#foreign exchange fanfic

[autumndory]

thank you, tuesday...

Summary: The Ackermans have hosted all kinds of students from around the world and they came and went, hardly ever leaving a mark. Though none of them rivaled the curious and quirky character of Zoë Hange.

Read thank you, tuesday... on AO3

Read Fue un martes... in Spanish on Wattapad.

Let's start with the lovely cover of this fanfic. It was made by the talented @catyypss. She was the sweetest and I'm truly obsessed with it. I added the title to it and yes, the little paper plane I placed it there as a symbolism. I love it so much, I could cry. Follow Catyyps on her platforms and if you can, place a commission.

Also, this fic has been beta read by @dontatmethanks. Follow the amazing Ro and read all of her works on AO3. You'll not regret it.

Having that said, this work has been collecting dust for a while and even though I started writing the first chapter back in May, I finally got the courage to release it now because you know, lack of time. because I procrastinate a lot and I am a chicken too.

Now, onto the fic.

Let's start by saying/informing that I used she/her pronouns for Hange in this fic. Second, I have many head canons about Hange's past, since Isayama was SO kind of NOT giving us a backstory way to love the fourteenth commander. I have good head canons but I also have bad and heavy ones.

And I decided to explore the bad ones.

I do believe Hange talks a lot because her parents didn't pay attention to her growing up. Hange would be the type to overshare and then regret it because you know... trauma. I tried to explore that shattered relationship between Hange and her parents but also a life away from them.

We also have Levi, who suffers from older sibling syndrome. Protector, with an obsession in his case for cleaning, desire for perfection, and pressure to meet his parents' expectations; something that his little sister, Mikasa yes, they're siblings here is tired of experiencing.

A slice of life, like they say on the streets. You can place two fucked up people in a room and they can bond over trauma, right? Those are the topics I TRIED to explore in this fic. It has a little angst, but I incorporated some fluff too.

Anyway, I hope you you enjoy the first chapter of:

thank you, tuesday...

[musical-dealer]

SWEDISH BARBECUE (Trevor x Rudolph oneshot!!)

I just really felt writing and feeding the 4 of us Swedish Barbeque fans

words:662

Any criticism allowed!! ------------------------------- https://archiveofourown.org/works/52110502

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Just finished reading The Sweet DREAMers 'Verse by perry_avenue which by the way I recommend as a wonderful read. It made me wonder if there are any stories deadilng with similar topics where Blaine (or Kurt) is not lagally US citizen or illegal imigration has large impact for the plot.

We answered a similar ask HERE. Also, here are some where Kurt is a foreign exchange student. Enjoy. ~Lynne

[the-sky-queen]

Sonic AU where Sonic is really just a highschool kid and the Sonic franchise as we know it is really just him daydreaming in class and/or writing fanfic about his life.

In reality, Sonic isn't cool or confident at all. He's kinda a mess and always gets picked on. He's not good at sports and he runs out of breath just running to class.

He's hopelessly in love with Amy, but she's way too cool for him and doesn't even know he exists, so that's why he always makes her super in love with HIM in his fantasies. Amy’s also on the cheer team.

Tails is still Sonic’s best friend honorary little brother irl, but he has trouble learning and is really struggling in school. Sonic always believes in him though.

Knuckles is the waaaaaaay cooler than Sonic captain of the football team. He's beat up Sonic once or twice, but overall Sonic looks up to him. He sees Knuckles as his role model, the kind of guy he wants to be someday. Confident. Strong.

Shadow is the weird new kid that never talks and always sits at the back of the class. Sonic knows practically nothing about this guy, so he made up most of his backstory (and personality) from scratch. So, the Ark, the Ultimate Lifeform, even Maria’s existence?? All 100% fiction created by Sonic.

Rouge is the popular girl who's always spreading gossip with her friends. She keeps up to date on all the latest fashion trends and always looks absolutely stunning. Sonic had a crush on her for a second there before he fell in love with Amy. Sonic’s also seen Rouge talk to Shadow a few times, which is why he made them friends in his daydreams.

Silver comes from a MEGA rich family. He got all sorts of high tech stuff that he just treats so casually. It's like this kid is from the future!

Blaze is a foreign exchange student who only barely speaks English but is still doing pretty well in school and is pretty well liked by the other kids. Sonic’s hung out with her a few times to help her with her science homework.

Finally, Eggman is really a teacher at the school. In fact he's the teacher who all the students universally agree is the worst and they all hate him. Most of the daydreams happen in his class. Other villains from the Sonic franchise are in actuality, other teachers at the school. Sonic doesn't have as much against them though, which is why they're usually one-off villains.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

May I request a fanfiction about Diavolo or any of the brothers (obey me) that has a calm and collected S/O who one day just looks very grumpy and tired?

Hi Anon! Absolutely! Ooh, my first fanfic request in a while...let's see how it goes!

Fandom: Obey Me

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Diavolo x gn! Reader (separate)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You’re normally calm and collected, taking everything the Devildom throws at you in your stride. But after a night of very little sleep, you wind up being quite short tempered. How will the characters react?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It just was not your day.

You'd been gaming with Levi and Belphie until late last night. Then when you finally got back to you room, Satan had dragged Mammon in to work on an assignment. You had gone to bed in the early hours of the morning. As a result, you slept in, Lucifer banging on your door to wake you up. Thanks to Beel, you missed breakfast, and just when you were walking out the door, Asmo realised he had forgotten his bag. Which prompted you to realise that you had also forgotten your bag.

So when you got back to the House of Lamentation, you were just not in a great mood. Your usually calm façade was slipping quickly. All you wanted was to lay down in your bed and sleep the rest of today away.

But of course this was the House of Lamentation. There was no peace to be had there. Of course the brothers only knew bits and pieces of what had happened in the last 24 hours so when they looked up from what they were doing to see you standing, glowering in the doorway, they were surprised to say the least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucifer sighed as he heard the door slam. He really had to tell his brothers to be more careful with the house. But as he turned to chastise whichever sibling had disrespected the front door, he caught a glimpse of your tired, angry face.

There aren't many things that make the first born blanch. But in that moment, he felt an unnatural stab of fear.

He quickly shook off the feeling. As your partner and someone Diavolo had trusted to look after the exchange student, Lucifer needed to make sure you were okay.

He gestured for you to meet him in the next room, away from his brothers. As he turned, he saw you roll your eyes and he bit down the rising wave of anger. You were having a bad day, it was to be expected.

"Are you alright? You seem tired."

You nodded tritely. "Late night. Bad morning."

Lucifer recalled that he had needed to wake you up that morning, something that rarely happened. He guessed his brothers must have kept you up last night with their foolish whims.

He sighed again. "I'll make sure you get an early night tonight. Don't worry about any work you have to do. I'll take care of it."

The first smile he had seen lit your face at his words and he felt his pride soar. Even if it was a small gesture, he'd managed to make you feel better. He'd count that as a win.

Lucifer poked his head into your room a few yours later to see you curled up under the covers. He silently walked over to the bed and pulled another blanket over your sleeping form, brushing your hair out of your face as he did so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he heard the door slam shut, Mammon's fight or flight instincts kicked in. Usually that only happened when one of his brothers was mad (Lucifer especially) and when that was the case, he was usually the one they were after.

So when he saw you standing in the doorway, he was surprised (and a little ashamed).

"Hey human. How ya doin'?"

The look you gave him was so foreign on your usually calm face that Mammon actually took a step backwards. But he didn't get to where he was without having a good sense of how to stay out of trouble. So he walked over to you, stretching out a hand to rub your shoulder.

"Y'okay?" His voice softened. This wasn't like you, something must have happened. He could see the bags under your eyes.

Oh. That's right. You were up last night trying to help him study. A twinge of guilt twisted his stomach. Maybe he was responsible for this.

"C'mon! Follow me." He grabbed your hand and tugged you behind him.

"Where are you taking me?"

"My favourite human and partner's havin' a bad day and it's my job as ya first man to change that!" He could feel his cheeks and ears burning and he looked forward determinedly so you wouldn't see his blush.

As a result, he didn't see the small smile that touched the corners of your lips. Your first man was on the job to make sure your day got better.

The snacks were scattered over the table and the movie’s credits were rolling before Mammon noticed that you had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of your head.

“Sweet dreams human.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leviathan almost jumped out of his seat when the door slammed. His game jumped from his hands and he scrambled to catch it. Once it was secure again he turned to see who had almost made him drop his precious device, ready to yell at them.

He was used to seeing grumpy looks from people (even if they were only in his mind sometimes) but seeing that look on your face was something he wasn't used to.

His immediate instinct is to think you've finally gotten fed up with him. He knows it’s just his sin speaking but he can’t help the intrusive thoughts. You stayed up late playing video games with him last night, and now you-

Oh. You stayed up late last night. He knows when he goes a few days without sleeping, he gets irritable. Maybe you just couldn't go quite as long as he could before that happened.

As you stormed to your room, Levi followed you at a distance, saving and closing his game. When you reached your room, he approached you quietly.

"Hey." His voice was soft, "You want to relax together? We can watch your favourite anime? The new season just stared right? We can rewatch the rest to catch up."

You smiled. Levi watching something you wanted to rather than rewatching The Tale of the Seven Lords meant a lot. "Yeah, I'd like that."

You only watched the first two episodes before you slipped into a comfortable slumber. Levi pulled a blanket over you and turned down the volume of the show. He’d stay here until you woke up. After all, he needed to see what happened in this show his partner loved so much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Satan recognised that look. It was an outward display of an emotion he felt more than he cares to admit.

He felt bad for you. He knows what it's like to have days where everything is just too much and there was nothing you could do to keep it together other than try to scare everyone away.

He also knew that it was partly his fault. Mammon had been pestering him to help him study and he’d lost his patience, dragging him over to your room for some extra help. He should have dealt with his brother on his own and let you have some well-deserved peace and quiet.

If this was his fault, it was also his responsibility as your partner to help you feel better, as you had helped him so many times before.

He slipped a bookmark into his book and closed it, tucking it under one arm as he stood. He caught your gaze, so full of tired anger, and tilted his head in the direction of your room. He saw your shoulders drop almost imperceptibly and you followed him.

When you reached your room, Satan turned to face you. “Go on. You head in and get changed into your pyjamas. I’ll be back in ten minutes with some of your favourite books from my collection. I’ll read to you.”

You felt tears prick the back of your eyes as you smiled at him.

True to his word, Satan brought back all of your favourite books. He tucked you under the covers, your head on his lap and he read to you, his voice low and smooth. Only a few pages in and you were already asleep but Satan read on. He wanted to still be here when you woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asmo audibly gasped when he saw the grumpy look on your face. Didn’t you know that sort of expression would give you wrinkles?

Well, he knew just what to do! You’d grabbed his bag for him this morning when he’d forgotten it so the least he could do was share his bath and his favourite self-care products with his lovely partner!

Asmo jumped out of his seat and grabbed your hand, ignoring your half-hearted attempts to tell him that you just weren’t in the mood right now. He didn’t stop until you were standing in his bathroom.

“Alright, get undressed and I’ll run the bath!”

He was off before you could even protest. The lights were turned down and a few dozen candles scattered around the room were lit, their flames dancing softly. Asmo dumped his favourite bubble mixture into the bath and lined up the skin care and hair products he knew would work best for you.

As you climbed into the bath, Asmo slid in behind you. When he had taken his clothes off, who knew, but he was pouring shampoo into his palm before you could properly register the situation.

“Lean back, let me wash your hair.”

You smiled as you leant back onto his chest. Some self-care would be good after the day you’d had.

Asmo smiled down at your sleeping form. The bath had had just the relaxing effect he had hoped for and now you were blissfully lost in your dreams. Now he just needed to figure out how to get you out of the bath, dried, changed, and into your bed. Oh well, he could rest here a bit longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beel felt terrible. It was entirely his fault that you hadn't had any breakfast. Demons could go a while without food but he knew humans weren't like that. He should have restrained himself.

So he had foregone his afternoon workout to drop by Madam Screams to get your favourite snacks. Of course he had picked up a few for himself but he had been waiting until you got home before he started.

Now, he picked up the picnic basket full of food and waved you over. Your expression lightened slightly as you walked over. No doubt you could smell the food. Beel knew he would have the same reaction if he was in your place.

He gently took your hand and led you to your room. He had been in earlier and set up a small picnic blanket on the floor, accompanied by a vase of flowers and an assortment of cushions. He let got of your hand and placed the basket on the floor, opening it up to reveal the food inside.

“I wanted to apologise for breakfast. So I got you this.” He patted the pile of cushions next to where he was sitting.

You took the seat gratefully and began helping him take the snacks out of the basket. All of your favourites were there and you felt touched by his thoughtfulness. Beel made sure you ate your share before he had any, restraining his sin to show you how truly sorry he was.

You were stretched out on the floor, nestled in cushions, curled into Beel’s side. He lifted a hand to wipe a stray crumb of food from your cheek before wrapping his arm around you. He knew he should carry you to bed…but a few more minutes snuggled up with his partner right here wouldn’t hurt right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Belphie almost fell of the couch when the door slammed shut. He had just been about to find out who the mastermind behind his dream escapades was when he was rudely awakened. He picked himself up off the floor and turned to see who had woken him up.

Yikes! If you’d looked like that when he’d broken out of the attic, he would have had second thoughts about whether you were really human. That look was certainly equal to some glances he’d caught from demons before.

He remembered last night’s gaming extravaganza with you and Levi. As avatar of sloth, he could feel the exhaustion rolling off you in waves. Well, he was certainly the best person to help fix that.

He threw a pillow at you before grabbing one of his own and a blanket and waving for you to follow him into the observatory. When he stopped and turned around, he thought he glimpsed a shimmer of mischief in your eyes, as though you were about to retaliate for the pillow he’d thrown at you. But you just laid your pillow down next to his.

He stretched out on the ground and pulled the blanket over both of you. Almost instantly, he felt the pull of sleep. But first, he needed to make sure his partner was comfortable.

He felt you shift as you turned to face him. “Thanks Belphie. I needed this.” You curled into his side and closed your eyes, breathing almost instantly settling into that of someone fast asleep.

Belphie let sleep overtake him as well as he turned to wrap his arms around you.

A few hours later, Belphie’s eyes fluttered open. He gazed down at you and sensed that you were still sleeping deeply. He pressed a gentle kiss onto your forehead before closing his eyes and letting sleep pull him under again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diavolo shot Lucifer a disapproving glance as soon as he saw you slam the front door of the House of Lamentation behind you. Why was his favourite transfer student not their usual self? He watched you storm off to your room before turning back to Lucifer.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to postpone our meeting.”

Lucifer nodded, gathering up the papers on the table between them. Diavolo made his way to your room, knocking gently on the door.

“Go away. I’m not in the mood right now.” Your voice was muffled through the wood.

“Not even in the mood to say hello to your loving partner?”

He heard you moving and stepped back as you opened the door. Now that he was closer to you, he could see the dark circles under your eyes. You opened the door wider to let him in. He slipped through and, before your could react, had scooped you up in his arms. He carried you over to your bed placing you gently on the mattress.

He walked back over to the door before turning to face you again. “Get changed and let me know when I can come back in. Then you can tell me about your day.” And he closed the door behind him.

When you called out to him, Diavolo re-entered the room, locking the door behind him. He sat down on the bed next to you and stretched out an arm, laying it over your shoulders. “So. How is my favourite exchange student.”

And he listened to you as you explained your day, voice growing softer as you felt sleep creeping over you. When you had been silent for a few minutes, Diavolo checked on you. He smiled when he saw that you were asleep. After the day you’d had, you certainly deserved it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, did you enjoy this? If you like my writing, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! This will allow me to make some money off my writing, something I enjoy doing.

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Important Note: Please only donate if you are financially able to. If you are currently in a position where you can't donate, a like, comment, or reblog will mean just as much.

[purplepixel]

Hi I saw in your pinned post that you've read over 1,000 TMNT fics. Do you have a few really good ones you would recommend?

(don't feel any pressure to respond if you don't want to)

Oh boy this is...quite an ask. Especially bc fanfic recs are so personal? What I think is a good fic will be vastly different from other people. I have a really high angst tolerance, so please double check tags with these. Also keep in mind that I mainly read donnie-centric fics.

Here are my personal favorites! My hand slipped and I have more than just a few to recommend...what can I say there are so many good fics.

CRACK BUT READS LIKE CANON

Back To School by Em_H | 10,965 [FINISHED]

Donnie enrolls in April’s school and tries to juggle his packed schedule. A shrek play is included. Do I need to say more?

☆ In Volvunt: a RotTMNT Fanfiction ☆ by kittylittersmoothie | 27,082 [FINISHED]

In which the rest of the bros continuously try and fail to rick roll donnie. A war is started, alliances are made, betrayals occur, this is a hilarious feel good fic. It’s very in line with the show tonal wise and the dialogue is very rise

Mikey's Jam-Packed, Guaranteed to Get Donnie's Memory Back, Friendship Tour! By Eyse | 92,972 [ON-GOING]

Donnie wakes up with no memory of anyone including himself. Que his brothers trying to find ways to get his memory back. Has some of the most wacky adventures and scenarios I’ve ever encountered in a rise fic. Feels like you’re reading the actual show

YOU WILL BE EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED

Quiet Your Mind by daedelweiss | 18,081 [FINISHED]

Fusion Au with the disaster twins set in the bad future timeline. I don’t cry. This one made me cry. Bittersweet ending.

Telepathy (of a Twin Variety) by vosian_nightmare | 24,423 [FINISHED] 

My personal favorite twin telepathy fic. Character study on the disaster twins.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue by Cass_Phoenix | 31,963 [FINISHED]

A Donnie from an alternate reality kidnaps Leo. Or is he bringing him home? This one will fuck with your mind. One of my bookmark notes is “Reality existentialism” 

Firefight by remrose | 94,480 [ON-GOING]

What if donnie gets trapped in the prison dimension with leo? I’m usually not a fan of changing plot points in the rise movie or suicidal leo, but this fic is the exception. It is VERY well written and has some of the best exchanges between the disaster twins. You WILL be scared for the characters and your heart WILL be crushed. Proud to say I was here for this fic since chapter 1 bc that NEVER happens with me

THE CROSSOVERS

Familiar Places, Foreign Faces by Petra4President | 36,434 [ON-GOING]

Rise/2012 Crossover Fic. The Rise Donnie & 2012 Raph fic I didn’t ask for (I read this before watching 2012) but didn’t realize I NEEDED. Donnie gets sent to the 2012 universe and must find a way home. 

A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx | 168,344 [ON-GOING]

Rise/Avatar the Last Airbender AU. This one is pretty popular so I won't say anything else except its really good.

I WOULD BOOK BIND THESE

All I have to say about these fics is that they’re REALLY good and BOOK WORTHY

Monsters Among Us by DanzinoraSwitch | 86,136 [FINISHED]

Violet Hues and Holy Blue by SibillaScribbles08 | 115,752 [FINISHED]

I May Be Invisible, but I Still Look Good by Dandy | 124,862 [FINISHED]

MY PERSONAL COMFORT FICS

Things will never be the same (but that's okay) by Petra4President | 14,493 [FINISHED]

Post movie aftermath fic that focuses on the changes created by the events of the movie. Idk what specifically has me rereading this occasionally, but its really well written and a little different than most aftermath fics I've read.

Corrupted Upgrade by Dandy | 25,898 [FINISHED]

Donnie Villain AU with a twist. He really gives off megamind vibes. DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE’S A REASON EVERYONE IS OUT OF CHARACTER IN THE BEGINNING. I almost slept on this fic and it became one of my favorites. It’s the type of fic that I can read over and over and over.

Turning Purple by Lizardstuff | 48,123 [ON-GOING]

Donnie slowly gets more and more sick post rise movie and the rest of the characters must find out what’s wrong and find a cure. THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, MEDICAL NERDS. Author has done research and any inaccuracies have gone over this EMT’s head. I reread this one every chapter update and every time I’m haunted by “the blueberry french toast paragraph” No I will not explain further, go read it.

MY TOP FIC RECOMMENDATION

Spider's Web with Strings Attached by CurlySwirly | 125,661 [ON-GOING]

Donnie and Leo get kidnapped and are forced to fight in the battle nexus. This is my pick for the most well written fanfic and most in canon characterization with ALL the characters. You will HEAR the characters not just through the dialogue but also through the writing itself. As the reader, you will be beaten down and have your heart crushed mercilessly which makes the pay off the most rewarding, satisfying experience that I've personally ever felt with a fanfic. This fic lives in my head rent free and I think about it at least once a day. It is my all time favorite rise fic and I highly recommend it.

[oolhan]

Everlark: The Classics #6

When the Moon Fell in Love with the Sun by Mejhiren

Published: 2012 Chapters: 15 | Discontinued/Abandoned/Perpetually waiting for an update

Hey, hey! Another entry for my small fic rec series after such a long time. It's been a while so please indulge with fairytale!everlark. Covering my eyes as I write this because I did not do the fic any justice with my amateur mood boarding skills. But bear with me as I gush about my all time favorite everlark fic of all. Okay, so when the moon follows the whimsical tale of victor Peeta Mellark bringing Katniss to his fairytale-like mansion after winning the 74th games. It is heavily inspired by the Norwegian folktale East of the Sun & West of the Moon, a myth on personifying animals and nature. Hear me out! Look at me [proceeds to cup both cheeks in my hands] It sounds incredibly foreign for those not used to reading fanfics but I assure you, this is beyond want. This fic is a need. The world-building of this story brings out the playfulness of Peeta and Katniss, something they were deprived of from canon, especially K. Peeta personified the warmth, hope, innocence, and all things that Katniss needed, especially the cooking. The metaphors of sun!peeta and moon!katniss, of geese and does, the red ribbons, foxes and little prince, the braids, the Appalachian themes, genealogies, even Katniss' obliviousness to Peeta's feelings is hauntingly entertaining--just read it. Although I must say it is quite a long book since it's nearing 400k words in just 14 chapters, I promise you when you're hooked you'll yearn for more.

The vibrancy of its themes is colorful and alive even if the setting is on a cold winter season. Also the writing structure??? God. It's immaculate. It's illegally sublime. The immense joy when I experienced reading this for the first time transformed my insanity. Would 100% sell my soul in exchange for the complete version of this. It's basically a 400k word love poem. That's it.

[sleeping-at-sea]

EPIC Fanfic WIP!!

Perhaps this is what he deserves.

After the infant in Troy.

After the Cyclops slaughtered his men, Polites, his best friend, included.

After he caused 550 of his men to be killed by the god and lord of the seas.

After he sacrificed 6 men to Scylla.

After Zeus.

Odysseus deserves this life. He deserves nothing more than the life of a mortal at the feet of a goddess, groveling for mercy.

Trying to take a few moments to quiet himself so that the goddess alongside him wouldn't awake from her slumber, Odysseus eventually rose from her bed and made his way outside, where a whiff of fresh air slapped his face.

Odysseus’ vision showed him Ogygia, but the ground beneath his feet… The texture was different. Instead of grass and pebbles, it was a solid rock… The goddess placed stepping stones outside her cave?

The once-king does not remember those being there before he was brought to bed and forced to participate in their nightly exchanges of nothing but one-sided lust.

Never mind that though, for it doesn't matter.

The solid ground beneath Odysseus felt like a foreign feeling, but he kept on walking. Eventually coming to a stop, glazed over eyes.

…………………………

This is only like the second half of the fic!! I don't know how to introduce Athena SOBS

for context Ody is back at Ithaca but bros having a episode and thinks he's back in Ogygia. I want this to be a hurt/comfort where Athena comes and helps him

I JUST DOWN KNOW HOW TO HAVE HER SHOW UP

Should I just be like… “Odysseus felt a devine presence nearing him” ..?

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

You ever wonder what you would do if you ended up in trevat?

probably the most fun thinking exercise i've had for a bit hahah

ended up rambling on for like five minutes so it's under the cut

assuming this is an unnanounced isekai of sorts where i wouldn't want to touch the plot with a ten foot pole (bc that sounds far more interesting than just- what if i lived there),

plan a) book it to liyue harbor avoiding wangshu inn just in case xiao can sense i'm not from teyvat, convince uncle tian to let me sleep in his boat until i have money (he looks like he'd let me in exchange of stories), become a storyteller, tell stories from a faraway land (any and all stories from here, be it plots of books, movies, fanfics, whatever man), profit, make casual friends w beidou to lower the chances of ningguang sending yelan to look into my untraceable past, try not to make it obvious i know zhongli knows i'm not from teyvat (if he ever appears by my storytelling corner) and ensure he likes my stories (this will boost my corner's reputation), buy a house outside chihu rock, befriend xiangling by sharing recipies from here, learn liyue recipies and how to use teyvat ingredients from her, befriend a gaggle of millelith by feeding them 'new and interesting foreign dishes' bc the fastest way to a man's heart is thru his stomach – they will now ensure the area around my house won't get jumped by random treasure hoarders and slimes or geovishaps, travel around once i've made enough money, always return to liyue and live out a chill life w the millelith's protection, the qixing not interested in bothering w me, and zhongli unbothered by my unthreatening presence

plan b) book it to fontaine. this could go two ways depending on if i break some random law immediately upon arrival: b.1) if i don't break any law then i befriend navia by sharing baking tips w her n convice her to let me stake it out at the spina's outpost in fleuve cendre until i make money, write mystery whodoneits (hello recovered manuscript bootleg sherlock holmes) for starting cash and then slowly make the switch to villaness novels w extra mystery (you can't tell me they wouldn't be a hit there) thereby avoiding the likely fierce market competition of plain whodoneits and gaining more fame, profit, buy a house in the countryside to reduce the chances of breaking a random law by reducing the amount of gardes around, keep in touch w navia n be rightfully grateful to her (this will keep the spina on my side), befriend the melusines by sharing stories n cooking tips (they can try me w their weird concoctions) n thus further lowering the chances of me getting randomly arrested, live a chill life (also travel around n stuff obviously) with furina/focalors entirely uninterested in my existance, the gardes and neuvillette seeing me as a normal citizen, and the just-in-case friendly connections to the phantoms via the melusines and the spina via navia (and maybe the surveillance patrol if chevreusse likes my novels) b.2) if i do break some random law immediately upon arrival or too early into plan b.1, then i plead guilty and get sent to meropide (nobody down there will ever bother to look into my untraceable past and trying to argue innocent will only bring attention i likely can't afford), work dilligently until i've made enough friends among the staff, become the prison's storyteller and bard and gain credits like that, become a friendly face nobody will have any interest in harming and likely won't dare to bc i'll have made friends w all sorts of prisoners by then (plus why would you want to fuck with the guy who's literally only singing songs and telling stories. like nobody else is doing it. half the prison would jump you i think), stay down there after my time is up for the same reasons i chose to go down, hopefully be a nice helpful prisoner and a welcome fixture in the fortress, live a quiet and chill life

and lastly, the last resort plan c) book it to mondstadt, beg charles for a gig at the angels' share, sing covers of songs from here and pass them off as melodies from distant lands, avoid venti and his knowledge of music like the plague, avoid kaeya and the knights like the plague also before they realize i'm not From There, get a house in springvale, if diluc ever bartends then try to subtly let him know i'm w him on the knights issue, hopefully this raises my chances at becoming part of the staff of the tavern n the likelyhood of the rest of the staff helping me avoid the knights' suspicion, ideally just live a quiet life in springvale, if by some miracle diluc decides to hire me for the winery then go there instead and live a quiet life as one of the workers, the main objective here is to fly under the knights' radar and position myself in life in a way that venti won't either want to, be able to, or feel the need to get curious about me and try to make contact (i realize dealing w music is counterproductive to this but it's the only gig i can think of that'd work there, would require no starting budget, would allow for flexible hours so i can skedaddle if needed, i wouldn't suck ass at, and would get me a step closer to who is likely going to be my only and/or most accessible ally in staying away from the knights: diluc)

[cake-apostate]

Years ago, I had a fanfic idea where the SMT protagonists replace the heroes of the Persona games. The joke was that they're all these badass fighters who could easily sweep the dungeons with their skill and experience, but they're also hilariously bad at the real life segments.

The fic didn't really work out, probably because I was trying to use too many games and too many characters, but I still like the idea.

So, let's say that one week after the end of their games, the heroes of SMT were put in the role of Joker from Persona 5 (the Persona game I played most recently).

The Outsiders

Aleph, Flynn, and Nanashi aren't from modern Japan, and they'd have a hell of a time trying to adapt.

Aleph would be an absolute disaster. He's a toddler in a man's body raised by a gladiator coach who thought he was rehabilitating an amnesiac. It's a miracle the lad can read.

That's not to say that Aleph is dumb; he couldn't go through his game if he couldn't make informed decisions for himself. He just lacks formal education, social awareness, and casual life experience.

At the very least, when something's going on that he doesn't understand, Aleph has learned to stay quiet and go with the flow. He'd probably be fine socially, especially as a silent protagonist who needs to listen more than he speaks.

On the other hand, Aleph is missing a ton of common knowledge, even more than the average resident of Tokyo Millennium. Everyone assumes he knows more than he does, especially since he doesn't always say when he doesn't know something.

If there's any nonstandard ending, it would be "Aleph fails all his quizzes, exams, and homework, and is expelled."

Nanashi is the opposite. Like Aleph, he doesn't know societal conventions, but unlike Aleph, he doesn't care about breaking them. Aleph came from the gutter and was told he could strive higher; Nanashi came from the gutter and he knows he can survive there.

My favored Nanashi is "Anarchy but made all the friendship choices." He's gotten to a point where he likes people but knows he doesn't need them. All social limits are artificial; why conform?

He's someone who sees a straight line between himself and his goals, and doesn't need to care about what other people think of him. He would not play along with any of the targets' threats, especially because he doesn't have the same kind of social context. Ooh, Kamoshida's going to get him expelled; do I even need school? Sure, Madarame, send the police after me; have you seen what I did to the last people who came after me? Medjed threatens to crash the Japanese economy; what does that even mean? He'd only see Kaneshiro as a problem, since Makoto is in immediate danger when they meet.

(He would at least try to make sure that the others wouldn't go down with him. If he gets expelled, he'll do his best not to drag Ryuji and Mishima down with him.)

Nonstandard ending: before Morgana mentions the change of heart, Nanashi straight up murders Kamoshida and spends the rest of the game evading justice.

Flynn is in a state of constant stress. This isn't his first time as a fish out of water, but at least his Tokyo had a high tolerance for weirdness. He's more socially aware than Aleph or Nanashi, but he knows little about modern Japanese culture and manners, and he knows that.

Flynn's personality took me the longest, but since SMT4 has no room for error in alignments, I think of him as an anxious perfectionist. He doesn't know why, but he's keenly aware that if he says or does just one thing wrong, it will all end in disaster.

Strangers see Flynn as cool, calm, and collected, but that's because he's afraid to let on that he doesn't know as much as they do. Of all the Phantom Thieves, he'd relate the most to Futaba, who also feels like a stranger to this city.

I feel like he'd have to pull the, "I'm a foreign exchange student" card a lot, and leaves other people to assume which country he's from. The only other countries he knows are France (from Isabeau's manga), Russia, China (Infernal Akira can ask if Mikado is in Russia or China), and maybe America.

Nonstandard ending: Flynn has no idea what a train is. Flynn gets lost on the way to school and never finds his way back. The end.

The High School Students

Kazuya, Naoki, and V-kun were high school students when their games began, so they wouldn't be too bad at modern times or school life. It's everything else that's the problem.

The way I see Kazuya, he had to grow and adapt to the postapocalypse more than anyone else. He's a fragile human with no special enhancements or any real support net. To survive, he had to be tough, he had to be stubborn, he had to assert his dominance and take no shit from anyone. He stayed alive by shutting down his feelings and only showing weakness to the people he trusted. That's how he became the best demon summoner.

That also makes him the worst Wild Card. He's terrible at making friends; other people would have to put in the effort to break his armor. His comrades might easily write him off as a bossy control freak, and they'd only associate with him when they need help.

Persona 5's Confidants do usually begin with Joker wanting someone's help (Tae's medicine, Iwai's guns, etc.), so he might have a bit of an easier time starting the Social Link than in other games, but he'd probably screw it up somehow.

He's a good person, but he's terrible at expressing it because demons would see it as a weakness.

Since the mask he wears is so thick, he'd probably have a powerful starting Persona. At the same time, he wouldn't really experience an identity crisis; he knows who he is under the mask, and has no trouble being himself around the people he loves.

Also, something I see in him more than any other protagonist is that he's willing to cut ties with the party members if he disagrees with their methods, even if he doesn't have a solution. All of the heroes fight their friends, but for some reason it struck me the most that Kazuya didn't have a plan to fix Tokyo when he fought the Messians and Gaians (who for all their faults, did). If he disagrees with the other Phantom Thieves, he's leaving.

And on a lighter note, Kazuya might know exactly where in Tokyo to find real guns: the antique shop in Kichijoji.

Ryuji: "Check out what I got!" *takes out fake gun*

Kazuya: "Look at what I have." *takes out real gun*

Ryuji: "Hey, cool, you found that store that sells fake guns!"

Kazuya: "...Yes. I found the store that sells fake guns."

Nonstandard ending: Kazuya refuses to use the change of heart because he saw with his own eyes how messing with minds destroyed Aoi (the heroine) from the inside. Kazuya leaves the Phantom Thieves and brings the targets to justice his own way, probably by use of demons.

Naoki is the opposite. He had to toughen up, but he never had to put on a mask. Unlike Kazuya, demons don't see him as prey by default, and now he's strong enough to beat any other demon to death with his bare hands. Demons won't think any less of him if he gets weepy and emotional. (Although admittedly, this was because I think it's funny for the strongest being in the universe to be shy and awkward.)

I see Naoki as traumatized. He wants to be left alone and isn't fully comfortable returning to ordinary student life. At the same time, he's 'just' going to be quiet and antisocial; if he does end up talking to people, he wouldn't shoot himself in the foot like Kazuya. He'd get along fine with his teammates... if he had any.

Nocturne is the only game where you have no human battle companions (vanilla SMT V barely passes with Tao, and Yuzuru and Ichiro are still fighting on your side, just elsewhere). The only competent human helping the Demi-Fiend is Hijiri, who is strictly a noncombatant. In other words, Naoki's not used to fighting alongside humans.

It wouldn't occur to Naoki to bring Ryuji to the Metaverse. Morgana, yes, because he already has a Persona, but Ryuji can't defend himself. So maybe he'd confide in Ryuji and ask for his help in the real world, but he wouldn't become a party member.

Most of the subsequent party members join because of the others. Yusuke follows Ann, Makoto figures out they're the Phantom Thieves because of how they hang around each other, etc.

Nonstandard ending: that ending gambit required a bunch of people working together.

With V-kun, it's a different story. The question is no longer, "how would his experiences make him a bad Persona user;" it's now, "how does the plot work if he's literally God?" I think there's a fun crack fic where he tries to juggle being the rebellious leader of the Phantom Thieves while he's also doing God stuff. And since Law is the only ending that leaves the status quo setting intact, he's not also running Bethel, he seeks to control the world through faith like Yaldabaoth. The irony is staggering.

There also needs to be an excuse for why he doesn't use his God powers to instantly solve all the Confidants' problems. Sure, human problems must be solved with human means, but there's "reconnect with your mother and discuss what is truly important to you," and then there's "get out of this predatory cult that blackmails tons of people," and "I need help developing this lifesaving medicine but I'm being blocked by the establishment." If he's trying to be a benevolent god, he'd want to solve those problems anyways.

And, of course, there's the obligatory climax where the Phantom Thieves discover that their leader is God, feel betrayed, but then remember that their friendships were genuine.

Nonstandard ending: "Hey, Igor, Aogami tells me that you're not what you seem. Care to explain?"

Misc.

The Confidants with these guys would be hilarious.

Aleph needs Ryuji and Mishima to explain the concept of a maid fetish to him. When he does end up hiring Ms. Kawakami, he has no idea why anyone would be interesting in anything but cleaning. Not because he doesn't know what sex is, but because he knows that you can hire actual prostitutes.

I think it's cool that Chiyaha has actual psychic powers unrelated to Personas. So her readings turn up the actual pasts of the heroes, but most are so outlandish that she doesn't believe what she sees. "...It says that you're God."

In a separate fic, I wrote (but have not yet published) a bit where Kazuya buys three Holy Stones from Chihaya because he bought that kind of shady stuff from the Messians and Gaians all the time.

Nanashi is unimpressed with Kaneshiro and his threats. The Ashura-Kai did so much worse to everyone in Tokyo, and both of the bosses he knew could do things like throw lightning and fire at people who pissed them off. Kaneshiro is just a man with money. His thugs don't even have guns! Nanashi is going to murder everyone in that room.

[wonopia]

KOI'S WORKS ( 🐈‍⬛ — COMING SOON )

key — open taglist 𓍯 : closed taglist ♟ : ( side note : look at bookshelf for more info on the fanfic )

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ invisible lover, LEE HEESEUNG ( 𓍯 ) [synopsis] . a story between two fated souls attached with an invisible-like string. no matter the situation, no matter the life, no matter the body, no matter the voice, they are inevitably fated together. a simple shoulder to shoulder passing, their eyes suddenly meet, do i know you from somewhere? the feeling of which does not disappear, the two meet again in this lifetime. somehow finding their way to each other, slowly unwrapping and untangling the string. is this the lifetime where they change their fate or will they just relive another life loving each other?

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ the boy under my bed, SIM JAKE ( 𓍯 ) [synopsis] . expecting the house to be his former best friend's, only to find out he no longer lived there. running into one of the new owners, after hiding under her bed, he fails to make a good impression. soon finding out that they attend the same university, he seeks interest in her.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ exchange student, NISHIMURA NIKI ( 𓍯 ) [synopsis] . when an exchange student transfers to his school, niki gets forced to translate for her and inherits a bond. a girl who is completely foreign to korea, all she could do was speak japanese. throughout the year, he does the most he could to get her to unlatch from his side before soon realizing the soft spot he has inhabited for the girl. this is a story for the people who struggle to open up their feelings.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ a not so stranger, LEE HEESEUNG ( 𓍯 ) [synopsis] . as a way to escape reality, tae seulbi engulfs herself in paint fumes, canvases, pencils, and such. unfortunately, she is forced to deprive herself from that desired love; coming from a non-supportive household. until one day she gets motivated to move forward with it from someone along the name of bambi. in hopes he could see her art, at least once.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ..

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ..

© WONOPIA, 2024

[sflow-er]

Some notes on the aristocracy in Sweden

I’ve decided to collect some of my research into the Swedish aristocracy into a post in case some of it could be of interest to other fanfic writers - or any other YR fans who want to learn or remind themselves how nobility works in Sweden.

I’ll start with some background info, move on to the current situation (with examples from YR), and finish with a couple of observations on names and emblems.

As always, any corrections and additions are much appreciated! I am sadly not Swedish myself, but my country was until 1809.

Some sources: Riddarhuset (logo pictured above), Ointroducerad Adels Förening and Ritarihuone, column by nobleman/author Niklas Natt och Dag, various history websites (e.g. this one and this one), Wikipedia (e.g. list of noble families and uradel), Svenska Dagbladet (e.g. book review and recent article), Adelsvapen Wiki, article on Scanian nobility getting EU subsidies and article on billionaires, history lessons in school, visits to historical sites, etc.

Relevant concepts & history

Adeln / the nobility: People belonging to the aristocracy i.e. the highest social class in a country.

In Sweden, there are two kinds of nobility: titled and untitled. I’d say the closest English equivalent is the difference between (titled) nobility and landed gentry. The latter aren’t considered noble as such under the English system but are basically the same as untitled nobility under the Swedish system.

The titles are greve & grevinna (count & countess) and friherre & friherrinna (baron & baroness); count is higher than baron. A handful of naturalised families of also bear foreign titles.

Hertig & hertiginna (duke & duchess) are reserved for the Royal House and are the only titles the monarch is allowed to grant today. (In the show, only Wille and Erik are close enough to the Crown to be dukes.)

Untitled nobility used to have different ranks, but they don’t anymore. Initially, they came from humbler/more recently elevated origins than titled families (e.g. knights, high-ranking public servants, successful bourgeoisie) or were otherwise less powerful, but this distinction disappeared in the early 1700s.

Most noble families go back to the 1700s or further. From 1865, ennoblement was reserved for special conditions, and no new families have been ennobled since 1902. The monarch lost this power entirely in 1974 (with the exception of the ducal titles).

Frälse: A term used in the Middle Ages to refer to the privileged classes. The non-clerical frälse became adel in the 1500s/1600s.

Frälse referred to exemption from tax and was granted in exchange for supplying fully equipped horsemen for the king’s army. It also included other privileges, e.g. eligibility for the highest public offices.

From 1420 on, frälse became hereditary. Families whose forebears were frälse before this change are known as uradel. One of them is Horn.

In the 1500s to 1600s, the requirements changed. The new adel were just ennobled by the grace of the king.

In the late 1600s, the Crown took back some of the land given to the nobility. This sped up their transition into an elite class of public servants, as some old families lost power and new ones rose up.

(Riks)stånd / estate (of the realm): One of the classes under the social hierarchy and political system that existed in Europe from the Middle Ages on.

There were four estates in Sweden: clergy, nobility, burghers/bourgeoisie (urban merchants), and peasants (only a small portion of the entire peasantry). The clergy and nobility held the most power at the ståndsriksdag (diet of the estates).

The nobility gained more power again in the early 1700s when the monarchy was weak, but the tables turned towards the end of the century. The monarchy grew stronger again and the noble houses’ privileges started to be stripped away.

By the time the estate system was abolished in 1866, the bourgeoisie had gained a lot more power (largely thanks to the industrial revolution).

Riddarhuset / House of Nobility: An organisation of noble families, established in 1626.

Under the estate system, a family had to be introduced into the House of Nobility to participate in politics. Some unintroduced noble families still exist, most of them of foreign origin.

Today, Riddarhuset is just an association that upholds traditions, grants scholarships, catalogues the families in Adelskalendern (the Swedish Peerage Book), etc.

Every three years, the heads of the families (oldest living men) gather to make decisions at adelsmötet, the Assembly of Nobles.

That feels like a fitting segue to the current situation.

Some current statistics

The aristocracy only make up 0.2% of Sweden’s population today.

There are about 28,000 introduced nobles belonging to 657 houses, plus about 450 unintroduced nobles belonging to 100 houses, alive today.

Out of the 657 introduced houses, 480 are untitled, 131 are baronial, and 46 are comital houses.

Approximately 50% of introduced nobles live in Stockholm and the surrounding region, 25% elsewhere in Sweden, and 25% abroad.

The overwhelming majority of nobles aren’t rich or powerful. The ones who are may be disproportionately rich and powerful, and even the ones who aren’t may still benefit from their ancestry.

Out of the 542 billionaires in Sweden, 32 are noble (6%). Their fortune is usually inherited, and many of them belong to the most influential families in Sweden.

The aristocracy are also major landowners. The days of them owning up to 40% of all land are long gone, but they still own roughly 400,000 hectares / 4,000 sqkm / 1,544 sqm south of the Dal River. Especially in Skåne/Scania, where their holdings amount to 46% of all farmland. Scanian nobles are the biggest recipients of agricultural subsidies in the EU. (This is what Simon was referencing in S1E1; Henry definitely isn’t from Skåne, but his father’s estate gets subsidies all the same.)

Nobles are also overrepresented in high-paying jobs and related fields of study, as well as elite schools (e.g. the ones Hillerska is based on).

Rules on who counts as noble

[Apologies for the binary language that cannot be avoided.]

Only noble-born men can pass their rank on, and only to their wedded spouse and biological children by said spouse. This rule is based on centuries-old royal orders, but the Assembly of Nobles has the power to change it. They simply don’t want to, so...

A nobleman’s spouse becomes noble, regardless of sex. They retain their rank after divorce/in widowhood but lose it upon remarriage.

If one of the Society boys - say, Henry - married a man, his husband would become noble. If they got divorced, the ex-husband could not pass the rank on to his children.

August’s mother Louise was very likely a countess or baroness while married to Carl Johan, as most of the Horn family branches have been titled. Marrying Rickard will have cost her the title.

Noble-born children remain noble for life (nobility can’t be renounced). Women cannot pass it on, and men can only pass it on according to the rules.

Felice can only be noble if Poppe is.

Felice is noble for life, but her children won’t be, unless she marries into another noble house. If House Ehrencrona has no male descendants, it will become ‘extinct’ in the male line, whether or not Felice’s children have her last name.

Biological children can be ‘legitimised’ after birth. If August discovered that he had a son and the mother agreed to marry him, the son would become his noble heir.

Adoptive children cannot be ‘legitimised’ at all. If Vincent and his future wife decided to adopt a son and had a biological daughter later on, only the daughter would be considered noble.

The exclusion of children by anyone other than a wedded spouse means that Henry and his husband could not have a ‘legitimate’ heir even by going abroad for surrogacy.

So, by swearing to prevent the extinction of their noble families, the Society boys are actually swearing to marry a woman and have babies with her. Preferably male babies.

Firstborn sons

The emphasis on firstborn sons is more of a tradition than a rule today. The firstborn will become the head of the family and has historically been the one whose responsibility it is to continue the bloodline, but in most families, all children are considered noble. In fact, a count’s sons are all counts and his daughters are all countesses, even while their father is still alive! And when the time comes, all the children inherit their share of the family estate (with wills etc. taken into account).

However, there are two notable exceptions.

Families ennobled after 1809 are subject to male-only primogeniture. Inheritance works the same as in any other family, but only the head of the family is considered noble.

Around 15 landed estates in Sweden are still subject to fideicommissum - an ancient legal instrument that allows the firstborn to inherit the entire estate. In the old days, these were very common. They were set to expire from 1964 on, but families could petition for an extension, with each generation arguing that their estate had particular cultural-historical value and should be kept intact. New petitions are being denied now; the number was still 25 in 2019.

So if most noble families don’t fall into either of the above categories and don’t even have any special privileges anymore, what does any of this matter?

Well, it matters to them.

Value of nobility today

Many aristocrats are very proud of their noble roots and want to pass those on. They have their own networks and clubs; e.g. Ridderskapet och Adelns Ungdomsklubb (RAUK) for 18-35-yo members of introduced noble families. The photo above is from their summer ball in 2016.

The quote by a young (presumably queer) countess interviewed in one of the SvD articles above is quite illustrative. Nobility doesn’t matter when she dates women since they can’t pass it on anyway, and lack of nobility is not a dealbreaker even when she dates men. But it is definitely a selling point if her kids could grow up noble and inherit their dad’s title.

The two noblemen interviewed in the same article are indifferent to the matter of passing it on, and one of them even says he can’t be proud of an ancestry that exploited those under them. However, it’s worth noting that these guys are outliers for talking to the reporter at all. The many land-owning nobles who refused, e.g. the guy who jokingly said “we’re doing well here at the top”, might see it differently. In general, it’s hard to get the elite to talk about their privileges - this was also described in Agnes Hellström’s book Att vara utan att synas about the real boarding schools, which I’ve posted about before.

Anyway, nobility also matters to the rest of the upper classes. The pecking order among those who all have ridiculous amounts of wealth isn’t just based on who has the most money. What matters is how long they’ve been able to retain their wealth, what else they have besides just money, and crucially, how much social capital they’ve amassed as part of the elite.

So-called upstarts who only just made their money lack connections, are ‘out of the loop,’ and don’t know the social codes necessary to fit in. A typical example is that the nouveau riche may be eager to show off their newly improved lot in life, while the established elite strive to act humble about it.

This disdain for new money is demonstrated in YR by August’s look when he introduces Alexander as “son of Ulf Bragé, owner of Bragé Investments” - and of course the way Rickard sticks out like a sore thumb at Parents’ Day. He shows up in a flashy car and expects valet service, unlike the alumni who parked their own expensive but nondescript cars, and he’s also very ungraceful at the table when Wille snubs August.

As seen in the show, information in the form of gossip and rumours, as well as connections in the form of who knows whom, are essential.

Old families haven’t just sat on their money, they’ve invested it in their estates and things like works of art over the centuries. Those are so valuable precisely because they aren’t strictly ‘necessary’ - it’s not real wealth if you have to keep it all at hand. It is considered an enormous shame to have to sell up, as seen with Årnäs in the show.

So maybe it does make sense after all. The nobility have been ‘in the loop’ since way before the bourgeoisie became a thing, and they are such an exclusive lot that the only way to join their ranks is by birth or marriage. That’s the kind of social capital that money can’t buy - directly, that is. Historically, nobles who fell on hard times often found a spouse among the rich bourgeoisie, trading some of their prestige for an economic lifeline.

Speaking of joining their ranks, I want to conclude this with a quick look at two emblems/markers of nobility, so to speak.

Noble names and coats of arms

There are a few different types of noble family names in Sweden, the most prevalent being compound names made up of two words. To distinguish from regular Swedish surnames, noble names often have rather lofty or unusual meanings. For example:

Gyllen - golden, Silfver - silver, Adel/Edel - noble, Ehren - honour/glory, Lejon/Leijon/Löwen - lion, Gripen - griffin, Adler - eagle, Oxen - ox, Lager - laurel, Ceder - cedar...

...stierna - star, crona/krona - crown, svärd - sword, sköld/skiöld - shield, hielm - helm, crantz - wreath, stråle - ray of light, etc.

These can also be combined with more commonly used parts: felt, gren, etc. Some of them may be in a longer, older form: Linden- instead of Lind-, Rosen- instead of Ros-, and so on.

Not all names made up of these parts are noble names! They can also be names that only survive in the female line, or names made up by people who maybe liked the sound of noble names. Furthermore, these are not the only type of noble names out there. A few examples from the long list on Wikipedia, which includes extinct names:

Very simple names: Horn, Grip, Sparre, Creutz, Uggla, etc. These are usually old names with meanings that were easy to paint on a shield.

Non-Swedish names: Walkendorff, Breitholz, Nauckhoff, De la Grange, Duwall, etc. Many of these belong to families who immigrated centuries ago, predominantly from Denmark, present-day Baltics, or present-day Germany.

Names that include a place of origin (town, region or estate): De Geer, von Hofsten, Svinhufvud i Västergötland, Wachtmeister af Johannishus, Hamilton af Hageby, Munck af Fulkila, etc. Or indeed names made to sound like this, such as von Essen.

Names composed of the preposition ‘af’ and the original family name, to signal that they are descended from someone: af Huss, af Sandeberg, etc. Vincent’s last name in YR, af Klintskog, follows this pattern.

Branches of the same family, distinguished by their estate names: Horn af Åminne, Horn af Kanckas, etc. I guess we can add Horn af Årnäs to the list for YR.

And so on. If you need a noble name for a character, you can look at the list for inspiration - or even just use an existing name. This is what the writers have done in YR with both Felice and August.

Ehrencrona used to be a real name: untitled family number 879, ennobled in 1675 and extinct in 1917. Another branch of the same family was ennobled under the name Ehrenkrona in the same year, as baronial family number 210, and that one is still alive today. Here are their coats of arms - untitled Ehrencrona on the left and baronial Ehrenkrona on the right.

Each family has a coat of arms, and a number in the House of Nobility. The first 100 numbers were drawn at random, the rest are chronological.

Noblemen often bear their coat of arms on a signet ring on their little finger, like the one we see August wear in the show (the ring can also just be engraved with their monogram, or perhaps a combination of both). In fact, Chrille/Krille wears one too, if you look closely at the Society party scene! Here’s a screenshot of August’s:

The show may not be allowed to use the real heraldic imagery for legal reasons. Most of the branches of the Horn family are extinct, but the main branch, the comital family Horn af Åminne, is still alive. YR can probably get away with inventing a new branch as long as they don’t make the connection to the real family too obvious.

If the coat of arms was accurate, it should include a variation of the typical horn (left) and various things around it, similar to the Horn af Åminne coat of arms (right). I don’t know anything about heraldry, but titled houses often have a whole lot of stuff going on there, symbolising their history and position. 

An interesting detail about the signet rings is that in the article mentioned above, one of the men is described as wearing his ring all through their interview, but hiding it when it’s time to take photos. He says “it’s one thing to wear it privately and another thing to show it in a newspaper,” even though he uses it to sign his books sometimes. Which fascinates me - he’s the same guy who said he wasn’t proud of his ancestry and even wrote the satirical column on nobility linked above, but I guess the signet ring still isn’t just any old trinket to him.

So, that’s it! Thank you for reading all this way! As I said at the start, any additions and corrections are most welcome.

[tiffany-chan123]

Tiffany's Fancuries For Your Consideration

Hey there folks! This is actually the fourth Fancuries that I'll be participating in, and my second "For Your Consideration" post that I've made during my time as not just a pretty cure fanseries creator but as a pretty cure fan.

Over the past couple of years, my cures and by extension fanseries tend to change a LOT, I have been trying to experiment with Kisekae and my drawn art more and I am planning on getting back into writing fanfiction and my fanseries (In fact I'm currently writing episode one of the main fanseries I'll be talking about in this very post)

~~~

Deep within the reaches of cyberspace, there is a secret world known simply as Arcadia, a place where all video game characters around can travel to their own games freely. However, the land of Arcadia was soon under attack by the villainous "Dark Network" and their army of monstrous glitches wanting to take over their world. However, a sneaky and speedy rabbit named Riki and a fairy named Aruna end up making their way to the human world and end up running into a girl named Mariko Asoda, but with Riki and Aruna on the run from the Baguras, Riki hands Mariko a Pixel Curesette and she then transforms into the heroine of exciting Action, Cure Action! Filled with determination to save the gaming world of Arcadia as well as her own, Cure Action's truly wild adventure is about to begin. Now! Pretty Cure Game Start!

The main themes of this series deal with stuff like technology, cyberspace, and reality and fiction, while motifs include stuff like video games, pixels, and 90's aesthetics. I plan on releasing this fanseries on a few fanfic sites (AO3, Quotev, even Wattpad) and I do have a wiki for it, if you are wondering about what I used to make the cures and other characters, it's Kisekae a pretty well-known dollmaker software (It can be pretty NSFW though just keep that in mind, though there is an SFW version if I remember correctly), though two characters have been made with picrew, but enough about that let's get into...

~~~

The Cures!

From Left to Right: Nene Kanemitsu, Mariko Asoda, Kayla Coleman, Aruna Yushi

Mariko Asoda / Cure Action (Pink)

A fourteen-year-old student council member with a soft spot for video games, a big daydreamer, and a selfless escapist who just wants to help people like the video game heroes she loves, but has a big sense of righteousness about her, loves to over indulge in her hobbies and always expects gratitude from others. Has a bit of a habit of saying "Level Up!". Becoming Cure Action, she is themed after action games and platformers and has fire powers.

Kayla Coleman / Cure Puzzle (Green)

A fifteen-year-old foreign exchange student originally from Brooklyn, New York, and despite her quiet disposition she is very much a crafty inventor type who has a love for crafting new ideas, despite that confident mask she wears, she is a massive introvert with some slight confidence issues, with a love for sarcasm and darker topics and just wants to be accepted and loved by others for the games she creates and codes. When she becomes Cure Puzzle, she gains the powers of the earth via stones and tetrominoes, and is themed after puzzle games.

Nene Kanemitsu / Cure Song (Yellow)

The daughter of the creator of the famous game mascot Riki the Rabbit, Nene is well-known as a passionate and competitive professional gamer who is a regular at the Skyblue arcade center, especially when it comes to rhythm games. Nene essentially acts as the mood maker of the group, going through life with a rather positive and takes life and everyday situations through good humor and optimism, but has a big obsession with idols and isn't afraid to talk about her hyper fixations for a long time, can be a bit careless, short-tempered, boisterous, and is not good with money at all. As Cure Song, she is themed after Rhythm Games and has the power of sound.

Aruna / Aru Yuushi / Cure Hero (Blue)

Originally known as the fairy priestess Aruna, a character that originated from the video game RPG Valianta Quest X, she made her home in the Pixel Pocket (Basically the transformation items of the season) after she was saved by Riki, who always wanted to become a knight out of the want to truly help out her kingdom, she eventually transformed into a human via learning a spell. A very defensive girl with a hard shell and tries to convey a heroic and yet cool image, but is a way more sensitive person underneath it all. As Cure Hero, she is themed after Adventure games and RPG's, and wields the power of light via the Bravery Sword, instead of the Virtual Sticks the cures normally use.

Allies

Riki

The protagonist of a popular platformer game series that Mariko is a big fan of. Riki can move at super fast speeds and pick things up with his ears, who is adventurous, lively, and a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

Princess Dahlia

The fair and sweet ruler of the Bloomfield kingdom, and despite her dainty and cutesy appearance, she is actually the leader of the resistance fighting against the “Dark Network” in Arcadia, in which she comes from the popular puzzle game “Puzzle De Puyo”.

Fumio Kanemitsu

Nene’s father and the man who created Riki the Rabbit, and currently works as a programmer for the video game company Kurotaki, moody, fickle, changeable, and obviously weirded out by the fact his creation is real, he ends up becoming a big ally to the team, mainly due to his knowledge about programming.

The Dark Network Fuguerror A mysterious glitchy being hidden within dark depths of cyberspace, he is a cruel, cunning, and yet oddly playful being, and is the one the Dark Network are trying to essentially complete, and summon him mainly via collecting Digi Data.

Belladonna

Leader of the generals and the one who founded the Dark Network group in the first place after discovering Fuguerror, a rather seductive and devious enchantress who is known for her self centered-ness, her love of making her presence known, and getting a kick out of seeing people enraged and essentially teasing her enemies, she's also known for her love of making very odd smelling (And toxic!) "perfume". Belladonna comes from the medieval beat em up game "Radira Fight Knights"

Doctor Serpentine

Riki the Rabbit's number one adversary and a rather dastardly mad scientist taking the form of a snake, he mostly tries to take down foes with the many robotic suits he builds, and he loves flaunting his intelligence skill in robotics, despite his aggressive way of speaking to others. Nikto

A rather cunning if rather short wizard. Nikto acts as a mediator between the villainous group and tends to try and take Belladonna down the peg a little, he's also very skilled at magic, especially when it comes to illusions and trickery which he often tries to take advantage of to his own benefits, and really doesn't like it when people make fun of his height. He is the main villain of the famous RPG "Valianta Quest V". Adalram

A Mysterious Swordsman with a wide set of tools, and a man who is a rather flirty soul who likes to use his wit and charm to recruit other villains to Dark Network's cause, but he is dedicated to protecting the other members, namely Miss Belladonna. He comes from the popular adventure game series "Secret Sword".

~~~ And do you think this is the only fanseries I have...No, I have another, a Ninja, family and Japanese mythology-based fanseries, that being... Doron! Kunoichi Precure!

I haven't made a logo for the fanseries yet and I don't have a lot of designs for it (Only the cures have been designed so far), so please bear with me.

For nineteen generations, the Kaminarimon school of ninjas have been protecting both Earth and the Celestial Plains from the Kagemashu Army of yokai, creatures who emerge from the shadowy depths of the underworld to cause fear and terror to those around them. But when it seemed that the nineteenth generation of ninja had finally sealed Nurarihyon and his army for good, one yokai ended up breaking the seal years later with the Kagemashu beginning their attacks again, with the current head of the Kaminarimon household Shosuke, and his daughter Tomoe beginning a plan to recruit some new legendary ninja to combat the new threat. And when a compassionate middle school girl named Shinobu Fuuno ends up stumbling upon a scroll hidden within the back of a shrine near the Kaminarimon household, and she ends up summoning five friendly spirits but ends up running into Nopperabo and the Kagemashu’s deadly monsters the Maganoke, however with the help of the Doron Commune she transforms into the legendary ninja of the wind, Cure Shippu! Protecting the Earth from evil, hiding deep within the shadows, now change! Precure let’s ninja GO!

Cures!

From left to right: Tomoe Kaminarimon, Fujiko Takayama, Shinobu Fuuno, Hiyori Hinomiya, Kozue Kobayashi

Shinobu Fuuno / Cure Shippu (Pink)

An airy girl with a love for Japanese Traditions as well as Samurai and Ninja Dramas (with her father being an actor in these drama’s himself in the past), she prefers not standing out among her classmates though can't help but run her mouth when she feels like it, but wants to find out what happened to her mother. Has the habit of saying “Feel the wind!” and as Cure Shippu, she wields the power of the wind.

Kozue Kobayashi / Cure Shinrin (Green)

A sensible, tall, reliable, and yet traditional girl akin to a Yamato Nadeshiko, Kozue is good at giving advice to others and is a geisha in training aside from her pretty cure duties and has a love for familiarity and making wagashi…However, she is a massive party animal and is terrible with technology, and such her fellow piers at her geisha training look down upon her because of it, and as Cure Shinrin, she wields the power of wood.

Hiyori Hinomiya / Cure Rekka (Red)

A Shrine Maiden working at a local shrine with a bit of a hot-blooded and passionate flair, she is skilled at archery and is very action-oriented, and can be a bit prideful and impulsive despite her being a bit responsible and mature. Is a bit jealous of Shinobu being the leader and has a habit of setting high standards for herself, mainly due to the fact she was chosen because her sister (Who was going to become a cure) had fallen ill at the time, and as Cure Rekka, she wields the power of fire.

Fujiko Takayama / Cure Gunzan (Blue)

A very emotional yet secretive and sensitive girl who is rather knowledgeable though with a bit of a hard shell, but can have her moments where she can get more than a bit dramatic, mainly because of her theater-loving background and has a soft spot for folklore, especially spirits, and yokai, and as Cure Gunzan she wields the power of the earth.

Tomoe Kaminarimon / Cure Raitei (Yellow)

The future head of the Kaminarimon household and a woman who acts as the mentor to the cures, and while she does have a rather cold and strict exterior, she actually has a rather adventurous and even unpredictable and spontaneous side to her, akin to that of lightning, which she wields as Cure Raitei.

Unfortunately, I only have basic ideas for the other characters currently. I'm planning on the mascots essentially being small spirit gods from the Celestial Plains which are ruled by the big good Amaterasu (Yes, the Shinto Sun Goddess herself). The villains I do have more ideas for, with them basically being a sort of criminal organization of Yokai with each general being based on one (The Nine-Tailed Fox, Tengu, Oni, etc.) with the big bad being Nurarihyon. But Aside from the cures I haven't designed em. ~~~ And that's all I have been mainly working on so far in terms of Fanseries, really hope you all have enjoyed reading this post, as much as I had fun making it.

See you later guys, gals, and enby pals alike!

[skyfallslayer]

🔥 = Smut 🧸= Fluff 💔= Angst (The Holy Trinity of Fanfics) || ⭐= Hiatus

Note: If two or more characters are marked for the same fic, then the emojis used to indicate above my vary depending on their part in the story. If they’re the love interest to the reader in their section, but the other person isn’t, then their emojis might be different.

REQUESTS ARE NOT OPEN RN!

-Main Masterlist Index-

•Eddie Munson

|| Series

The Black & White Lie - (xWheeler!Reader)🔥 🧸 💔⭐

Summary: Modern! AU - Country girl Y/N Wheeler has spent most of her life on a farm in Hawkins, Indiana, and, when she goes away to college in Los Angeles, she immediately feels out of place in the daunting urban setting. She is befriended by a savvy party animal named Eddie Munson, who convinces the ambivalent girl to stay in the city. When Thanksgiving break rolls around, Y/N, no longer an innocent farm girl, invites Eddie back to Hawkins, where he pretends to be her fiancé.

A Bloody Kiss Goodnight - Coming Soon (xSlow Burn! Harrington!OFC)🔥 🧸 💔

Summary: Fantasy! AU - On the night their family was supposed to make peace, Princess Jayden Harrington is suddenly separated from her brother and parents and winds up in a foreign land far, far away. From there, she meets a man that vows to help her get home and intact revenge, but in exchange for this, he demands that him and his kin get freedom and wealth. She accepts… not realizing that this journey will reveal the dark secrets about her life she never knew.

Rainbow In The Dark - Coming Soon (xFem!Reader)🔥 🧸 💔

Summary: Modern! AU - Stuck in a time loop, carefree rockstar Eddie and maid of honor Y/N develop a budding romance while living the same day over and over again – and they must figure out how to escape. (Based on the 2020 movie: “Palm Springs”)

Her Jaded Heart - Coming Soon (xHarrington!OFC) 🧸 💔

Summary: Deadpool! AU - She was expecting her brother to be home just like he always is every night, probably covered in cuts and a swollen eye, begging for her to play nurse again. She never expected someone other than him standing in her bedroom, with big pleading eyes as he tells you the unfortunate news. -- Or, Jayden Harrington’s vigilante brother, Steve, goes missing, and she has to team up with another “rouge” individual in order to save him and countless others.

|| One Shot

Of Lightning, Idiots, and Cosplay - Coming Soon (xHenderson!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: The Flash! AU -When your brother tells you that The Flash, Hawkins City’s local superhero, is his role model and wants to become just like him, you didn’t think he meant literally like him. -- Or, your brother Dustin decides to douse himself in chemicals and get struck by lightning to become just like his favorite hero, and you find yourself suddenly trying to find a way to contact the superhero who’s slightly responsible for this outcome.

Matchmaker - Coming Soon (xHenderson!Reader)

Summary: N/A

Sweet Girl, No Life - Coming Soon (xHarrington!Reader)

Summary: N/A

The Cool Dude - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

•Will Byers

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xPlatonic!Henderson!OFC; Slow burn!Byler) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

The Wizard's Ranger - Coming Soon (xPlatonic!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: When Will got taken into the Upside Down, he wasn’t the only one who happened to be there. In order to survive he must listen to his protector, a young girl who is packed with weapons and enough knowledge for him to escape the Demogorgon.

•Steve Harrington

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xSlow Burn! Henderson!OFC) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

A Bloody Kiss Goodnight - Coming Soon (xSister!OFC)🧸 💔

Summary: Fantasy! AU - On the night their family was supposed to make peace, Princess Jayden Harrington is suddenly separated from her brother and parents and winds up in a foreign land far, far away. From there, she meets a man that vows to help her get home and intact revenge, but in exchange for this, he demands that him and his kin get freedom and wealth. She accepts… not realizing that this journey will reveal the dark secrets about her life she never knew.

Her Jaded Heart - Coming Soon (xSister!OFC) 🧸 💔

Summary: Spiderman! AU - She was expecting her brother to be home just like he always is every night, probably covered in cuts and a swollen eye, begging for her to play nurse again. She never expected someone other than him standing in her bedroom, with big pleading eyes as he tells you the unfortunate news. -- Or, Jayden Harrington’s vigilante brother, Steve, goes missing, and she has to team up with another “rouge” individual in order to save him and countless others.

Underneath The Blood Orange Sun - Coming Soon (xFem!Reader)🔥🧸💔

Summary: Batman! AU - Desperately looking for a new job, you find yourself applying to work at Harrington Enterprises, and somehow end up as the big boss’ personal assistant/babysitter to his many kids. Little do they know is that you’re kind of a troublemaker in the streets at night. And little do you know is that they may or may not be the infamous “Bat-Family” everyone in Hawkins City knows about. Well… I guess the reveals will be a bit awkward.

|| One Shot

Sweet Girl, No Life - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

The Cool Dude - Coming Soon (xMunson!Reader)

Summary: N/A

•Dustin Henderson

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xSister!OFC) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

|| One Shot

Of Lightning, Idiots, and Cosplay - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: (The Flash AU) When your brother tells you that The Flash, Hawkins City’s local superhero, is his role model and wants to become just like him, you didn’t think he meant literally like him. -- Or, your brother Dustin decides to douse himself in chemicals and get struck by lightning to become just like his favorite hero, and you find yourself suddenly trying to find a way to contact the superhero who’s slightly responsible for this outcome.

Matchmaker- Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

-Taglist Is Open-

[aphfanficwriters]

Every month we will pose a question and collate responses as a fun and informal little exercise in getting to know each other and spark discussion.

For Hetalia's 18th anniversary, we asked our writers:

“How did you first get into Hetalia?”

Beetroot / @council-of-beetroot: People had recommended it to me prior since I'm a geography nerd but I heard it was offensive. At one point I read a fanfic about Hetalia Lithuania and that piqued my interest. But then like six months, around March of 2022, later I recalled my sister talking about a funny scene from Hetalia. So I decided to look up Hetalia out of context on YouTube. I decided nothing could be more offensive than I was at 13 so I watched that and then knew I had to watch the show. I watched the show in a weekend. It was particularly funny to watch at the time because my best friends that year in highs were foreign exchange students from Germany and Japan. Anyway here I am now.

Angel / @billowingangel: I got into Hetalia around 2015 by reading x Reader fanfiction and I stumbled upon a Germany x Reader on DeviantArt and then I went down a rabbit hole of the Hetalia countries x readers. The x reader fanfiction comforted me immensely as I was struggling greatly at the time and that was probably the worst time of my life. Then I found other Hetalia fanfiction and fanart, and I then watched some of the episodes on YouTube. Since then Hetalia has been something of great comfort and nostalgia to me. Hetalia honestly means so much to me and there's been so many lovely people in this fandom that I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with 💗

Didi / @teaedon: Searched my country on deviantart, found Hetalia OCs comics. Watched the anime when it had just 1 or 2 seasons out (both 2009), and began to keep up with blog and page translations on Livejournal (did I understand English at the time? Barely lmao). Then jumped from Livejournal to Tumblr but because a funny-unrelated-to-Heta blog, but soon more than later I started following Hetalia blogs... Made my sideblog in 2015; I should have done that sooner, it's around that time that my actual main fandom was another for a while. Even with the manga hiatus ending in 2021 (also new anime season), I only fully returned in 2022. No fics until... 2023, omg (the deleted ff.net one from when I was in school doesn't count).

Tama / @delgumofics: Back in 2012 my sister suggested I check it out, said it was funny. I watched ep1 subbed and by the end I had a glassy look in my eyes, shut it off, and promptly forgot about it. Later on it was on Netflix so I gave the dub a shot and died laughing. I binged the whole original run in a couple days then started looking at fics.

Eru / @eruverse: I first learned of Hetalia around well 10 years ago, but couldn’t get properly into it. I alrd liked Vanya but that was that [...] I properly got into Hetalia after they released Indonesia, so it was just around 2021. Was immediately thrown into Netherlands/Indonesia, the beloved ship of Indonesian fandom, creating fanarts for them and brainrotting with other Indonesian fans. Good times! Ah, NLID… other Indonesia ships would simply not compare to the weight of history, emotional baggage, and all kinds of other baggage of this one ship. You should check it out, and being Indonesian I have the front seat for accessing juicy historical materials. Nobody in the fandom knows the special side of Netherlands that Indonesians do.

@folightening: Bought and watched the first season a long time ago, I think it was out of curiosity. I remember people talking about it at school and I recognized the name at the store so I got the first season to check out. Didn't do anything more with it until ~2 years ago I think? Watched it again on a whim, bought the series in a collection set, found where I could read it, got my writer's block shattered, and the rest is history.

Yukihitomi / @arthurhonda: This is actually a funny story. So it was back in 2011, and my friend recommended it to me because I like history and was a history kid. It also had nekotalia, and I love cats. Combine the two, and it was a good recomendation. Ironically, she said "don't get into the fandom." Clearly, I didn't listen.

Ash / Lutz: A friend told me the anime was really funny so we watched a few episodes of it when we were in high school. I was hooked and almost immediately started googling amecan fanart lmao

Prush / @proosh: I can't remember exactly but I think my discovery of it was connected to the old DeviantArt series Scandinavia and the World? But it was around 2011, I'm pretty sure, and I got into it via the dubbed parts uploaded to Youtube. It activated me like a sleeper agent, having already had an early interest in history, and I've been trapped in here ever since.

Lacy: I randomly found the series while I was reading some news. (Think it was back in 2013-14). Sort of got very obsessed with it and was joining groups left and right, bought fktons of merch for a lot of characters. (i just love them all crazy at that point of time) One of the groups i was in decided to hold some event and thats where i wrote my first fic. Then theres so much stupid drama i just withdrew eventually and kept to myself with just one ship. (At this point there was this one person who was writing with me). Then came the time when she left as well, so I did question at that point if i still want to stay in this fandom alone (and i did, because i just want to finish up my wips 🫠).

Mossman / @one-more-mossman: I don't remember exactly how I did get into Hetalia , but I checked out the date of my first Hetalia pfp and it's December of 2012. I remember being super into Ivan and putting him on all my pfps and telling my friends about him and being all mushy and stupid. I had pretty limited access to the internet at that time, and didn't speak any English, so I wasn't a part of the Hetalia fandom - neither the English speaking nor Russian. So I didn't know he was an unstoppable rape truck y'know. I was drawing him and just silently vibing with him. I got into the actual fandom about three years ago - was a lurker first, not interacting aside from leaving kudos/comments, then got into fic writing (for English speaking fandom, I thought it was more lively than the Russian one). Found wonderful people here. Happy to be here, glad to have people sharing my interests. (Notice there is not a single mention of liking history. I don't like it. I can't remember a single fact.)

WhiteWings / @smuttyandabsurd: Gosh everyone started so much later than me... Anyway back in 2007, my sister forwarded a random USUK fanart to me on deviantArt simply because "it's BL and you might like it." I binged the first season of the anime and was tickled enough to keep watching as further seasons came out. I was already casually interested in history - it was my second favourite school subject behind English lit - but after Hetalia? Yeah I was reading the densest modern history nonfictions around, hovering in the military history section of the library among random middle-aged men, and writing rapetruck smutfics with a ~historical~ flavour. Anyway, 17 years later, everything from the way I consume Hetalia and tangentially-related topics to my writing has had a dramatic evolution from my humble weeb-y beginnings, but I'm still in this dang ass fandom and I can't find the exit.

Sicily: I was into countryhumans and I came across it, and was like, pft I'm never going to like hetalia.., and now we are here

[pascaloverx]

FELLINGS — EXO K.J

PREVIEW

Summary: You and Jongin live wanting what you two can't have. For example, he wants to win over your best friend and you want him.

Warnings: This fanfic will describe some hot romantic moments and use of inappropriate language. In the future there may be both smut and moderate use of violence. Readers are warned. This fanfic will feature some members of EXO as characters but they are not part of a Kpop group in this scenario.

CHAPTER ONE

The imperfect day definitely exists. Not that your routine days are good, but today is proving to be a challenge. Your best friend was late to tell you that there will be an engagement dinner tonight. She is engaged to her newest boyfriend, who, by the way, despite being handsome, is also controlling. While I was responsible for confirming who will appear. You then went to the office where you work as a secretary for one of the most renowned businessmen.

"You're late, you know?" Kai says as soon as you enter the office. He is wearing a suit that is somewhat clinging to his body. Not that you should notice your boss's body.

"It won't happen again, sir. But I must point out that you almost lying under my desk is unprofessional." You say almost laughing, very subtly. He looks at you with a knowing look as if he liked what you said.

"Blessed is the day I accepted you into the company. That way I wouldn't have met one of the best people in my life and fortunately because of you, I met Luna." Luna is your best friend. Kai is kind in thanking me for having met Luna, as they actually knew each other before I became his secretary. Luna is a friend I made at school where I was a scholarship student during my adolescence. Kai and she were neighbors before Kai's parents sent him on an exchange program to a foreign country, and they lost touch. Years later, at a company gathering, Kai and Luna reunited because of me.

"I don't know if you can thank me for that. I was just the reason for your reunion. Which brings me to remind you that Luna invited you to her engagement dinner. Yes, I've already checked your schedule, and you have the evening free. In fact, you have a meeting with the majority stakeholders in an hour and lunch with that international model who was being considered as our next spokesperson. And your tie… it's a bit crooked." You speak while looking closely at Kai, reaching for the iced Americano he drinks every morning in Kai's hands, fixing his tie and collar. You can never quite explain it, but your fingers always tremble a bit when you touch your boss.

"What would I do without you?" He asks, genuinely smiling, of course, trying to pretend that Luna's wedding isn't affecting him.

"Probably get your own coffee and check your own email. Should I have someone bring your fancy black suit, in case you decide to attend the dinner?" You say as you finish tying Kai's tie. He looks surprised that you already know he's going to decline the invitation but will likely reconsider later.

"Am I going to be judged if I don't go?" He asks, and you laugh. How could your opinion matter in a matter that doesn't concern you?

"Kim Jongin. You're a grown man, and Luna is a grown woman. You have a past that I can't even specify. How could I judge you for not wanting to see the woman you have feelings for getting engaged to someone else?" You speak in an authoritative tone while staring at Kai with the most judgmental facial expression you can muster. After all, shouldn't he be the one to swallow his feelings and witness the person he desires loving someone else, just as he can't see an old flame getting engaged to another?

"I love it when I stress you out enough for you to call me by my name instead of the nickname. Go ahead and have them bring the gray suit I wore to that dinner where I reunited with Luna. I'll be at the damn engagement dinner. I hope you'll be there too," Kai says seriously as he sips his coffee, and you step back a bit. Knowing him for so many years has given you a certain confidence in predicting his actions.

"I'm the maid of honor, of course, I'll be there. But I'm not sure about the time I'll arrive; my boss tends to be very relentless and bossy. You might get there before me." You say in a playful tone. He looks at his phone, replies to two messages, and then turns to you as he prepares to enter the meeting room.

"Send me the address of the dinner, and you can take the rest of the day off. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you handle being a maid of honor." He says seriously, watching your reaction. You shake your head in disbelief.

"I don't need the day off; I'm perfectly capable of handling both business matters and personal affairs. Thought you knew that already." You say, not wanting to spend the day overthinking the upcoming dinner. Kai smiles slyly, as if to say he knows you quite well.

"Y/N, you're my employee and friend. If I give you a day off, just say thank you. And if you want, I'll let you buy a new outfit with the corporate card as a bonus for the hard work you've been putting in. Now, I'm off to my meeting, and if you're not heading home, consider yourself fired. See you later." He says authoritatively, staring at you. You're left speechless, and he walks away while you accept the offer. Sensing that tonight promises several complications, you grab your things and head home.

Continues...