#and i get not being able to do certain accents but i think she does do both french and russian accents for characters who appear on the side

[skepticalcatfrog]

Okay, I need to know. Anyone else who has listened to the Secret Shanghai audiobooks (because that's how I'm reading them), does it bother you when the narrator doesn't do the accents that characters are supposed to have?

[sinofwriting]

Figlia Mia - Charles Leclerc

Words: 6,231 Summary: When she had met Charles Leclerc for the first time in 2017, she watched as her grandfather gave him the impossible task of restoring Ferrari’s greatness and her the task of making sure he does so. Note(s): This was a lot of fun to write. I got to do a lot of digging into Ferrari’s history in motorsports and F1, and make sure that the changes I made to the history of Ferrari made some sense. I also got to reignite my love for stats and things. I spent a lot of time looking at different circuit stats (which will be relevant in the second part of this fic) and just driver stats. Used a translator for the Italian but not google translate. Also, I shouldn’t have to say this but: How I write the drivers in these fics is not based on my feelings for them, it is just what I need them to be. So, please don’t send me hate because your favorite driver says or acts or is regarded in a certain way. Thanks! Hope you like this!

Masterlist | Support Me! | Part Two

Figlia mia - my daughter stella - star

2017

She eyes her grandfather wearily. He had called her home early from her classes and she had rushed home to Maranello.

“Nonno, what is the matter?” His gaze turns to her and he smiles, the solemn look on his face gone as he sees her. “My stella. You are back home.” His accent is thick as it wraps around the English words, always willing to indulge her. She sighs, leaning down to hug him. “You called me back. Did something happen?” He shakes his head, patting her hand when she straightens. “No, I have a meeting that I want you to attend with me.” She frowns. “It is late in the season for a meeting. Did Vettel or Räikkönen break contract?” “No. It’s for the team, but more of a future prospect.” Her frown deepens. “If it’s Hamilton, he won’t leave Mercedes and you shouldn’t entertain him, Nonno. You only have so much energy.” “I don’t want to take him from Mercedes. He wouldn’t be able to win with us anyways.” He groans as he thinks of how long it’s been since his team has won, and has achieved the greatness they are supposed to. “I just want your opinion, they should be here any minute.”

An uneasiness sits heavy in her stomach at how cryptic he’s being with her, something he never is, but she sits in the chair beside him. Taking his hand in both of hers and breathing a sigh of relief at the strongness still in his hands, no shakiness to be found. He was in good health, she reminded herself as they waited. He hadn’t even had a cold for three years, but still her mind worries.

“Mr. Enzo, Stella, your guests have arrived.” Anita’s voice says through the intercom. He presses the button to talk. “Please have Andrea get them and bring them back and tell him to stay as well.” “Andrea is here?” He hums, “I asked him to come. I have an idea.” She doesn’t say anything else to that and keeps quiet as she waits for whoever to arrive.

There’s a slight relief in it not being either Vettel or Räikkönen, she wasn’t keen to meet them for the first time right now, not when she had rushed home. She also didn’t want her grandfather meeting them now for the first time, so late in the year where he could catch an illness.

A knock sounds on the wooden door and she turns her head to look at it. Releasing her grandfather's hand from hers and moving to stand behind his chair. Her normal position in such meetings.

“Enter.” He calls and the door opens. “Signor.” Andrea greets, as he steps into the room, two, or rather one man and one boy following behind him with wide eyes. “I have your guests.” “Please sit, the three of you.” He tells them and they all quickly do.

Her eyes narrow as she recognises the familiar face of the man who is currently running the Ferrari Driver Academy and the just familiar face of the current F2 champion. The sight makes her want to lean down, to question why a F2 driver of all people is being allowed to meet her grandfather. A luxury he hasn’t afforded a single F1 driver since her father died other than Michael Schumacher. And even then he had won a championship first with them. But such a thing isn’t not her place, especially in front of guests, so she keeps quiet as her grandfather does as well, clearly waiting them out, letting the tension in the room build.

“Charles Leclerc.” Her grandfather says and the boy practically jumps. “You started winning in karting before you were even ten in 2005 and never stopped. A second place in Alps, then fourth in the European F3.” She watches as he winces at the reminder of what he clearly views as failures. “But you won your first year of GP3 and now have won F2. Truly impressive.” His eyes are still wide and they dart to the left before returning. “Thank you, Signor.” Her eyebrows raise at the way the Italian term leaves his mouth. He clearly had invested time in his Italian lessons. “Don’t thank me. You’ve done well for yourself. And now you have an F1 seat.” Her eyes darted to Andrea, “Nonno.” She hisses, stepping forward. “Andrea has signed the appropriate NDA’s and contracts, stella. There is no need for your worry.” This meeting seemed to be nothing but worrying for her. And suddenly the employment contract she had seen in her inbox for Andrea makes all the sense, especially since it had been sent to her directly, not cc'd.

“You will be joining Sauber this coming season. Are you ready?” “I hope and believe I am.” “And you have a team? A trainer, your own PR manager? A assistant?” Charles shakes his head, cheeks red. “I’m afraid not. I only signed the contract two days ago. I haven’t made arrangements.” “And your plans for the 2019 season? Still at Sauber?” “I only signed a one year contract with them. So I hope to stay with them if I can.” He hums and the tone if it tells her everything she needs to know and it takes everything in her to not show the horror she’s feeling. “There will be a spot open at Ferrari for the 2019 season. Show me you can handle an F1 car and perhaps it will be yours.” The three sitting opposite stare at him with wide eyes and Charles’ mouth is open, jaw dropped. “And Andrea will be your trainer. I have a good feeling about you Charles Leclerc, prove me right.” He then nods his head towards the door and the three scramble to stand and leave with rushed goodbyes.

She stands behind him for a moment before walking around the desk and flopping down in one of the seats.

“That boy is going to get destroyed.” “He is a boy to me. Barely a year younger than you, I believe.” She scoffs, “please, nonno. You have just put the biggest weight on his shoulders. Prove to me? And what if he speaks of this? Of getting to meet the great Enzo Ferrari when the man doesn’t leave his house and hasn’t met any drivers or even team principals in person since Schumacher.” “Then you will handle it, I suppose. And I will be proven wrong about the boy since he had to sign an NDA. Not a word of this meeting or this trip to Italy.” “And if people ask about Andrea? How they met? How he came to work with him?” “The academy put them in contact together. And no one will think anything of it. He is too distantly related to think that we have anything to do with it. Nor has he ever spoken of us.” His eyes soften as he really looks at her. “Everything will be fine, stella. I have a good feeling about this one.” She looks at him, worries still sitting heavy in her stomach, horror too, because god what if her grandfather had just sentenced him to forever chasing a dream he can’t have and faith in them that they are unable to deliver. She knows already that both Räikkönen and Vettel are feeling that way, their faith in Ferrari wavering if not gone. “I won’t be able to do anything to help him. Not for years.” “You will be able to help. Not as much as you will in a few years time, but you can still help. We still make decisions for the team and sign off on things.” “And if he leaves before then?” “He won’t.” His voice is quiet, but filled with unwavering faith. Faith she wants to feel herself. “He will be what our team needs to become champion and he won’t leave until he gets that.”

2018

“Vettel is not happy that he wasn’t told before about getting a rookie as a teammate.” She tells her grandfather, looking over the top of her laptop at him. “Sebastian will deal.” Enzo coughs. “And he won’t have a rookie as a teammate.” She makes a humming noise, looking at all of the articles about the announcement of Charles Leclerc joining the historic F1 team before opening her email again. “Should I cover Andrea’s costs again?” “Yes. As long as you aren’t in power with the team, I want Charles kept close.” “That won’t happen until the end of the 2023 season. You want us to pay for Andrea that long?” “Andrea is also family.” He reminds her, before lips twitch into a smile. “And there is a reason he doesn’t receive as large of a Christmas bonus as everyone else anymore.”

2020

“They want to sign Sainz for a two year deal.” He snorts, “and for what? Let me guess sponsors?” “They’re serious about this, nonno. His team has already approached us about a two year contract.” “And he can’t go to Aston because Vettel is going there for two years.” “And he’ll never go back to Red Bull. Mercedes won’t entertain the idea.” “But we are?” He groans, running a hand over his face. “God, what has happened to this team? He hasn’t gotten a single podium, a win! And he’ll hit a hundred races this year. That is who they want on the team?” “He was sixth in the driver standings last year.” “Could he handle it?” She frowns. “Maybe. We wouldn’t know until it happened. He’s older like Vettel, has more experience as well than Leclerc. But Leclerc already has wins under his belt, managed to get fourth in the standings in only his second year. He was teammates with Verstappen in his rookie year, so it’s possible he could handle it.” “A two year contract, huh?” “Two years.”

2022

“Sainz wants to be extended.” She rubs at her forehead, the email, moreso the wording was troubling. “And why should we?” “Because he finished ahead of Charles in the driver's standings last year.” “By less than ten points and due to our own team's failings. They way they embarrassed him in Monaco.” He shakes his head, the rage he felt that day watching it happen coming back. “Four podiums to one. And neither got a win.” “Who needs a seat?” “There’s rumors about Schumacher.” “No.” He shakes his head, fingers beginning to tap against his desk. “Maybe in a few seasons, but not now.” “Bottas, Guyuan, De Vries, Hulkenberg.” He scoffs at all the names. “A friend at McLaren said they’re looking to drop Ricciardo.” His fingers stop. “Ricciardo. He’d understand his role.” “And as long as we treat him better than Red Bull did or how McLaren are, we’d have him.” “Why do they want to drop him?” “Underperforming. Norris is doing better.” He looks at her disbelief. “Please tell me that’s a joke.” She shakes her head. “He gave that fucking fake British team their first win in a decade!” “He’s older and despite his knack for giving good development advice, they’re ignoring it for Norris’.” He rubs at his forehead. “Write him down. Maybe we can get a talk with him before another team manages to snatch him up. Who else?” “It’s all reserves and formers now. There’s Piastri who's serving as Alpine’s reserve this season, wouldn’t shock me if they’ve already signed a contract with him for the next year but haven’t announced it though. We or Haas really has Illot still under contract as a reserve.” He shakes his head. “Leave him in Indycar for a few seasons. Might try him in 2024 when we’re looking for another driver.” She nods, writing his name down with 2024 beside it. “And Piastri?” “No. Alpine probably has something signed with him already. They’d be stupid not to.” “That leaves Ricciardo and Sainz.” He frowns. “Reach out to Ricciardo. We nearly had him for 2021, we should’ve taken him.” “Understood.”

As she begins to type out her email to Ricciardo’s team and she wonders how Blake will react to seeing an email for Ferrari, Enzo speaks.

“How is Charles?” “Nonno.” “I can’t ask?” “You are fishing.” She replies, not looking away from her laptop. “But he is good. Ready for the season to start.” “Hmm. And will he be coming for dinner?” She pauses her typing, looking at him. “Are you asking him to come to dinner?” “I’d like to meet the boy that has made my granddaughter so happy.” “Oh, nonno. It is not a boy that is making me so happy. Just you. You have been in better spirits for the last year.” She laughs. “And isn't it interesting that it was only when you started seeing him that both of our spirits rose?” Her eyes narrow. “Don’t make me take the Leclerc name.” It’s a high insult to the Ferrari name, one that her grandfather has made sure that she knew better to even joke about, but he doesn’t react with his fiery temper, just smirks. “It’s serious enough for marriage but not for you to bring him to meet me?” Blood rushes to her cheeks. “You have met him.” “When he was a boy.” He counters. “One you had distaste for.” He reminds her not that she has ever forgotten.

She had told Charles on their third date about it, watching as his mouth gaped at her, unable to believe that the boy he was at the age could be distasteful. Now, he likes to tease her about it. About how she didn’t like him but as soon as he left the room and she was issued the challenge of making sure he got to Ferrari she did.

“I haven’t met him since. I haven’t met him as your partner. And we both know that you’ll be taking each other's names.” “It is too early to say that.” She tells him, voice quiet. “But I’ll message him. He’ll love to meet you.”

2023

“This is ridiculous!” “I told you that this would happen! You put your hopes and dreams on a boy and look at what has happened!” “I did no such thing!” “You did! And I told you that you would ruin him. That he would lose faith just like the ones before and now look.” She waves a hand at the TV in front of them, playing the lowlights of the season. “He didn’t just go to that meeting with Red Bull and then shut it down like he has before, he entertained it.” She scoffs, shaking her head. “He should’ve left us for them when they first fucking offered.” “You do not mean that.” “Look at what our team has done to him! Look at what you have done! I have no power there and barely do you. I get to vote on what drivers we add to the team, but it is one vote, against six others. Same goes for the general direction of the car, which we both were out voted in. And that is it, that is my power! I don’t get to give him the Ferrari team he deserves, that we deserve, because you signed it away when my father died until I turn twenty-seven!” She turns away from Enzo, taking in a shaky breath, before turning back to him. “And you will not ever bring it up to Charles that he considered leaving us or if he does. Because I set up that meeting with Red Bull for him.” He looks at her resigned, saddened, but not surprised. “You would let him leave?” “I don’t let him do anything. I love you, nonno. I love this team. But it is not just Charles that they are disappointing and letting down. It is our fans, our people, our family, our legacy, me, you. Next month, I get to finally take back our families power in the sport and it is already too late for this season and nearly too late for the next. I can’t even guarantee a good first season with me in charge because of where the car is already developed too. And the upgrades.” She shakes her head. “None of it would matter with the team that is working there.”

“What do you want to do?” She looks at him, struggling not to cry, and she folds herself down in front of him, taking her hands in his. “A new structure and house. The voting can stay, but it has anonymity, we don’t talk about who is going to vote for what, only after the votes have been cast we talk, discuss, but with us having the power to veto if decisions are being made too much on outside factors like money and perceptions. Drivers who have multi-year contracts starting next season can be present for the votes, hear why we voted for what we did and even jump in on discussions if they feel inclined. We change. We have been stagnant for too long. We need new blood and beliefs.” He starts to shake his head and she squeezes his hands.

“Nonno, please just listen to me.” She pleads. “We need a complete overhaul of the team, you know it and have said it yourself. I can’t just hire Italian first, not when that has ended with us where we are now. I can offer everyone severance packages, pay for it all myself, but no more Italian first. We take who is best suited for the team and hope they are Italian. Maybe we baptize them if they aren’t.” His lips quirk into a smile. “The strategy team needs to go, PR, social media, the race engineers.” “Sainz likes his race engineer.” “Sainz also likes to say that he comes up with the strategy used in the races but as soon as they fail, he backtracks. He is a fair driver, but he needs to be retrained in PR.” “His family needs a gag order.” Her grandfather huffs. “Yes, but that is not something we can do. What we can do is get him retrained and get a new PR manager for him, same with social media. Charles will be getting the same. He needs an image refresh.” “This is what you want?” “Yes. I want to bring our team back to greatness. I already have the people I want for the team, I’m just waiting for your approval and for the next month to pass before I start sending out contracts.” He sighs, looking in pain. “Can they at least speak Italian?” She smiles, standing to press a kiss to his cheek. “They can learn and they will quickly.” Another sigh leaves him but he smiles, warm and gentle at her. “Mia figlia, la mia stella, fai quello che devi. Il mio supporto è tuo, sempre.” My daughter, my star, do what you must. My support is yours, always. “Thank you, papa.”

October 23rd, 2023

She stands facing the back wall of the room, listening as the door opens and people trudge in. She tries to count the pairs of feet she hears. She knows how many are supposed to come to this meeting, how many she asked to come, but it wouldn’t surprise her if someone let slip that the new boss, and the big boss at that, had arranged a meeting that a few people would try tagging along.

It’s the sound of the door shutting and then locking from the inside that has her turning around, giving a nod of thanks to her bodyguard, Roman, who inclines his head before retreating to the left front corner of the room.

“I see you all made it.” She says, her Italian accent barely noticeable around the English words and she can see a few faces turn confused at the English. Ferrari was Italian, they spoke Italian, had meetings in Italian. And more importantly, she was not just Ferrari, but a Ferrari. One that only three people in this room had ever met in person, and only two others had seen her face because of video calls. “Good, let's talk about the dumpster fire that was yesterday.” She can see a few faces balk at her words, but it’s Sainz’s that gets her attention. “You don’t agree?” “It was an unfortunate thing that happened to Charles, but I still ended up in P3.” “Due to a disqualification. Which is also what happened to your teammate. This also is the third time you’ve ended up on the podium due to such a thing. Let us also not forget to acknowledge that while the FIA didn’t check your car, like they should have after finding that two of four of the cars they checked had issues with their planks, doesn’t mean we didn’t.” He frowns and so does a good majority of the room. “I don’t understand.” “Your planks were just like Leclerc’s. Just barely under what they should be. But still enough for disqualification.” Eyes widen and she continues. “Not that it matters, because I won’t be alerting the FIA of such a thing. Not when the teams didn’t get enough time to set up the car because of the sprint format and I don’t think we need to give McLaren more of a jump on us.”

Walking around the room, she nearly pauses behind Charles' chair. Wants so badly to squeeze his hand, to offer him comfort or a way to get his frustrations out, but she continues until she is at the front of the room.

“The FIA won’t get rid of sprint races, but myself and a few other team representatives, will be going to them with a new sprint format for the next season hopefully or for at least starting the 2025 season. I expect both of you,” she looks at Sainz and Charles, “to voice your support. And I’m sure Red Bull, Williams, Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, and Haas, will be saying the same to their drivers as well.” “You want us to support a format that could be worse?” Charles asks, and she can see a few shakes of the head at him. “No, I want you to support one that is better. For Sprint weekends, you will have free practice one and the sprint shootout on Friday. On Saturday, there will be the sprint, followed by second free practice, then qualifying. Sundays of course will just be race day. Does that sound worse?” “No. You think the FIA will go for it?” “The FIA won’t have much of a choice. And besides next year allows each team to have more tyre’s allocated, they’ll want something extra to help burn through them to make it more interesting.”

“Now,” She lifts the lid of one of the two file boxes she has. “Leclerc, Sainz.” Both grimace at the use of their last names, but she catches a glimpse of amusement from Charles. “I have meetings with both of your management teams after this. Sainz, you’ll be getting a new PR manager, Ana. She or her assistant Val, will be with you for every event, interview, or anything else PR wise. Sometimes they both will.”

She turns her head to look at Charles. “Leclerc, you're getting an image refresh. I’m not letting a driver for this team have a vast majority of people thinking there’s nothing behind your apparently good looks.”

“Why isn’t Charles getting a babysitter?” She raises a brow at the tone and question. “Ana and Val aren’t babysitters, they work in PR. They will be retraining you. Because at the moment I could be breaking your contract right now with four races left in the season due to the public clause and if you have to ask why, you need more help than I thought.” He looks at her in shock and she can see a few people in the room shift uncomfortably. “Also concerning both of you, you both will have new race engineers in Mexico. Your previous engineers were lacking.” They both look uncomfortable with the decision but don’t say anything and she turns her attention to Fred.

“Fred.” “Ms. Ferrari.” She smiles at the title, though there’s nothing polite or happy about it. “This is your team is not?” She gestures to the drivers, the heads of different departments that all sit in the room with them. “Yes.” “Then, why am I doing your job for you and handling them?” With that she starts throwing out the severance packages onto the table. When she runs out of ones in the first box, she takes the lid off the second and just tips it over, letting them spill out.

“Severance packages.” She states, seeing some people's confused looks. “Some are effective immediately. Others will be given after the last race.” “Fabio’s name is here.” “So is Gualtieri and Cardile. They have been given generous severance packages.” She reassures. “You will meet their replacements either later today or in Mexico.” “They are heads of their departments!” “And they have failed at their jobs. As has everyone who has been issued one of these.”

—

“How did they take it?” “Safe to say I haven’t made any friends.” “So, it's going well.” She snorts, smiling at Charles as he enters her hotel suite. “I’m fairly certain they all would like to burn me at the stake.” Charles frowns. “Not Charles of course.” “Is he there?” “Just got here.” She confirms. “Do you want to talk to your grandson?” She teases and predictably Charles flushes. “Yes, yes. I want to make sure that he’s taking care of you, protecting you.” She rolls her eyes at the last part but passes the phone to Charles, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she does before stepping around him to her open laptop.

Leaning against the desk, she stares at the list in front of her. A list of drivers, currently on the grid, reserves, and not yet on the grid. Before the halfway point of the 2024 season she’d either have to sign contracts for one new driver or two for the 2025 season and now it just came down to who she wanted to reach out to.

A good amount of them are already on the bottom half of the page under the bolded words, not an option.

Verstappen was there, both Mercedes drivers, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Magnuessen, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Perez, Norris. She chooses not to look too closely at the fact that she doesn’t have Piastri there. She’d buy out a contract if need be and she knew Mark. If she proved that Ferrari could improve and be a winning team under her, he’d be willing to help her break a contract or two.

She jolts when a pair of lips presses themselves to her forehead, her phone being set down next to her laptop. “Your list is interesting. No Antonio?” “He’s a good development driver.” She says, typing his name out under not an option. Charles hums, sitting in the chair and then pulling her onto his lap, carefully pulling her legs to hangover the arm of the chair. “You have two Indycar drivers under possible.” She shrugs. “I’ll watch closely as the first few races go for them. They only have contracts for the 2024 season.” “Not that it would matter.” She grins, huffing out a laugh. “Not that it would matter.”

She watches as he peers at the list, his hands rubbing at her calf. “You have a lot of no’s.” His eyes narrow as he scans it again. “Mick, Ollie, and Vesti all under maybe?” “Vesti’s done well for himself, Mercedes is just going to waste him. Especially if he’s any good in an F1 car. Bearman’s had a strong first season in F2. Schumacher,” She hesitates. “I’m not keen on the idea. Especially with two seasons out of F1, but there is the opportunity to put him in Alfa Romeo.” “But Valterri and Zhou.” “Valterri knows he won’t be promoted back up. He’s doing good for being at Alfa Romeo, but he also has a lot of other ventures and pursuits. I’d like to keep him for another year or two after for development if I can.” He hums, “Alex and Schwartzman?” “Albon is sticking to Williams like glue. Which is understandable after Red Bull, but there’s hope.” She doesn’t mention that she’d think that he’d be a good teammate for Charles. “Schwartzman is already under contract with us. Just as a reserve and for testing, but who knows.”

He presses a kiss to her shoulder and he reads the top of the list, the possibles. He had only skimmed it before, but now he gives it his full attention.

“I’m on here.” “Yes.” “But,” “You don’t have an extension with us. You are only contracted with us for this next season. And as much as I’d like to keep you as would the fans and nonno, we haven’t proven that we deserve to have you here. I have to keep my options open that there will be two drivers I have to sign for 2025.” “I don’t like it.” He tells her, frowning. He didn’t like to think about not being at Ferrari, at the possibility of it, especially now with her at the helm and already making drastic changes. He didn’t know yet if those changes were good or not, but it felt like they were, he hoped that they were.

Piastri, Ricciardo, Drugovich, and he blinks as reads the last name, saying it outloud. “Sargeant. You have Sargeant under possible? Not a maybe but possible?” “Sargeant would sign a contract with us in a heartbeat, no contracts to break. 2024 will be a one year for him.” “Something has been signed?” She shrugs, “it’s common sense to keep him. Otherwise they’d just be dealing with a whole other rookie.” He sighs, jaw twitching. “I don’t like it. He has only scored a point because of my disqualification.” “I know.” “He has cost them much.” “I know.” Charles pouts, “he is American.” She lets out a laugh, running a hand through his hair. “That will be your issue with him? His Americanness?” “Yes.” “Well, it’s just a possibility.” She smiles, before leaning down to press their lips together in a quick kiss. “Now, tell me out of everyone in the maybes and possibles who you’d want as a teammate.” “And what? You’ll make it happen?” “If I can give you a good season next year, I’ll do everything I can.”

He eyes the list, taking in the names he mentioned before and the few he didn’t.

Pierre would end in a dumpster fire and he was selfish enough to say that he didn’t want him as a teammate so they could keep their friendship, one so close to his heart. Lawson was an interesting idea, he had performed well for having to suddenly jump into a car. Alex would be a good teammate as well and he knew that Alex would also love the development side of things like he did.

He didn’t know enough about Drugovich or either of the Indycar drivers really. They had performed fair in F2 and were doing well in Indycar, but it was unknown. He could see them both though at Alfa Romeo. Ollie was too young to step into such a huge seat, maybe for him also Alfa Romeo in 2025 and by 2028 he’d be ready to step in and then take over a seat.

Oscar and Sargeant are both interesting for completely different reasons. He wishes that she had gotten power in the beginning of 2022 and when the Alpine drama happened, snatched Oscar up.

But there’s one name that he keeps on looking at, that’s circling in his head.

“Daniel. If I could have anyone, I’d want Daniel.”

There’s a shared pained history there and Charles knows that he took what was going to be Daniel’s seat in 2019 before Ferrari really started gunning for him while Renault took a keen interest in Daniel.

Charles could still remember around the fifth race of the 2020 season when Daniel had cornered him, looking nervous to be around him for the first time since their accidentally shared Vegas trip that made them break the ice. Daniel seemed so much smaller as he asked Charles if he’d be okay with them being teammates next season, and had seemed shocked by the relieved and happy grin Charles had given him.

She hesitates, “I never said anything, but I tried getting Daniel for 2024 and even 2023 when the rumors about McLaren dropping him started up.” “But Carlos?” “He asked for an extension, but nonno and me wanted to present a different option. But by the time I reached out, Red Bull had managed to snatch him back up. He’s only with them though for 2024. He’s free after that.” “So, you are saying?” He hopes. “I’m saying that, I’ve already reached out as of yesterday. Red Bull isn't in any hurry to get him under contract for 2025 and Blake has made it clear that Daniel isn’t signing any contracts until May or June to them and us.” “Which is enough time to prove that the team is improving.” “Yes.”

He stares at her wide eyed speechless. “What does that mean?” “If we improve?” He nods. “We sign you and Daniel until 2027.” She pauses, hesitating, but she won’t lie to him now. “We let you two battle it out at the beginning of the 2025 season. If Daniel is scoring more points, higher on the podium than you by break, you defend. We’ll ask you to let him pass if both of you can get on the podium or he has better pace and can get on it. We let him become world champion first. And it would go the other way around as well.” He rolls the idea in his mind, lets it sit in his stomach. “Daniel Ricciardo the 2025 world champion and Charles Leclerc the 2026 world champion.”

He lets them sit in the air, the idea of practically another three seasons before it could happen. Could he wait that long? Watch as Daniel got it before him? Watch as his teammate got it before him? Could he let himself be sacrificed for his teammates gain again? He thinks it over, because it is not fair for her to ask, to say, but that is what driving in Formula One is. It is not fair, with unequal machinery and only twenty spots available. To have to worry not just about your race but also your teammates depending on where the point standings are at.

But she is offering him something that he wasn’t before and with clearness, transparency. Not something that will be dropped on him in the middle of the race or as he’s about to finish lap ten or fifty. She’s telling him now what to expect and how it will go. She’s letting him know that it doesn’t matter which one is in the lead for the championship, just that whichever one isn’t when they come back from break, will be defending and he thinks now of her emphasis on the word. Not sacrificing, but defending. She wouldn’t let either of them be compromised so badly that they drop either low in the points or out of the points completely, but she would ask that they defend the other.

“I want it. Even if I do have to wait an extra year. It’d be worth it.” “And if you won in 2025 and then Daniel in 2026?” “We could trade off years, but I want it, I want that.” She smiles and there’s something sweet and dangerous about it. “Then I’ll make it happen.”

@eleetalks @cixrosie @badbatch-simp24 @darleneslane @fanboyluvr @teti-menchon0604 @eugene-emt-roe @gemofthenight @peachiicherries @lpab @copper-boom @topguncultleader @iloveyou3000morgan @boiohboii @benstormy @bibliosaurous

[whoreseason]

RANDOM JAMES MARCH HEADCANONS

CW for murder, drug use mentions, and discussions of trauma/implied child abuse

I think he excels at doing cocaine. I don’t know how to explain what I mean though

He's done quite a lot of it in his life but no longer does, not only because his ass is dead and he can't get high but because such crass indulgences remind him of his younger days

He’d wear women’s perfume if it were more socially acceptable but his ideas around masculinity refuse to let him do this

His hair is naturally a bit curly and he has spent years gelling it into submission

Is 5'8 and rather small build-wise

Despite his size, he can really, really hold his own in a fight, though he fights very dirty. Hand to hand fighting triggers something in him and he does it with pure rage. His opponent will be on the ground before they know it and he'll probably have killed them before he realizes what he's doing

Is a bit resentful of his babyface, as well as his height, and wishes he were both taller and more mature looking

Growing out a mustache was influenced by this

Also deeply resentful of the phrase “prettyboy”, which he’s heard a fair amount

Either puts lifts in his shoes or wears slightly heeled ones. Do NOT bring this up

Has been smoking since he was 12 or so

His eye twitches just slightly when he’s annoyed. It’s often his only outward tell

His only two modes of expressing irritation/anger are “irritated but not showing it” or “literally screaming”

I feel like we as a fandom don’t talk about his canonical temper enough. This individual has probably thrown a fork into a maid’s eye because she got the placement of a napkin wrong

His original accent is lower class Boston, and while this may not be a headcanon, I feel the need to bring this up. His actual voice may sound more like Kit's than anything

Speaks a bit of French and Latin, largely in an attempt to fit in with the old money upper class

Started drinking pretty hard very young, maybe when he was around 12 or 13? And was basically an alcoholic throughout his teenage years

Barely went to school growing up and was more or less able to charm his way into university

Is embarrassed of his Irish heritage. He's a product of his time

Killed his first victim in a rage episode in an alley behind a bar somewhere when he was 16

His first victims were impulsive kills along these lines, but his motives switched from triggered anger to relying on it as he went on, and by the time he was in university he'd get tightly wound and restless if he'd gone a week without it

Took various traits from his first victims-- ways of lighting a cigarette, vocal quirks, body language tics, that sort of thing. As the number racked up and his designed personality become more fleshed out he stopped doing this, but he carries his first kills with him through certain mannerisms, though it's now subconscious

Also took various traits from movie stars and book characters. Spent a lot of time at the cinema as a young man finding things on screen to make a part of himself

Is so very, very fake. Has constructed basically every aspect of his presentation and outward personality

He hates being reminded of who he was before, who he truly was-- he’ll reference parts of his childhood in the context of who he is now and what he's had to overcome, but it’s more like he’s using pieces of his past to construct a story about himself. Anything vulnerable or authentic to that part of his life he won’t bring up, he doesn’t even let it cross his mind

Has worked very, very carefully to suppress his flinching instinct at sudden noise or movement, but sometimes it still comes out when he’s snuck up on

Used to wake up screaming sometimes when he was alive

Would just as often wake up crying, which he quite hated. He never remembered what those dreams were about

He’s glad that he doesn’t sleep anymore and can thus avoid all that. Which is what he loves to do with his memories or any sign of emotional vulnerability, avoid it. Good luck trying to get him to open up about anything

Love you grandpa

[interstellarsystem]

Little Plural Things

Systems can present in a lot of different ways. Sometimes, being a system can be loud and obvious if you're naturally more overt and/or out about yourselves as plural. Sometimes, it can be quiet and barely noticeable, but still there--just harder to see. Our system is fairly obvious if we're unmasked, but there are still things that escape even our own knowledge when we're masking as hard as we can. Little things that to us, remind us that our system is undeniably real. This is a post about those experiences we've had with barely-noticeable signs of a system.

Not every system will relate to these experiences, some might feel similarly about a few points, some may have others of their own entirely, some might not know or not have anything like the experiences we mention, and that's all part of being plural. No two systems are mirror images of each other. This is a post about our experiences.

1. Handwriting

Recently, we've had it brought to our attention that we have different handwriting. We don't write with a pen/pencil often, but we were asked to fill out a worksheet for our psychologist recently. She told us that whoever in our system wants to contribute to it can, and suggested that we signify who wrote what in some way--to which we chose different pencil colours for different headmates. We took the worksheet home and put things on it depending on who was in the front and if they wanted to.

It turned out, that some of our writing widely differs from each other. Out of the 6 people who wrote on the sheet, most of them were wildly different. Rift and Martin wrote the most tidily, with Rift's writing looking more "proper" and "adult". I (Vince) apparently am not the best at neat writing but I managed to be better than what our "normal" writing is like from what we remember. Merlin wrote messily like he was writing very fast. Mystery wrote with very large letters with sharp angles that overall made it look like it was written by a child new to writing. Which makes absolute sense. It's not a child, but its hands in-headspace are bigger than ours and that was the actual first time it had written anything on paper since it got here.

Somehow, it took until our psychologist pointed it out for us to notice how different it was.

2. Vocabulary Choices

Something we are able to notice sometimes is how our vocabulary and sometimes sentence structure changes based on who is speaking. Some obvious examples are our British headmates substituting "bloody" for other words as an exclamation and the difference between what some of our headmates would call a "chip" or a "fry".

Other times though, it's more subtle. Sometimes there's certain phrases that will just have a word or two swapped out and it does tend to point toward who is fronting even if people do use multiple of these. Some examples are:

"I suppose" vs "I think" vs "I believe"

"Kinda" vs "Kind of" vs "Sort of" vs "Sorta"

"Recently" vs "A bit ago"

"Sleepy" vs "Tired"

"Lol" vs "Haha" vs "Lmao" vs a keysmash (Even though these are text-based they are quite telling.)

"Quite" vs "Very" (Speaking of the above.)

Getting more subtle with them, some other examples are:

"You know" vs "Y'know"

"Uh" vs "Um"

"Uh-Huh" vs "Mhm"

Sometimes typing is influenced too. The amount of em-dahses within the text, the consistency of proper punctuation, how mechanical the text feels, how many run-on sentences there are and even how much tends to be written in one message/post can all point toward different people being in control.

3. Accidental Accents and Inflections

While accents are usually very obvious, we're generally good at masking them. Generally.

Due to us living in Australia, our headmates with accents straight from London don't stick out too bad when they're struggling to mask, but they are still noticeable to those around us who know we're plural. Passerby on the street or people who don't see us often don't think much of it, but certain people we are close to know that a few people in our system find it harder to mask and can tell when they're fronting very easily because of it.

Even if we are masking our accents properly, some parts of the way we speak still come out. Some of us end sentences on a higher-pitch more often due to what our accent generally has us do and some end more on lower-pitch notes when speaking. Some of us put emphasis on certain syllables differently. There's lots of little things that go into language that make it hard to completely mask.

4. Food Choices

More of a noticeable one, but something we tend to brush off as "just a bad batch" when it happens. Some of us like and dislike different foods and drinks, some of us to an extreme degree.

Mystery hates the brand of juice we normally buy and thought that it might've just been past expiry (it was not) or just a bad batch of the juice, but they're consistently the only one who doesn't like it.

Rave likes spicy food much more than the rest of us because they have a harder time tasting it. I on the other hand can't handle spicy food at all and am worse with it than the others in my system.

Some of us favour different brands of food and some of us might like/dislike textures of food differently too.

5. Default Facial Expressions

Different resting facial expressions are something we hardly notice because we don't look in a mirror often due to dysphoria. What we do know though, is that some of us just rest our faces differently.

I look more stern and tired than others. I have a bit of an angrier resting expression.

Martin looks a little bit more anxious due to being an anxiety-holder, but he also looks softer and kinder.

Crowley also looks tired but has less of a stern look and more of an almost blank one.

6. Body Language

This is one we don't know too much about because we can only get knowledge on this from other people, but most of our headmates have a different "vibe" by the way they carry themselves.

I end up seeming to-the-point and business-like.

Martin reads as being very anxious even if he's not always.

Crowley reads as smug.

Mal reads as if he's planning something mischevious and silly.

We've been told that Filigree just reads as "gay".

We're not sure what actions make us seem this way, but some of us can be clocked by others around us as fronting without even talking first. I don't know how people do it, but it's something in our body language.

7. Clothing Choices

A few of us have different clothing choices--Crowley still wears sunglasses everywhere due to light sensitivity and wears dark colours, I prefer to wear button-up shirts as opposed to more casual things, Martin prefers hoodies that are lighter in colour and Merlin prefers to dress in pink and black and more fluffy textures.

We don't have too many clothes overall so to others it does just look like we're cycling through our wardrobe, and sometimes we are, but there's certain styles some of us tend to lean toward more than others.

---

Some of these might seem quite noticeable, and maybe they are if you know we're a system, but people change a lot so once again some of this is much more subtle than it sounds. People who don't know that you're a system hardly ever notice, and if they do they put it to "having an off day" and leave it at that.

We wanted to take some time to appreciate those little things we find it hard to notice, though. And maybe it'll end up helping some other system realise how unique they are as individuals and help fight off the imposter syndrome like these realisations did for us.

[weepingflowerbonkcop]

I'm trying to finish these headcannons before moving on. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions about the headcannons. Enjoy reading!

Warnings: Wild being Wild, nothing else.

What the Chain thinks about a Modern! Reader using slang/meme references:

Part 2

Sky

• Sky has some basic education for Skyloft. I'd say he finished high school standards for them, but elementary in our standards. He's still pretty smart but just doesn't show it as much as Four does.

• Sky didn't know what to think of when he first heard modern slang.

• He's one of those people that pretend like they know what you're talking about. Reader would be talking casually and Sky would nod his head, listening intently even if he really doesn't understand.

• He likes it when reader goes to talk to him, but sometimes he'd like subtitles to exist.

• He goes to Four and Wind whenever he doesn't understand a word, hoping that they'd be able to give him some indication/translation of it.

• Memes on the other hand - he's actually pretty good at understanding them. He might not find all of them funny but he does manage to catch what they're about.

• He's that person that hears a joke and goes into a full detailed interrogation of the joke. Something like, "Yeah nah, the bro took his cuzy out to the pub. After he met this nice sheela and got a nice rootin' only to find out the day after it was no sheela." Him not knowing what's going on just goes, "So, you've told me before that a 'she - lah' is a girl, yes? And you've also said a 'bro' is a shorter term for brother. So, what does 'cuzy' mean and what does the root have to do with the story?"

• After you do a break down of the slang he just lights up with a 'ooh' and does a little giggle to himself.

• It's cute but ruins a good story when you have to go into another full explanation of said story.

• He's also an 8/10 at least he'll laugh at memes even if he doesn't find them funny.

Wild

• Thinking about him losing his memories some of his schooling had also been lost since his resurrection.

• I believe Wild is the most adaptable of the Heroes. He had to be adaptable out in the wild in order to survive.

• So, he'd be the quickest - next to Wind - to catch Modern! Reader's slang.

• He would also interpret it into his own day to day talking. His Hyrule is more flexible in my opinion to different ways and languages than other Hyrules.

• Him along with Wind and Four are your main translators to the others. So, when someone is in doubt they run to Wild to ask about a certain word or abbreviation then run back to reader and continue the conversation.

• However, Wild does radiate chaotic energy and sometimes whenever the others try to learn, he'd casually tell them the complete opposite of what it means for shits and giggles. An example, "Wild, what does 'Yo - lo' mean?" "You only lick once." The person would thank him and run back to you, "Indeed only one lick." "What the -"

• This annoys the living daylights out of Twilight, Time, Warriors, First, Calamity - basically all the serious Links.

• Wild appreciates memes from Modern! Reader's world. In fact he sometimes tries to recreate them with readers guidance.

• Other times he would try and create an entirely new genre of meme little does he know he already is with some of his really cursed selfies on his Sheikah Slate.

• Overall 10/10 best boy cause he gets it and screws with people that don't.

Hyrule

• In my honest opinion I don't think this boy had any type of schooling. Most of the things he knows comes from pure experience. He might've been taught more about magic, curses and things more related to the fae since he was raised by them, but no school system like ours.

• Hyrule much like Twilight thought it was just an accent rather than the modern day and age talk when he first heard it.

• Someone had to sit him down though to tell him it's not.

• Hyrule learns from Wild about the terms and their meanings as Wild starts using them more frequently in his own speech. So, Hyrule starts picking up that habit as well and sooner or later you got two four in actuality people talking like anyone from your world!

• I believe he would purposefully go to Legend and start telling him some of the slang that he's learned through either you or some of the others. It's similar to a kid running up to their parent to show them a picture that they drew. Legend actually appreciates this and finds it cute but wouldn't admit it.

• He does surprisingly catch on to memes quick.

• His brain works in mysterious ways as well so he'd instantly understand Modern! Reader's references.

• He does go and have little back and forths with Wind when referencing memes that reader uses the most. It's turns into a challenge between Hyrule, Wild, Wind and Four of who is right with Modern! Reader as the referee.

• He genuinely believes its interesting to hear how different the people in Modern! Reader's world talk in comparison to any of their Hyrules.

• Overall he's an 8/10.

[tempkiriri]

Currently the PSP section of spriter's resource has nothing but Hero's Day sprite sheets in the recent section (teehee)

Ivan and Pao-lin currently aren't uploaded but will be soon, and then I start work on non-player character sheets. I wont be able to upload every NPC just yet, since some Hero's Day exclusive characters have no accurate romanisation of their names and you can't exactly submit a sheet without a name....

So, here are the characters that need names translated! The more translations provided the better so we can compare and decide what to use together!

Char 1: An overworked conductor & Father met in Kotetsu's story. Seems to have a full name. Char 2: The son of the conductor, also with a full name and last name shared with his father. If I recall, voice lines from his father verbalise his name as "Matteo" (Mah-tae-oh). Also this kid refers to his father as the general 'otousan'. Char 3: Verbalised as "Marocchio" (Ma-rock-ee-oh), he is the one in charge of the musical all the heroes are invited to, and helps Barnaby practice for his Cameo role. Also, his sprite has heavy spoilers so be cautious whenever that does get uploaded. Chars 4 and 5: Twin actors, the first pictued being the brother, verbalised as "Judd", and gotta be honest I forgot his sister's verbalisation it's been a while. Char 6: Verbalised as Bun/Boom, he's out of a job but was a godlike lighting technician. He's probably my favourite of the Hero's Day Cast. Char 7: Prounounced as "Schlei" (Sh-lay...not 'slayyyy' with an accent, the Sh is loud), he is an important character in the story and implied to have gone through a Hikikomori-esque phase after falling into debt. They also state his last name verbally but I forgot where they do. Char 8 - Schlei's Mother and flower shop owner. I don't think she has a proper name in game, but translate it anyway, and we will refer to her as (Schlei's last name)-san or something. Char 9 - He's only referred to as Doc and is a person from Schlei's past. I think it might just outright be "Doc" but yknow, to be on the safe side I'm asking. There's also the "Red Squad" as I call them he's also connected to but they all verbally state their names enough times (as well as stated by other characters) for me to be 100% certain of theirs. (Strawberry, Blood, Signal and Sunset Red).

Feel free to post translations anywhere I can find them! When I get around to putting them on the Wiki, any name translation effort works will be sourced/credited!

[transgenderer]

i was wondering bc discussions of 'culture' is in vogue rn, my understanding is u ID as white while being 1/8 black, how do ur parent + grandparent with black ancestry ID? do you think your ancestry has an effect on your ~culture~, or what about ur parent or grandparent?

so my dad (1/4) is like. kinda weird about it? he's like, everything-passing. had a no war with iran sticker and got asked if he was iranian, went to mexico, spoke some bad spanish, got the native discount, etc. when i was a kid he would insist i check off both "white" and "african american" if a survey allowed both options. so i think he does the same. in college he was invited to a university event for black students so he came and arthur ashe (the tennis guy) told him he didnt belong there). anyway uh. i think he feels kind of weird about it? but the area i grew up in is pretty multiracial (altho not very black) so "mix of various ethnicities" is like one of the default types of guy there, and he grew up in NYC. my mom was once asked about her experience being in an interracial relationship and she was confused and didnt know how to respond

anyway my grandpa i think IDs much more with "immigrant"+"jamaican" than with black. i mean. he looks like your run of the mill american black guy. but he has a jamaican accent, and has lived in nyc his whole time in america so yknow, immigrant is a significant social role there. also there allegedly (according to my dad, i have not been able to verify this and have tried) a thing in jamaica where the children of slaves and slaveowners could inherit from their father so it was significant if you had white ancestry, like you were a lot richer. my grandpa didnt know his father but also owned like a plot of land+house in jamaica (he sold it when i was a kid, only visited once or twice), not sure whats going on there. he grew up in the middle of nowhere highland jamaica. weird guy. married a british lady (he was there for school?) and moved to the US

anyway im not sure i received much like jamaican culture from either of them except my grandpa would make (or actually i think my english grandma would make it) jamaican food and then i would get autistic about the texture except breadfruit which i love. weird jamaican stories. to the extent that it feels like ive recieved like a cultural influence from either of them its a bit of nyc culture (certain type of argumentative)

[crazylittlejester]

since it’s almost Hyrule Warriors anniversary…do you have any lttc warriors facts you’d like to share 🤲 also I’m going to draw him as part of my drawing links from different links meets thing I do for each game’s anniversary. It will happen I promise you so uh. idk if you have additional facial descriptors for him that you left in the other posts 🤲 but I’m pretty sure I can draw him accurately enough with the information already provided 👍 anyways, hope you have a good rest of your day!

OH BOY A CHANCE TO YAP ABOUT MY BLORBO!!!!!!

- Zelda keeps trying to promote him and he keeps refusing and she’s so frustrated by it, but he refuses to accept a promotion for something he doesn’t believe he accomplished

- He genuinely thinks he’s so sneaky with the lifts he has in his boots, he’s genuinely convinced no one knows

- Proxi can acknowledge how much he’s grown, but she still sees him as her wet cat son who just desperately needed someone to look out for him. She’s very proud of him, but she still thinks he’s ridiculous

- It took him a hot minute to become fluent enough in ‘hyrulian common’ (english) to be able to understand fast conversations with slang in them and to be able to speak back and converse with other soldiers at that level because it’s not his first language (this is why he sometimes stares at people with an incredibly blank expression during the war, he doesn’t always understand what they’re saying). Proxi continued to speak on his behalf until he’d perfected a castle town accent as well because he didn’t want anyone knowing he didn’t grow up within Hyrule kingdom

-Regularly abuses the fact that the general public has a certain image of him in their minds, and when he does not meet that image he can literally walk around wherever the hell he wants without being recognized and it’s so good for his mental health. He’s still paranoid and worried, but people just don’t recognize him because they hear all the tales of a strong, confident young man and Warriors is actually fairly quiet and comes off as a bit shy, plus people just aren’t expecting the hero to randomly be walking around on his own. Without the make up, fancy clothes, and boots and all that, he can just walk around markets like a normal person, and without the green tunic, Mask can too. So he’d pretty regularly just take Mask around towns to buy sweet treats and they both got to experience what it might’ve been like for an eighteen year old to shop with his little brother

- During the war, he and Ravio got quite close. They’re a dangerous combination and make each other worse

- He and his Zelda are incredibly close, they’re extremely good friends and they like to get together every so often and just YAP

also for any additional descriptors: LTTC Wars looks pretty much exactly like how I headcanon LU Wars. He was deadass created from You’re A Part Of Me Wars when I one day sat back and went “oh my god at this point I’ve just made my own guy-” the main difference between LTTC Wars and You’re A Part Of Me Wars is that LTTC Wars grew up outside of Hyrule Kingdom surrounded by a different culture and he struggled a lot more with a language barrier when he went to Castle Town (while my version of LU Wars grew up IN Hyrule Kingdom and had to struggle with learning his mom’s side of the family’s culture while being unable to fully interact with it), and a few details of the war. But physically they’re the same guy, so my pfp pic could be used as an additional ref if you needed :) THANK YOU FOR DRAWING MY GUY I LOVE HIM VERY MUCH

i love to stick lttc wars and you’re a part of me wars in a room and see what happens, they’d both hate it but I think theyd have so much to say

[moderator-monnie]

The Discovery and Ritual (A COTH Story)

After a trip that lasted a few days and a distraction to keep Sonic and his group of friends busy, Dr. Eggman arrived at the destination inside the eggmobile. A large shadow from Angel Island was cast over their heads, and a huge crater was deep in the ground below them.

The doctor soon took in the sight. It was oddly beautiful and absolutely stunning. Buried deep in the ground was a giant golden arch. It had been dulled over time, yet it still remained quite pristine. It's colour was only slightly faded, but there was not a spec of grime or rust anywhere on it.

"This is it... This is exactly what I've been looking for this whole time, and it's in my grasp now to get a closer look and find out exactly what this thing is."

Sage sat next to him, kicking her feet off the side of the eggmobile and humming a tune gently to herself. Eggman soon drove right up to the golden arch, shining a light upon it so it could be seen far better.

"Sage, if you would be a dear, would you mind performing a scan on the artifact, please?"

Sage nodded politely before floating up to the golden arch. She rested her hand on it, and the red accents on her body began to glow blue along with the object being shined brightly with a holographic light of the same colour.

"Calculating, Calculating... Processing... Processing." Not long after, a ding sound was heard, and Sage turned to her father.

"Father, this is not a golden arch; half of the object is buried underground... It appears to be a halo-shaped object of some kind; scans also reveal a vast amount of power buried within the object."

Eggman took what his daughter told him, and he slowly nodded his head. In just a few moments of being here, he had already learned quite a bit; all he had to do was unearth the object, so he clicked a button on his eggmobile, and a comically large shovel appeared out of the bottom of it.

It took a good few days and a few trips back and forth between homebase and the halo's burial site, but progress finally paid off, and sitting on the ground in front of him was it.

The Halo was fully exposed in front of the pair, and after some dusting and cleaning with an industrial power washer, they could see the object in its former glory and properly begin.

"Phew, that was a real hassle to get out of the ground. I didn't expect there to be so many roots holding it down, but, due to how long it's been down there, at least the roots were rather easy to destroy, though a shocking amount of them."

Eggman landed his mobile on the ground, not too far away from the halo, and he walked right up to it, rubbing his hand across it. He slowly began to decipher it with the help of Sage.

"Fascinating! So very fascinating, it would appear the halo itself, along with a few extra tablets we've unearthed, give a rough translation on how we can awaken the slumbering god."

Eggman was about to continue talking, but Sage looked at him worryingly and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Father, are you sure this is a good idea? I'm not certain anymore, based on the translations we were able to figure out together. It's like the ancient echidna's who buried these objects were trying to warn against waking Zepperaith."

"One thing remains consistent among everything we've discovered... They all say, 'This god of the dreaming world has been sleeping for many years and should stay asleep.' Do you really think this is wise, father?"

Eggman sighed before looking at her reassuringly with a small, gentle smile on his face. "Worry not, Sage; your old man knows what he's doing. I wouldn't attempt this if I didn't have a vague idea of what I was getting myself into."

Sage sighed She was worried, of course, but she did trust her father, so she slowly nodded her head. "Of course, father, you are quite brilliant, and I'm sure your plan will succeed."

Eggman soon chuckled with a hearty laugh. "I trust you and your siblings can handle things; if something does go wrong, NOT THAT IT WILL OF COURSE! But thinking ahead, you're a very smart girl, Sage."

"If anyone can get me out of any mess I make, it would be you. Now enough dilly-dallying; let's get this show on the road! Shall we?"

Eggman got out all the necessary supplies that would be needed: candles, a sleeping bag, a very large amount of salt, valerian, and gold powder. A dream catcher, and finally, some water blessed by any religious leader. Straight from the water falls of Angel Island

He carefully combined the salt, valerian, and gold powder into the water, mixing it perfectly before pouring it all around the edges of the halo and along the inside of it.

Afterwards, he put a sleeping bag for himself right in the middle of the halo, and surrounding him around the inside of the halo were seven candles, each of them coloured like the seven chaos emeralds and infused with a small amount of chaos energy.

Taking a deep breath, he put the dream catcher around his own neck, tying it somewhat tight, and then proceeded to lay down. He proceeded to take some sleep medication to help himself fall asleep, but before he did, he turned to Sage and gave her a gentle nod.

Sage took control of the eggmobile and returned it, along with herself, back to the main base.

After making sure she was gone, Eggman slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep. If he had followed every step correctly, he would arrive in the realm of dreams where Zepperaith was slumbering and be able to wake the god up from its seemingly endless sleep.

[kndrules]

Could u tell/show us more of ur hcs for Abby? She's always been one of my favs

YAH!! I really have to sit and think about this, because sometimes I have headcanons that I forget are Headcanons, you know what I mean?

(haha this turned out to be extremely long so I'm putting in a read more)

Okay- so I think her dad is originally Canadian and is half Cree. Since Cree is named after her voice actress, and her voice actress is named Cree because she is Cree, it makes perfect sense to me. Her dad was living in France for some kind of medical residency situation when he met her mom and they started their family. We know that Abby moved to the United States when she was a couple years old, like Nigel did. The only reason I can think that cree doesn't have a French accent would be that she tries really hard to fit in. But with one north American parent, she probably spent a decent amount of time in the states growing up too.

I think her family is a comfortable upper middle class. I haven't decided what I think her mom does for work. I have a very specific headcanon about her family having a nice finished basement that has gym equipment in it, cuz that's where Abby and wally work out together. Sector V will often have movie nights in Abby's basement too.

This is clear in canon, but she has a great relationship with her parents. Cree does too. Their family situation is complicated since the sisters have so much animosity towards each other but so much respect for their parents and their family in general

Abby IS fluent in French, the whole family is. They visit France to see family about once a year. Abby isn't close friends with Angeline, but because Angeline knows Creole French and has a girlfriend who lives in France, the two have kind of taught each other how to speak the others native dialect of French.

As an adult, Abby is going to start wearing glasses full time. This is a headcanon I forget to implement when I'm drawing her though 😅

In middle school and high school, Abby is an expert at floating around different social circles. She's tight with the popular kids but still has no issues being best friends with the nerds and weirdos (sector v, basically)

Her and Rachel end up becoming close, but in a way that still feels vaguely like a professional relationship. This is because they were both soopreme leaders at certain points and they both deal with a lot of social pressure. As adults, they have a new kind of professional relationship because they both become the core of Nigel's support system when he's in prison. Rachel becomes his lawyer as soon as she's able to and she works closely with Abby, since she's his best friend and a social worker (not HIS social worker, but she still brings her knowledge to his case)

After turning 13, Abby and Nigel become teen operatives. When Abby is soopreme leader, she abolishes decommissioning. In my adult AU, the divergence point is the teen-kid treaty from operation TREATY. Basically, the treaty goes well instead of...going horribly. As a result, the GKND doesn't target earth in the same way, and decommissioning becomes unnecessary. The hard line between kid and adult was a huge reason that "adulthood" was such a problem on earth. Wally, hoagie and Kuki stop being field operatives as teenagers (they still do some stuff for the knd, but to a lesser extent), whereas Abby and Nigel become a hardcore undercover duo.

Abby is very busy during her teen years. Shes in the top of her class and does a few extra curriculars. She also tutors Wally and is the biggest support he has in terms of school. She gets into a good college and pursues social work. I don't think she stays in that career forever though, because she needs to chill out at some point.

There's eventually a huge scandal regarding Father's business practices which culminates in his arrest. When this happens, the DCFDTL enter the foster care system and Abby takes on their case personally, feeling a sense of obligation to help them. As I've said before, I headcanon that the DCFDTL cannot age. At this point however, I haven't worked out the kinks yet, but they're able to start aging again. For reasons.

Abby has a tumultuous relationship with Henrietta in middle and high school that ends with a very messy break up. While I'm grad school, Abby and Hoagie become each others biggest support and hang out all the time, which is how their romantic relationship develops. They get married and have two kids, Naomi and Hogarth (Garth) the Third.

I HAVE MORE TO SAY BUT Y'KNOW WHAT...this is getting out of hand so I'm going to stop. If anyone has more specific questions about Abby feel free to ask!

[whitestopper]

Before Season 2, I thought that Tao's father had left Tao and Yan, and since Tao('s actor) is mixed white and Asian, it could've been shown that Tao's anxiety over fitting in as a half-Asian boy in a white school started from a young age. Maybe his father told Yan to stop teaching him Cantonese, or not letting him bring egg noodles for packed lunch. Maybe Yan would agree out of fear that Tao wouldn't assimilate with his classmates or maybe she'd just agree so he wouldn't cause a fight about it. Just little things that started building up the idea that being 'too Asian' would make Tao unlikeable, which would then reach its peak when his white father leaves him.

Or if Tao's dad needs to be good but dead so Yan can speak happily about him without any issues, then Tao could've just had a bad time at school. Teachers expecting him to be a minority model student (quiet, polite and getting exceptional grades) and peers doing racist stuff like broken accents and stretching their eyes. His parents could do their best to make sure that his spark isn't dulled but his insecurities still come out, especially at school where they started.

Now I'm speaking as a white-passing half south-east Asian who was spared being targeted - to my memory the school I went to, while having all white staff, had a decent of mix of white and (east to south) Asian kids. But make no mistake, kids are very much exposed to racism and internalising it. My brother and I were younger than 10 when we learned about the aforementioned racist imitations. We watched Family Guy (to my mum's displeasure) and Eurocentric beauty standards are very clear (and I did internalise the idea that because I was 'ugly', I should put my pride into being 'smart'). And when I became a teenager who realised just how detached I was to my Asian heritage - to the point of thinking myself as less than half-Asian due to lack of exposure - it very much fucked with my sense of self and made me feel like a tourist/outsider when trying to get in touch with it.

All this to say, you can get away with not addressing race when your story is centred around two white boys and poc are just side stories (I mean, you shouldn't and you can't really, but you can), but when you're trying to bring poc to the spotlight, it's really bad to only acknowledge homophobia, mental illness and passing sexism/transphobia (Elle's experiences with transphobia are only mentioned as happening at Truham, but who really believes that the homophobes at Higgs are trans allies?) and not racism, colorism, or xenophobia. Like, does Elle being able to pass as cis supercede the fact that she will never pass as white? Is there not a certain reason Tara struggled to accept that she was a lesbian for longer than Darcy did? Would Tao not have had experience with white peers who bully him and white peers who don't stand by him?

And I won't say much on it as a cis woman, but as Asian men are emasculated as 'weak', Tao's seemingly inexplicable aggression towards Nick becomes... well, explicable when you recontextualise it as (subconsciously) trying to match the white masculine ideal of aggression.

[eric-the-bmo]

Hello I saw your tag PLEASE tell me about Annabelle Von Gears she seems right up my alley

OUGIYGH OH BOY LET ME RAMBLE ABOUT MY OC, THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE STRUCTURED HORRIBLY LMAO—

So! Annabelle von Gears is my character for an upcoming homebrew campaign my friend's been wanting to run for about a year; She's put so much work into it, it's fascinating! (So sorry if u weren't expecting ttrpg stuff, but the floodgates have opened, and as a man with a special interest in ttrpgs I'm not going to shut up now—)

In very simple terms, Annabelle is a porcelain warforged/robotic wizard (bladesinger, specifically) who grew tired of her life and runs off to go adventuring. I adore her and this WILL be an infodump under the readmore!!!

[Art by @teefs_art on twitter!]

Augh okay I have no idea if I'll be able to get everything down, especially her thoughts on her family and herself, but here we go-

In terms of personality, I've been keeping it a bit vague; I'd like to have some room to build upon it when we finally play, and I've found it's easier to go off a general vibe.

So: Annabelle, at the start, is really just trying to do her job as a secretary and is very bored over the whole thing. While disruptions in the day can annoy her, she secretly delights in a few of them, because hey- that's another break in monotony, baby! After discovering free will later on, she's a lot more impulsive and upbeat, but still attempts to maintain her air of formality and fanciness. She most likely has a very strong sense of what's considered "fair." Due to Annabelle's upbringing, she'll probably be a bit rude and insensitive to others and their plights at times- and despite her sarcasm, she seems unable to detect it in others?

I definitely need to think more about how to include some knightly traits for her, and yknow, the whole thing of self vs duty, but... eh, yknow. Just vibes so far ☆

Anyway, the fact she's not literally built for a life of adventuring does nothing to dissuade her, btw; she'd rather do this than go back to a boring job.

Fun(?) facts:

Annabelle was based off the idea of "hey, what if a porcelain robot got hurt a lot and had to be fixed up with gold? Wouldn't that be cool or what"

Annabelle has programmed codes! Some of them include not being able to enter certain parts of the Von Gears manor, and being physically unable to harm her father figure (She can certainly try, but it's extremely difficult to break through those instructions)

She can sleep standing up, and yes, this probably will unnerve her party members very much ☆ (She can also stand completely still! More than once she's startled a foreign diplomat by blending in with the various statues and automatons in the manor, and so she's not allowed to go into those rooms anymore lmao)

Annabelle would really like collecting vinyls <3

She has the emblem of her home kingdom painted on her shoulder blades/upper back (it's an eagle with its wings outstretched!)

She can remove her face plate, and getting fixed by an artificer or mechanic is a bit uncomfortable :-/ It's like going to the dentist.

Annabelle is supposed to have a German accent- but I'm unable to do one. 😔

Her favorite term of endearment is to call someone "butterfly"; but so far she exclusively refers to only her sister with it.

She's unable to cry; she's not built with tear ducts! :-(

She's probably got a list full of silly little things to do while adventuring- like sneak into a building, or take part in a bar fight.

Taking heat damage is flavored as such: Her porcelain coverings are actually pretty heat-resistant! However, her insides aren't. It almost acts like an oven... (good luck venturing the kingdom of Helosh, love! ouch)

I'm absolutely going to find out how she can stim with her magic. No one can stop me /lh

And now for her general story: (note: I'm only putting in the most basic information for this. There's so much worldbuilding, but I sadly don't have time to ramble about all that. Again, sorry if this is incoherent, augh)

On the continent of Mysterra, most warforged reside in the country of Tectonica, which is ruled by Warrick von Gears (I forget his exact official title), a warforged who's been around for a very long time- definitely more than 100 years.

Following Mysterra's calendar, in 1835 Warrick decided he wanted a family with his wife Eleanor (also a warforged), and on the 19th of the Month of Talis, he commissioned the construction of Aria as his daughter– Annabelle was then added as a sudden addition. It took a year to complete the both of them, at which point artificial souls were placed inside their chests, and they were taken home to Tectonica's capital of Skysummit.

Despite being awoken at the same time, Annabelle is considered the more mature out of the two- mentally being in her 20s, with Aria being around 12- and primarily functions as Warrick's secretary. She arranged meetings, schedules, etc, and traveled along with him to diplomatic meetings to the capitals of other countries- along the way she picked up how to speak Gnomish and Draconic, as Windberg and Balaur do frequent dealings with Tectonica.

But eventually, she got bored with... well, just about all of it. It all began to seem monotonous, with only traveling for meetings, chess games with Warrick, and the shenanigans of Aria to break it all up. (She cares very much for her sister; it's almost the energy of "If this one favorite coworker wasn't here I would've quit a Long Time Ago" /hj). She wasn't really allowed to leave the estate without permission- and the thought to do so anyway had never occurred to her- so she had to find a few ways to avoid completely losing it.

Despite the fact she was built with a variety of coded spells to ensure self-defense, Annabelle began to study the variety of spellbooks and fiction in the Von Gear estate to stave off her boredom and restlessness- as well as daydreaming, becoming a lover of gossip, practicing swordfighting with some decorative blades hanging up on the wall, etc; all while wondering if something was wrong with her. Because she was built for this job, so surely she shouldn't be dissatisfied, right? [And what's with that strange tugging in her chest sometimes..?] But nothing ever seemed wrong when the mechanics showed up for yearly checks, so she didn't really ever bring it up in conversation to Warrick.

[While she loves the other Von Gears, her discontent with her current life makes her feels separate from them. Combined with her job as a secretary, she tries to be formal towards them and keep a distance– but she makes a few exceptions. She has fun with Aria, and despite her insistence she's really not part of the family, she does participate in family game night, and has accidentally called Warrick "dad" more than once. Anyway...]

And so, in the year of 1842, Annabelle von Gears is still the secretary of Tectonica's ruler— that is, until a famed Artificer is late for his scheduled meeting with Warrick. This catapults the events of the campaign, as well as Annabelle meeting her future party— an artificer searching for her missing father, a barbarian seeking revenge for the destruction of her town, a ranger with the last known dragon egg, and a paladin trying to prevent his kingdom from being destroyed by a volcano.

She’ll be sent by Warrick to join them for a quest, much to her surprise, and will discover that adventuring is just what she needs in her life. She runs off to join them, promising her sister she'll write to her.

Being an impulsive woman once she's discovered she has free will, Annabelle's bound to get into trouble and gain all sorts of scars- and probably a lot of them, since she literally isn't built for adventuring– as well as probably gaining... odd visions? And passing knowledges of skills previously unbeknownst to her? Strange...

While adventuring, Annabelle will occasionally feel guilt for leaving her job and family behind.

And oh, the Reveal! During her journey, Annabelle von Gears will eventually discover the truth that her soul isn't artificial like she was told: She had been a flesh-and-blood person whose soul had been ripped out (either from a living body or the afterlife) and rewired, just like every other warforged.... Which would explain all the odd memories and possibly even her want for adventure- she had been a person before. And surely Warrick must've known this whole time, right? (cue, hopefully, a climactic daughter-father fight)

(There's also an idea the DM and I have where Annabelle encounters the "resurrected" body of who she used to be, possibly leading to the body attempting to kill her so it can get its soul back. We're going to have so much fun with the horror elements)

Anyway augh this was A Lot, thank you for showing interest and allowing me to Ramble ;-;✌️🫶💕

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Sinner-Adam, His Boyfriend Mam Plus Spinel (2024)

----------

Credit for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss goes to Vivienne "Vivziepop" Medrano

Credit for Steven Universe goes to Rebecca Sugar

-----------------

it could be possible that one might need to click on the drawing to view it better, and with some of the words I wrote in the drawing, one might need to click on the drawing to view it better...maybe...?

and yeah my fan-headcanon is that Mammon from Helluva Boss is Pansexual and as for Adam, he is Bisexual but he is still in the closet but at the same time, might not be fully aware of it.

meaning he doesn't know he is Bisexual.

also I plan to use this drawing in the future as a future chapter cover for over at Quotev, which is why both my names for here and over there is on there...might be a while until I use this for over there.

like I said before, some of the stories I am working on are on hiatus.

and once again this is a "do not reblog without permission" type.

only I can freely use this for both here and for over at Quotev.

I think if I feel like it, I can have only a few posts that can be reblog but like without placing that certain tag in.

but there are reasons why I use that tag in the first place...

like maybe if I forget to put certain words in a post or if I misspell something, or if some chance someone is going to be a jerk.

Spinel befriending Adam, could be from a Timeline where Steven does end up using the Rejuvenator on Spinel, even if in the Movie he hadn't plan to...but in a Crossover Timelines, from many different Fanon Timelines of infinite Alternate Universes.

Steven ends up using the Rejuvenator on Spinel, and possibly having Lion open up a type of warp portal, to throw Spinel into...

possibly to send her back to the Garden until he can think over how to meet her again and try to get Spinel to learn about Earth again in a different way, that doesn't involve Pink/Rose...

but instead of sending her to the Garden, Steven ends up accidentally sending Spinel to where Adam is, where he fell in battle and where he will also in fan theory by a few fans...would end up being reborn as a Sinner.

so like picture after he gets regenerated and reborn as Sinner, Adam finds a heart shaped gem next to him, and it all of a sudden starts glowing and floating in the air, and then Smaller Spinel back to how she was made (before she took on her second form and looking a bit older and taller...) ends up hugging Adam, because she ends up imprinting on him as her new "Best Friend"...

Congratulation Adam, it's a Gem...

and yeah, besides the whole Mamtella being my fave, which is Mammon x Stella, which that ship name that pop into my head still sounds like a type of food that you put on toast, and yeah one time when I had talked about that ship name, it did make me hungry.

it had made my stomach growl...

and well besides Mamtella, the Bromance of Mammon x Adam seems too perfect. O_O

I still think Valentino has a type of split personalities, which would explain his accents and how he speaks changes on his moods...

Niffty freaking him out, is one of the BEST things to happen.

the song that would fit that would be "That's My Girl", which it is one of the lyrics of a song.

even Charlie and Emily, who sing together about the how Heaven and Hell are, should have parts of that "That's My Girl" play. XD

guess I'm just being weird for thinking that.

the song "That's My Girl" is by Fifth Harmony, I think.

if I was able to, I would still want to call dibs on Mammon's butt...

because of the Toxic Levels of Greed that has been going on...

there can be the okay type of normal greed, then there is the levels where it can cross the freaking line.

and if I have to go even fully super Feral Earth Angel Princess on Mammon, no one hold me back...not sure if that could ever happen.

but I call dibs on his butt and slapping him as hard as I can across on his face...and yeah, my calling dibs on his butt will be different from Millie's dibs on Moxxie's butt...

and I'm talking about the Mammon from our universe of course.

though if it were possible to call dibs on the Mammon from Helluva Boss own butt for the whole wanting to kick it as well, that would be interesting as well.

but I guess maybe even if I can have that super peeved off side that comes out at times, it does seem to be better controlled...

plus there is that whole if it gets to the point when I get to hot, I need to be close to some cool air to cool down...

I could never really handle being too hot, and well not too cold either.

that can be for some people in this world, who can only be okay with certain warmth and coolness...

and my wanting to slap Mammon, even if I might not ever be able to...is like one of those feelings you want to do but know you might not be able to.

like how I made that list that has the list of names, both angel and human who I want to punch below the belt.

Mammon is at the top of the list of course...there is a good reason why he is at the top of the list.

and with how some humans are, is going to give me another reason to want to keep him on that list, and call dibs on wanting to go Feral Earth Angel on his sorry butt...even if it is wishful thinking, and might not be possible, but is more of a type of thinking that ya wish you could be can't really do so...

even if I can have my moments where I might can be a doormat at times and can still have my closed off side and maybe not very confident at times...but well, there can be different sides to a person, even sides where they get tired by the actions of some Eon-Boomers.

not everyone has to agree about my believing in not just God, but also Goddess as well...but don't be a Toxic-Religious person about it, and throw misused words at me like "may the lord have mercy on you." or "may god have mercy on you"...and the only reasons I bring up that is to point out that it can be misused by some Toxic-Religious people, like that jerk from a few years ago, who had to throw one of those two at me, I can't remember which version of it, but I know it was one of the two...and that jerk, is probably one of the top reasons I started to really dislike Toxic-Religious people when they cross a line.

at least some who use to be Toxic-Religious, get detoxified and become no longer Toxic-Religious...but some percent might end up staying Toxic-Religious for who knows how long.

on the day I was still working on this drawing, it ended up being a bit of bad weather, and it was lucky I had stop working on it and saved it, before things turned off for a bit...meaning the computer had turned off, but I didn't dare turn it back on right away because I didn't want to do so when the bad weather was still going on.

this took from April 1 to April 2 to finish...

so I had first started to work on it on April Fools Day...

didn't really get to play a April Fool's Prank, one of the things I did was work on this drawing, also took a breaks, and of course had to wait until some time later once things seem a bit better, to finish the drawing...

I would of seriously been super peeved if everything went off that day, when I was in the middle of working on this drawing...

it was lucky I had stop to take a break and saved it when I did.

anyway, there is one more drawing I want to post up for today.

well technically tonight now.

hope some like this Crossover drawing that has Adam, Mammon and Spinel. and the whole weird idea about Spinel becoming Adam's Best Friend, and maybe like a Emotional Support Gem...

[salatkazorganowplciowych]

letinek draws something no way but uh basically just self indulgent bullshit of what my oc would be in hazbin hotel totally didn't make him mostly for shipping purposes

the following is just what lore i have so far:

♡ full name is grand duke varfolomey (bartholomew) nikolaevich romanov. however most of the time he is just called "duke" or "bates" (nickname given to him in hell)

♡ sinner, though he pretty much deserves to be in heaven because he didn't really do anything wrong besides overindulging in alcohol and sex (but heaven is rigged + he comes from a questionable family)

♡ in hellverse, he was the youngest child (despite being male, he wasn't a first choice heir) and never really received any affection or attention which leads to him seeking it from others...to the point of it being annoying

♡ died in 1917 at 23 during the romanov family execution (the romanov family is a little different in hellverse since instead of the historical figures, they're my characters. however the story remains the same to one from real life history) but unlike everyone else, died of heart attack before he could be executed

♡ had a weak heart in general and still experiences heart issues in hell even though he won't die anymore

♡ personality is sophisticated, anxious, flirty when he wants to be and really fucking depressed. he also rarely ever gets mad, and is really level headed compared to majority of hell. he tries to avoid conflict to the point of often backing out of the slightest quarrel

♡ gender noncomforming cis guy, demiromantic, omnisexual and hypersexual

♡ people pleaser

♡ acts extremely regal and is annoyed because of the animalistic way majority of hell acts

♡ came to the hotel because he wanted a calm place to live but he is honestly too depressed to bother caring about being redeemed

♡ hits on (almost) everyone + is probably a visitor of val's to get rid of his urges but is unaware of how his employees are treated

♡ sir pent pretty much follows him around everywhere which annoys the hell out of him- he also calls him "your majesty"

♡ cat demon (f u r r y) like husk, but he was actually a cat person when alive and didn't hate cats lmao

♡ and regarding husk again he has to legit kick him out of the bar every now and then because otherwise he often gets drunk and then acts like an idiot

♡ insomniac, sometimes has to get himself drunk out of his mind to fall asleep

♡ honestly just needs a hug

♡ kind of broken english since he is russian + he has a heavy af accent

♡ regarding his voice again, he'd probably sound like stolas (helluva boss) but slightly softer and with an accent

♡ obviously isn't allowed to (as of status), but he wishes he could be a part of ars goetia; he is extremely jealous of them since they have the status he used to have

that's what i have so far but just a quick thing of relationships he'd have with the main cast

charlie

"oh, isn't she quite an adorable creature?"

♡ he does like her quite a lot and thinks she's cute, although he finds her amusing and isn't really convinced about the whole redemption ordeal; he only pretends to be all into it to be able to live at the hotel

vaggie

"...maybe put that nasty spear away?"

♡ he thinks she's pretty, but doesn't really like her attitude and whenever she bosses the hotel members around he just goes and locks himself in his room instead of listening to her

alastor

"eugh...he reeks. which is quite a shame, because i cannot deny a certain charm this man possesses..."

♡ disgusted by his lack of hygiene and rather grotesque habits (such as consuming dead deers and cannibalizing other demons), but respects him since he is aware of his powerful status as an overlord

angel dust

"my, my! what a charming lady she is!"

♡ wholeheartedly convinced that angel is a woman, despite everyone trying their best to explain the truth to him. but besides that, he is rather fond of him and is probably the only one to enjoy angel's sex jokes

husk

"banning me from the bar again, huh? how cruel."

♡ has some sort of resentment towards him since he refuses to give him the amount of alcohol he wants...which ultimately is a good thing.

niffty

"cute as a button...however, please stay at least 10 feet away from me. at all times."

♡ to say he is freaked out by her is an understatement. he still treats her with respect, though, and sometimes lets her play with his tail (he has a cat tail <3)

sir pentious

"just so annoying, are you not? please leave me alone."

♡ since pentious has admiration for nobelty, he follows him around most of the time which he finds extremely annoying

and that's what i have so far 🫶

[goldenempyrean]

Another Marina hc because they are also my current hyperfixation 🥹 I came across this ask meme but unfortunately can’t link the original post… what are your thoughts on the below (if you feel inspired)? 💫

🤒: How often do they get sick? What kinds of illnesses do they tend to get most often? Colds, flu, sinus infections, stomach viruses?

🤧: What does their sneeze sound like? (Description, spelling, or both!)

😩: Do they tend to sneeze just once or twice, or multiple times? Do they have fits frequently or rarely? Does how many times they sneeze depend on the cause?

🤝: Do they like to be taken care of when they’re not feeling well? Or do they hate it when people fuss over them? If they do, what’s their favorite thing about being taken care of? If not, why don’t they like being taken care of?

😔: What are their “tells” when they’re not feeling their best? Do they sleep more or less? Do they become easily irritated, aggressive, snap at little things? Or do they withdraw and become quieter, cry at the drop of a hat, stay in the background? What’s the one surefire way that one of their loved ones would be able to tell that they’re sick?

😖: Do they ever try to stifle their sneezes? Can they do it almost silently, sort of well, or are they just one of those people that can’t stifle at all? If they don’t stifle normally, is there any situation where they would at least try?

🌸: Are they allergic to any kind of plants? Flowers, weeds, trees? If yes, how bad are their allergies to those plants?

🕯: Are they allergic to other things? Dust, animals, perfumes, certain fragrances?

Anon, my dear, I love doing these! If you’re comfortable please come pop up in my DM’s so we can hyper-fixate on these together! Anyway this is gonna be long so strap in!

(And to that one specific person - please don’t start a war in my ask box about formatting again. That was horrible and made me feel like shit so just please don’t <3)

🤒: How often do they get sick?

Personally I think Carina gets sick the most often out of the two, simply due to the fact she works in a hospital. But they’ve both got pretty strong immune systems so they both get sick 1-2 times a year maybe - not counting times they pick up each other’s illnesses.

🤧: What does their sneeze sound like?

I’ve said this before in my past one with Carina but she either sneezes all cutesy and quiet or loud and harsh depending on where she is and how tired she is. Maya I feel like she just sneezes normally y’know? She’d definitely try to keep them a little held back while at work or around Carina though (until she gets too tired to care)

😩: Do they tend to sneeze just once or twice, or multiple times?

In my head Carina definitely sneezes more than once, especially if shes sick. Maya, I’m honestly not sure about, she could be either. She doesn’t like being seen as weak so she’ll probably let one slide but she’ll try and stop herself from needing to do it more than once or twice.

🤝: Do they like to be taken care of when they’re not feeling well?

Carina definitely does. She likes cuddles and naps and just being close to Maya. Maya also enjoys it just as much but she’d never admit that out-loud. Especially with her childhood, she isn’t used to it. As said previously, she’ll act a little stubborn (which she definitely was at the beginning of their relationship) but now they’ve been together she’s finding it easier to allow herself to be taken care of.

😔: What are their “tells” when they’re not feeling their best

Carina honestly just goes quiet. She’s usually chatty but if she’s not feeling great then she’ll just try and blend in and not stand out. Her accent is usually a little thicker too. Maya is similar as she’ll also go quiet but in a high-stress environment like her work she’ll often get a little snappy and short tempered but she’ll always apologise for it afterwards.

😖: Do they ever try to stifle their sneezes

If Carina is able too then she will, especially if she’s around people or at work even though she’ll chide Maya for doing the same. Maya stifles only if she’s cuddled against Carina or desperately trying to be quiet but most of the time she’ll just sneeze normally.

🌸: Are they allergic to any kind of plants?

Carina has none that she knows of. Maya has mild spring hayfever but its more itchy eyes than anything but she’ll completely shut down any accusation of it despite the fact she will take meds for it occasionally.

🕯: Are they allergic to other things?

I wouldn’t call it an allergy exactly but at the start of their relationship Carina could often be set off by the smell of smoke lingering on Maya, similarly after moving in together Carina’s numerous candles often made Maya’s nose irritated.

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

Abigail’s Accent: Diane Kruger and the Art of Accidental Nuance

While I consider myself something of a connoisseur of National Treasure, my expertise does not extend behind the scenes. Other than the DVD special features, I’ve never dug into the production realities of the film. (Yet.)

So I don’t know for certain what led Disney to cast Diane Kruger in the role of Dr. Abigail Chase. I can speculate, though, that her casting was an attempt to draw European audiences to an obviously America-centric film (even more-so than your average Hollywood fare). Kruger is hugely famous in Europe, where she stars in English-, French-, and German-language films. Damn girl.

While the powers that be might have been trying to boost their European box office, I don’t think they were intending to add an entire thematic subplot to the film, especially not one so tailor-made to flesh out the story’s existing themes.

But they did.

Because Diane Kruger has a slight but noticeable accent, this scene had to be written into the film:

—Please don’t touch that!

I don’t know for certain that’s how this scene came about, but I’d be willing to bet on it.

My main evidence is that Abigail’s heritage doesn’t play any other significant role in the story. Unlike, for example, Indiana Jones falling for the hot blonde Ph.d. with a German accent in The Last Crusade, Abigail being born outside of the United States has 0% bearing on the plot. National Treasure never asks us (or Ben) to question Abigail’s loyalty or ability to complete the treasure hunt because of her background. And thank god, cuz that would have sucked.

Like, the Abigail wasn’t written as a German-American character. You don’t purposefully write the Conservator of the Declaration of Independence as someone born outside the U.S. and then just…not follow up on it. Not in Screenplay Land. That kind of creative alchemy that only happens when you go to cast the movie.

In any other role I doubt they would have felt the need to mention it, but yeah, the audience might be wondering why the woman in charge of the Declaration of Independence has a German accent. So the movie hangs a lampshade on it by pointing it out as soon as we meet her. Basically, by calling out something that might interfere with the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief, the narrative is able to say, Yes, we see it too. Let’s move on. In National Treasure, Abigail’s introduction signals to the audience that they don’t need to keep track of her background as a plot point for later.

And I am oh so glad this scene exists, because it gives us two things the film wouldn’t have had otherwise: banter and subtext.

First, it gives us a delightful bit of banter between the three main characters that the film wouldn’t have slowed down long enough to allow if it hadn’t needed to. Even if similar dialogue had been in the script, it would have been cut somewhere between the draft and the final film. It’s just not necessary.

The common screenwriting maxim “come late, leave early” recommends entering a scene at the last possible moment (while still getting all the drama and information), and leaving as soon as the best stuff is over. Doing this helps keep a story moving and discourages movies from getting bogged down in unneeded pleasantries. Every moment should be conveying something crucial to the audience.

And because we have to hang this lampshade on Diane Kruger’s accent, this banter becomes crucial information. Dollars to donuts, a pre-Kruger version of this scene would have jumped right into the problem at hand: Hi hot lady, nice GW buttons; will you let us see the Declaration? Instead, the characters get to breathe for a moment, and we see all of their personalities come out.

Ben is eternally curious, not just about history, but about Abigail as well. He has yet to realize that she is a kindred spirit or someone willing(ish) to help them save the Declaration, and yet he’s already fascinated by her. The fact that his first guess is Pennsylvania Dutch speaks to his love of American history, and the people who make it up, but I really love how his immediate interest in Abigail isn’t related to the Declaration at all. It’s not even really about history; it’s about her. This sets a foundation for their soon-to-be-budding romance that is rooted in more than the adventure they’re about to go on together. Ben doesn’t have to ask about her accent for the purposes of saving the Declaration; he simply wants to know.

Riley is immediately skeptical. He is the foil to Ben’s curiosity, reeling him back and asking the practical questions like, Are you sure you want to be doing this? or What about prison? Ben’s curiosity seemed to be sated when he got his answer. He only wanted to know what Abigail’s accent was; he doesn’t seem to wonder why she has one. It’s Riley, resident skeptic (and conspiracy theorist), who asks the followup question: [You’re in charge of the Declaration of Independence but] you’re not American?

Abigail is clear and decisive. She leans right into Ben’s curiosity both literally and figuratively: she leans toward him when she answers, and gives a response she’s certainly given hundreds of time as if it’s their fun little secret. At the same time, she isn’t afraid to shut Riley down. Where her response to Ben’s question is playful, her reply to Riley is firm and even a bit worn; this is certainly not the first time she’s been asked where she’s from. And as the scene continues she’s not afraid to snap at Ben for touching her things and tell them both off for wasting her time. However, that initial note of curiosity continues to shine through, even as the guys’ story gets wilder and wilder.

Second though, this scene introduces an element of thematic nuance that I just don’t see the movie asking in any other context.

The questions at the core of National Treasure are not especially deep. As a whole, the thematic questions the movie asks run along the lines of:

How far would you go to find the truth?

What would you risk to protect something precious?

What if you believed in something no one else did?

And of course let’s not forget National Treasure’s key ingredient:

Wouldn’t that be fucking cooooool?

These are perfectly serviceable themes to create an over-the-top action romp. After all, this four-quadrant Disney blockbuster isn’t really looking to challenge its audience.

Then we have this scene, which asks questions more like:

What does it mean to be an American?

Who do we consider American, and particularly “American enough” to be in charge of our founding documents?

And while I think it’s an absolute crime that we don’t get to learn any more about Abigail in the sequel, I do think not bringing up her backstory any more in this movie was the right choice. In doing so, the film provides an answer to its own question: Abigail is American. It doesn’t matter where she was born, how she came to be here, or which way she got her citizenship. Of course she’s a high-ranking conservator at the National Archives. Of course she’s in charge of the Declaration of Independence. Of course she’s willing to put her life on the line to save the it multiple times.

By casting Diane Kruger, but not dwelling on Abigail’s background, National Treasure accidentally makes a much more inclusive argument for what it means to be American than it probably had any intention of doing. Abigail was born outside the United States. She has a noticeable accent and English almost certainly wasn't her first language. And yet she's an American history dork who can go toe-to-toe with Ben Gates. She's literally in charge of the Declaration of Independence.

By whatever twists of fate, capitalism, and casting, the Dr. Abigail Chase we see in the film is a walking symbol of a certain kind of America—one that welcomes and accepts. One where anyone can become a lover of and expert in our history, and even a part of it. For as much as we love to talk about American's immigrant narrative, we don't often depict this particular aspect of it on screen, especially not in a role like this. Especially not in a film like this.

And while that is definitely not the only America—like, yikes, definitely not—it is the America that Ben Gates, and National Treasure, believe in.

So, there you go.

Abigail's casting adds a level of depth to the story, a small hint of subtext that the movie absolutely did not need to function, and yet it’s all the richer for it.

We absolutely can and should talk about nationalism, the uncomplicated veneration of America’s founding fathers, and how race is portrayed in the film at some point, but that is not this.