the same time and I swear to god if I accidentally find a random cyrillic letter in the middle of a word writen in latin alphabet one more time or accidentally mix languages mid sentence, I will yell

or sometimes I find that when I'm writing a translation of a word in russian that sounds similar in polish I just write the russian word again but in latin alphabet for some reason

or I can somehow remember all of my miniscule spanish when I'm trying to learn french even though I literally don't remember a word in spanish otherwise

my language module is broken at this point, if you ever find my notes and there is something like boнjour, just ignore it, I literally don't pick up on it when I'm making and rereading my notes

#seriously though whenever i see other bilinguals online talking about like #writing bilingual characters and stuff #there is always something like #“oh people don't just swich languages mid-sentence” #and yeah it's mostly true especially without noticing it #but like sometimes I have this moment of like #i'm speaking polish and then I almost randomly swich to english for some reason but stop myself after one syllable #like “bardzo lubię chleb because-” #it's so weird #also while we are talking about my languages experience I realized recently that i sometimes don't realize i'm reading a word wrong #like for over half a year I was convinced that the genshin enemy Jadeplume TERRORshroom was called Jadeplume TERRAshroom #and I apparently do that with other words as well lmao #like I didn't realize New Zealand was spelled with an a I thought it was New Zeland without the a since like forever #and also sometimes I think in both english and polish at the same time #like i have one train of thought in polish and another completely unrelated one in english #nico speaks #< new tag because I once again got bored of the old one and it made me not want to shitpost and I want to shitpost more #oh also I forgor that I also sometimes just stop writing my answer mid-sentence on my school tests and then don't notice it while rechecking

[justinefrischmanngf]

i need to get over myself and learn the languages i want to learn if i want to learn them like i just need to do it if i want to learn them then i should go out and learn them and like . fuck whatever else any of it means . yes it IS embarrassing to learn a language like the ones i want to learn as an adult but who CARES and yes i KNOW my grandparents will never want to speak to me in those languages but who CARES if it's important to me it can be important to me anyway

#had a moment last night bc i was apparently having an identity crisis which was random #but i had a moment where i was like well even if i learn all these languages no one in my family is going to want to speak to me #in those languages because of [insert reasons i don't need to go into here] and so ultimately none of this is like . cultural Really #it's just me wanting to feel as though i am connected to something when i will never be #and maybe that's true or maybe it isn't but if i want to learn them i should learn them anyway like . at the end of the day #i DO want to learn those languages and i think it would be interesting and i would love to be able to speak to people #in those languages even if the people i speak to aren't related to me and i would love to be able to speak languages that aren't english #and that all stays true even if i am not able to have the cultural connection through language with my own family #like i can go on and on about how disconnected i feel from my culture bc of everything that has ever happened in my life #but how i still feel alienated bc i'm Not White to white people and all of that is true but not learning a language doesn't make it #any better and maybe learning a language won't make it better either but i think it's a better use of my time #ALSO !!!!! NO ONE EVER GOES OH WHY WLD U LEARN FRENCH OR SPANISH [OR INSERT EUROPEAN LANG HERE] u have no real cultural connection to it!!! #so like why is it different bc i want to learn asian languages??? it's not! except in my head! or maybe irl too but i'm just saying #that i think i make all of this a much bigger deal than it has to be #that being said i did just try to look up classes and they r all for children and about keeping children culturally connected 2 their famil #l m f a o but that can't be ALL the classes ............. i'll work it out is what i'm saying and i need 2 get OVER myself #bc none of it is that deep and i can feel conflicted all i like but i should fucking DO smth about it at least #anyway i am posting this in the hopes that i can beat it into my own head bc i am sick and tired of being weird about learning #languages and i need 2 get over my weird cultural identity issues if i want to like . live a life where i don't want to explode and die

[soulsxng]

Another random headcanon for the day! This time, it's about Angelic and Demonic! (the languages)

For Angelic, it's actually not spoken as frequently in Heaven as it used to be, these days. This is partly because it's not a language that a lot of other beings are actually able to speak, which made communication difficult when Heaven began to selectively open their gates for other species and such to visit.

Instead, on top of speaking Angelic, young angels are now also taught Common-tongue much more seriously as well. It's Common-tongue that is now used more frequently overall in the realm...though it's also not odd for angels to learn even more languages on top of those two-- for the most part, these extra languages are those from the Mortal Realm, one of the nearby fae realms, or Elvish. Even Demonic isn't too rare these days, though it tends to be the angels that travel commonly that choose to learn that.

As a language though, Angelic is extremely harsh-sounding, for the most part. For a lot of beings, it can physically hurt to listen to for very long, which is another reason why it isn't really "sustainable" for them to speak it as exclusively as they used to. I think of it as like...Angelic is supposed to sound kind of unsettling. A bit like a warning, or bordering on threatening in a way? Also just very authoritative, overall.

For Demonic, on the other hand, I always think of it as being a very entrancing and alluring sort of language, made specifically for tempting others into things (like contracts, but not always), essentially. One that-- again, opposing Angelic-- is supposed to be very easy overall for other species to speak, and to listen to.

Because of how easy it is to speak and learn, Demonic is still by far the most commonly spoken language in Hell and other places, (like the realm of the reapers, Tenimus, for example) with demons and those living in Hell speaking it far more typically as their only language. Common-tongue is still the second-most spoken, though it's really close between that and fae languages.

Demonic was also based pretty heavily on Brinnelan, or the Ancient tongue (because that's what Heaven and Hell grew up speaking in Pirodet, before coming into their realm bodies as they got older). At least in sound-- their alphabets are vastly different. Angelic, on the other hand, sounds vastly different, but their alphabet is based heavily on that of the Brinnelan language!

#[Worldbuilding] #I can't remember why I started thinking about this but here it is! #Yeah though aside from a few words Angelic is just...not kind to non-angels #Off the top of my head I can only think of a few species that are able to listen to it without it hurting #and even fewer that are capable of speaking it 'properly' #There /was/ an adapted Angelic for a while when Heaven first started opening up their gates to other realms #since it was easier for the Angels to do that at first than it was to teach /everyone/ a new language (common-tongue) #and that's easier for others to speak and learn but still kinda hurt to listen to for any longer periods of time #so that in particular is primarily used for slang now #Demonic on the other hand hasn't changed much at all over the ages-- sort of an 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' sort of thing #but they /do/ have a lot of different dialects where Angelic doesn't have any