#I can write in a lot more scripts than I can speak languages

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

so, just realized that since I'm getting fairly good at writing in (if not casually speaking) Old English, I can absolutely make, write and say aloud the type of spells used in that Merlin show

um yeah

idk what do w that information

besides. make some spells. for fun

I don't rly go here

...if anyone in the Merlin fandom writes fic/rps/etc and wants custom spells, hi, I'm here, I would do that.

hi

EDIT: apparently the BBC Merlin magic system also uses Ogham script? ok weird but sure I like the vibes... anyway, while I can't speak ANY form of Gaelic (or Latin btw. I speak OE and thats IT), I can write in Ogham script, like the writing system itself, in either modern or Old English. not sure what language is being used re: the Ogham in Merlin tho

...but if u want that. I can also do that.

[s-soulwriter]

Things Real People Do in Dialogue (For Your Next Story)

Okay, let’s be real—dialogue can make or break a scene. You want your characters to sound natural, like actual humans talking, not robots reading a script. So, how do you write dialogue that feels real without it turning into a mess of awkward pauses and “ums”? Here’s a little cheat sheet of what real people actually do when they talk (and you can totally steal these for your next story):

1. People Interrupt Each Other All the Time In real conversations, nobody waits for the perfect moment to speak. We interrupt, cut each other off, and finish each other's sentences. Throw in some overlaps or interruptions in your dialogue to make it feel more dynamic and less like a rehearsed play.

2. They Don’t Always Say What They Mean Real people are masters of dodging. They’ll say one thing but mean something totally different (hello, passive-aggressive banter). Or they’ll just avoid the question entirely. Let your characters be vague, sarcastic, or just plain evasive sometimes—it makes their conversations feel more layered.

3. People Trail Off... We don’t always finish our sentences. Sometimes we just... stop talking because we assume the other person gets what we’re trying to say. Use that in your dialogue! Let a sentence trail off into nothing. It adds realism and shows the comfort (or awkwardness) between characters.

4. Repeating Words Is Normal In real life, people repeat words when they’re excited, nervous, or trying to make a point. It’s not a sign of bad writing—it’s how we talk. Let your characters get a little repetitive now and then. It adds a rhythm to their speech that feels more genuine.

5. Fillers Are Your Friends People say "um," "uh," "like," "you know," all the time. Not every character needs to sound polished or poetic. Sprinkle in some filler words where it makes sense, especially if the character is nervous or thinking on their feet.

6. Not Everyone Speaks in Complete Sentences Sometimes, people just throw out fragments instead of complete sentences, especially when emotions are high. Short, choppy dialogue can convey tension or excitement. Instead of saying “I really think we need to talk about this,” try “We need to talk. Now.”

7. Body Language Is Part of the Conversation Real people don’t just communicate with words; they use facial expressions, gestures, and body language. When your characters are talking, think about what they’re doing—are they fidgeting? Smiling? Crossing their arms? Those little actions can add a lot of subtext to the dialogue without needing extra words.

8. Awkward Silences Are Golden People don’t talk non-stop. Sometimes, they stop mid-conversation to think, or because things just got weird. Don’t be afraid to add a beat of awkward silence, a long pause, or a meaningful look between characters. It can say more than words.

9. People Talk Over Themselves When They're Nervous When we’re anxious, we tend to talk too fast, go back to rephrase what we just said, or add unnecessary details. If your character’s nervous, let them ramble a bit or correct themselves. It’s a great way to show their internal state through dialogue.

10. Inside Jokes and Shared History Real people have history. Sometimes they reference something that happened off-page, or they share an inside joke only they get. This makes your dialogue feel lived-in and shows that your characters have a life beyond the scene. Throw in a callback to something earlier, or a joke only two characters understand.

11. No One Explains Everything People leave stuff out. We assume the person we’re talking to knows what we’re talking about, so we skip over background details. Instead of having your character explain everything for the reader’s benefit, let some things go unsaid. It’ll feel more natural—and trust your reader to keep up!

12. Characters Have Different Voices Real people don’t all talk the same way. Your characters shouldn’t either! Pay attention to their unique quirks—does one character use slang? Does another speak more formally? Maybe someone’s always cutting people off while another is super polite. Give them different voices and patterns of speech so their dialogue feels authentic to them.

13. People Change the Subject In real life, conversations don’t always stay on track. People get sidetracked, jump to random topics, or avoid certain subjects altogether. If your characters are uncomfortable or trying to dodge a question, let them awkwardly change the subject or ramble to fill the space.

14. Reactions Aren’t Always Immediate People don’t always respond right away. They pause, they think, they hesitate. Sometimes they don’t know what to say, and that delay can speak volumes. Give your characters a moment to process before they respond—it’ll make the conversation feel more natural.

Important note: Please don’t use all of these tips in one dialogue at once.

[flimsy-roost]

I realized the other day that the reason I didn't watch much TV as a teenager (and why I'm only now catching up on late aughts/early teens media that I missed), is because I literally didn't understand how to use our TV. My parents got a new system, and it had three remotes with a Venn diagram of functions. If someone left the TV on an unfamiliar mode, I didn't know how to get back to where I wanted to be, so I just stopped watching TV on my own altogether.

I explained all this to my therapist, because I didn't know if this was more related to my then-unnoticed autism, or to my relationship with my parents at the time (we had issues less/unrelated to neurodivergency). She told me something interesting.

In children's autism assessments, a common test is to give them a straightforward task that they cannot reasonably perform, like opening an overtight jar. The "real" test is to see, when they realize that they cannot do it on their own, if they approach a caregiver for help. Children that do not seek help are more likely to be autistic than those that do.

This aligns with the compulsory independence I've noticed to be common in autistic adults, particularly articulated by those with lower support needs and/or who were evaluated later in life. It just genuinely does not occur to us to ask for help, to the point that we abandon many tasks that we could easily perform with minor assistance. I had assumed it was due to a shared common social trauma (ie bad experiences with asking for help in the past), but the fact that this trait is a childhood test metric hints at something deeper.

My therapist told me that the extremely pathologizing main theory is that this has something to do with theory of mind, that is doesn't occur to us that other people may have skills that we do not. I can't speak for my early childhood self, or for all autistic people, but I don't buy this. Even if I'm aware that someone else has knowledge that I do not (as with my parents understanding of our TV), asking for help still doesn't present itself as an option. Why?

My best guess, using only myself as a model, is due to the static wall of a communication barrier. I struggle a lot to make myself understood, to articulate the thing in my brain well enough that it will appear identically (or at least close enough) in somebody else's brain. I need to be actively aware of myself and my audience. I need to know the correct words, the correct sentence structure, and a close-enough tone, cadence, and body language. I need draft scripts to react to possible responses, because if I get caught too off guard, I may need several minutes to construct an appropriate response. In simple day-to-day interactions, I can get by okay. In a few very specific situations, I can excel. When given the opportunity, I can write more clearly than I am ever capable of speaking.

When I'm in a situation where I need help, I don't have many of my components of communication. I don't always know what my audience knows. I don't have sufficient vocabulary to explain what I need. I don't know what information is relevant to convey, and the order in which I should convey it. I don't often understand the degree of help I need, so I can come across inappropriately urgent or overly relaxed. I have no ability to preplan scripts because I don't even know the basic plot of the situation.

I can stumble though with one or two deficiencies, but if I'm missing too much, me and the potential helper become mutually unintelligible. I have learned the limits of what I can expect from myself, and it is conceptualized as a real and physical barrier. I am not a runner, so running a 5k tomorrow does not present itself as an option to me. In the same way, if I have subconscious knowledge that an interaction is beyond my capability, it does not present itself as an option to me. It's the minimum communication requirements that prevent me from asking for help, not anything to do with the concept of help itself.

Maybe. This is the theory of one person. I'm curious if anyone else vibes with this at all.

[rafes-slut]

hi babe! can you write something about her being in control for the first time and Rafe liking it more than he thought. thank you ♡

Here you go love

Losing Control

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x You

Warnings: 18+ NSFW / Explicit sexual content, language, dominance/submission dynamics, switch!Rafe, power play, rough sex, oral (m receiving), riding, overstimulation, light teasing, filthy talk, Rafe being obsessed with control and then losing it, possessiveness, slightly toxic dynamic, reader in control for the first time, lots of moaning/groaning, praise and degradation mix, no protection

"Not gonna happen, baby,” he’d always whisper with that smug smirk, pushing you down, flipping you over, caging you under him like he fucking owned you. And he did. At least, he thought he did.

Until tonight.

The look on his face was priceless when you shoved him onto the mattress, palms flat against his chest, surprising him with just enough force to knock him back. His lips parted in disbelief, chest rising and falling under your hands as you crawled over him, straddling his hips with a slow, teasing grind of your hips.

You didn’t give him a chance to speak. Didn’t want the usual cocky remarks or empty threats about what he was gonna do to you. Not tonight.

“Keep your mouth shut,” you said, voice low, dripping with authority you’d never dared to use before. “Or I’ll stop.”

Rafe’s breath hitched. His blue eyes flickered with something dangerous—lust, confusion, maybe even a little bit of fear. But he didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just laid there, muscles tense beneath you like he couldn’t decide if he should obey or snap.

You leaned down, lips brushing his jaw, hot breath fanning against his ear. “Good boy.”

He groaned, a low, guttural sound that sent a shiver down your spine. And fuck, did that feel good—you had made him do that.

Your fingers toyed with the hem of his shirt, but you didn’t rush. No, not like he always did. You took your time, peeling it off of him slow, revealing every inch of his toned chest like a gift you were unwrapping just for yourself. His abs flexed under your touch, his breath getting heavier the longer you teased.

“You look so pretty when you’re not in control,” you murmured, dragging your nails down his stomach, watching it tense beneath the light scrape. “Bet you didn’t think you’d like this, huh?”

Rafe clenched his jaw, eyes burning into yours. “Fuck—”

You gripped his throat, not hard, just enough to make him feel it. “I said quiet.”

He moaned this time, softer, more desperate, hips shifting beneath you like he couldn’t fucking take it. His cock was hard already, pressing against his sweats, thick and twitching under you, and you rolled your hips slowly against it, letting him feel just enough friction to make it hurt.

“Goddamn tease,” he gritted out, but his hands stayed at his sides. You could tell it was killing him, not grabbing you, not flipping the script, but he didn’t dare. Not with the way you looked at him. Not with how powerful you felt in that moment.

You reached down, tugging at the waistband of his sweats, watching him bite back a groan as you freed his cock. It slapped against his stomach, thick, heavy, leaking for you already. Fuck, he was so hard.

You wrapped your hand around him, slow strokes, just enough to make him shudder. “You gonna beg for it, Rafe?” you teased, squeezing the tip, watching his thighs tense beneath you. “You always make me beg. Thought it was only fair.”

His eyes narrowed, but he was panting, sweat already slicking his chest. “Fuck you—”

You spit into your hand, stroked him harder, your pace steady, unforgiving. “You wish, Cameron.”

He cracked then, head falling back against the pillows, a loud moan ripping from his throat as his hips bucked into your fist. “Shit—please,” he growled, voice low, broken. “Fuck, I need—please let me touch you—”

“No,” you snapped, letting go of his cock. He whined, full-on whined, and it was music to your fucking ears.

You stripped for him slow, watching his eyes devour every inch of you like he’d never seen you before. His fingers clenched into the sheets, jaw tight, dying to grab you, but he didn’t move. He couldn’t.

You sank down onto him in one slow, torturous motion, his cock stretching you wide, filling you to the brim. You moaned, head tilting back, but you didn’t stop, didn’t let him take over. Your hands planted on his chest, keeping him down, keeping control.

“Fuck, you’re so tight,” Rafe groaned, eyes rolling back. “Baby—shit—you feel so fucking good.”

You rode him slow at first, grinding your hips in circles, watching him come undone beneath you. He was panting, sweating, muscles straining, his hands twitching like he was seconds away from snapping. But he didn’t. Not yet.

“Look at you,” you purred, leaning down to kiss his neck, biting it just enough to leave a mark. “Begging for me, letting me use you. Never thought I’d see the day.”

Rafe cursed under his breath, hips bucking up into you now, chasing friction, but you slapped his chest. “Don’t. Move.”

His head thumped back, a growl escaping his throat, but his hips stilled. You started riding him harder, bouncing on his cock now, using him exactly how he always used you, and fuck—it was heaven. His hands fisted the sheets, sweat dripping down his temples, lips parted in complete, filthy bliss.

“I’m gonna cum,” he warned, voice raw. “Fuck, baby—please—let me—”

“No,” you said again, grinding down hard, squeezing around him. “Not until I say.”

He screamed, bucking up once—once—before you dug your nails into his chest, slamming your hips down hard enough to make him moan like a bitch. And when you finally let him cum, it was messy, hot, thick spurts spilling deep inside you as he groaned, voice breaking, his entire body trembling under yours.

You collapsed onto his chest, both of you panting, slick with sweat and come and raw need. Rafe’s arms finally wrapped around you, pulling you close, lips at your ear.

“Fuck…” he whispered. “You’re never doing that again.”

You smiled against his skin. “Oh, you loved it.”

His cock twitched inside you.

He definitely did.

[saintslewis]

𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 | 𝐋𝐇𝟒𝟒

- drabble.

pairing: sir lewis hamilton x black! fem reader

summary: reader will never let the paddock forget who Lewis Hamilton is.

warnings: cussing.

saint’s team radio 🪩: this is just a lil something. I was pissed tf off yesterday because of some lewis “fans” and i will never miss an opportunity to let ppl know who my goat is 🫦. enjoy

ps, i’m not adding actual reporter’s names for this so i made up random names.

taglist: @mauvecherie-writes @perfecttrashface @non-stop-imagines @emjayewrites @purplelewlew @hopefulromantic1 @motheroffae @exotic-iris13 @httpsserene @queenshikongo3 @greedyjudge2 @cocobutterqwueen

-

The tag from your denim jacket had been irritating you since the second you put it on but you chose to forget about it, often adjusting it with your nails or a little shimmy of your shoulders.

Holding the mic from Sky Sports F1 wasn’t all too odd for you, the broadcast team only handing it to you when talking about Lewis and his achievements. Your support for the Stevenage driver was strong, often being as labelled as biased but you couldn’t care less. The support was mutual between the two of you, usually lingering on the line of friendship but doubt and time was always against you.

Your sunglasses sat on your braided head with a bored expression on your face, just wanting to get this segment over with so that you could go back to your individual blogging and interviews. Standing patiently in front of the cameras while other reporters ran around unorganised, you played with your beaded ‘44’ bracelet.

“My goodness, Y/n! I have no clue how you are so calm, this is always so hard!” One of them exclaimed, laughing in the process. “Not to mention the outfit! You look like you could go to a party!” Another laughed, her smile faltering when your eyes snapped to her, expression never changing.

After a while, the segment began and off the reporters went on a scripted tangent about other teams before getting to the main topic; Lewis. “Now, onto a different subject, Lewis Hamilton’s performance in that car has been nothing short of a…disaster if I could say.” Jimmy said, deciding to look at you as he spoke. Almost as if he was challenging you.

“For a specific race weekend or overall? His teammate, George is doing significantly better. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, it’s like he doesn’t know how to drive.” Jennifer spoke, poorly making an attempt of a joke.

“I’m not too sure why you’re speaking as if he is a rookie. You lot can see that Mercedes hasn’t been doing well as a collective yet you’re targeting one driver who has brought then 8 constructer titles rather than the other who has one win.” Lifting your mic, you spoke with a clear voice, never stuttering.

Frank shook his head and tried to chuckle. “Look Y/n. We understand he’s your boyfriend or whatever but we need to be factual here. What Ferrari has done is a mistake by signing him. I mean, there needs to be more space for others and he’s taking up space.”

“And Alonso’s dusty ass doesn’t need to leave? Using my support for Lewis to try and justify your dislike for him is unprofessional. I have no clue how you have the gumption to say all this.” You responded, still not moving from your spot.

The other 4 reporters stared at you in shock along with other people stopping in the paddock, surrounding the space just in front of the official f1 hospitality suite.

“There’s no need to use aggressive language, Y/n.” Jennifer lifted her hand to place on your shoulder but you moved away in time. “Aggressive for who?” You challenged, tilting your head.

It had gotten quite. “The viewers. It’s not a lie, Lewis is just not good anymore. He needs to make space.” One of them spoke up but you couldn’t be bothered to listen to anyone else other than Frank, your eyes trained on him.

“What? We need to speak with the producers, having an independent journalist was a mistake.” Frank smirked.

“You can take your opinion and shove it up your ass. Thanks for having me, Sky Sports F1.” You turned to the camera to blow a kiss then you gave the mic you were holding to whoever would catch it.

Walking away from the set, you knew what you did was undeniably unprofessional but those people had always had a vendetta against Lewis and any reporter/journalist who support him. Breathing out, you sashayed your way through the paddock with people staring as your braids glided in the slight breeze.

The buzz of your phone shook you out of your racing mind, a little gasp escaping your mouth as you read the notification from instagram.

lewishamilton no joke, that was the best thing i’ve ever seen. glad we have that interview together in 5 minutes :)

You first looked around the paddock after reading that message but you figured that he watched it live just like everyone else did. Your anger for that segment had clouded your thoughts so much, you forgot about the interview you were supposed to have with the champion.

Rushing to the large luxurious paddock club, you received all types of looks from those who either clearly watched the broadcast live or they’re looking at your outfit, although the latter was made up in your mind.

Luckily, he hadn’t arrived to the designated room you booked to have the interview with him but as soon as you got your phone out to record and your notes, the screams and excitement were heard from outside the door and a smile couldn’t help but sneak on your face.

You have only interviewed him three times in your entire career but every time you did so, he never wanted it to end, always trying to make it longer by asking his own questions to you or just sharing a laugh.

With security opening the door for him, he entered the room and spotted you with a smile on his face. He entered alone in the mercedes shirt already on. No words needed to spoken by either of you, Lewis opening his arms for a hug to greet you. Once in his embrace, you thought it’d be quick but to your surprise, it lasted a few moments longer.

“Hi Y/n.” Lewis spoke, a hand still on your shoulder. You took a quick breath and immediately relaxed on the spot. “Hey Lewis.”

“Your response to Sky was insane but I liked it.” He chuckled, sitting across from you with his legs open and a ring clad hand sat comfortably on his lap.

You didn’t want to show him how the sight affected you especially when your emotions are sky high so you remained calm on the outside. “It’s just…I’m pretty sure I lost my job just now because of how I reacted.” You sighed out, flicking a few braids back.

“Some of them had said worse things so you’re okay.” Lewis responded, his tone wasn’t all too sure but he just wanted to lift your mood. “Yeah but I’m black. They used micro aggressions too.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at everything once recalling back to that moment.

“I heard. I’ll have a word with Sky.” He reassured you. “Oooh okay, Sir.” You joked, masking how the reassurance made your stomach flutter. You’d like to think he was openly flirting with you but you quickly put that thought at the back of your mind.

“I just don’t want those people to forget who you are, you know? I’m sure you hear this all the time. You know what you’re doing and you’re the best at it. I wanna remind the people who the goat is.” You rambled a bit, noticing his smile growing as he listened to you.

“You’re too kind, really. I know what I am, it’s just a little tough right now.” He shrugged as he fully leaned back into his seat. “If you need me to fight anybody in your team, let me know.” You winked, flashing a comical smile that made Lewis laugh.

Giving you a once over, Lewis leaned forward and rested his tatted arms on his knees. “You look good today. You always do but today…phenomenal.” He spoke, his voice noticeably relaxed. “Don’t make me blush, Sir.” You smiled, failing terribly at hiding your feeling.

“That nickname, Y/n,” He chuckled. “Is that door locked?” He asked. All you had to do was nod at the man and Lewis smirked, licking his lips in the process.

“C’mere.”

saint’s notes 🪩: slightly rushed, george pissed me off, hope you enjoyed. bye. <3

[court-jobi]

Alexa, Play...

((banner by me! I don't own Horikoshi's work OR the mindblowing art of @gsony24~used w permission))

Pairing: Midoriya x reader

Words: 1.6k

Rating: G~

Warnings: Southern US!GNreader, comfort fic, tooth-rotting fluff here y'all, established relationship, language barrier, dancing-in-the-kitchen level self-insert

Summary:

Izuku comes home to spot your grocery list on the fridge written out in your native language- something he sees just as rarely as hearing you speak it. Just when he thinks he couldn't possibly find you more adorable, you strike a match and chuck it into his heart with a touch as simple as a peck on his cheek, a laugh thrown his way... or -like now- when you chat over the phone in an accent he never gets to hear. He wants to hear more so badly, and asks for it so sweetly.

A/N: a short n'sweet one today, folks, bc I was missing writing for this sweet green bean. I have yet to see MHA: You're Next, but have no one to see it with ughhhhh so off to writing fanfic to soothe the pain~

For my My Hero Academia Masterlist, check it out here!

Read on Ao3

You're on the phone with your mom when Izuku finds your sticky note for shopping on the fridge. His mindful shut of the door was appreciated by your mouthed apology, but let him know that he'd best occupy himself solo for a bit while you catch up. The time difference between your home country and here leaves your windows to chat limited, so he’s happy when your schedules align like this. 

If you'll be on a while longer, he thinks he can take a quick drive and pick up these few things for you. Inspired by the idea, he plucks the list out from the magnet’s hold.

You've got nice handwriting, a blend between printed letters and a tilted, cursive script. Personality shines especially near the end of a word, when you're rushing to move onto the next thought. 

Painter’s tape

bananas

white vinegar (stupid drain line)

It's so simple, but when it's written in your native language by default, it feels like a secret to be reading even something so simple as a list like this– scribbled out in the way as it appears in your head.

For most formal paperwork, your kana characters are decently executed, though it's always going to be harder when you grew up speaking Japanese rather than filling out lines and lines of bellwork in the kanji style. This isn't to say you've not been trying:

Over the course of your courtship, you've bonded with young Eri as an extension of Izuku's life and have inherited some of her early learning textbooks. You happened on them by accident, when you were helping her paint her room a few months ago. It sounded elementary when you expressed the interest to read and write Japanese better, and the sweet girl was so enthusiastic to help! 

She lent you her books, but of course you weren't becoming an expert overnight. However slow you’d pace yourself, Izuku was plenty proud of you for making the effort. He'd allow you as much grace as he could spare– especially since your notes were still so cute to find here and there~

Across the room, pacing along every other tile on the floor like stepping stones, you look up catching Izuku staring. You’ve been deep in conversation for only about an hour, but give him a wrench of your nose in jest, and begin wrapping up the call explaining that he’s home and you’d like to greet him properly. 

Izuku calls out a quick 'hi’ and ‘bye' to your mom when he motions to go on speaker; you're not one to refuse him, as he well knows. 

You seem pleased on more than one front when he asks to talk to your family, so he continues to do it. For one, you’re touched by how spirited he is to even want to interact with your mother, and his dropping of formalities and reverting to English to speak to her means a lot to you. Neither point is lost on sweet Izuku, based on how your smile brightens when he jogs over to you to be more in speaking range. 

When you hang up, you're quick to pop up and kiss him as a welcome home. Izuku hangs onto you a little longer than usual, thumb rubbing into your cheek as he savors you several times in quick succession. 

Just when he thinks he couldn't possibly find you more adorable, you strike a match and chuck it into his heart with a touch as simple as a peck on his cheek or a laugh thrown his way. 

“‘Zuku, what's that look for, babe?” 

In your sentimental bliss, you're still surprised to get such adoring treatment from him almost a year into a relationship. 

“Nothing,” Izuku chimes back, “I just forget that you're this American sometimes~”

“Whaddya mean, ‘you forget’?!” the concept sounds hilarious to you. 

“I do!” Izuku offers to take your phone to plug it in nearby, “I have to remind myself that Japanese isn't your first language, until I see you on FaceTime with your mom. Out of nowhere, I'll just hear you sound so different, like: ‘byyyye~ talk to y'all later’!”

You snort at his attempt at a southern accent– stiff and stuck on the wrong vowels. Clearly this succeeds in amusing you, because you hop up and down on the balls of your feet like you've discovered a new game:

“Oh my God, ‘Texas Smash Deku’ is the stuff of my fantasies!– oo!! say, ‘I’d like a honey butter chicken biscuit’~”

“WHAT?? N-no!!”

“What YES!! Please??”

Both doubled over in laughter, you're entertained over his thorough embarrassment, but you're both smitten and carefree: holding onto each other despite nearly buckling at the knees.

Izuku tries his best to catch his breathe first, determined to explain himself,

“I can't do it right! It's like- you say things- I don't know how to describe it! It's not just the flat, movie star accent.. It's–"

“What, a-- ‘drawl’? ‘Twang’?”

Izuku snaps at the realization.

“Yes!! That!! The country kind, like that chef you watch!”

You've rolled your eyes, stepping out of his kind hold in favor of checking out what takeout he brought home. 

“-Hey, no, come back!”

“‘Makin’ fun'ah my accent, I outta smack you’.”

You're far from really mad as you tote around the kitchen getting silverware and soy sauce, but Izuku follows you around like a shadow regardless. Eyes full of that puppy love, he does try to block you in from the pantry closet,

“I’m sorry, honey~”

“No you're not.” --but you're grinning out of forgiveness anyway.

Izuku sneaks a hold on you, reeling you in. It’s cozy in your shared kitchen, alight with just the right amount of overhead lighting and enough space for you two to stand and share tasks.

“I do like hearing you talk like that,” he shares contentedly, “It’s nice to listen to that side of you, especially when you have a lot to say.”

“Yeah well,” you turn into his arms, rather than away, “I'm sure you've noticed already, it comes from her side of the family. Guess I can't really ditch the accent whenever I switch back. The more I think about it… I'm gonna be happy if I can keep sounding like her as I get older. Lets me keep something of hers- even if my ‘dashing hero’ of a man over here thinks I'm being cheeky."

“No, I'm not teasing now! I mean it,” Izuku presses into you, “I only meant, you don't hold back or anything when you're chatty with her.”

He wonders if it stems from shyness, your avoidance of using too much English here at home. If you’re jamming out while doing chores -presuming you’re alone- you’ll switch the station once you know you have an audience.

“Not trying to hide it with you! I'm just out of practice here. No one else in our circle really uses English, so it doesn't come up, I guess.”

You make the point with a wistful aire. Occasionally you'll sub English classes as a favor to Izuku’s effervescent coworker at UA, but not often enough to get too much exposure. He's always been impressed with your Japanese diction, and thinks you could very well go into teaching if you ever wanted a career change.

Still, whether its for work or play, it’s a sound that’s intrinsically you, and there’s a magic to it that Izuku finds himself chasing. A secret power of yours, if he could only unlock it.

“--Plus, I don't think a lot of the slang translates over?” you get comfortable in his arms, locking your fingers behind his neck with no intention of leaving as you muse, “You guys have your own here, and that’s hard to figure out anyway.”

“I suppose you’re right.” 

Tenderly, you run your nails through his hair, a thoughtful look up to him, 

“Do you want me to use it more at home? Lay on the sugar for ya?”

A chance to hear you at your core? Watch your handwritten notes come alive?

“If you want-” Izuku softens, “-if you’re comfortable.”

“Can you understand me though?”

“I can hear you. It only gets hard when you get excited, ‘cuz you talk fast.”

You fuss back at him, “Oh, as if you don't.”

Caught under your hypocritical eye, he can only offer an honest chuckle back, “Fair~”

But for all of your feeling put on the spotlight, you seem to hold a soft spot for the way Izuku makes his requests:

“ ‘I guess I can indulge ya, since you asked so nicely.’ ”

–and it’s enough for him to try his hand to give you a linguistic sparring partner right back:

“ ‘Say something else.’ ”

All English flies out the window when he's looking at you like this, as you fall under a fit of nervous laughter, “What am I supposed to say?!” 

“ ‘Sing me a song, my love. Something 'twangy'.”

You giggled, "'Twangy', good Lord…” 

Izuku could write novels on everything from your finest features to even your most pensive insecurities, romanticizing each of them into a beautifully imperfect anthology. He does so in his mind, at least, when you’re barely lucid on the edge of sleep but still trying to engage him in meaningful conversation. He’ll do so in the notes on his phone, when he learns of yet another favorite token of yours, and wants to add it to the list of comfort measures he can refer to when you need it most.

And when you prompt Alexa to play your newly revealed ‘Karaoke hours that will never see the light of day’ playlist -the one that’s chock-full of female power ballads which you begin to sing your own rendition to-  Izuku is certain his mind nor fingers nor heart can catalog how much more he can possibly love you… though he’ll dance in place with you as he listens and soaks it all in.

[ocelotlesbian]

here's something interesting regarding mitsuba's name in jshk that a lot of people in the english fandom probably don't notice due to language differences!!

kanji vs katakana, 三葉 vs ミツバ !

it's very easy to miss this detail just reading the translated chapters, since english only has one script. however, japanese has multiple!! and in the original japanese text, his name is written differently depending on which mitsuba is being discussed ^_^

for the human mitsuba, his name is written in the kanji writing system, as "三葉惣助," or "mitsuba sousuke"

and for the supernatural mitsuba, his name is written in the katakana writing system, as simply "ミツバ," or "mitsuba"

(for reference, other characters in the manga typically have their names written in kanji or (sometimes) hiragana. the only other character with their name written in katakana is shijima, as mentioned later (EDIT: i was wrong, yako also uses katakana. oops))

this is obviously important simply to differentiate the two mitsubas, however it gets very interesting once you take into consideration how these different systems are used within the language!!

kanji, within the japanese language, is basically the standard script, and is what's most often used for writing names, specifically surnames, as well as most other words. makes sense!! not much to comment on here.

katakana, on the other hand, is pretty interesting, having much more specific uses!! unlike kanji, katakana represents specific syllables/sounds instead of whole words / concepts, and as such, is often used to transcribe foreign words / loanwords, like the english "ice cream" being written as "アイスクリーム" (aisukurīmu). katakana can also be used for other things, like to spell out sound effects with no kanji available, to differentiate company names from regular family names, or to show that a character is speaking with a foreign / strange accent. so in general, katakana indicates "this isn't a normal word"

so with that in mind, it makes it pretty damn interesting that as a supernatural, mitsuba's name is deliberately spelled with katakana, the script most commonly used for foreign words / words with no kanji available, rather than the kanji that already exists for his name

it emphasizes the fact that this mitsuba isn't the "real" one, he doesn't even have a "real" name, just syllables. he isn't a human. he's a wholly unnatural entity, so it makes sense his name reflects this

(another thing worth mentioning is how no.4 / shijima also has her name written in katakana (シジマ), likely due to the same reason of her not being the "real" shijima mei. she also spells the "watashi" personal pronoun in katakana while the original mei spells it in hiragana, which is interesting too!! this post is mostly about mitsuba, but i figured i'd mention her as well. she deserves more recognition lol)

anyway, that's all!! just another cool detail in this series to take into consideration :3

[shmuel-ben-sarah-kcd2]

Samuel headcannons: specifically Jewish(ish) ones 

I think, despite him being worldly, despite all he has seen, despite him being far from the most observant, frum member of his community, Samuel still believes in G-d. In fact, the horrors he has scene only reinforce his faith in G-d. I know I know, cynicism as a result of trauma. And he certainly has those days, days where he wrestles with his faith. But that’s what being bene Yisrael means. He wrestles. It’s a part of our faith to argue, and so I think he has less (still some probably but less) guilt over those days. But I think he believes, he feels guilty when he can’t attend shul, the grief in his eyes as he whispers for G-d to forgive him as he must torch His temple. (That scene made me cry. I can’t guys I can’t)

Education. Obviously, Sammy boy is literate in at least two different scripts and languages. He can speak, read, and write medieval Czech, he can read and write Liturgical Hebrew, and he can speak Yiddish. Conversational Hebrew doesn’t exist at this point, and Yiddish didnt have a set standardization. Actually, pretty much no one had standardization for spelling. Point is moot, nvm. Also, it’s likely that he understands written Aramaic to some extent, given that is the language of the Talmud. He also can read trope, show that man a haftorah portion and he can do it with no prep. 

As for education, Samuel went to Cheder, first in Prague, then in Kuttenberg when his family moved back. He started learning his alef-bes by three, started Cheder at five, moved back at some point before he was ten, was a bright boy, and the grandson of a rabbi, so he stayed at it. He would even go on to briefly attend yeshiva back in Prague, but would return home a few years before the events of KCD2, dropping out before he could become a rabbi.  From this, he’s aquired an ability to make profound literary allusions, has a line or bit of wisdom for most circumstances from Pirke Avot or something of the like. Bro is dropping the Rambam and Maimonadies like it’s nothing. And he lives by his words. 

Why did he drop out? With the rise in political tensions, everyone wants someone to blame. And at home he can better keep his loved ones safe when the hammer drops. He wants to go back, but he has been made to forfeit the pen for the sword.

Also, kind of a non sequitar, but every single person at the siege of Suchdol belived in some kind of afterlife. Except for Sam. We Jews have idea's ish, but nothing as concrete as Christian heaven and hell, or Islam’s jannah and jahannam. In fact, the only thing mentioned is Sheol, simply the unending sleep, a state of non-being. In essence, there is one go at this if you are a Jew, and there is only this. So when Samuel volenteers for the suicide mission to get word out, he has no hope of heaven. And when he tells Henry to leave him behind? They both know sam will be made an example of, but sam knows that he will never see the ones he loves again. 

I think he’s Bi. No basis, just vibes. And also the mustache. I could see him with either of the two friends, with one of the women in Kuttenberg’s Jewish quarter, with John but only after he risks his head to help the Jews, could also see sam with OCs. Honestly though, I think faith matters more than gender to Sammy. I think he probably doesn’t sleep around a lot of at all, some of it is he’s just too busy. 

I think Samuel wants kids, and if he can’t have them the traditional way, he will adopt. After all, his father adopted, and his brother is his whole brother. Also, in Judaism, a convert is considered fully Jewish, with no legal or social distinction. His kids would be raised in the faith of his fathers. I also dont think he is very likely to wind up with a Christian, for that reason. If he is to marry, it will be under a canopy.

Sammy boy isn’t very superstitious, but I think he always keeps a red string tied around his left wrist, to keep away the evil eye. And he hands knives and weapons off in general by offering the hilt and holding the blade, so as to avoid a fight (proof: the scene where he hands Martin’s sword back to Henry. Small detail, but no one in the Jewish quarter who handles a weapon hands said weapon to anyone blade first.) 

Sammy follows Rabbi Johanan, Israel is Immune from Planitary Influence. He is NOT an astrology girly. Samuel probably does like gematria, but in the Mildly Autistic And Obsessed With Secret Codes kind of way. Yeah he’s definitely not neurotypical. But that’s another thing.

Wow. Lot of thoughts. And I’ve only been into him for like a week. Anyway.

I’m sure there will be more deranged loreposting. I have a lot of thoughts on being a Czech Jew. G-d, I love good representation. And if yall have questions about Jewish life or practices please reach out! I love talking.

[radiation]

My Thoughts On MORPHEUS

Rewatched The Matrix yesterday. Everyone knows that Morpheus is fucking dope, but few realize he is one of the most moe characters of all time. Here is why:

Ok so at the beginning of the movie, Morpheus really appears to be this mythical figure, and that's how a lot of ppl view him. But something often overlooked is that, as the movie progresses, the more you see Morpheus acting mundanely, dressing normally, making mistakes, and getting the absolute shit beaten out of him & needing to be saved. Seriously, the gap between how he comes off when he first contacts Neo (larger-than-life, near-omnipotent) and when he gets kidnapped (totally fallible & vulnerable) is huge. You also see other characters doubt his absolute faith in Neo and it’s like wow yeah. This is really just some dude who is incredibly driven and passionate, and dedicated to his own ideals to a fault. He acts the way he does because he has a very clear image of the role he needs to play and has structured his life around it, choosing to embody this whole badass character in order to fulfill it. And from the way his appearance of perfection is shattered later in the movie in moments of monotony or when things spiral out of his control, I really believe how he acts when he meets Neo is suuuuper scripted. Like he has spent so much fucking time planning the perfect way to present himself and rehearsing exactly what he will say and do and how he will dress. And its funny to watch The Matrix knowing how totally badass & collected he is seen as in pop culture because he truly is incredibly incredibly dorky

This goes without saying but I also believe he is gay as fuck for Neo, but I need you to understand that the way he goes about it is sooo cute. I mean ok everything surrounding "You are The One and I've been searching for you for years" kind of speaks for itself. But also think about when Neo talks to the Oracle, she says this thing about like "knowing you're The One is like knowing you're in love". We can naturally really easily extend this metaphor to Trinity's explicit prophecy of her falling in love with The One, and knowing that's the case that also extends the metaphor to Morpheus knowing Neo is the one = Morpheus being in love with Neo. And I think how excited he acts around Neo, how physically affectionate he to him, arguably flirting with him during the dojo scene and shit bla bla bla sounds lame as fuck to write but I do think yeah whether literally or metaphorically that's kind of what's up. I think we can be confident that Morpheus loves Neo, and I think romantic love is a close approximation, or at the very least there are certainly real & valuable parallels to be drawn to it

But back to the previous paragraph, the specific kind of devotion towards Neo that Morpheus experiences where he is putting on all kinds of airs trying to mystify Neo, viewing himself as a supporting figure to prop up Neo as the savior -- Morpheus's underlying adoration is expressed through the language of respect, restraint, and selflessness, and a kind of self-sacrifice he is like...excited about. Feels very similar to the whole "best friend who is in love with the main character, but nobly tries to get him another love interest / somehow make his life better without any respect to his own desires". It's very sweet and well-intentioned, but totally excessive. Nobody else is asking you to go this far man this is just you. And it also comes off as a really big obfuscation of at least quasi-romantic feelings, both externally and internally, lacking a lot of self-awareness, so it makes it feel like Morpheus has this like elementary school crush he doesn't quite understand yet and it's really funny and delightful

There is definitely a certain writing style in The Matrix that is dramatic, over the top, and mythological, but compared to Morpheus, Neo and other ppl in his crew speak and act in ways much more grounded. Something I noticed a lot is just how much doubt and disillusionment all of the characters express in living life outside the Matrix, in the effectiveness of the revolution, and of Neo being The One, but Morpheus is totally an exception to this. The only person who puts on nearly as much airs, acting as dramatically and poetically as according to plan as Morpheus is Agent Smith, and like the dude isn't even a person he's a program. But even then Agent Smith expresses disappointment in his own life, and Morpheus doesn't. Seriouusly Morpheus is like the only guy in the movie who does this shit. By seeing himself as a mechanism in a prophecy to save the world and minimizing his own wants and discomforts for the greater good, he has kind of dehumanized himself in a way that's kind of sad. I think it's very easy to buy into it and take his self-perception at face value, and I think most people have, but there are a lot of moments in the movie where you can see through that. That underneath the appearance of a pure legend is a real person who means the absolute best, who is endlessly dedicated and adoring, but suffers from a one-track mind makes Morpheus a really fucking cool and unique character, and has one of the greatest impacts in making the movie's scenario feel believable. And also makes him sooooooooo cute. Anyways I forgoet what happens in the other mvoies this is only about the first one. Rewatch The Matrix 1 and open your eyes and you weill see the truth.

Also another thing I wanna mention that but its only tangentially related -- I think its very interesting how Neo is treated as a protagonist. I can't place exactly why but way the movie is written and shots are framed, he really isn't treated as an audience insert, and many moments in the movie are from other characters' perspectives (including their perspectives towards him, bereft of Neo's own expression). The movie honestly, more than identifying with Neo, expresses empathy and adoration towards him. So it kind of feels like literally everyone in the movie has a crush on him and so should you LOL. Morpheus is definitely a part of this, but I also appreciate the romance between Trinity and Neo feeling equally or more from Trinity's perspective, neither of them really being the object of desire, but if you had to choose one it'd definitely be Neo

Well let me know what you think & Dont try to troll this post because this is real shit

[necromancy-enthusiast]

Traditional Chinese Translation of Homestuck Analysis-Beta Troll Typing Quirks

That's right, there's a full traditional Chinese translation of Homestuck. You can find it, along with links to other translations, here. If you want to jump to Hivebent when all the beta trolls are officially introduced so you can see this for yourself, here's a link to the first page.

But first, I'll give as succinct of a rundown of the elements of the Chinese language that are relevant as I can. The Chinese writing system doesn't have an alphabet, instead words all have unique characters. So a lot of the trolls' quirks just can't be 'transliterated', because they have something to do with spelling. Similarly, Chinese characters don't have upper or lower cases.

There are multiple ways to type Chinese on an electronic device, but the most common is using a Latin script keyboard. You type out the pinyin of a Chinese character (which is the system mostly commonly used to romanize Mandarin Chinese nowadays) and some suggestions for characters with pinyin romanizations spelled that way pop up in a little window, and then you pick the one that you want.

Chinese also has A LOT of homophones because instead of making a wider variety of noises like English, Chinese opted to differentiate words partially based on the tone they're spoken in. This is absolutely fantastic for puns and wordplay, English could never hope to be anywhere near Chinese's level in that regard. This comes into play with some of the trolls' typing quirks.

And just to clarify, sometimes I say 'Chinese' and sometimes I say 'Mandarin', that's because Mandarin is the official dialect in both mainland China and Taiwan and now the mostly widely spoken one in the world. It isn't mutually intelligible with most other Chinese dialects (this is part of why some people argue that Chinese isn't a single language but a language family). However, written Chinese can generally be understood regardless of the dialect you speak, even if people speaking in different dialects often have different ways of saying the same thing, like greetings and whatnot. When I say Chinese I mean things that broadly apply to written Chinese or the Chinese language/language family as a whole, when I say Mandarin I mean things specific to the Mandarin dialect. I think that about covers it. This post is already getting a bit long so I'll put everything else under a cut. Here's the breakdown:

Aradia: Replaces characters with the Arabic numeral for zero 0. I looked it up and apparently the Chinese character for zero also carry connotations of negation or mean things like 'nought' or 'no', which seems to fit with at least most of the instances she uses it in. Apparently this character can also have some link to death and dead spirits, which would fit given how she's a ghost at the beginning of the story.

Tavros: Uses the character 呃 a lot, which can be used like 'uh' or 'eh'. Uses 嗯 which can be used like 'hmm' or 'uh' as well, or like a general mumbling/light groaning sound, but with less frequency. Still, types haltingly, and uses commas, a lot, like in English, without any periods, Since Chinese doesn't have upper or lower cases, Tavros cANT DO THAT THING HE DOES IN ENGLISH, WHERE HE TYPES IN ALL CAPS OTHER THAN, THE FIRST LETTER OF SENTENCES, sO UNFORTUNATELY, there isn't a lot else to say here.

Sollux: Still refers to the others by their nicknames like KK and AA. He uses reduplication more often than most of the others, which is when you repeat part of a word or even a whole word for various reasons, often to stress your point. He also replaces characters that are pronounced as 'shi' in Mandarin with the Chinese character for 4, which is pronounced as 'si' and written as 四. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be reminiscent of his lisp. EDIT: AS @autumntides reminded me, in at least Mandarin and Cantonese four is a homophone with death, and thus it carries the stigma of death and unluckiness. This fits in well with Sollux's mage of doom class and everything related to it, like Vriska mind controlling him to kill Aradia and him dying during the vast glub because he didn't make it into the game in time before Feferi revived him. I still think it's also the lisp, though.

Karkat: He doesn't type in a larger font size then the others so he doesn't really have any typing quirks, at least none I've been able to ascertain, but he's just as imaginative with his cursing. It can be pretty rough for me to parse and equally rough to translate into English in a way that doesn't sound really awkward, but one of my favorites is 'Rotten bloated corpse of God Almighty! Goddammit, what the fuck does your pockmarked think stem want?'

Nepeta: Uses onomatopoeias that equate to 'cat sounds' like meow and roar, as well as a good bit of reduplication. Still uses asterisk marks and speaks in the third person to indicate when she's role-playing.

Kanaya: Doesn't use punctuation. That's it, since she can't capitalize things like she does in English. I really wish I could say more but that's all I can see. She's still verbose, though.

Terezi: Replaces words that are homophones or near homophones with the numbers 1, 3, and 4 in Mandarin with their Arabic numerals, presumably to resemble how she types in leetspeak in English.

Vriska: Still types out characters 8 times occasionally, but rather than letters (since the Chinese writing system doesn't have an alphabet) it's the whole 'word' like 月月月月月月月月. Replaces words that are homophones (or almost homophones) with 'eight' in Mandarin with the Chinese character for 8 八. I'm pretty sure it's meant to signify that she's dragging the word out rather than repeating it, like when she does thiiiiiiiis in English.

Equius: Still uses % like X's, but he just types it and then types out the word. Again, I don't know exactly what kind of keyboard he's using, but if he's using a Latin script keyboard, he's just typing things like %xuan but when he's finished typing it looks like this %選.

Gamzee: Types out every other character in a slightly smaller font size then the default, he's the only one that changes his font size to resemble his English typing quirk. I'm guessing/hoping they have a set up where he can just as easily change font size as Latin script keyboards can change between lower and uppercase by hitting a certain button, but who knows. He uses ta ma de 他媽的 a lot, which is pretty much the Chinese equivalent of 'motherfucker/motherfucking', and cao 操, which is just 'fuck' but the verb.

Eridan: Still refers to the others by their nicknames like Fef and Kan. A lot of reduplication. A LOT of it, way more than Sollux or Nepeta even. I think this is supposed to be reminiscent of how he doubles his Vs and Ws in English rather then symbolizing true grammatical reduplication, though. It also seems to be that his specific flavor of reduplication is like Vriska's, it's meant to signify he's dragging the sound of a word out rather than repeating it. He also types ~ right after reduplication, seemingly to resemble the waves on the ocean and that he's sort of saying it in a 'wavy' manner, like how in English the comic remarks that he has a 'really weird kinda wavy sounding accent'. Honestly it's annoying to look at, and other Chinese speakers have told me the same thing when they saw how he types. Maybe that was intentional?...

Feferi: She does the same thing as Equius does with X but uses ) ( in front of words whose pinyin romanization starts with H. Uses 'gulu' in the place of 'glub' as transliteration. Replaces characters like those for 'is' 是 and 'have' 有 for characters that have that character in it but also have the character for fish 魚 like 鯷 and 鮪. Also occasionally uses ------ before characters, I think it's meant to symbolize that she's saying something excitedly.

And there you have it. This was rough and took a lot of time, but it was fun if at times deeply frustrating. I may do more of these posts comparing the Chinese translation to the original English, I'm particularly interested in the alpha trolls, but who knows. If you enjoyed this I'd greatly appreciate you sharing it :)

[writingquestionsanswered]

I have trouble with writing in general. Can you help me? English isn't my first language, but I really want to write a story in English someday. However, both I and my English teacher have noticed a problem. He says he can tell I haven't cheated on my assignments because I write like I speak. That comment broke my heart a bit and made me feel pressured because there's a recurring joke in fanfiction that all stories starting with "English is not my mother tongue / I'm not fluent in English" are masterpieces, haha. I'm very disappointed in myself because I don't feel as good as other non-native speakers. Do you have any tips for improving my writing?

Improving Writing as Non-Native Speaker

First, I'm so sorry that your English teacher or anyone else has ever made you (or anyone) feel bad about your speaking or writing. Anyone who tries to learn a language other than their native language should be commended, no matter the skill level they reach. Many people who have the ability and access to learn another language never even bother, so kudos to you for learning. If it helps, I wouldn't have known you were a non-native speaker if you hadn't told me.

Any time you want to learn to write stories in a non-native language, there are four things you can do to improve your skills:

1 - Watch movies, TV shows, videos, and listen to audiobooks and podcasts in that language. Not dubbed or with captions in that language... movies, TV shows, and videos where the people are actually speaking the language you want to learn. This type of immersion can really help you get a feel for how native speakers actually sound, which can help you with writing and with creating authentic dialogue.

2 - Read stories, books, magazines, blogs, poems, and posts in that language. Again, nothing that has been translated into that language, but things that were originally written in the language you want to learn. This helps to reinforce the visual of the language in your mind's eye as you write, and quite often, seeing things in text can stick out more to you than they do when only hearing them. Also, some people just learn better one way over the other, so both hearing and seeing the language makes sure you're covering both bases.

3 - Practice speaking in that language. Even if speaking isn't your issue, it's still helpful to practice speaking the language, because it helps to reinforce it in your mind. Try reading news articles, stories, chapters of books, and social media posts out loud. It can also be helpful to look up movie and play scripts and speak the lines out loud.

4 - Practice writing in that language. If you wanted to learn a concerto for a piano recital, you might practice by watching other people play it, listening to it, reading the sheet music over and over, and practicing the tune with your voice, but nothing would help you improve more than actually playing the song over and over again yourself. You would get better with each performance, and writing works the same way. The number one thing you can do to improve your writing in another language is to write a lot of stories in that language. It's okay if you're not perfect. Even native speakers don't write perfect stories without practice. ♥

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Ever since I saw that you like zhongtham... the idea has been living rent free on my head, thanks for build this roman empire in my brain lmao so...... TELL ME MORE, what are your thoughts on their relationship? how the people around them react to their relationship??

(of course, only if you want to, I hope you have a nice day!!)

oh god

ultimately i think what they both need is understanding? in the sense that- both have very specific experiences in their day-to-day lives that aren't exactly the common shared experience between most other people. zhongli is a fucking eons-long being and alhaitham is not neurotypical. like he's autistic, idk how else we want to put it, that's what he is. zhongli, meanwhile, by virtue of not being a human and not having a strictly human way of processing the world, cannot be autistic since- again, not human. but this does make him autistic-coded, if that makes any sense. my man despises slimy foods on the basis of the texture (yes, this comes from trauma, but what bothers him is still the texture. that's coding). he's not human so he has different sensory experiences, probably more acute than humans. he's been described as a blockhead. he seems like he'd have a very specific routine he follows. he's very exacting on his field of expertise. the whole 'haha no mora no wallet' situation comes from the fact that his brain is still logically thinking he can just make mora (which, given everything, is a perfectly valid thing to still be hung up on), and so he forgets his money because his mind insists the way of the world is that he can just make it - but he can't anymore, and for an arbitrary reason, too. he's the literal god of contracts: what are contracts if not a parameter of very logical pre-established rules you have to follow? and he doesn't bend on those contracts, because he's of the mindset that if you made them in the first place, you knew what you were getting into, so what's the problem. all combined, and added with the fact that he's not human, and you cannot call him neurotypical. because he just does not function to match human standards of what 'neurotypical' even is.

so like- we don't know that they've met in canon, but we have decent reason to believe it's a very real possibility. the same way you could say gaming and ganyu have probably either met or seen each other at least once despite neither ever mentioning the other or appearing together on screen, because- well, he handles a delivery agency, she works for the qixing, they live in the same city, they're both familiar with cloud retainer, ganyu moves around a lot and knows a lot of people, and gaming seems pretty social. you get what i mean, right? in that same sense, i think it's perfectly possible for alhaitham and zhongli to have met at some point. granted nowhere near as probable as two people actually living in the same city, but notable enough nonetheless: alhaitham knows twenty languages, for that quota to exist i have to assume that each nation has at least their own unique language (since they all seem to speak the same thing in-game, tho, i can only translate that as all nations having their unique writing script- which they do). idk how many languages you could pull out of regional dialects in teyvat, but the most logical and easiest and obvious thing to do here if you were told to go learn 20 languages to graduate is to first go for the main most spoken languages and then fill in the gaps w regional dialects or more obscure no-longer-spoken ancient dialects. so we stand to reason alhaitham must know liyuean (?) right? and unless he learned it from within the confines of sumeru (which is possible tbf), then he must've traveled to liyue in order to learn the damn language. with liyue having quite the decently-preserved history, he might've picked other regional dialects up since they'd be easier to study next to like- idk, an obscure old language from mondstadt or smth. so if you're a student in liyue on a quest for knowledge trying to learn the language and possibly other obscure dialects, who are you going to go after? fellow scholars. what do all fucking scholars in liyue do when people have highly-specific needs and questions? point to fucking zhongli. so you get where the idea comes from. you can't tell me its completely implausible (for a headcanon) for zhongli and alhaitham to have met at some point, not the same way i'd raise eyebrows at like- headcanoning candace and zhongli having met based solely on in-game info. or- ei and sigewinne. y'know?

so like- alhaitham needs to learn liyuean (+ maybe other regional dialects bc 20 sounds like quite a lot for 7 nations, 8 if you count khaenri'ah), he goes to liyue, he gets to learning and then runs into the roadblock of not many scholars being familiar enough with ancient dialects for him to become fluent in them from their input alone, so the scholars are like 'yeah dw we know a guy, he's super knowledgable' and so they point him to zhongli, zhongli is like 'yea sure i can teach you, what do you need?'. idk how long it'd take alhaitham to learn liyuean (+ whatever else), but i'd assume he'd bunker down in liyue for most of that time. so let's say like- 6 months, and it counts as like a 'foreign languages' course where haravatat students get given money and are shipped off to learn (bear in mind 6 months sounds like stupid little to become fluent in an entire language let alone possibly a few others, but we'll just assume alhaitham is a prodigy (he seems to be) + since it's not a whole language and just a script, then it can be done).

so he stays in liyue for a while. i'd guess learning from zhongli most of that while. they're two guys who like peace and quiet and reading and investigating and they're both rather knowledgable (the gap is obviously abyssmal but still). you can imagine them just- going to a tea house and sitting down with tea for hours on end in amiable silence and quiet grammar exercises. i cannot see them not getting along. alhaitham is practical and so is zhongli, zhongli has a lot to say but it's always with purpose and informative and for a reason, and alhaitham is just happy to absorb knowledge. alhaitham is effective and to the point and zhongli (a battle general) would probably be perfectly happy rolling with it and being effective and to the point in turn. maybe they start having lunch together some days (zhongli does seem to do that with acquaintances a lot so it's not strange of him) and alhaitham just doesn't want any stewy soups and zhongli doesn't question it bc he's the one asking chef mao to dice and slice his fish into oblivion. sumeru is big on spices so alhaitham would probably have no problems whatsoever w the jueyun chilli. he'd also probably pick up on using chopsticks easily enough bc he's a perfectionist. zhongli would realise like two seconds into their introductions that alhaitham can hear him perfectly loud and clear w the headgear on and never bother commenting on it at all. alhaitham would also probably clock zhongli's more acute senses two seconds in and be relieved he doesn't have to raise his voice around people for no reason all the time. catch the patrons at the tea houses being confused and mildly unsettled by the two guys on the corner table just mumbling stuff to the other with a pile of books between them lmao

i cannot see their relationship being like- exciting in the sense that big shocking things happen. i just think they're both too smart and good at communicating w each other that shit like that just wouldn't catch them off guard. alhaitham would probably hear about legends of the adepti throughout his stay in liyue and quietly figure mr zhongli might be an adeptus but never bother saying anything because why should he care about what mr zhongli is? it's not his business, and it doesn't make him not-mr zhongli. so it's whatever. i also don't think any drama would pop up 🤷‍♂️ again they're too smart and hypercompetent for any misunderstandings to appear. by virtue of both of them being non-neurotypical they'd also understand each other in particular ways, so they'd easily be able to figure out any stuff and sand off any rough edges. it wouldn't be an exciting ship, it wouldn't be a ship full of ups and downs and drama and twists and turns and spice and oh the romance of it all. they both strike me as ace af and if not aro then absolutely somewhere in the spectrum, alhaitham more than zhongli.

but i'm an absolute sucker for non-verbal comunication and quiet understanding and an almost telepathic camraderie that would be so funny from the outside so i just think they'd be a delight. like the perfect team. they get each other, they're both smart, they're both strong (again, the gap is abyssmal). absolute academic weapons the both of them. catch someone being an ass about a contract and zhongli just staring disappointed and alhaitham next to him equally disappointed but listing off every single reason why they're being stupid about it also. zhongli's a bit too nice to say any of that stuff aloud but you can't tell me he wasn't running a constant 'chat are you seeing this shit?' in his head during his first story quest w kliment. alhaitham knows he's already got the 'freak' reputation so he just goes 'well if you want to keep digging i'm happy to hand you a shovel'.

as for other characters' reactions to them- i'd have to sit and think about them? idk how the liyue gang would react bc idk how they'd work in a canon setting? i can't see zhongli leaving liyue and i can't see alhaitham leaving sumeru either. if i had to pick one, alhaitham seems more likely for like- leave sumeru for plot reasons. and then go 'okay fuck this' and go to zhongli like 'you're the only bitch i respect in this house'. but outside of plot contrivances, hu tao does send zhongli off on random errands? so maybe he could pop up in sumeru from time to time. idk how the liyue gang would get to meet alhaitham then but if there is one character that absolutely gets to meet zhongli is kaveh bc the man is almost everywhere alhaitham is + they literally live together.

i think it would be fucking hilarious. like alhaitham: oh yeah a friend is coming over btw. don't be weird about it kaveh: why would i be weird about it what are you on kaveh: ... kaveh: ... kaveh: a what alhaitham: a friend kaveh: what alhaitham: i don't think the bimarstan is open at this hour if you got something in your ear kaveh: what friend kaveh: you don't have friends kaveh: ...you can just say nilou alhaitham: ??? zhongli: hello kaveh: who- what. what- who are you alhaitham: a friend from liyue. the one i said was coming over. like five minutes ago kaveh: what zhongli: is he alright alhaitham: he's never been alright, dw about him. the study is this way

[borom1r]

For the requested Rohan asks: linguistics brain is braining. Thinking about their use of the Cirth runes in a culture that’s mostly based in oral tradition. What would the runic script be used for? Post-ring war, with their new alliance with Gondor (that one meme about Faramir teaching Éowyn to read), would that script become obsolete as their records and documents of governance would probably be written out in Weston? Thoughts abound.

yayyyy ok so!! i can talk abt this!!

first id say certhas to speak abt the conceptual Rohirric runes rather than specifically Dwarven Cirth— think old English Futhorc compared to the Younger Futhark. both developed from the same earlier set of runes, but built for different languages.

but. what would the Rohirric certhas be used for in a mostly oral society? well.. anything of import to people, if you want the bullshit "it's a writing system" answer. we have runic graffiti, we've found preserved records from port towns/other major trade cities, we've got inscriptions on blades and spearheads that we assume were ritually/magically significant based on stanzas of the Hávamál— not just memorial runestones. the idea that just because a culture was mostly oral, they didn't keep any records is.. especially inaccurate here? a better question is who knows how to write? (artisans and the upper-class)

runic graffiti, more often than not, was left by vikings; it's reasonable to assume, therefore, that Rohirric certhas graffiti would be left by Riders. that's not to say every Rider had the same education, rather that they would more often than not be upper-class to begin with (particularly those in direct service of the king). but on the flip side, they aren't all royalty— which means they aren't going to have the background in Westron that the royal family would have. so, you've got a large group of young men from upper-class families who would have a better education than your average farmer but not as good an education as royalty, riding all over the place fighting orcs and being, y'know, young men. most of your non-memorial engravings are gonna be shit like "Théodred wuz here" "I saw the hottest girl across the Mering Stream and fell off my horse" so on and so forth

runic records aren't going to survive particularly long because 1) Rohirric culture isn't going to have a huge demand for archivists, and 2) the surviving old Norse records we have were preserved through environmental happenstance vs human care. however, records are important! particularly in areas with a lot of trade, or places which need consistent and accurate inventories. Meduseld's records are, more likely than not, still runic even though we know the royal family spoke Westron primarily since Thengel (there's definitely bleedover, particularly by the time of Éomer's reign, but there's not going to be the same demand for the servants to look proper by Gondorian standards that there was on the royal family and if the entire area isn't getting a formal education in speaking/reading/writing Westron then there's just no way Meduseld's inventories are kept in fluent Westron).

Aldburg and Hornburg, which were under Éomer and Théodred's care respectively and were not the capital city/royal home, likely had little Westron present. there's no debate to me that any inventories/records in these locales were entirely in certhas (and I'd argue it was very unlikely Théodred and Éomer were speaking Westron with their men— the point is to foster bonds, not alienate your entire éored by othering yourself and placing yourself above every man there.)

the other location where I'd expect to find a lot of runic records would be any settlements on the border with Anórien; the idea that just because your King and Steward are having a pissing contest/magic-induced breakdown you're going to stop trading with your neighbors is, frankly, ridiculous. this is the only border I can think of where the Rohirrim would maintain consistent trade, too. messy relations with the Dunlendings and Isengard being what it is, I don't expect you'd find much record-keeping in that area, and any trade along the Anduin is minimal knowing what we know about Mirkwood and the Carrock (I like the idea of Rohan once having trade relations with the Beorning, but by the time of the War of the Ring that had definitely fallen apart simply because the Beorning isolated themselves; it probably restarts in the fourth age, which means you'd see an uptick in record-keeping in any settlements in the Wold along the river)

then, last but certainly not least, mysticism and memorialization! part of the reason I'd distinguish between Dwarven Cirth and Rohirric certhas isn't just because Tolkien left that space (stated certhas is the world for a runic alphabet vs Cirth being that specific set of runes)— we know runes could be used for spellcraft, and this gets into runes being used as ideographic symbols. Klaus Düwel states:

In addition to its sound value, each rune also represents a Begriffswert (semantic value) which is identical to the name of the individual rune, for example f = Germanic *fehu (cattle, property), u = *ūruz (aurochs, the now extinct wild ox), o = *ōþalan/*ōþilan (inherited property). Clear evidence of the epigraphic use of Begriffsrunen (ideographic runes, where the rune-name rather than the rune’s sound value is to be read) is present in the line “Haduwolf gave j,” the last rune meaning “a (good) year” (Stentoften stone, southern Sweden, seventh century).

furthermore, an inscription on the Gummarp Runestone (500–700 AD) can be interpreted as "Haþuwulfar placed three staves fff," the three F-runes, Fehu, meaning wealth/property (cattle, or a herd, being a form of wealth at the time). I'm not gonna take a hard stance on whether or not Dwarves had ideographic runes, but I'm inclined to say no considering Tolkien never mentions ideographic meanings for any version of Cirth (initially, as used by the Eldar, or after it was adopted by the Dwarves for Khuzdul). my takes on Rohirric certhas are based off what we know of old Norse culture + those overlaps

so. ideographic runes and magic! we have this section of the Sidgrdrifumal: "Victory runes you must know if you will have victory, and carve them on the sword's hilt, some on the grasp and some on the inlay, and name Tyr twice." — Riders specifically would likely place a lot of significance on this sort of battle-magic. Éomer canonically has a prayer for protection tooled into the back lames of his helmet (in sloppy old English, but old English is my fucking worstie so I'm not about to sit here and say I could do better— I do wish they'd transcribed it into futhorc at least), so that's a neat little tidbit. you're gonna find a ton of runic inscriptions on weapons, possibly some on armor but this would more likely be for ritual use prior to a battle than the actual armor you'd wear into a fight— but more significantly, horse tack. I'd be extremely surprised if a culture that placed such immense importance on horses didn't start etching charms into horseshoes for speed or into barding to protect their horse in battle

(and hey, the first nailed horseshoe we've found was from Gaul, well before the viking era, so the Rohirrim almost certainly had metal horseshoes— there's another fun tidbit for this post)

with memorialization, you get into some interesting grey areas with regards to the royal family— who by Théoden's time are solidly Gondorianized. however, we have runestones depicting Christian iconography alongside heathen symbols, and burial rites are immensely personal. I think, if there are any Gondorian influences on burial rites in the royal family, they are minimal. aesthetic at best. that is to say, I'd be very surprised if Éomer didn't commission runestones for Théoden and Théodred after the war. runestones were expensive, artisan items— your average Rohir isn't gonna have the funds to sponsor a runestone. if you do run into a runestone, it's either gonna be a memorial to someone from a wealthy family, or a memorial funded by a group (members of an éored honoring a fallen brother in arms, for example)

also this is just me being a petty little bitch but posts like that abt Éowyn (and I've even seen one about Éomer!!!) are just like. what are we talking about. these are members of the ROYAL FAMILY OF ROHAN. they were adopted by Théoden King. they knew Westron!!!!! hello?? "After his return Westron, the speech of Gondor, was used in his house" and that's not even mentioning that Éomer at LEAST spoke Sindarin too, if not Éowyn as well!!!!! "After Thengel the kings of Rohan and their descendants also spoke Sindarin, the language of nobles in Gondor." (both quotes from Of Dwarves and Men)

these are educated fucking people and this is NOT directed at you its just very annoying to me seeing other people make joke posts implying Éomer and Éowyn were uneducated. which they were not. and even if they DIDN'T read/write Westron, be so fucking for real here. why would they need to. why is the standard they're being held to Gondorian? relations with Gondor were in disarray and Théoden was withering away to nothing while Gríma and Saruman made their play for power. is Westron really the fucking concern here? it's not. and in no way would that reflect poorly on Éomer and/or Éowyn.

I think, Éomer having the background he did (having more direct involvement with his éored + constantly being in the field or in Aldburg, growing with the idea Théodred would inherit the throne + not him), Rohirric certhas isn't going to suffer that much. we've also got a king on the throne of Gondor who spent time serving Thengel and a Steward who is canonically a fucking nerd and who married a member of the Rohirric royal line, so there's that aspect of it too— Aragorn has a level of respect for Rohirric culture already, and Faramir better fucking develop one fast if he doesn't want his spouse to kick his ass ("ooohhh its TRAGIC we're becoming like the Rohirrim" book!Faramir we are going to have words about this later. asshole.)

all that to say I don't think much would change in the grand scheme of things? at least not during Éomer's reign; following that, who knows, but I do think it's safe to say any further disappearance of certhas would follow Elfwine (tragically Lothíriel suffers from a severe case of "flat Tolkien women" BUT if we count LOTR Online as sufficient canon material, we know she 1) cares about the common folk and 2) has a bit of a rebellious streak, so I think she'd actually pick up a bit of certhas itself— and certainly Rohanese).

when/if it does fade, it would probably get relegated to pure mysticism where runic charms/bindrunes are kept alive by the common folk and are treated as just a cool vibe by anyone "educated" (Gondorian.) — Rohirric certhas becoming obsolete definitely starts in Meduseld and spreads from there, though, but again Éomer probably slows it significantly just by nature of having more consistent + direct involvement with communities outside of Meduseld prior to being crowned. it's also of note that those settlements on the border between the Eastfold and Anórien have likely had mingled language since WELL before Thengel came back from Gondor and went "it's Westron time now" in the Golden Hall. trade necessities/friendly neighbor relations and all that.

[indigostudies]

would love to know why you're studying the languages you're studying!!! your motivation, at the beginning or now or whatever you feel like sharing :)

thank you for the ask!

this is actually a question i love answering, i love talking about the languages i'm studying! putting this under the cut because this is a little long haha

generally, i got into studying languages because i'm autistic and find studying the ways people communicate to be one of the most interesting things—it sort of evolved out of studying the way people imply things that they don't say outright, like sarcasm, double meaning, etc, and then eventually progressed to wanting to be able to communicate with as many people as possible and learn the ways that different languages deal with ambiguity and implication.

i'm including chinese because i am technically studying it in uni, even though it's not a language i have listed on my pinned. i'm studying it as a way to keep up my proficiency—i grew up speaking it, and i plan on moving back to china once i graduate. but also, now that i'm older, i can appreciate a lot of things i didn't have the ability or opportunity to as a child—i didn't really have internet access until i was in middle school, and by then i'd moved away from china and didn't really have anyone to talk with or classes with which to continue building my skills in it. now, being able to read it properly for the first time means that i can engage with a bunch of different types of media (webnovels, cdramas, etc) that i am far more culturally acclimated to than the majority of western media. i also love studying chinese because i get to learn little bits about history and folklore with things like chengyu, and honestly, i really prefer speaking chinese to english (in irl situations, at least—i have far less audio processing issues with chinese than english).

korean i'm studying because i really fell in love with the way it sounds! it's really similar to turkish in some ways when it comes to grammar and conjugation, with the various levels of formality. actually, the formality levels are one of the things that made me want to study it beyond just the initial interest! it's a very visible, clear structure that indicates the expectations in social interactions is something that i really appreciate, especially because i'm someone who tends to want to speak more formally when possible, at least with people i'm not very close to.

qazaq i started studying because i've been fascinated with the turkic language family for the past few years. in some ways it's really easy, because there's a lot of overlap in grammar with turkish—but in other ways, it's a stimulating challenge! the slight differences in conjugation of verbs, the slight variance of suffixes, the way qazaq tends to use the turkic-root words for some things turkish doesn't (it uses persian loan words more often). i also really want to travel to qazaqstan! i've also done a lot of research into qazaq culture and history from the 17th-19th centuries, as well as in the early 20th century, for a writing project, and i really fell in love with the things that are both similar to, and different from the southeastern turkish/kurdish cultural milieu i grew up with.

mongolian i started off studying because i found the traditional script to be gorgeous! vertical writing systems are relatively rare in modern languages, and i've seen so many people on xhs who make posts of themselves writing in the traditional script and i want to be able to do that one day. also, the vowel harmony makes it feel more "comfortable" to me, because it's shared with turkic languages. (actually, there's a lot of shared features in mongolian and turkic languages from geographical closeness, another thing i find to be fascinating—i love learning about the ways languages are connected!)

thai is another language i'm studying because i love the script—but also because i've always wanted to learn another tonal language! (i also plan on studying vietnamese at some point.) i love the way that thai sounds, it's so lyrical and gentle in comparison with the way i speak chinese lol (i don't have the strongest northern accent but it's very much not a southern one)

german i've actually been studying since 2017! i reached aroundddd probably ~B1ish in 2023? but i sort of fell off that wagon, so now i'm trying to get back to it! i'd really like to be able to read german novels, i know there's a decent amount of science fiction, and there are also german translations of cnovels that have gorgeous covers. and i genuinely like the way the language sounds! the consonant clusters are so fun to say ^.^

and then finally arabic, which is also not on my pinned, but i'll be starting to study it next year! i actually can read the script somewhat decently (grew up in a religious muslim family and community) but i've gotten really rusty in the past few years. i think arabic calligraphy is very beautiful and would love to be able to understand it some day, and also it's a really useful lingua franca, it's spoken in over a dozen countries, with a bunch of different variations! turkish also has a number of arabic loan words, which makes me more excited to learn it ^.^

[dokidokitsuna]

Slowly, I think I’m getting a handle on this…I tried studying the character art from my favorite dead MMORPG, Maple Story 2, and I think it helped me find a style for the shading and rendering that’s more dramatic but still sort of cartoony.

Plus, I’ve been doing a bit of script writing, which always helps me figure things out. ^^ So please enjoy the additional work I’ve done on these character concepts.

-Between these two, Magolor definitely needed the most work: you can tell because I basically drew a full character design sheet, which is something I almost never do because I don’t like repetition. XP But it doesn’t feel repetitive when I’m totally lost to begin with. ^^; I think I got a little too abstract that first time I drew him, so my focus here was to figure out the specific shape of his body and rebuild outward from there. In stark contrast to my usual Magolor designs, he’s very tall and muscular, with an imposing silhouette (especially with his cape on). Yes, he IS hiding something under all those purple bandages, but we won’t talk about it today. ;)

-I also like that his outfit gets darker the further inside you go, from the solid white cape and glittering chains, to the silver armor and gray scarves, to the skintight navy blue fit underneath. Symbolism??? Perhaps~

-Blade’s design was already pretty solid, so I just adjusted her cape a little, and then dove straight into the Rainbow Malady concept art. ^^ Phase 1 has her sprout a second eye and wings on one side of her face. Her head catches fire, as the power of the Rainbow Sword attempts to ‘burn away the darkness’. In this phase, Blade is already in a lot of pain, but remains fully conscious and can even speak, when she isn’t coughing up multicolored blood. She can recover from this on her own with a day of rest. Phase 2 is much more serious, forcing her organs outside of her body, and growing star-shaped welts over the rest of her skin. At this point, she can no longer recover without Magolor’s help-- essentially, he uses magic to shove all her organs back where they belong and stitch up the open wounds. It’s like setting a bone after it’s broken-- just as painful as the injury itself (if not more), but necessary for proper healing…which takes about a week.  Phase 3 is the last and worst, transforming her arms into elongated wings and her whole body into burning plasma, on top of all the issues from Phase 2. Thankfully, she can’t really remain conscious in this phase-- she’s usually delirious from fever, blood loss, and her brain literally burning away. ^^; Storywise, she needs about a month to recover from this, so she doesn’t use it too often…of course, as the 'player', you can put her through it as many times as you want. =T

-Fun fact, I guess: So the primary love language between these two characters is food. ^^ I was musing about what I could do with a protagonist arc centered around worsening illness (which is…surprisingly rare), and I thought, “so what do you do for sick people? You put them to bed, you manage their symptoms, you clean and comfort them…and most importantly, you feed them.” And then ^that little doodle basically came to me in a dream, and from there evolved the idea of Magolor showing kindness to Blade by cooking for her.

Most of the time, the little affection Magolor shows to Blade is…basically performative. Think of it like a hammy supervillain petting their cat-- it’s more of a character stim than anything else. ^^; The way Magolor talks to Blade (and especially the way he talks about her…) makes it clear that the hand-holding and headpats don’t mean much.

But on the other hand, giving Blade food and watching her cutely devour it, especially during the times when she’s bed-ridden and he doesn’t see her as often…I like to think that might genuinely endear her to him a little, enough to make it a sort of stand-out gesture. Like, if he strokes her forehead when she’s sick, that’s whatever; but when he spends 5 hours making a Maxim tomato consommé for her to eat, that’s him trying to say he cares. Maybe it’s just a tiny bit, maybe it’s just in that moment, but a small part of him truly wants her to be happy.

[cherrychokerr]

Hiii!!! <333

I saw your post about your Bully oc and he's so cool! :3

Can you do Darcy's opinions (+ interactions) on Joo-yeon and Maxime? (My oc's) ^_^

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! i've see your ocs around and i love them as well!!! and i would be more than happy to write some for them

Darcy and Joo-Yeon

Darcy would most likely find Joo-Yeon to be an interesting case of the jocks but unable to find a moment to speak with her. Being a tutor for mainly the jocks and around them often, he would definitely admire her football skills and fancy footwork while on the field. He would most certainly ask himself how she does it-- balancing sports, school, and even snoozing off as often as she does.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed, though he is often busy while around the jocks as well. Darcy likes to come up with hypotheticals and theories about people whom he deems to be mysterious, like Joo-yeon, so upon interaction with her, he would probably ask himself why she's going off of the script he has in his head. He also has a tendency to daydream.

For interactions, I think the most likely would be the two dozing off in the same area, maybe the library or the school bleachers, and just looking at each other dumbfounded upon waking up.

He would also be interested in helping her improve her English. Being a native speaker himself and on native level, he's always eager to help, especially with language and other academic subjects. Whether she is interested in him helping her is up for debate!

Darcy and Maxime

Darcy would be intimidated by Maxime, more than he usually is. A combination of his physical appearance, along with his disdain for preps, would leave a sour taste in his mouth and lead to him repelling from Maxime slightly. He would also be envious of his manners and how polite he is when it doesn't come to him as easily as it seems to for Maxime. Though with how often Darcy interacts with the jocks, a run-in is almost inevitable, and I can't imagine that it would be sweet. Darcy would try his best to be polite but quietly shaking in his boots while Maxime is as disinterested or even outwardly upset at the notion of talking to a prep like him. Darcy has heard about his piano skills and would be lying if he said he isn't intrigued to see it. He's never been a musician but has a great appreciation for the arts.

For the interactions, I can imagine Darcy getting someone else to ask Maxime a question/tell him something for him without saying it to his face, only to be met with a scoff and an eye roll from Maxime. He would have a lot of questions about Maxime but is not interested in a potential beating, even though Darcy's brain is blowing things way out of proportion.

your ocs are super fun and i love them!!! sorry to all my art followers and moots for all this oc stuff i'm gonna move it to another blog tomorrow