OOPs #294
Nov18
Get back to work, ya ingrate
Shading: Koof
All right, looks like everything’s up and working! I’ve been sitting on this site redesign too long, and just needed a couple days to get everything remade. And in a strange bit of good (?) timing, my Wacom tablet died a few days ago, which I assumed was the universe’s way of telling me to get off my ass and update the site already. Thankfully Wacom made a speedy repair and delivery back, so I’ve already sketched up the first few panels of the next OOPs page.
And a special shoutout to Xandispin, who first suggested a site update several months ago, then set up this snazzy new WordPress layout for me to customize (which I then sat on until this past week). Thanks man; it took me long enough to get around to it, but without you the site would still be looking like something from the early 2000’s!
Seriously, I was manually creating pages and re-entering every altered link when there was a new page, using a long-defunct version of Dreamweaver 2001. That gets tiring real quick.
Anyway! There’s some new stuff in the Art & Extras section now as well, which you might not have seen if you don’t frequent Deviantart and such.
nnnNI do not like the way Ran is looking so pleased..
Kass finally feeling comfortable was a very perfect time to screw everything up again. Classic trope of crushing someone’s comfortableness.
Especially as this sounds almost like an instruction to “take one for the team” given yinglet proclivities. Perhaps Poak will get his ride after all?
Wizh de way Kass’s nerves have been, if you were zheir friend wouldn’t you buy zhem a hooker for a night if dey were zhat down? Telling Kass zhat de “deeper de integration, de greater de reward” is basically carte-blanche for getting laid. Especially if Kass is ever going to be told about de Zhat Zhing residue stuff. Plus I zhink Ran wants Yinglet eggs to observe and Vislet wants Yinglets who are raised outside of de Yinglet council’s grasp, and our “hen” isn’t cooperating as of yet. A bit like buying a golden goose, but finding out she’s a prude.
Well, at least Kass isn’t required to wear de reed of carnal beckoning this time! Or hopefully will not have to enter de breeding dens. Plus security is going to be tighter seeing how Elim got shanked the last visit. In a way, Kass might be safer wizhin de enclave, zhan outside of it.
Zhough Kass being in de Feemale’s ranks will expose Kass to Yinglets being bred, or at least the before and after parts of it, as well as how much feemales actually like being egg-heavy, and it eat away at his resolve a bit at a time to not enjoy everything dere is to love about being a Yinglet.
He jinxed it!
Ran looks suspiciously happy. Then again, that’s probably his default expression.
Kass’ expression stayed impressively neutral considering the assignment. (:
there?
not zhere?
for val, it’s in panel 4
Noticed this too. Very un-yinglet of Kass.
Lookit, it isn’t zhat we can’t say de dreaded “th” sound. We really can. https://www.deviantart.com/umbrascythe/art/Learn-To-Live-66-827397980
However, it is like speaking in de tongue-twisters using a humani saying, or using a 21st century example (I live on a holodeck set to zhat period on Earzh) be like de movie “8 Mile” wizh Eminem where you have to speak in rhyme and cadence zhat is alien for most speakers of common. I speak a dialect of plains common, were I substitute “d” for “Th” for many words just because “Zhat” is easier to say (and write) as “dat”. It is just an evolution of common. Dat and De technology I use has zhis zhing called “Auto Correct” which constantly tries to strip me of my Yinglet heritage.
It’s an unusual set of teeth he’s got in “Learn to Live.” My explanation for Kass’s diction in the fourth panel is the last line of in the third panel: it was the inspiration of an unusually “human” feeling moment.
Yinglets are weird. Zhough I give you dat zhe doctor doing de examination also used “Th” and has a normal shelltoozh, and OOP’s own Lopin lacks a shelltoozh entirely and still uses “Zh” so it’s more of de shape of our mouzhes Zhat makes it awkward to emulate de “Th” sound, mostly our tongues being skinny zhings evolved to eat shellfish instead of speaking common.
Also part of it is our tonality, we…sound weird to humani. Zhere is no amount of proper pronunciation dat will make me sound like a humani. Nope Nope Nope. So, why try, really? Pretending to be something you are not, and cannot be is foolish, even for one of us. De ever so smarty pants Vislet still uses “Zh” not because she cannot say “Th” but because she is the embodiment of tradition wizhin de enclave (even if she is a rebellious one) and as such is expected to act and sound like a matriarch should.
Kass, doesn’t have dat pressure. And wizh some muscle memory exercise should be able to learn “Th” just like wizh time you could learn to rap like Eminem, but as hard as you try, you could never be Emimem, right? Kass is just trying to collect what peices of Kassen Akoll remain, but as hard as he tries, he’ll still be Kass de Yinglet, and sound like a female Yinget trying to be something dey aren’t.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I think Mori’s dentition makes it easy for him compared to other yinglets. For Lopin, he’s got no reason to bother changing his accent before a new shelltooth grows in. In Kass’s case, we’ve got a person motivated to keep the human accent he had for his whole life, but even he decided it’s too much effort to force the “th” sound in everyday speech. Panel 4 here is just a fun little miracle for Kass in a moment of serenity.
Panel 8: that face you make when your boss gives you a task you really don’t want to do, but you can’t say no because it’s literally your job. To all of you with your minds in the breeding chambers, I can’t imagine anybody trying to force themselves on Kass. With Vizlet’s protection and the favor of at least most of the patriarchs, it’s going to be a safe adventure. It might not be the most fun Kass has ever had, but it won’t be the least fun either. As long as there’s clams, it’ll probably be fine. I think the worst that’s likely to happen is a bunch of festive girly stuff that Kass will have to suffer through. Nothing really crazy could happen during the Traveling Moon’s flyby, right?
Pretty sure de most fun Kass ever had was de Pre-Drinnish war bender he did. Gonna be hard to top Zhat one. An entire week of hard drugs and partying *Almost* made up for everyzhing dat followed, up till today. Kind of like eating clams for de first time, but zhen told dat one can never eat it again.
Kass might be about to find out how hard yinglets can party. I wonder if the “Soso Pretty Lady Diplomat” will be able to enjoy it.