This is super random and I’m not sure how to word this but I just discovered your tumblr page and you seem really kind & thoughtful when interacting with asks so I thought why not ask:
I’ve taken two linguistics courses - one was an intro course and the other was a psychology of language course. I currently am finishing my masters in Forensic Psychology and to this day those were the hardest classes and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I will say I’m monolingual (not intentionally) but I struggle to learn another language. I will also mention while I don’t need a hearing device of any kind sometimes I feel like I can’t understand people without subtitles. And I certainly can’t watch media without subtitles. (I don’t know if this is relevant)
Essentially, is there hope for someone like me? Either in managing a cursory understanding of linguistics and/or another language?
P.S. I definitely don’t understand everything you did with the languages you created (eg High Valyrian) but holy shit it’s extremely badass! Ok bye!
Well first, you don't have to study linguistics or another language. We only have so much time. Focus on what you love and what makes you happy.
Second, studying linguistics is different from studying a language. A large percentage of linguists are monolingual. Analyzing a language is far different from being able to use and understand it. Great example. I understand the game of chess very well. I know all the pieces, all the moves, all the secret moves, I understand strategies very well when I read them on paper—but I SUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at chess. On the set of Bright, a couple of the PAs started playing chess on this chess app. I played against this one dude in particular and lost 117 consecutive times before I beat him. After that I still only won one out of every 15-20 games. It is just not my bag. Doesn't mean I can't appreciate it or understand it, though. Linguistics can actually be quite freeing, since you can study language without having the added pressure of having to learn the language. Linguistics may still not be your thing, but it has absolutely no relation to studying languages.
Third, regarding language study, not everyone learns the same. Maybe a classroom isn't your thing. There's always studying by a book, there's Duolingo, or there's just plunking on some anime in Japanese with the subtitles on and trying your best to understand what's said, bit by bit, little by little, then maybe going without the subtitles eventually—starting with stuff you know well, and moving on. There are many different ways to learn a language. The one constant is you need to engage with the language every single day. That's more important than anything else: Constant exposure.
Finally, remember that we are four dimensional beings—that is, we are located both in 3D space and in time. Just because something doesn't make sense to you at 20 doesn't mean it won't at 30. At a different age you have a lot more experience, and may come with a different perspective. If language is something that interests you, you can always come back to it later—and that goes for everything.
Hope that helps! Most important thing is not to stress. Stress inhibits learning and growth. If you don't get something right now, it's no big deal. You may get it later; you may not. The important thing is you're still you, and that's a pretty great thing to be.
I just discovered your art and I am FLOORED!!! It’s just incredible!! I was wondering- do you sell prints?? I would love to buy the print of Hannibal getting out his restraints at muskrat farm. I want to frame it, it’s so stunning! ❤️
i dont as of this moment simply because i never have before and dont fully know how it works, but !! you are the second request for prints ive gotten so i really want to look into this as a possibility <3 thank you for the support either way it seriously means a lot :'-) <333
shit is it too needy to request a part three to the billy nightmare demogorgon thing? bc I love it and this is so so good but if you don't want to write more of it, that's totally fine! idk I love it sooooo much and I could read like endless amounts of this...?
oh gosh I’m sorry I’m getting to this so late!! things have been super busy here. but I hope you enjoy this!! I’ve really been enjoying working on this little ‘verse!!
too tired to be fightingpart i: do you have room for one more troubled soul?part ii: you’re a canary, i’m a coal mine(fic requests open)
Silence reigns once more; this time, though, it is tense and it is angry and it is paired with pacing so furious Steve thinks the carpet might burn. They are in Jonathan’s bedroom, where Joyce had ushered them on Jonathan’s offer after Billy began his pacing in the living room.
“The monsters,” El had told him, “in your dreams. They’re real.”
“You-” Billy said, and then, “You were-”, and then, “You saw-”, and then, feeling the heat of so many eyes on him, so many people watching him, so many observe his stumbling and stammering, he shot to his feet with his shoulders rolled back and his hands squeezed to fists at his sides.
“Billy,” Max said, jumping up too, and at the same time Steve said, “Take it easy.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Billy shouted. His tone startled El; she jumped, and she curled against Hopper, who tugged her closer as he said, “Hey!” in a loud voice. He seemed ready to say more, ready to launch into some kind of tirade, but Joyce’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. She bunched a wad of his shirt in her fist and shook him- not hard, but enough to shut him up.
“Enough,” she said. She squeezed El with her free arm, then released them both to stand. Billy’s shoulders rose as she approached. He moved like prey; jerky, untrusting, unsure. He backed away when Joyce stepped closer and flinched when she reached to him. She saw this, and she stopped. “Hey,” she said softly. She glanced around the room, releasing Billy, for a moment, from one scrutinizing pair of eyes. She looked to Jonathan. “I think some space would be good,” she told him, and Jonathan nodded. He rose, too, and again Billy shrunk back. He was like a cornered animal, alert and defensive, but relaxed when instead of moving toward him, Jonathan directed his attention to Steve.
“First door on the right,” he told him, pointing down the hall. Steve placed a hand on Billy’s shoulder and tried not to react when Billy nearly jumped away. Joyce stepped to the side, making a path for them out of the living room. Billy looked at everyone in turn. He wanted to fight- Steve could feel that -but he was too exhausted to argue, too exhausted to push.
Now, he is pacing the length of Jonathan’s small bedroom over and over again. He hasn’t said a word since Steve shut the door. Steve sits on the edge of the bed, watching Billy move back and forth and back and forth. He is simmering with something like rage. Twice he stopped to looked at Steve, twice he opened his mouth to- ask a question? say anything? -, and twice he shook his head with a low huff and resumed his pacing.
“Can you at least sit?” Steve asks. “You’re making me dizzy.”
Billy grunts; it is the clearest response Steve has gotten from him in what feels like hours but, in reality, has only been about twenty minutes. Steve can hear a low murmur of voices outside the door, muffled with distance, and he knows that Billy hears it, too.
“I know that is…” Steve stops himself, suddenly aware that he doesn’t a word. This is what? Confusing, sure. Frustrating, obviously. Scary? Terrifying, even? Something out of a Stephen King novel? He sighs. “I know this is a lot.”
Billy pauses. He looks at Steve, and he looks angry, but the anger doesn’t reach his eyes. His eyes tell a different story. They look like a child’s eyes. Steve opens his mouth to say more, but Billy turns his back again.
“Do you want to be alone?” Steve asks him. Billy pauses again, this time with his back to Steve, and Steve prepares to be kicked out. He is halfway to his feet when Billy speaks.
“No,” he says. Steve hesitates, not quite sure he’s heard him right.
“No?” he asks. Billy turns to look at him.
“No,” he says again, and he sits down beside Steve with a heavy sigh. He leans his elbows on his knees and rests his head in hands and, after another moment of hesitation, Steve touches a hand to Billy’s back.
“Do you want to talk?” Steve asks.
“I want to sleep,” Billy murmurs. He sounds miserable.
“You think you can?” Steve asks.
“No,” Billy says.
“Because of-”
“Yeah.”
“Right.” Steve rubs circles between Billy’s shoulders, but the tension there stays coiled.
“What did she mean?” Billy asks.
“El?”
“She said they’re real.”
“Yeah,” Steve says.
“How does she-”
“She can see stuff,” Steve says. “Uh, she has, like…uh…superpowers, sort of.”
“But how does she know they’re real?”
“She kind of, um- opened the gate for them to get here?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Billy-”
“Don’t,” Billy says. He lifts his head to glare at Steve, but the effect is lost when Steve sees a sheen of unfallen tears. “Don’t fucking patronize me, Harrington, I swear to God.”
“I’m not,” Steve says. “I swear. I’m not even sure I know what patronize means.”
“Fuck off,” Billy huffs, though his tone his lighter. He leans against Steve and Steve slips his around around Billy’s shoulders, holding Billy against him. “I don’t know how she knows,” he admits. “We’ve fought them before. She’s fought them before. But we still don’t really know how they, like…work. This is new territory for all of us. No just you.”
“Great,” Billy says.
“Bright side,” Steve says, “is that you’re not in it alone.”
“No one else is seeing them in their dreams?”
“Well, uh,” Steve stammers, then sighs. “No. Not that I know of.”
“So how am I not alone?” Billy asks. “I’m just supposed to let my sister’s weird friend stand guard in my fucking head?”
“El can help,” Steve says. “We all just want to help.”
Billy is quiet for a moment, and then he says, “I’m tired.”
“I know,” Steve says. “You should sleep.”
“If they’re real-”
“-you’ve got backup,” Steve finishes. “Seriously. Okay? You’re covered, man.”
Billy is quiet again, and leans heavier against Steve. Steve lets him. He holds Billy close, rubs Billy’s arm, tucks Billy’s head beneath his chin. They sit there together, entwined, and Steve hums something out-of-tune to drown out the sounds of talking outside.
“What if they know?” Billy asks suddenly, almost startling Steve.
“What if who knows what?”
“Those things,” Billy says. “What if they know we’ve caught on?”
“You think they have?”
“They looked at her,” Billy says. “At…El.”
“Then we’ll send her back in,” Steve says. “She’ll kick their asses.”
“So, what? I have a fourteen year-old bodyguard?”
“Would you rather go in alone?”
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
“What?” Steve asks. He pulls away, one hand holding Billy so that he can look at his face. Billy blinks at him, groggy and weary. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says firmly. “Okay?”
Billy looks Steve up and down. He bites his lip, looks away, looks at the floor, then back at Steve. He nods, and when Steve pulls him into an embrace, Billy lets his head fall back on Steve’s shoulder.
“You’re really fucking out of it, Hargrove,” Steve says, “if you think I’d leave you.”
“Shut up,” Billy grumbles.
And Steve tells him, “Go to sleep.”
An hour passes, and in it Billy does sleep. He falls asleep on Steve’s shoulder, and Steve winces as he lowers Billy onto the bed. He keeps his promise; he stays with him, keeps watch over him, until a knock at the door pulls him away. Billy grunts in his sleep, but doesn’t wake up, and Steve gently brushes Billy’s hair from his face, his thumb lingering at Billy’s temple for a moment, before going to answer the door.
“What’s going on?” Max asks, and Steve holds a finger to his lips to quiet her.
“He’s sleeping,” he whispers.
“Is he-” El starts.
“He’s been okay so far,” Steve says. He leaves the door open a crack behind him as he steps into the hall, and he looks into the dimly lit room to be sure Billy is still asleep before turning his attention to the girls.
“He’s scared,” El says matter-of-factly.
“Yeah,” Steve says. “Yeah, he is.”
“You’re scared,” Max says, brows furrowed as she looks him up and down.
“Yeah, well, he’s scared,” Steve says by way of explanation.
“We think El should stay with him,” Max says. “I mean, if he’s sleeping, they can come back, right? She should be there if they do.” Steve looks to El, who nods.
“I promised I wouldn’t leave him,” Steve says.
“You don’t have to,” Max says. “Just…let us stay, too. To protect him.”
“Right,” Steve says. “Right, okay. Yeah.”
He leans against the door so that it opens, and he tries to slow it down so that the hinges don’t squeak too much. Every little noise makes him nervous. He doesn’t want to wake Billy- not after everything, not when he’s so desperately exhausted. Max steps inside, and she makes her way to her brother’s side, careful as she lowers herself beside him on the bed. Before El follows her, she takes Steve’s hand.
“He will be okay,” she says, and she squeezes his hand and offers the smallest of smiles.
“I hope so,” Steve tells her, eyes on Billy, so far still sleeping soundly, so far still undisturbed. “I really hope so.”
If you’re still accepting prompts: #33 (as a first kiss) mixed with #40 & #32. Is that even possible? Sorry, I got excited/greedy. You’re writing is stunning! 😘
33. An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it.
40. A gentle kiss that quickly descends into passion, with little regard for what’s going on around them.
32. A kiss so passionate, so perfect - that after they part, neither person can open their eyes for a few moments afterwards.
steve was definitely not expecting this.
he’d nearly shit his pants when he’d walked through the threshold of the byers house, when everyone had jumped out at once. the sound of their surprise! is still ringing in steve’s ears.
today was the day. graduation. and he’d made it through relatively unscathed, save for tripping on his gown as he exited the stage, nearly toppling over and busting his face. save for that, the ceremony was relatively uneventful. after, he’d thought he was coming over for a celebration dinner, but he’d been surprised with a party instead.
steve is sitting on the byers’ front porch, nursing a beer and puffing on a cigarette. jonathan had joined him for a moment, but when the music inside had started back up, nancy poked her head out with a grin. it was game over after that. jonathan had cast steve a questioning look, and he’d just nodded, smiling as he watched jonathan dart back inside, his hand finding nancy’s easily.
now, he sits on the steps alone, relaxing into the muted sound of the music from inside the house. steve watches the stars, the heat of the indiana summer temporarily abated by the cooler hours of the evening.
it’s been a long road. a lot of ups and downs and twists and turns. a lot of saving the world and almost dying and government secrets. but steve made it out. he’s gotten to the other side, and now he just has to figure out where to go from here.
the sound of a car rumbling up the dirt drive catches steve’s attention. he can’t help the small smile that tugs on his lips as he watches the camaro come to a smooth stop. it’s another minute or so before billy steps out, flashing steve one of his winning smiles.
“congratulations, pretty boy,” billy says as he walks up. he seats himself next to steve on the steps. “you’re all grown up now.”
steve passes billy his cigarette pack. watches billy pull one out and light up. “yup. that’s me, steve harrington. real adult.” he grins, a little lopsided. “you didn’t show up to your own graduation.”
“yeah, well. graduation’s for squares,” billy tells him, smirking just a little. he takes a long drag from his smoke.
“hey, i was at graduation,” steve points out.
“my point still stands.”
steve elbows him a little, gently. he huffs out a soft laugh. they’re both quiet for a moment, smoking in a comfortable silence. after a while, steve snuffs out out his cigarette in the ashtray.
“so, stevie boy, what are your big life plans?” billy asks. his eyes are trained on the cherry of his cigarette.
steve shrugs. picks at a string on his t-shirt. “no fucking clue. shit kinda hit the fan. forgot to figure that part out.”
“responsibility is hard, man. better get used to that.”
“i guess,” steve laughs, shaking his head. “what about you, hargrove? where’s your life headed now?”
“back to california, ideally,” billy tells him. he extinguishes his cigarette with the heel of his boot and lets steve pop it into the ashtray. “‘m almost all saved up. then i hit the road.”
steve is quiet for a moment. he’d sort of figured that would be the plan. he knows how much billy hates it here, how strong his desire is to get away. steve had figured that out pretty quick once they’d struck up a tentative friendship, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. but, their friendship hasn’t been tentative for some time. it’s been good, great even. one of the brightest parts of steve’s life.
so it kinda makes his heart squeeze when he’s forced back to reality. this reality, where billy is leaving soon and steve may very well never see him again.
“take me with you?” steve asks, but he keeps his tone light. joking. billy doesn’t need to know that deep down, steve is being completely serious.
billy looks over at him. flashes a crooked smile, then looks back out at the yard. “figured you’d be a hawkins boy for life.”
“yeah, well. shit happens. it’d be nice to get out,” steve says, a little softer than intended. he clears his throat awkwardly. “i’m gonna grab another beer. want one?”
he plants his hands on the step beneath him, about to push himself up, when a hand on his bicep stops him. steve turns, opens his mouth to say something. but then billy’s lips are covering his, and all he can do is let out a surprised squeak.
billy’s lips are soft, gentle. steve is frozen for a moment, his heart beating so hard he can feel it in his ears. he doesn’t even know how many times he’s thought about this, he’d lost count long ago. all of those fantasies, those daydreams, don’t compare to the real thing.
finally, steve melts into it. lets billy kiss him soft and sweet for a moment, before he laces his fingers through billy’s hair, trying to press himself as close as possible. he takes it upon himself to deepen the kiss. steve swallows the soft noise of surprise that billy makes, tasting it on his tongue. he stores away the sound, keeping it for himself.
the party rages on inside, but it’s distant. irrelevant. steve knows someone could walk outside any moment, but he can’t bring himself to care. everything going on around them just falls away.
the universe seems to have focused singularly on the two of them. steve tries to put every ounce of passion, every bit of emotion, that he has into the kiss. he cradles billy’s jaw in his hands and kisses him like the world is ending. like he may never get another chance. and billy kisses steve with purpose, hot and heavy and dizzying.
steve lets out a soft gasp when billy pulls away. neither of them open their eyes, a long stretch of silence passing where they just breathe together, reveling in the sheer perfection of the kiss. when he opens his eyes, butterflies erupt in the pit of his stomach when billy just cups his cheek, peering into his eyes like he’s trying to look into his soul.
“i don’t...” billy starts, then trails off. he swallows thickly, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. “i don’t want to leave you here. ‘m not sure i can.”
the world stops spinning. or at least, it seems to. steve’s breath catches in his lungs. “then do it. take me with you. i was - that was serious, what i said earlier. i want to go with you.”
the finality of it even startles steve. billy just searches his eyes for a long moment. and then he grins, big and stupid and unbelievably bright.
“you’re serious?”
“as a heart attack,” steve breathes, leaning in to give him a tender kiss. he still has billy’s cheek resting in his palm, warm and soft.
“then i guess that settles it,” billy murmurs. “‘s just gonna be you and me, stevie, against the world. think you’re ready for that?”
steve rests his forehead against billy’s, breathing deep and letting his eyes flutter shut.
Hi lovely! Vampire bat & Pumpkin Patch for the Halloween ask 😘
HELLO MY DARLING! XO
pumpkin patch: what do you usually do on halloween?We don’t get any trick or treaters by us, so no giving out candy -- usually I dress up and work and I think I’ve convinced a few coworkers to do Stranger Things, but idk if they’ll actually go through with it. I wanna be Hopper though. I carve 3 pumpkins (exactly 3 lol), watch scary movies w the bf, and relax usually! Haven’t been to a Halloween party in a minute but I”m happy with pizza and pumpkin ale and cupcakes.
vampire bat: favorite vampire?
VIAGO. He’s too cute and funny. I fucking love What We Do in the Shadows lol
