#i may not have ever become fluent in english

[gouinisme]

thinking about who i'd be if i didnt watch steven universe in middle school

[helen-with-an-a]

I am an adult pt 4

Hi. So this is pt 4 of the I am an adult. I really liked writing it and hope you enjoy it too. I definitely want to do a 5th part but I'm not sure about how many more after that I will do (if you get what I mean). Also, all of the German and Spanish is from google/google translate so if it's wrong, I apologise

Barca Femeni x Reader ; Lena Oberdorf x Reader

Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 3.5 : Part 4 : Part 5 : Part 6 : Part 7 : Epilogue

Description: Lena gets the talk

Word Count: 4.1k

TW: Slight smut (undescribed/suggestive rather than outright)

You weren’t used to waiting at airports for people. Usually, you were the one who was walking off the plane to visit friends and family. But you couldn’t deny the excitement bubbling up – just thinking about who would be walking through the door made you smile. You didn’t quite know the protocol for meeting your long-distance girlfriend off a flight. You were nervous about it – wanting to do it right. You may have gotten into a bit of a TikTok wormhole over couples reuniting; most people went with flowers and a sign, but you were staying in an unfamiliar city for both of you, and you did have a match to play. It was something you agonised over for days before the arrival. Having consulted an unhelpful Ona, a laughing Patri and an amused Jana, you settled on asking Alexia. That was an adult thing to talk about, right?

“Um … Ale, can I … can I ask you something?” You said as you curled up on her sofa.

“Of course, pequeña. Esta todo bien?”

“Yeh, um … it’s about Lena, actually” That might have been a bad way to phrase it. Alexia’s face dropped, her gaze becoming a little icy.

“Que hizo ella?” Her voice was just as cold.

“Nothing, nothing, prometo.” You reassured her. “I wanted to ask you what to get her for the airport,” you explained quietly, a little apprehensive over her response.

“Oh, cariño.” Alexia cooed, pulling her legs up to tuck underneath her as she twisted to face you, her hand reaching along the back of the sofa to pick at the corner of the cushion. “Honestly, I don’t think she’d be expecting anything. I certainly wouldn’t if Olga and I met somewhere in the middle.” Her look softened even more as you nodded furiously, eyes locked on her patterned carpet. She could see you sag ever so slightly – clearly, you wanted to get Lena something. “I think, if you really want to get her something,” she continued, smiling as you perked up at her response. “You could do something small – like a … ugh, what’s the word …” She was so fluent in English you often forgot that it was technically her third language. “It’s small and fluffy; you give it to niñas,” she clicked frantically, clearly trying hard to remember. “Un oso de peluche,” she sighed, wracking her brain to remember the English word.

“A teddy bear?” You asked, helping her out slightly.

“Sí, sí, a teddy bear. You could get her one of those? It would be small enough for her to pack away when she travels, and it is something she can keep with her when she’s back in Germany.” You smiled at her suggestion – nodding happily at her words.

The day was finally here. You were finally seeing Lena again. Madrid airport was a little struggle to navigate but you stood, buzzing with excitement, as you waited at arrivals. You looked down at the goodies you had with you – a little bag filled with a very cute and very fluffy teddy bear, some Spanish sweets, and an iced coffee in your hand. You had also packed a few extra jumpers to sneak into Lena’s bag before she left.

L💚: Just got through passport control and stuff

L💚: I’ll be maybe 5/10 more mins

[Initial] ❤️💙: eeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Initial] ❤️💙: ok – I’m like right by the exit

[Initial] ❤️💙: turn left when u walk through it and im by the pillar post thingy

5 to 10 more minutes … you could do that. With every passing minute, your excitement and anticipation grew. It had been a long few months without Lena by your side. Yes, you texted every day; Yes, you Facetimed 5 times a week minimum; but seeing her in person, being able to hug her and hold her and kiss her and smell her and touch her and … you couldn’t be more excited.

“Hola, mi amor.” Very poorly pronounced Spanish whispered to you as strong, familiar arms wrapped around your waist.

“Lena,” you squealed, clearly having missed her walk up – far too much in your own head.

“mmmm, ich habe dich vermisst,” she sighed happily as you twisted in her grip to hug her tightly. She was warm and soft and smelt of cinnamon.

“I’ve mis- no, wait,” you cut yourself off. She tilted her head to the side, drawing back to look at you. “Ich habe dich auch so sehr vermisst,” you stumbled slightly but the big, wide grin on Lena’s face told you, you had said it right.

“Can I kiss you, Schatz?” she asked gently. You blinked slightly, not expecting her to ask you that in such a public space. “I, we, don’t have to. It’s just it’s been so long, and,” she rushed to get out, hating the fact that she had made you even the smallest bit uncomfortable.

“Liebe,” you cut her off, waiting until she looked at you before you continued. When her warm chocolate eyes met yours, you struggled not to float away in them. “Please, kiss me.” You smiled as she let out a breath of relief. You met halfway, and it was just as perfect as all the other kisses you two had shared, if not more so after such a long time apart.

“As …” she cleared her throat as she pulled away slightly. “As much as I want to continue. We should get going … but later, ich verspreche.” She vowed and picked her bag up off the floor. And extending her hand for you to take.

“No, wait, gimme that.” You gestured for her bag, forcing it from her when she hesitated to hand it over. “Also, these are for you,” you said with a proud smile, giving her the now slightly watery coffee and bag of goodies.

“Schatz, you shouldn’t have.” She began, but you shook your head, denying her the chance to complain. You stuck your tongue out at her, intertwined your fingers and pulled her towards the exit.

Taking the metro back to your hotel reminded you a lot of your first date. Lena looking slightly puzzled over the Spanish being spoken all around you. On your first date, you had shyly stood next to her, closer than two friends would be not enough to make her feel uncomfortable, and quietly translated a bit of the conversation between two girls nearby; you added the voices to differentiate between the two girls and jokingly copied any actions they did. This time, you let her lean against you, one arm sneaking around her waist to fiddle with the belt loops on her jeans and the other holding tightly onto the handrail. Her head dropped into your neck, muttering something in German.

“What was that, Liebe?” You asked softly, mindful that your mouth was quite close to her ear despite the busy train.

“Müde,” she said again into your neck. It took you a minute to sift through the German in your head. You pouted when you finally understood what she was saying. She was tired. That you could understand, travelling was difficult when you understood the language, let alone one where you landed in a country where the language was entirely different and almost no familiarity to yours. You pressed a chaste kiss to her hairline, hoping to comfort her a little.

“Naw,” you cooed. "It’s okay. We’re almost back to the hotel. We can have a nap if you want,” you pressed another kiss to her head. "But Alexia says she has to see you at some point tonight,” you reminded her.

“Forgot ‘bout Alexia,” she whined tiredly, her grip tightening on you.

“I’m sorry, Liebe. I promise she won’t be too harsh or scary. I know she can come off a bit..." you struggled for the right word. “Intense? But I promise she’s really sweet.”

You finally made it to your stop, and you filtered off the train, fingers laced together so neither of you got lost (mainly Lena, as she didn’t know a lick of Spanish). Just as you were walking up the steps outside, a flustered woman appeared next to you.

“Lamento mucho molestarte. Pero estoy intentando llegar al aeropuerto y tienes una maleta. Sabes cómo conseguirlos?” The flurry of Spanish through you off for a second as you had been conversing in English almost all day.

“No, no te preocupes en absoluto. Um, sólo necesitas …” As you explained the directions to the woman, Lena couldn’t help but watch in awe. She knew you could speak Spanish – you lived in Spain, you played for Barcelona, and she’d seen you talking in Spanish on the football pitch. Hell, the first time she had met you, you were finishing a conversation in Spanish with the film and media crews. It had done something to her then, and it was doing something to her now, too. She couldn’t understand a word of what you were saying, but the accent, the rapid words, the hand gestures, your kind smile … she suddenly wasn’t as tired as she felt on the train.

“Sorry, Liebe,” you said as you finished, waving to the woman as she sped down the steps towards the platform. She was asking about getting to the airport—she had seen your bag and guessed we had just come from there.” You explained, taking her (now slightly clammy) hand and leading her towards your hotel.

The hotel room was big and welcoming, a large bed in the centre with your things thrown haphazardly across it called to Lena as she walked through the door. She left her stuff by the wall and flopped heavily down, sighing at the softness that surrounded her. You looked at her from your vantage point by the door. Her top had ridden up, exposing her abs slightly, her biceps were on full display, and the veins in her arms rippled slightly as she twisted her fingers in the bedding underneath her. She was doing things to you – maybe it was because you hadn’t had sex a good few months (it was currently the longest you had ever gone without since you started having sex); maybe it was because she looked so at home amongst your things; perhaps it was the fact that your girlfriend was finally within touching distance. You also realised you didn’t quite care enough to figure it out.

“Incoming,” you yelled as you launched yourself at her.

“Oof,” she huffed, her breath leaving her body as your weight settled on top of her, both of you laughing quietly at your behaviour.

“Hi,” you smiled at her, arms either side of her head, legs straddling her hips.

“Hi,” she smiled back, lift her hands to stroke her thumbs across your exposed skin.

“I…” should you say it? “I’ve missed you,” you chicken out from what you really wanted to say. You knew you told her at the airport that you missed her, but you needed her to know just how much her absence affected you.

“I’m sorry.” She knew the distance was difficult for both of you. You shook your head, refusing to let her think that this was her fault.

“No, there’s nothing that can be done at the moment. I’m at Barca; you’re at Wolfsburg. It is what it is.” You shrugged, hoping it would ease her sadness a little. “But … you’re here now, we have this weekend. And that is all that matters.” You smiled, the wide, soft smile full of love and tenderness that only Lena got to see often. You felt rather than saw Lena crane her neck up to try to kiss you; your smile shifted into a cheeky grin as you pulled back just out of her reach. She stopped looking at you offendedly.

“Nuh, uh, uh,” you teased, your tongue darting out to wet your lips. “I...” You kiss her forehead. This was your chance. “Missed.” You kissed her cheek, backing out again. “You.” You kissed her other cheek.

“And I’ve missed you, Schatz.” Her hands left your waist, coming up to cradle your face, holding to exactly where she wanted. She waited a few moments, letting her eyes scan your face, trying to commit everything to memory (even though she had already done that well before you left Germany at New Year’s). “So much,” she whispered as she finally tugged you down to meet her lips.

The kiss started out slow, sweet and tender, as your love was poured into it. As you parted, her darkened eyes roamed your body, one hand cementing itself in your hair, tugging lightly as the other moved to trace along the waistband of your shorts. Your kisses weren’t a battle for dominance, but you were falling into a pattern of give and take that was uniquely yours. Your top was the first to come off, hers following not too long afterwards. Buttons were undone, drawstrings loosened and more clothing adding to the mess on the floor. Her hands grasped at any available flesh as your fingers slipped inside. Dark spots were bitten into supple skin, moans were melodies as you rediscovered each other.

“Don’t stop,” You panted into her skin as she guided you to the brink of ecstasy.

“Never,” came her reply, equally as breathless.

“What happened to being tired?” You laughed as she snuggled into your side, her once-eager fingers tracing light shapes into your skin. She groaned at your teasing, pressing more weight onto you. You fiddled with her hair as you waited for an explanation.

“Dein Spanisch. Mit dieser Dame am Bahnhof … Es hat etwas mit mir gemacht” You didn’t understand it fully. Spanish … train station? You were a little confused.

“Sorry, I got something about my Spanish and the lady at the train station. What was the last bit?” You were trying to learn German, but you had started with the most practical things – the greetings, stuff that happened in daily life, cheesy lines you could say to Lena to make her blush.

“Um … it’s a bit embarrassing, really … you were speaking Spanish to that lady at the station,” she blushed profusely. You just smiled, letting your fingers comb through the mess her hair had become. “Es war wirklich sexy.” Your grin doubled in size. So, you speaking Spanish turned her on? That was useful to know.

“Well,” you said after a moment of silence. “If me giving directions to the airport is sexy, you should hear me when I say something truly seductive,” you teased, squeezing her gently as she buried her head in your neck again.

“Mmmm, déjame pensar. Cuando llegue a casa, debo acordarme de llamar al administrador del edificio.” You laughed as you felt her blush, the new heat obvious against your skin. You also couldn’t help but notice the slight shift of Lena’s hips against your thigh. “Liebe, I just said I needed to call my building manager – that is not sexy.” She pulled away from your skin.

“Uh, everything you do is sexy,” she countered. “Say something else? Something that’s actually hot,” she begged, ignoring your teasing smile, and raised eyebrow.

“Hm, vale, vale,” you wracked your brains, trying to think of something that you actually considered sexual. “Quiero que me tengas en todas las formas que quieras. Quiero destrozarte una y otra y otra vez.” You usually weren’t that explicit about your wants, but you were reliant on Lena not really knowing what you were saying.  Lena was gobsmacked. She had not a clue what you had just said but the way you had said it – the slight rasp in your voice, the rosy hue to your skin, the sticky sheen of sweat, the hickeys she had sucked into your skin. She rolled you over, balancing above you as her legs slotted between yours.

“Redonda Dos?” You asked. She knew enough Spanish for that.

Just as things were getting interesting again, your door swung up.

“Y/N? ¿Estás aquí? Ale te ha estado enviando mensajes de texto toda la tar -” Ona cut herself off with a shrill scream.

“Me arden los ojos.” She gagged dramatically. “Ew, mis ojos.”

“Oni, qué carajo en realidad?” You shouted back, dragging the duvet up to cover the both of you.

“Do you want to introduce me?” She grinned evilly.

“No, get out!” You glowered at her. When she made no effort to move, you threw a pillow at her.

“Ale says to come to her room.” You flicked your finger at her, letting her know your displeasure. Turning uour attention was fixed back on Lena, you heard her cackling outside.

“Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße. Alexia wird mich töten. Ich bin tot. Ich werde sterben. Ich hatte praktisch Sex mit ihrer kleinen Schwester. Oh, mein Gott. Ich werde sterben. Fuck.” Lena was panicking – real, genuine anxiety spread throughout her chest as she sat up against the pillows.

“Liebe, it’s ok,” you soothed, grabbing one hand in yours and swinging your other arm across her shoulders. “Liebe?” you tried again.

“Alexia is going to kill me.” Lena said, looking into your eyes for what she genuinely thought might be the final time.

“No, she won’t.” You smiled softly, not wanting to laugh at Lena’s ridiculousness. “I won’t let her,” you vowed, squeezing her hand tight in promise. “Now, we should probably get some clothes on and head to Ale’s room.”

As you reached for your hoodie, your world darkened suddenly as fabric landed on your head. You lifted it up to reveal a very familiar Adidas hoodie, turning back to see a sheepish Lena.

“How did that get there?” She asked innocently.

“I don’t know, Liebe. How did it get there?” You played along. “There’s only one Adidas athlete in this room, and it’s not me.” She shrugged, snatching your Barca hoodie out of your reach.

“I don’t know, Schatz. But it looks like it’s your only hoodie, and I want you to stay warm.” She was a terrible actor.

“If you wanted me to wear your clothes, you could have just asked,” you laughed as you slipped on the material, getting slightly lost as you tried to find the head hole. You heard a sigh and footsteps before the fabric was rearranged on you as your head burst through the top.

“Guten Tag,” you beamed at her.

“Hallo, Schatz,” she smiled at you before stealing a kiss. You hummed gently, allowing yourself to melt into her just slightly.

“Vamos, vamos.” You spun her around to face the door. “Let’s not keep Ale waiting,” you laughed and tapped her on the bum to get her moving.

Alexia’s room was exactly the same as yours – a wide, comforting bed with a mountain of pillows dominating the space. You tapped on the door, knowing that she would probably have at least 3 of the other girls in her room with her.

“Schatz, I know I said I would endure this for you … for us,” Lena said when it was clear Alexia was making you wait a little. Was she second guessing this? Was she regretting you? “And I will, I will.” She added when your head snapped back to look at her. “But I’m really freaking out here.” You softened.

“Oh, Liebe. It’s ok,” you said, pulling her into a hug. “I understand, really, I do. This isn’t exactly how I wanted you to meet Ale, but I promise you,” you squeezed her to emphasise your point. “She’s a giant softy with a tendency for affectionate bullying. If she starts speaking in Catalan, just ignore her; that’s what I do,” you joked, trying to lighten her mood a little. “She’s just like Alex and Svenja are to you. She’s just looking out for me – even though I don’t need her to and certainly not in this case,” you were rambling now, unknowingly easing Lena’s anxieties in an instant.

Someone cleared their throat behind you, cutting your talking off. Lucy. You smiled at her, pushing past as you guided Lena to sit on the edge of the bed, taking her hand in both of yours when you sat next to her – providing quiet but noticeable support. There were more people in the room than you were expecting. You knew Alexia would call on Lucy, Irene and probably Paños and Marta to give the talk, but Ingrid’s presence surprised you, as did Ona’s and Patri’s.

“Entonces, quieres presentarnos a Lena?” Alexia asked, leaning against the desk in front of you, Paños on her left, Lucy on her right. Irene and Marta stood blocking the path to the door – all of them with what they thought were tough expressions on their faces. Ingrid looked annoyed to be there, Ona was trying to look hard, and Patri had an amused smile dancing on her lips.

“In English, Alexia. It’s not fair on Lena to speak in a language she doesn’t know.” You said calmly, breathing deeply to keep your emotions in check. They had promised not to treat you like a child.

“Do you want to introduce us to Lena?” She asked again, voice artificially calm.

“Not if you’re going to treat us like children.” You raised an eyebrow, reminding all of them of their promises to treat you more adult-like.

“That was before we found out you were having sex,” Lucy started. She stood up from where she was leaning, you matching her behaviour by squaring your shoulders.

“Suficiente, vosotros dos.” Alexia ordered before you had the chance to comment. As much as she wanted to give a protective big sister talk, she realised that maybe this was what you meant when you said that you wanted to be treated more like an adult. It was silent as she studied you and Lena – sitting so close you were practically on top of each other, your thumb never wavering in its soothing motion against the back of Lena’s hand, the way Lena’s eyes kept flitting back to your face in search of any discomfort. She didn’t need to do the grandiose speech she was planning to give – she didn’t need to let every one of the older girls chime in with their threats. If Lena harmed you, Lena wouldn’t harm you – of that, Alexia was sure. “Everyone out. Not you or Lena,” she said as you shifted to leave. “Ona, quédate también por favor.” Alexia ignored the other’s protests; Lucy’s whining was heard even with the door closed. She had allowed Ona to stay in her role as your best friend – she wasn’t about to deny her this opportunity (especially since she knew you had promised Lucy you would exact a painful revenge if Ona ever came to you crying over something about their relationship).

“Lena. I am going to say this one time,” Alexia began, watching as Lena’s eyes grew wide and gulped noticeably. You just rolled your eyes at her antics. “If you hurt her,” she paused for dramatic effect. “I will hunt you down … and end you.” Alexia was quite pleased with herself – she considered that to be restrained enough to appease you whilst instilling enough fear in Lena to make her slightly nervous. Lena nodded, taking a breath to start making promises of never ever hurting you.

Ona cleared her throat from her perch on the windowsill, drawing all of your attention to her. She took a deep breath before letting out the sentence she had been practising since you first mentioned a German footballer had caught your eye, “Ich werde dir die Beine brechen.” The pronunciation was horrendous, but Lena knew what she meant. It was the worst threat Ona could think of with Lena being a footballer.

“Oni,” you whined, although you had no leg to stand on – your threat to Lucy had been so much worse.

“There, we have said what was needed to be said. Let’s go to dinner, sí?” Alexia smiled at the three of you, the polar opposite of the menacing Captain that stood in her place moments before. Ona laughed, looping her arm through Alexia’s and heading to the door.

“That wasn’t so bad,” You joked, nudging Lena. The tension was still very much in her body, however.

“I need them to know, and you need to know it too. I won’t hurt you, ever, Schatz. I promise, ich verspreche, prometo.” She looked deep into your eyes, willing you to understand how deep her vow went. She made the promise to herself in the shower after your first date; her mind kept replaying your almost-kiss, your bubbly laugh and the feel of your soft hand in hers. She had vowed that day to never let your smile fade, and she wanted … no, needed … you to know that.

“Liebe, I know that. They know that.” You reached up to cradle her face in your hands. You took a deep breath and said the words that had been playing on your mind for weeks now: “I love you.”

I hope you liked it <3<3<3

[moondirti]

Who from the 141 speaks the best arabic do you think? From one arab girl to another, it’d be so hot if any of them were fluent 🫠

if my memory serves me correctly, we get a bit in the first campaign from price. to me it seems to be a basic knowledge. a few sentences he picked up on the field and memorised to make his job easier. evac orders, cardinal directions, how to ask for water, food, medicine. that kind of stuff. pure utility, though that’s his approach to most things.

i like to believe (call it bias or whatever) that gaz is fluent. this ties in to my headcanon that he’s the only member who attended and graduated uni, but he strikes me as someone intensely curious about everything. introducing him to something, be it language or cuisine or a skill he hasn’t mastered yet, is like knocking down the floodgates. it’s his time in urzikstan that does it. hearing the way it rolls off farah’s tongue (let’s ignore doumit’s canon pronunciations), or how she’s able to translate a long, winding, clumsy sentence to something short. beautiful.

there’s a word for everything, he finds. one for the state of gossiping with your friends over morning coffee. one to congratulate someone on their cleanliness after a haircut. one that means may you be the one to bury me, for it would be unbearable to live without you – that is used so casually in conversation, kyle is stunned when he learns the true meaning. it doesn’t hold the same expectation, the same trepidation, as it does in english, though it retains its weight all the same. he wonders what makes a language so special that its intrinsic devotion has found a common place within its cultures, and he sets to find out.

this turns into a thing. more rambling under the cut.

the largest learning curve is the alphabet. the sounds that don’t exist in his mother tongue. he’s especially hard on himself when it comes to enunciating them properly – half the beauty is in the way words flow together, and there would really be no point in indulging in arabic’s more lyrical aspects if he’s off pitch. he gets the hang of it eventually, of course, one too many vocal exercises later.

the weathered dictionary he picks up at a second hand store teaches him that most words have three letter roots, and that it isn’t so easy as to look them up alphabetically. picking up new vocab becomes infinitesimally harder, then. for twelve million choices, the distinction between some words comes down to diacritical marks. necklace, decade, contract, held, complicated, and knots are all spelt the same way, yet pronounced ever so slightly different — a fact he learns the hard way when he tells the cashier at the kibbeh place he frequents that he likes her decade.

reading. reading is what helps him get over that.

(he probably should touch on basic grammar first — nouns, verbs, particles, sentence structure, that sort of stuff — but figures he'll pick it up as he goes, basing his methodology on an inability to remember any rules for the english language. he grew up hearing it, reading it, watching it, surrounded by it, so it just is what it is now. why work so hard on task books made for kids, then, when he can just get right into the meat of the matter? acclimatise through force.)

he picks up stacks of books upon books upon poetry. naguib mahfouz. ghada al-samman. al-mutanabbi. mahmoud darwish. it takes him a month to get through the first, and another month for the second. which only means he really takes his time with them, roving over the same line until it's etched into his memory. the cadence, the beats for pause, the way a word he has to punch from his throat is followed by one that lilts, all sing-songy. eventually, he starts to (inadvertently) mimic that sweeping manner of speech, employing it in contexts which certainly don't call for it.

the cashier — the very same one whose age he mistakenly stressed, despite the fact that she couldn't have been much younger than him — is far too nice to say anything about it, smiling instead, endeared, while he waxes poetic about meze.

farah calls him out immediately the next time they catch up.

apparently, no one speaks in classical arabic anymore, go figure. it would be like talking in shakespearean english, she tells him. he imagines it, iambic pentameter and all, and cringes, newly determined. his own research unearths (though it wasn't really a secret) the fact that there are roughly 25 different dialects belonging to different regions — and while some are pretty similar (syrian and lebanese), others could classify as a whole other language on their own (moroccan).

reddit tells him what he already knows; that the best way to learn is through exposure. there are no dictionaries for patois. and farah, despite her total enthusiasm at his interest, is far too busy of a woman to help.

(really, it just gives him an excuse to finally do what he's been meaning to.)

the next time he's craving kibbeh, he's fixed on not making a fool of himself when he asks the cashier out to lunch.

[fuiabarcelos]

King of my heart 

Pairing: Sam Winchester x reader.

Summary: You, the queen, have lost the love of your life, Sir Sam, and vow never to fall in love with anyone again.

Bingo: a reputation song - king of my heart .

Genre: Angst and fluff. Au!Royal - 4782 words

Warnings: Grief (I think that's all).

A/N: I'm not fluent in English, so a lot of mistakes can happen.

The crowd gathered in the hall looked at you with every new step you took, admiring your elegance and your attire. Your head was held high as you walked down the aisle among nobles and commoners, ready to take on your responsibilities as queen.   

His father, the king, had died a few weeks before. An unexpected death, as he appeared to be in good health. And, as his only daughter, you were supposed to take over the throne. You weren't afraid, you had been trained and taught to be the ruler of Arcadia since you were a little girl. No one had any doubts that the kingdom would be ruled by a fair queen, and everyone looked forward to the future prosperities in store for the kingdom. 

You were ready to be queen, but you weren't ready to go your own way without him. If your father's death was unexpected, Sir Sam's was even more so. The memories of your father's wake were filled with moments of honor and respect, because he had prepared you for this moment, but the memories of Sir Sam's wake were covered in tears and anguish, because you expected to spend the rest of your life with him. You wanted him to be your best friend, your husband and your king. 

You grew up together, playing and having fun in the halls of the palace. His father, Sir John, was head of the guard, your father's great friend and confidant. The king knew that Sir John raised his children with honor and modesty, and that's why he let you be so close to Sam. Sam would never disrespect you.   

When you were 13, Sam started writing you love letters and you had already told your father that you were interested in marrying him. You were sure that you would never meet anyone like Sam, and your love for each other grew every day. Sam admired you; his gaze was so sweet when he looked at you that everyone in the kingdom knew the feelings you both shared. 

When Sir John died bravely defending the king in an attack on the enemy kingdom, his eldest son, Sir Dean, took over the role of chief of the guard, after which he appointed his brother as your bodyguard, making the two of you even closer.   

Suddenly, however, everything you had came to an end the same night your father died. Sir Sam died a mysterious death, his body wasn't found in its entirety, only a few limbs. A horrible death. You couldn't believe that your love had died in such a brutal way, and you swore that when the person responsible for this was found, justice would be done.  

Here you were, about to become queen, but without the love of your life by your side. 

You sat on the throne. You expected to feel ecstatic as soon as you sat on the throne, but you couldn't have been more indifferent at that moment. Scanning the crowd, you came across some familiar faces: Sir Dean and Marquis Castiel, who smiled at you and curtsied. Looking at Dean, you couldn't help but think of your brother, how proud he would be to be part of your coronation, but he wasn't here, he never would be.   

The archbishop finally took your crown gently and approached you.   

“May I present Y/N, Queen of Arcadia” After saying these words, the archbishop finally places the crown on your head, and you quickly rise from your throne to receive the honors of those present. 

“God save the queen!" Some say.  

"Long live the queen!" Others exclaim.   

That day your reign began, but your life ended the night your great love was killed. You would never love again. 

You had already been queen for two years and the kingdom was more prosperous than ever.   

"How are the preparations for my meeting with Duke Singer?" You asked your lady-in-waiting, Jody, duchess and wife of Duke Singer. They both played important roles in your development as queen, you always saw them as second parents. The duchess was just finishing putting the tiara on your head and fastening it with clips. 

"Everything is in order; the duke is waiting for you in your study." 

"Dear Jody," you said, turning back to face her, "do you know what this conversation is about? Is there something wrong with the affairs of our kingdom? Another rebellion to the south?" You were worried because the enemy army insisted on plundering the crops in the south.  

"Yes, I know why, but I'd rather my husband told you. Please don't be anxious, Your Majesty. As for the south, the enemy army has already been defeated and the people are receiving all the protection they need."   

"That comforts me. I must go and meet Duke Singer now," Jody bowed slightly in reverence. 

Ever since Sir Sam was murdered, you had asked Sir Dean not to put anyone in his place, so you walked alone through the castle corridors, as you would normally do in Sam's company. One of the guards waiting in front of your office door bowed to you and then opened the door where you would meet Duke Singer.   

"Your Majesty, I'm glad to see you. You've been so busy these past few days." 

"The kingdom has been demanding a lot of me lately, Your Grace. Sometimes I think I won't be able to cope with everything on my own but thank heaven I have faithful companions like you to help me." 

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Your Majesty" You were confused, Duke Singer wanted to talk to you about his help in the kingdom? Were you making him work too hard? Or was he thinking of offering his services to someone else? You'd do anything to stop that from happening "The nobles are charging for a... marriage." 

"That subject again!" You exclaimed as you rolled your eyes and turned to leave the room, since you weren't willing to talk about it again.  

"Your Majesty, please listen! I'm not asking you to forget your love for Sir Sam, God rest his soul, you of all people know that i thought of him as a son. I could never ask you to stop loving him, that wouldn't be fair." 

"Then why do you insist on asking me to marry someone? Sam would be my husband, the king of my heart and of this kingdom, no one can ever take his place!" 

"Queen, think about it, imagine how many benefits our kingdom will get if you get married. You know that many kingdoms give up doing business with Arcadia when they find out that an unmarried queen rules it." 

"They don't think I can do it, but I've already proved in these two years that I can." 

"I know you do, but think of your people. If you marry a nobleman from another kingdom, we can expand our army. Many people and soldiers have already died in the fighting to the south and many more will die if we do nothing. A marriage could be the key to our problems." 

"Are you sure about that, Your Grace?" 

"I would never ask such a thing of Your Majesty if I didn't have the purest conviction."  

"You know I trust you with my eyes closed, Bobby. I'm willing to consider suitors if it means my people will be safe." 

"Royal Proclamation  

For the attention of all subjects of the Kingdom of Arcadia,  

It is with great honor and respect that we announce that Her Royal Majesty, Queen Y/n, is seeking suitors for holy matrimony.  

At this auspicious time, the royal court invites all worthy and noble-hearted gentlemen to come forward as potential consorts for our beloved queen." 

Ever since it was announced that you were looking for a husband, the offers had been pouring in. Thousands of princes, lords, counts and dukes had come forward with the intention of obtaining your hand in marriage, but none of them had pleased you enough.   

You knew that none of these gentlemen would receive your love, since you swore that it belonged to only one man and that man unfortunately could not claim the position as your husband. However, you were looking for a man you could at least put up with for the rest of your life. With marriage, you would have to fulfill your role as a wife, but it sickened you to think of lying with any of these noblemen or even giving them children.  

You were about to give up when Lord Gavin introduced himself. His lands were a little far away and he had few plantations, but what caught your eye was his extensive mining of iron, silver and gold and his vast army that possessed the most innovative weapons.   

"I know about your painful broken heart, Your Majesty. I wonder why you took a sudden interest in me," Gavin questioned as you walked through the garden.  

"You know very well what my motives were for giving you the chance to get to know me better." 

"My mines and my army, of course," he said smugly. "You know, Your Highness, I don't judge you for wanting a marriage of convenience. I too lost the woman I loved and swore never to love anyone again, just like Your Majesty." 

"You swear? Tell me more." You'd like to hear Gavin talk about his grief, you were hoping to identify with his story and maybe the two of you could make some big agreements based on your feelings.   

"There's not much to tell. I was only a week away from my wedding to her, but she suddenly fell ill and passed away soon after." He sighed as he looked at the horizon, your gaze followed his and you imagined Sam's eyes when you saw the mixture of the sea contracting with the green moss that covered the mountains, you wondered if Gavin also remembered his beloved as he looked at the scene "I've never felt so much pain, it was as if my soul died along with hers. Since then I've never been close to any other woman, but when I saw the proclamation saying that Your Majesty was looking for a husband, I remembered how similar your story is to mine and your promise never to love another man again. So, I thought we could take advantage of this situation." 

"And how exactly do you plan to do that, Lord? You know that if we get married, we'll have to take on our responsibilities as husband and wife. And it will be impossible to keep our promises..." 

"People don't need to know that we haven't consummated the marriage." 

"But what about the children? I'm sure we'll be asked about the generation of an heir." You asked, feeling repulsed at the thought of begetting a son from him.   

"Many kingdoms don't have legitimate heirs these days. Wouldn't you like to leave the throne to one of Duke and Duchess Singer's daughters?" You immediately thought of Claire and Alex, you imagined that Claire would renounce the throne as eldest daughter because she didn't like the idea of having that kind of obligation, she wanted to be free, but Alex might love to be queen.  Regardless of which of the two assumed the throne, the kingdom would be in good hands.   

"I think you may be right, if you wish, I'll have our wedding announced and I'll make sure it happens as soon as possible."  

"I'm happy with your decision, Your Majesty," Gavin smiled debauchedly, happy that he had managed to convince her. Everything was going according to plan. 

After your conversation with Gavin, you decided to take a walk by yourself to enjoy the morning sun and think about your decisions. Of course, you weren't happy about getting married to someone other than Sam, but this arrangement would be good for both of you, and you wouldn't have to fulfill your role as wife to Gavin. He would just be your sidekick. As you were walking, you were startled, and two hands stopped you.  

"Sir Dean, you scared me!"   

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I didn't mean to."  

"You know there's no need for formalities, Dean. We're friends. What do you want?"  

"Are you in love with him, Y/n?" He asked, his voice coming out lower than usual. 

"No, of course not, Dean! You know that my heart is and always will be your brother Sam's." 

"Forgive me, I don't want you to think I'm judging you. Sam would like you to move on, for this pain in your heart to go away and for you to finally be happy." 

"I would be happy if he were here. But... I'm marrying Gavin, it'll be a marriage of convenience, we've agreed not to consummate the marriage and we won't have heirs, Claire or Alex will take the throne and..." 

"Y/n, you don't have to explain yourself to me."   

"I just want you to know that no one will ever take Sam's place, he'll always be the love of my life.  It was supposed to be him walking me down the aisle."   

"Are you asking for my blessing for this marriage to take place?" 

"I feel guilty for saying yes to another man before the crown and God, I thought if you agreed I would feel better." 

"You know that no matter what I say, this pain won't go away... but if you want to know what I think about this marriage, I think it will be good for the kingdom. I learned about the mines and Lorde's weaponry. We will have a great advantage against the enemy army, and we will be able to free the people from so much suffering. Sam will always be in our hearts, but now the kingdom needs the queen to take some action" You agreed, Sir Dean was right. 

You looked at yourself in the mirror as you tried to hold back the tears in your eyes. You've always dreamed of seeing yourself in white, ready to become a wife. Sam's wife. But it wasn't him you were going to marry tonight and the tears that insisted on welling up in your eyes weren't of emotion, but of sadness. You walked to the safe where you kept all the love letters Sam had written to you. 

“My dear Y/n 

Today I was admiring the fine silk that the merchant brought for the making of your next ball gown and I couldn't help but remember how it looked with the softness of your skin. For a moment I was in a reverie, remembering our nocturnal caresses. Your body under mine, while my hands explored your entire body. My mouth on your breasts while you grabbed my hair and moaned softly so no one could hear, soon my mouth was on yours again as I slowly filled you. 

I miss nights like this with you, my brother asked for reinforcements on the battle line in the South and for a while I had to abandon my post as your bodyguard, but I want you to know that I will be by your side again as soon as possible. And we can enjoy our love. 

With love, your Sam” 

“My dearly beloved princess 

I was thinking about the words we said today and, for me, saying I love you wasn't enough. Y/n, you are the sun that lights up my darkest days, bringing lightness and warmth to my heart. I dream about you every night and I always wish to be with you in my arms to love and care for you. 

No one in the world will be able to overcome this overwhelming love I feel for you, I know we are not old enough to get married yet, but I am looking forward to that day. The only certainty I have in life is having you in marriage and becoming yours forever. 

With all the love in the world, your Sam” 

You didn't have time to read a few more letters, as you were interrupted by Jody's presence. 

"It's time, your majesty" When the duchess investigated your eyes, she knew exactly what was going through your head — You need to be brave, Y/n. I'm not saying as your lady-in-waiting, take this as mother to daughter advice. The deal you got with Lord Gavin was great, you won't need to break your promise. 

“I know… I just” You thought about venting and crying into her lap as you grieved over the loss of Sir Sam, but there was no time for that — Nothing. Should we go." 

Your legs shook as you walked down the red carpet alongside Duke Singer, your heart racing with each new step and each new thought that you would soon be Lord Gavin's wife. However, with the shred of courage you had left, you raised your head and continued walking. 

"We are gathered here to unite in marriage Queen Y/n, of Arcadia, and Lord Gavin, of Hellcrest. Lord Gavin, do you accept Queen Y/n as your lawfully wedded wife?" 

"Yes, I accept" He replied smiling. Without explanation, that smile gave you goosebumps of fear. 

"My queen, do you accept Lord Gavin as your lawfully wedded husband?" 

Tension was in the air; everyone was eager for your answer. You faced the crowd hoping something would happen so you wouldn't have to marry Lord Gavin, but the only thing that could be heard was the sound of rain hitting the ground. Even the heavens were crying. You took a deep breath, looked at the archbishop and then at Gavin and finally looked back at the crowd, but something caught your attention... someone. 

“Sam” you said softly. Realizing that you had seen him, the tall man ran towards the exit, but no one seemed to have seen him, because when they held your gaze, the gentleman had already disappeared into the fog "SAM!" You shouted, running down the hall while holding up your dress. 

"Majesty!" Duke Bobby ran up to you, holding on tightly, “What’s going on?” 

"Bobby, I saw him. Sam is alive!" 

"This is impossible!" It was Sir Dean's turn to exclaim "I know this is hard for you, Y/n, but it was probably just a mirage. My brother hasn't been with us for two years!" 

"Please, let me go. I swear I saw him. He's here" You tried your best to push away the arms that held you, struggling tirelessly against them. These gentlemen should know that nothing can hold a woman in love. You finally managed to escape and ran as fast as you could to try and catch up to your loved one. 

The rain and fog obscured your vision, but you continued running in the direction where you thought you saw Sam go. Because of the wet ground you slipped, but when you were about to fall, two strong arms caught you. When you looked down you realized that if he hadn't restrained you, you would have fallen into a huge cliff. You finally looked up and your stomach dropped when you saw Sam's face looking down at you with concern. 

“I got you” he said as he pulled you closer. 

"Sam, my love, you're alive!" Your hands went to his face, brushing away the wet strands that covered his face. Sam's smile soon appeared on his lips. 

"I'm right here, my princess... I mean, my queen" Sam's lips quickly met yours, his grip tightened on your hair as you lost yourself even more in that kiss. Your hands snaked all over his body to make sure you weren't dreaming, the kiss was long and when it ended, you could barely breathe "Come on, we have to go." 

"What? Go where?" You looked back and a half dozen men holding torches and swords towards you "What's going on?" 

"We have to go; I need to keep you safe. We'll talk later" So you started running, your feet hurt from the tight shoes, but you blindly trusted Sam. 

"Come on, come in!" Marquis Castiel was waiting for you two near a carriage "Quickly, quickly" You entered the carriage and the door soon closed, Marquis Castiel sat down next to the coachman and the vehicle began to move quickly. 

You finally had a minute to take a deep breath, Sam left you to himself and started placing kisses on your head. 

"I'm sorry for staying so long for so long and making you believe that I had died. You don't know how painful it was for me too, having to stay away from my loved one for two years." 

"Why did you do that, Sam?" 

"Because I saw who killed your father. It was all Gavin's big plan. On the night of the king's death, I saw Gavin attacking him and throwing poison into his mouth, it took seconds for your father to die. When I drew my sword to kill Gavin and avenge the king's death, his henchmen attacked me. There were many of them and there was no other knight around. Until Gavin saw you walking along your balcony and pointed a gun in your direction, he said I should go with him or else he would shoot you. He kept me imprisoned for a few days, hoping that I would give out any secret information about our kingdom, but I certainly didn't. 

"If you managed to escape, why didn't you come back to our home and tell me what was happening?" You were confused by so much information. 

"Lord Gavin's men were already infiltrated in your palace; I couldn't put your security at risk. I don't know why it took him so long to put the plan into action, but it gave me time to think about how I would stop him. After many weeks of travel, I managed to reach the kingdom of Hellcrest and talk to King Crowley. I discovered that Gavin's rank had been demoted from prince to lord and he had lost the right to the throne because he was against the laws of the kingdom." 

The carriage was moving a lot and you got even tighter in Sam's grip. 

"The army that insisted on attacking Southern Arcadia was commanded by Gavin. And it began to spread among the nobles that the Queen of Arcadia should soon find a husband. Until the proclamation was published that you were willing to marry. His plan was to marry you and kill you, the same way he killed your father, on your wedding night." 

"He knew exactly how to manipulate me, telling me about the woman he had lost, that he would never fall in love again and about marriage of convenience. He knew exactly what I needed to hear, that I was reluctant about marriage, so he proposed a marriage of convenience" You looked into Sam's eyes "Sam, I never got over you. I promised to never love another man..." 

"I know, Y/n. I was aware of everything you were going through during those two years. Dean told me everything." 

"He knew?" Sam casually. Dean had nicely mentioned it to you "So, him giving the wedding his blessing was part of your plan?" 

"Yes. I told all my discoveries to King Crowley, who was disappointed with his son's new attitudes, so he made himself available to help. I came to Arcadia, along with Hellcrest's army to stop Gavin." 

"What's going on in the palace right now?" 

"King Crowley's soldiers are fighting Gavin's men." 

"Sam, I can't let my people be in danger! We need to go back there. I can't run away while people die." 

"My queen, I assure you that everything is under control. Gavin must already be dead or imprisoned and his men must have already surrendered. Everything is fine, I promise." 

"So, now we can live our love?" 

"I now pronounce you man and wife!" Sam's lips brushed against his with delicacy and passion. Married.

"I will always be yours, my queen," Sam said as he looked into her eyes.

"You will forever be the king of my heart."

[ruthytwoshakes]

Howdy everyone!! I got super inspired by @a-scary-lack-of-common-sense class swap au and wanted to try my hand at it!

I really love these designs!! If people like them too I’ll make some full refs and make some more content with them. I probably will anyway because I have so many ideas.

Under the keep reading I added wayyy too much description if you’re interested. You are interested you will read I’m using my evil mind magic to make you want to read

(I’ll address them by their names to make it less confusing btw. Pyro and Spy are called Demonan and Soldier though. I’ll name them one day probably)

For Medic and Heavy I kinda swapped their backstories and personalities. Misha is an only child who comes from a family of, fucked up to say the least, doctors. He lost his medical license for stealing the entirety of a patient’s skin. Misha is much more of a hardass with a superiority complex. Cold and callous. He takes himself and his work very seriously,, thinks he is very scary. The other mercs don’t really give a shit, which infuriates him to no end. He cares about his teammates! somewhere deep down inside ,, like really far down. Probably. Really attached to his tools, names them like how the original Heavy names his guns. He’s pretty fluent with English.

Ludwig is much more silly and caring. He’s the youngest sibling out of his 3 sisters, and took this job because he feels obligated to pay back his family for protecting him and helping him go through college. He’s not sadistic per se, more just, really loves the blood, guts, and carnage of war, and has a very morbid curiosity. He often accompanies the Medic when he's doing operations, if he's not already the patient himself. Misha adores how fascinated he is by all of it, and gladly answers and questions he may have. Very loud and extroverted,, his laughs can be heard from miles away. He kinda scares the other mercs, but he’s trying his best to tone it down. He has a horde of pigeons that just ,, follow him around. He doesn’t really know where they came from. His favorite is named Euripides. He’s intermediate at English.

For Sniper and Scout I kinda kept their backstories the same, they just had different personalities and life circumstances that led to them taking their respective jobs. Jeremy is the older brother of 7 little sisters. His mother had him when she was 16 and going through college, leading Jeremy to have to grow up fast. He and his mom have always had to pick up odd jobs to help pay the bills. One of Jeremy’s bosses took him out onto a shooting range one day and noticed he was a natural. He encouraged him to take up predator/invasive species control to help pay the bills and helped him get started, Jeremy eventually saved up enough to move to the northwest. As he got more skilled, some shady people took note and offered him some more,,, lucrative opportunities. He’s a hick with a slight Boston accent, making him all the more awkward. Pretty introverted, the only friends he's ever had is his little siblings. He’s quick-witted when he wants to be, but usually stays quiet. He seems pretty cold tough, but will change really quickly around little kids. Drinks way too many energy drinks to compensate for his insomnia.

Mick is an only child and basically the Australian version of Scout. Which is a terrifying concept!! he scares me. He’s a pretty extroverted guy, but was still bullied for his scrawny appearance and a lack of mustache hairs when he was little, so he devoted himself to becoming the best track runner in Australia. Also he couldn’t win a fight against anyone and he tended to piss off a lot of people, so running was a necessity. He doesn’t have any siblings, but he has a lot of older friends who treat him like a little brother. He likes to paint in his free time. Took the job to help support his parents and to explore the world, or just New Mexico. Annoying jock bastard. He wears those tank tops with the holes at the sides that just go all the way down,, not even a shirt at that point. Still throws piss at people because I think its really fucking funny.

Nobody quite knows where Soldier came from, not even herself. All she knows is that she’s a General, and a damn good one at that. Although his team would like to suggest otherwise. She’s loud and erratic, missing quite a few cogs in her brain. Not lead poisoned like the original soldier, I’m leaning towards a lobotomy that really melted his brain, soupe de cerveau or somethinf. Even though she lost her mind, she kept her great commanding skills and leads the team in attacks. He can be found planning and strategizing for the next round, or hanging out with the other team’s Demo. A bit silly, a bit goofy. Comically patriotic like the original Soldier. Parleys-tu Français, DO YOU SPEAK FRRRENCH ??? Non tu ne le fais pas, you don’t? FUCK YOU

Tavish and pyros personalities are a kinda combined? I just took little bits from both of them and squashed them together. Tavish is a pyromaniac hailing from Scotland. There’s rumors that he was the cause of the fire storm that rained down on Scotland for about a week, but he’s never confirmed or denied this. His voice isn’t all that muffled, his Scottish dialect is just so thick that nobody can understand him, except for Ms Pauling and Engineer like usual. Tavish can be pretty unstable and hyperactive, but an overall happy-go-lucky guy. Drinks responsibly most of the time! Still depressed! Lots of Molotov cocktails. His favorite animal is the Pegasus, and his life's goal is to find and tame one some day.

Dell is the same personality wise, just more like spy. So a bit more stuck up lol. He also shares the same care that the original spy shows for his team, as long as it benefits him along the way. Dell comes from a long family line of Spy’s that all worked for the Mann brothers, they stole Australium for them and kept them safe from other entity's that wanted to have control over the Australium too. His goggles have all that super cool spy stuff in them, night vision, cameras, a radio. Jane helped him add some new features as of late, . I'm not sure how to incorporate Dell's fascination with trans-humanism into this Dell quite yet. Maybe something to do with his senses? Name’s Spy. Spy Gaming.

Jane is pretty much the same silly little guy,, but now with 11 phds! And he’s not lead poisoned anymore! Nobody’s quite sure where Jane comes from, every time he’s asked he always changes up his backstory. He tends to slack off more than the original soldier, "A good hard-working American always knows when to take breaks!" He's also built a variety of raccoon-themed machines that get into mischief around the base. He and the Pyro are good buddies! He likes reading their stories, and gently encouraging them to write more. He's pretty strict when it comes to safety, and will come down hard on his teammates for messing around. THAT IS NOT OSHA APPROVED HEAD-WEAR MAGGOT!

Demoman is more like Tavish backstory-wise in this. They’re a midwesterner with way too much free time who blew up their family’s corn field by accident when they were little, oh and their parents. Their bio family crawled out from the remains of the farm and took them in after they proved themselves, even with their lack of tentacles and wings. (yeah their parents are the Great Old Ones, cthulhu guys, for sillies :3 ) They still like to do creative stuff (but adult-ified because adults are insecure about having fun for some reason.) like adult coloring books, or oil painting, or having adult tea parties. Demoland is a book that they're writing, and will TOTALLY 100% work on this weekend. They hate eye contact and have never been seen without their bombsuit on, except for Scout, but he can comprehend these otherworldy horrors perfectly fine so idk maybe you have a skill issue or something.

Heavy is Medic

Medic is Heavy

Sniper is Scout

Scout is Sniper

Spy is Soldier

Demoman is Pyro

Engineer is Spy

Soldier is Engineer

Pyro is Demoman

notes: I was thinking of making Dell Jeremy's father, but I didn't want to change up Jeremy's facial features too much, so Spy remains. Mick has that neck-mic thingy that soap from COD has because I was scrolling through soapghost on pintrest help. Soldier wasn't actually a general, I was thinking he was just somebody who knew too much. But after she got the lobotomy, I'm thinking she did something similar to soldier and tried to get into the military, and failed. Ludwig is the biggest on the team, with Misha having a more agile body type. Still a bear!! Just a bit smaller. This art is a bit old because I've been working on this since MAY?!?!??? ough. Maybe I'll swap some side characters as well! Pauling with Bidwell, Saxton with Helen, if ya want you could give me some suggestions 👁 👁 This is all Merasmus's fault some how, babygirl messes up the timeline for the sillies, the funny haha even. I love her <3333 Also sorry if the info for Jeremy is incorrect, I just thought it would be neat idk a whole lot about hunting.

[kurenai-works]

Hello everyone, today is my 29th birthday.

With that in mind, I figured it would be the best time to talk about this, so I'm proud to present to all of you 東方雷秘儀 ～ Strike in the Holy Apex, my very first Touhou Project fangame!

The game's story will be centered around a mysterious thunderstorm that's raiding the entirety of Gensokyo, so it's up to a group of heroines to investigate the situation and save the day.

As some of you may know, around November of last year, GameMaker has become free to use for everyone, which prompted me to take the opportunity to create an engine that looks roughly similar to ZUN's original Touhou Project games. I showcased it in greater detail on YouTube sometime around late February and I was very pleased by the generally positive feedback it got.

Taking that into account, I continued to expand the work I've done and it has grown a lot during the past four months; menus function properly, game settings can be modified, controller support has been added, several gameplay tweaks have been implemented, and so on. There's still a number of things that need to be ironed out by the time I'm writing this post, but considering the progress I have done on it so far, I have faith that a trial version for the game will be ready for release soon. This has to be the biggest project I've worked on... by a country mile. Speaking of the trial version's release date, that will be disclosed at the very end of this post.

GameMaker being free to use has given me a joy I genuinely can't describe, and I bet my inner child would’ve been happy too by hearing those news. After all, I've had experiences with GameMaker for well over 15 years, basically almost half of my entire life!

So, what should you expect by the time the trial version is released? First things first, it'll obviously consist of only three stages.

Secondly, you'll be able to play this adventure as the usual duo; Reimu and Marisa. More playable characters will be available in the full version.

Thirdly, the game's main mechanic. It's called the Brave Gauge, and it has functionality almost similar to the Season Gauge found in Touhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons. It's not the most original idea I've had, but for the record, and coming back to my familiarity with GameMaker ever since my teenage years, this system was taken from a very old draft which dates all the way back to 2014, while making some adjustments to it. Here's a little bit of proof:

I'm going a bit off tangent here, but seeing these filenames kinda makes me feel embarrassed. The game has "Ascii" on the name because all of the graphics in there were made using ASCII characters, which was done during a time when my artistic talents were non-existent, so they looked quite messy and overall made the game have a goofy aura to it, haha.

And lastly, considering that I'd like this game to be played by a wider demographic, it's gonna be available in three different languages: English, Spanish (my native language, hooray!) and Japanese. These can be selected anytime via the options menu.

I don't know any people who are fluent in Japanese, and the few friends that I have don't seem to know much about the language either, so that translation is gonna be handled 100% by myself using tools like DeepL. I know that translating all the stuff in one go can lead to heavily mistranslated results, so I'll be making sure to convert my game's text as meticulously as I can. If there's anyone out there who understands Japanese fluently and is willing to translate the text for me, please hit me up because that'd be really appreciated. In case that happens, I won't be able to reward the translation financially, but I will be adding your name to my game's end credits.

So yeah, I don't have much else to say. The game's trial version will be available on Itch.io this August 30th.

The game has a long way ahead from being completed, so anticipating a release date for the full version is not feasible, at the moment. Regardless, I'll make sure to update on that once I have made abundant progress on it.

Both versions of the game will be released as pay-what-you-want. In simpler words, they'll be available free of charge with the optional choice of depositing a sum, in case you're feeling generous. After all, not to brag, but it goes without saying that I'm handling every detail in the game; not just the programming, but also the art, music and writing. While I have used some code libraries to facilitate the inclusion of certain aspects in my game, most of the heavy lifting is carried out by me, so it'd be really appreciated to have some compensation for the work I have been doing for almost half a year. It's not by any means mandatory, so it's fine if you can't for whatever reason, hahaha.

Anyway, I hope you look forward to this game of mine as much as I do! See you then!!

[girlygguk]

fame - jjk (prologue)

pairing ; idol!jk x idol!oc.

synopsis ; aera; the main dancer in one of the biggest k-pop groups in the world, Siren. debuting in 2014, it was nothing but immense hard work and perseverance (and being on the absolute verge of disbandment), but she and the four girls that grew to become her sisters pulled through. they did it. now they're performing at some of the most significant arenas and stadiums worldwide. meeting a cheeky, flirtatious and annoyingly gorgeous fellow idol that threatens to break down every wall of protection she's built around herself was not part of the plan. her career has always come first, having sacrificed and jeopardised many relationships and friendships in her journey to debut. so why does this time feel different?

story warnings ; smut, explicit language, violent & possibly triggering scenes.

chapter warnings ; none, just an overview of the girlies

a/n: i do not know how to use tumblr i'm a wattp girly born & raised.. pls bear with me. also oc is korean to help with a more realistic (in the most unrealistic fic ever) storyline, excuse the horrible google translated korean words.

another annoying a/n: siren have idol faceclaims (besides Aera) to help bring more visuality & description to their characters. love every single girly in this story & this is not a depiction of their real life personas whatsoever

part ; prologue | one | two | drabble1 | three | four | five | ...

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

KPROFILE.com — circa. 2019

Siren (사이렌) is a 5 member South Korean girl group under PARK Entertainment. This group consists of Hanna, Grace, Nali, Aera and Ha-Joon. They debuted on July 17, 2014, with the lead single "Never Enough" on their self-titled mini-album.

Siren Fandom Name: Allure

Siren Fandom Colour: Silver

Siren Dorm Arrangement:

[2015-2019]: Hanna & Nali, Grace (single room), Aera & Ha-Joon.

[2019—] They own a house together, which they have stated in interviews that they spend a lot of time together in, but live in their respective homes during promotional breaks.

Siren Member Profiles:

Hanna

Stage Name: Hanna(한나)

Birth Name:  Jang Han-na (장 한나)

Nicknames: Hanunnie, NaNa, Eomma, Mother Leader

Position: Leader, Main Rapper, Sub Vocalist

Birthday: May 12, 1994 [26]

Debut Age: 21

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Nationality: Korean

Height: 173 cm (5'8″)

MBTI Type: ENTP

Representative Emoji: 🦒

» Hanna Facts

• Hanna was the second member to be revealed for the Siren lineup.

• She trained for 4 years and 2 months, the second longest of all the girls.

• Hanna's representative emoji, the Giraffe, was given to her by their fans as she's significantly taller than the rest of Siren.

• Hanna can speak Korean, English and basic Japanese.

• She is an only child, stating once in an interview that suddenly having four siblings was a system shock when first joining Siren, but now she wouldn't give it up for the world.

• In 2008, Hanna transferred to an international school based in Daejeon, where she learned and studied English. She is fluent and is, more often than not, the spokesperson for their group during international and regular interviews.

• Hanna's ideal type is someone that treats the women in their life with respect and is independent (via Siren's Buzzfeed interview 2018).

Grace

Stage Name: Grace(우아함)

Birth Name: Itō Asami (糸 あさみ)

Nicknames: Sami, Gracie, Asa, Japan's It Girl

Position: Lead Dancer, Lead Rapper

Birthday: December 9, 1995 [25]

Debut Age: 20

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Nationality: Japanese

Height: 166 cm (5'5″)

MBTI Type: ESTP

Representative Emoji: 🦢

» Grace Facts

• Grace was the third member to be revealed for the Siren lineup.

• She trained for 3 years and 10 months, the girls' third longest training period.

• Grace's representative emoji, the Swan, was given to her by their fans for her dance moves are often described as elegant and swan-like.

• Grace can speak Japanese and Korean. Her members are helping her with English, and she's also studying the language.

• She has 2 siblings, an older brother Riku and a younger sister Yua.

• In 2010, Grace migrated to Korea alone after passing multiple rounds of an online audition for PARK Entertainment. When moving to the country, Grace knew very little Korean, but spending much time with her bandmates and strenuous study allowed her to pick up the language quite quickly.

• Grace's ideal type is someone that likes to eat and isn't afraid to show her off. (via Siren's Buzzfeed interview 2018).

Nali

Stage Name: Nali (나리)

Birth Name: Cho Nali (조 나리)

Nicknames: Lily, Li, Na, PARK Princess

Position: Main Vocalist, Visual, FOTG

Birthday: February 14, 1996 [24]

Debut Age: 19

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Nationality: Korean

Height: 167.8 cm (5'6″)

MBTI Type: ISTP

Representative Emoji: 🐧

» Nali Facts

• Nali was the first member to be revealed for the Siren lineup.

• She trained for 3 years and 6 months, the fourth longest training period of the girls.

• Nali's representative emoji, the Penguin, was given to her by their fans as she's seen in multiple clips of Siren on various variety shows, running like a Penguin.

• Nali can speak Korean and basic English, having picked up simple terms over the years of housing with her English-speaking members.

• She has one sibling, a younger sister named Ha-Eun.

• Nali joined PARK Entertainment in early 2011 after being scouted at a Girls' Generation meet-and-greet.

• Other trainees quickly envied Nali for her breathtaking visual.

• Nali's ideal type is someone that is confident and can make her feel special. (via Siren's Buzzfeed interview 2018).

Aera

Stage Name: Aera (애라)

Birth Name: Hwang Aera (황 애라)

Nicknames: Ra, Era, Black Cat, PARK's Secret Weapon

Position: Main Dancer, Vocalist, Visual, Center

Birthday: July 22, 1997 [23]

Debut Age: 17

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Nationality: Korean

Height: 165 cm (5'5″)

MBTI Type: INFP

Representative Emoji: 🐱

» Aera Facts

• Aera was the last member to be revealed for the Siren lineup.

• She trained for 4 years and 3 months, the longest training period of the girls.

• Aera's representative emoji, the Cat, was given to her by their fans as her movements are strong and flexible. Her quick reflexes have been seen and loved on the variety shows that Siren have featured in.

• Aera can speak Korean and English and is learning Japanese from her bandmate, Grace.

• She has one sibling, a younger brother named Hyunjin.

• Aera attended a Language Institute for her schooling based in Seoul. There she learnt English as her second language and is fluent. She will help Han-na in international interviews when speaking English on behalf of the group if needed.

• Aera was one of the first trainees in PARK Entertainment to make the possible lineup for Siren. In interviews, it has been stated that only she and Han-na remain from the original lineup.

• On a live broadcast with one of her members, Aera stated that she chose to audition for PARK Entertainment after watching a dance performance of P.E. ex-trainee, Seulgyeon, who later debuted in another K-pop group, CLC. (via Ha-Joon & Aera V-Live).

• She often choreographed the routines they would perform in their monthly evaluations. She is rumoured to have been disliked by multiple trainees at P.E. that were trying to excel in dance.

• Aera has said she almost pursued the Vocal path instead of dance as there was double the amount of competition in the dance category (—via Siren's Elle interview 2018). Still, mentors refused to let her and told her that her skill was incredibly unique and untouchable by other candidates. (—Hanna via Siren's Elle interview 2018)

• Aera was nicknamed PARK's Secret Weapon upon debut as she was known to have mastered all areas of being an idol.

• Aera's ideal type is someone with a good sense of humour who likes to cook and has a nice smile. (via Siren's Buzzfeed interview 2018).

Joon

Stage Name: Joon (준)

Birth Name: Kim Ha-Joon (김 하준)

Nicknames: Joonie, JJ, Bubba, Baby PARK

Position: Vocalist, Dancer, Sub-Rapper, Maknae

Birthday: December 12, 1998 [21]

Debut Age: 16

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Nationality: Korean-Australian

Height: 167 cm (5'6″)

MBTI Type: ENFP

Representative Emoji: 🐨

» Joon Facts

• Joon was the fourth member to be revealed for the Siren lineup. She trained for 2 years and 9 months, the shortest training period of the girls.

• Joon's representative emoji, the Koala, was given to her by their fans as she's known for her thick Australian accent when speaking English.

• Joon can speak Korean and English, her accent developing during her time spent overseas in Australia with her father's side of the family.

• She has a younger brother named Ji-Yeong, who resides in Australia with her Dad.

• Joon was one of the last trainees to join PARK Entertainment. She was praised for her quick learning and development from the moment she joined the company.

• Joon was known as the quirky, loud girl in P.E. Other members of Siren have said that you always knew she was in the room by her laugh.

• It was rumoured that Ha-Joon was very close to withdrawing from being a trainee due to not being able to handle the bullying and toxicity of other trainees. Former PARK Entertainment trainees stated that Aera, fellow Siren member, sat with Joon on her bed for three hours and let her cry it all out.

• Joon's ideal type is someone that knows lots of jokes and can take care of her. (via Siren Buzzfeed interview 2018).

[baizhoobies]

For you event for BSD, black butler and genshin impact for any adult male characters

Im a female Sagittarius , my mbti is intj, I have a high pain tolerance. I can actually sing really well but only when I’m alone. I never wanna drink alcohol in my life and I secretly despise it. I’m also an introvert. I’m also Latina and 4”11. I rarely get grossed out. I’m straight . I love horror and rarely get grossed out and I like cats more then people . I have autism. I love watching movies and playing genshin impact. I also like learning and reading . I know English, my Spanish is rusty and the basics of French. I love desserts. Im also Demi which means I can’t fall for someone romantically or sexually until their is a emotional connection . We have to be friends first. I love the dark and macabre. I prefer a cafe to a concert for a date.

I match you up with . . . ♡

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ Edgar Allen Poe | Bungo Stray Dogs

Poe was the first character that came to mind because much like you, you are introverted, have a love for the macabre and of course, for reading. I have headcanoned Poe as a demisexual as well, so he can relate to you on a personal level.

As someone who doesn’t like big crowds, he would find himself coming out of his shell more when its just the two of you - he will most likely want you to read any and all novels he has written. He would take you to a nice, quiet cafe and would beg ask you to read over his works.

As much as he would get excited over sharing common interests, he will also take a keen interest in your hobbies that he himself has not partaken in; such as Genshin Impact. He could happily watch you play, and if you explain the game mechanics to him (in particular the wish system) he would absolutely become an enabler when it comes to purchasing wishes. - the man has got money $$$

You log in one day and see that you have a ridiculous amount of primogems and you kinda just ??? - which Poe may play coy and say some shit like “oh that is a mystery~” like yeah, right, a total mystery, Mr Money Man.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ Sebastian Michaelis | Black Butler

Phew, what to say about this man. I will start with the obvious that the both of you prefer the company of cats rather than people; something you both can closely relate to. Once the both of you get closer to each other, he would absolutely show you his collection of cats that he keeps hidden away. They are his pride and joy after all.

As someone who regularly tutors Ciel, he would be more than happy to help you in learning another language, especially in French. Sebastian is fluent in a few languages, including french, so if you were to ask him, he would absolutely teach you. As for Spanish, I am sure he would be just as enthusiastic to learn with you.

He would encourage you to sing! I can imagine him one night walking down the corridor and hearing a sweet voice singing, your voice. He would hide behind your door and listen to you for a while, smiling to himself. If he ever walks in on you whilst singing, he would definitely tease you, but ultimately would encourage you to sing more, especially to him.

Oh and one last thing, if you tell him you like desserts, he would ensure to make an extra portion whilst baking for his young lord, Ciel. He would either wait till he has done serving his master to give it to you in person, or he would deliver it to your door, wrapped up nicely with a bow; which is attached to a little love note.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ Kaedehara Kazuha | Genshin Impact

The first person I had in mind to match with you was Kazuha. He is a gentle soul that is quiet, at least at first. He is someone I can imagine would prefer to get to know people on an emotional level before getting into a relationship.

Kazuha is known to be a bit of a poet, and would regularly write haikus - and if the both of you get comfortable enough with each other, he would gladly show you some of his works, even if he doesn’t think they are any good.

As someone like myself who also has autism, I would say Kazuha is one of the most emotionally understanding characters of Genshin; coming across as someone who is sensitive to your needs. Kazuha has a very easy-going personality, but is also determined to help and support his friends - honestly he is the perfect example of boyfriend material!

If you ever did feel comfortable in singing in front of Kazuha, he would happily play his Shibabue and whistle to the rhythm. Kazuha loves music and believe me, he’d love to hear you sing.

[mysadcorner]

Can I pls request being childhood friends with the batboys and Bruce and confessing your feelings for them?? I'm not fluent in English so this may not have made sense so sorry

Confessing To The Batfam Headcanons

- Credit to the gifs owner - Please be specific about characters wanted in requests -

Masterlist Navigation

Bruce Wayne

• A confession is one of the last things Bruce would expect from you, or anyone for a matter of fact. He isn’t the type of person to just open themselves up to someone, so he’s very surprised that he’s done it towards you without even noticing.

• He certainly didn’t expect a person like you to fall for someone like him and then confess your feelings. He doesn’t have much experience in relationships after cutting himself off genuinely from the world, so it’s nice and refreshing to have a new aspect to his life that can be healthy, and non-violence related.

• Of course, Bruce likes you back, he just isn’t the best at expressing it at first. He’s awkward and fusses around because he doesn’t know how to act, but once you reassure him that he doesn’t need to change to be with you then he’s able to accept the situation more gradually over time.

• At first things would progress slowly, but that’s because he considers caution in everything he does. But once he’s comfortable with you the relationship is at a steady pace, and he only goes further with you if he knew you’d be okay and comfortable with it.

•Bruce would have had a crush on you for a long time, and maybe even a small one from the first time he ever met you. You’re irresistible to him, and just having you in his presence brightens the life he’s seen as dull for so long.

Dick Grayson

• Dick would be happily surprised with finding out that you like him so much, and he wouldn’t be that surprised after how close the two of you have managed to become. He isn’t the type of person to be very loud about this revelation, so if you’re shy about the situation you won’t need to worry about him telling others about it.

• Dick never expects anyone to fall for him, but it does happen because of how generous and lovable he is as a person. As long as he’s close to you and feels a deep connection with you then he won’t be too surprised by the whole thing.

• After getting to know you so well, and learning so much about you, it would be hard for Dick not to fall for you. There are a limited number of people he is actually pretty close to, so the fact that he’s allowed you to see many intimate sides of himself emotionally is a sign to both you and him that he feels something important between the two of you. 

• Dick would want things to progress at whatever speed you felt alright with; he’s patient and doesn’t need to rush things that he knows will turn out really well for him in the end. He’d be very sweet about the whole things and would reassure you if you weren’t too experienced in relationships, but other than that, progression would come quite naturally. 

• Dick reciprocating his feelings for you is probably the thing that encouraged you to confess to him, as he’s certainly been liking you for a while. Dick can always tell when someone is truly a good person deep down, and since he sensed that he’s had a special place in his heart for you.

Jason Todd

• Jason would be completely shocked when you confess to him as he isn’t used to people being affectionate or having such a positive look towards him. He’ll gladly take it though, and once he does, he finally realises how much he’s been missing out on.

• He wouldn.t have expected it if you hadn’t showed any sign of you being interested in him before, but if you had then he wouldn’t be completely clueless. He can be quite flirty, so he doesn’t know how-to pick-up signs of attraction and interest when it’s obviously directed towards him; you won’t be able to fool him easily if you tried to hide it from him for a while.

• Jason probably likes you back, after all, he wouldn’t have been so kind to you if he didn’t like you in some way. It’s hard for him to admit his feelings at first, but he does try once he realises that he really wants to be with you too.

• Things would have to go slow at the start while you’re both laying out your boundaries and other aspects of what you expect out of the relationship. He makes sure to do this as he isn’t the most responsible or reasonable when you first met, and healthy relationships do eventually come to him after you show him what they’re like.

• Jason gets attached easily so it’s pretty likely that he has feelings for you before you confessed to him. It doesn’t stop him being surprised, but the mutual feelings do reassure him and make him feel less insecure about certain things.

Tim Drake

• Tim would be very sweet about you confessing to him, and since he knows that you’re going out of your own way to express your feelings then he’ll try his best to be polite and not make you feel bad about it. He won’t let you down, but he doesn’t want you to think that he isn’t taking you seriously.

• Because of how well he’s able to read the people around him and figure out what’s going on, he probably knew that you liked him before you confessed. Despite this, he would keep it to himself and let you decide what to do with your feelings as he wants you to do only what you would feel comfortable with.

• He probably likes you back too but just never said until you approached him first. He gets shy when expressing his own emotions, so he wasn’t too inclined to tell you about how he felt before you took the chance to tell him yourself.

• Tim would take you on a few dates if he wanted things to progress slowly and at a simple pace. But if you had known each other for a long time and were already extremely close then he wouldn’t have a need for dates and would progress however you would like.

• Tim could have possible liked you for a while even, without realising it himself. He always felt a deep connection to you, so the fact that you’ve confessed to him on top of this is probably a sign that things will work well between the two of you.

Damian Wayne

• Damian may come across as stoic and insensitive at first, but he really doesn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or any offence to you. He just isn’t used to these types of feelings being expressed around him, especially towards him, so he does need a little time to process things.

• He’s pretty oblivious to these kinds of things so he probably wouldn’t have expected it, and he may have not noticed your liking to him before you confessed too. However, he wouldn’t be disappointed about it, so it comes as a nice surprise once you’ve decided to let him know.

• There would be no reason for Damian to not like you back in this way, as he would have to trust someone completely for them to get close to them. Eventually, after spending time with you on a regular basis his feelings for you would only develop and grow until he felt the same way you did for him. 

• Progression in your relationship with Damian would come very naturally, and the two of you have a good set up of communication because of this. Communication and a mutual understanding are essential to be with Damian, so it’s very rare and unlikely that the two of you wouldn’t know about how the other is feeling.

• Damian would have had a strong sense of belonging with you for a long time before romantic feelings even developed. He’s slow with things like this, so even though he didn’t know he liked you in the way that would spark a relationship, you would still be the closest person he’d allow to be near himself. 

[gren-arlio]

May as well redo this. Hey everyone, the name's Gren, and I'm here to translate an entire Puyo/Madou route because why not.

Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon to be precise.

(This one.)

Yes, you read that right, I'm here to make a solid attempt of translating as much of the game as possible. Like in my very first post, we Puyo fans are kinda starving to death right now with the stuff we're given, Quest can only do so much. So why don't we try to take things into our own hands and make our own food?

As of writing this, (June 13th 2023,) I'm almost done with Schezo's storyline, least from the videos I was able to find thanks to YouTube being nice. You can find them here, though be warned, I'm not fluent in Japanese, so mistakes are bound to occur. If you want to help revise some things, please do. Any help would be great.

So, sounds cool, right? Before I dive into the real meat and bones of this game, I should give some context. All of it will be shown in the Read More if you're interested. If not, thanks for reading from here.

What is Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon?

Some people may not know this game, and that's fine. It's a game from the COMPILE Era of the Puyo world (Madou,) and it follows our ARS Trio (Arle, Rulue, Schezo) as they go through an amusement park to solve their own lil' things.

These guys.

The game itself is sorta like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, where every movement is a "Turn," and the enemies move along with you. Each time you attack also counts as a turn. You go through floors (5 Early game, then 10, then 100 for the final place.) and fight a Boss at the final floor. If there's 10 floors, then a miniboss will be on the 5th.

There's small side quests to get items you want, though you can typically buy from Momomo or Fufufu. You get this quests by going to the Bulletin Board in the Info Center (where Kimimora is) and checking around. Speak to Kiki while you're at it.

This game is unfortunately not translated, and there seems to be no English rom or any translations in the internet due to this games semi-poor documentation. That's where me and possibly you come into play. We'll be the ones documenting this game.

Why this game of all games?

Well, because it's so unknown compared to the other Madou games, least what I've seen. I've never really even seen people attempt this, so I may as well try to do a single route for the fans.

And what's the end goal?

There's a couple, actually. One of these is to get the information on the Puyo Nexus (I have an account on there, Greñ.) to let people see what this game has to offer for plot and what the characters have.

The other is just because it's fun. Knowing this game isn't translated is pretty interesting, so I'd like to try. I love the franchise, so I may as well give back to it somehow.

This one's simple enough. I wanna know more about the characters. There's so much to uncover. To give a few examples for Schezo's route alone:

Schezo kinda gives Serilly therapy and she becomes a more confident person by the end of the game.

Draco accuses Schezo of being interested in men. First Rulue, now her.

Skeleton-T is just kinda vibing

Kikimora plays a pretty big role as the usher who helps people.

Witch has a huge wish...to get Schezo's clothing. And she chases him the entire game for it.

Schezo gets blasted by a Carbuncle beam and lives.

And Succubus becomes a tour guide by the end of the game. Yes. Succubus.

Game's pretty damn silly and I'm all for it. If you want to do your own translation, go off! It'll be fun to see and also help other routes if you want.

And finally. The artstyle is cool as hell. (Taken from Puyo Nexus.)

I'm a huge sucker for the artstyle, love it.

What'll happen when you're done with Schezo's route?

Easy. I'll do Arle's route, most likely. Unfortunately, Rulue isn't exactly my favorite so she'll be the one for last. If I ever get to her.

Extra Short Questions:

How long does each translation episode take to finish?

About a week or two depending on length. Typically posting on Weekends.

How about credit for the translation?

As long as I'm mentioned, it's okay. If it's your own thing, don't add my name, I ain't selfish.

What if I miss something?

After the final episode, I'll do Extras. Things I missed, things people send me, etc. Stay tuned.

Favorite COMPILE characters?

Thought I'd add this. Lagnus, Schezo, Witch as the top 3. There's like 6 Lagnus fans in America.

How to contact me:

Tumblr DM'S are open, and I guess Discord too if you want that also. I'll give the name in the DM.

With that, thanks for reading. That'll be all this time. Thanks for tuning in.

[7rus7m3]

BIG 101 PENTAGON THEORY // SPOILERS FOR CANTO VI, DEMIAN (book), LITTLE PRINCE (book), LEVIATHAN, LIBRARY OF RUINA, a little bit of Divine Comedy too

RG - Red Gaze, PT - Purple Tear, LP - Little Prince, DC - Divine Comedy. Grammar mistakes can appear due to me not being very fluent in English.

So… After the new Demian scene appeared, I found it convenient to finally unleash my Dante=Sinclair pentagon theory, based on some assumptions I made from reading the source books of all of these characters. Before I start, I need to aknowledge some other things:

1. I don’t find this theory as something that actually will happen, since it may be based on my own biased opinions towards some of the characters included

2. Most of my assumptions are made through reading into intertext of the source books and how it would look more cool to potentially appear in a game. PM interpretation of books may be completely opposite from mine, so ig we will see how close I was later

3. I don’t use other sinners for my theory, since most of them are not marked, can’t use shin from what we know and/or mostly have finished self-centered story. The only one that probably will be added to pentagon is Faust, since her source is too important for Hesse as a writer and the motif of soul duality exists as an important topic in both Demian and Faust books. Also she knows too much about the Stars from what we can see in the prologue and later in her dialogues with us.

Part 1. Purple Tear

PT=Demian’s mother feels like canon already for me, but maybe just because I discussed it too much with my friends. So the main point of this theory is that Demian and PT appear to have the same main themes as characters and have similar powers, so him being Iori’s son will be natural. For example, the snake theme being introduced to us with Iori’s snake eyes in Leviathan manga or with the blue snake representing Demian on LCB Sinclair art. Multidimensional traveling powers, Shin being mostly PT’s disciples thing etc etc. Also Demian had purple eyes on his first promotional art and even though it was changed later, it is still an important thing that was planned by PM. For me it's an obvious moment for a lot of reasons, but in reality they just feel like relatives and the more you think about it the more it becomes obvious. 

As Demian’s mother, she becomes frau Eva naturally and potential Sinclair milfhunter’s interest. 

Also I believe in Iori as a higher-up person in Limbus Company assumption. As a person, who sees countless possibilities, her choices on sinners of LCB feels natural and the fact that Vergilius out of all people becomes our guide just approves it to me. 

So I added ‘Demian’ to her as a source just to start, but we can also add ‘Little Prince’ as I believe that she also represents the snake from the start of Prince’s adventure on Earth and his end on it. The Snake claims to have some sort of space-traveling power after all and while representing Birth and Death of Prince on Earth, she's a good pick for a mother figure representation.

Part 2. Red Gaze

Not too much to say here, but the obvious things we know. The Shin user triangle, even though Verg and Demian probably ain’t ever met each other once, still exists in the context of this theory. We can or can not draw a line between Demian and Vergilius, but I like to do it for the sake of making a point how they both are PT’s disciples. 

The christmas trauma line here is mostly for funsies, but it’s obviously not a coincidence on how the whole Sinclair’s family killing incident happened at the same time as Vegilius’ orphanage incident and how both suspicious shin users just watched them suffer to mentor them later. 

Dante and RG are connected through Divine Comedy, which is told directly from the game. 

Part 3. Demian

The most interesting and most intertextually written character in the game.

Sinclair being the rose became more believable to me than him being the fox after a new scene, but I still think both can be true. As we know from Demian book - Sinclair is final destination of Demian’s journey, from whom Max parted for unknown reasons (basically not answered his letters while doing his own fun stuff ig) and even tried to adapt to live in the world ignoring his marked nature (the “I am actually a lieutenant” scene in the 7th chapter). He is meeting Sinclair at first to part with him later just to end up becoming a metaphorical part of him at the end, probably dying physically. The same happens with Prince and Rose relationships in the LP. From them meeting suddenly to part later because of Prince’s complicated feelings to Prince finally coming back to her after learning how to love her and realizing her importance for his existence as a person in the metaphysical form, leaving his physical body behind. The story is too similar for Sinclair to not be Rose. The main counterargument here is the fact that we don’t know when Demian started his journey and Sinclair quoting dialogue of LP with fox. I still believe that Sinclair-Rose theory is more likely though, but Sinclair-Fox is still leading us to doomed yaoi in the end.

The Demian-Beatrice part comes from ‘Demian’ as a source too. Sinclair met Beatrice as his muse and basically Demian’s replacement as an image of his own ideals in life, she became a reason for him to stop his self-destruction path. Young love for Sinclair here is more of a reason to keep moving forward to become a better person than actual loving feeling. She is a mythological muse, but not a romantic interest fully. And in an attempt of engraving her image (haha engraving aspect), he accidentally draws Demian instead. We can put it as a direct equation of her to Demian and as a method of inserting an androgynous archetype into Demian’s character. I think of Demian-Beatrice as a cool way to introduce us to Paradiso later with him being our new guide instead of Vergilius. It will become a more logical guess later, in the context of the main part of this theory.

Part 4. Dante and Sinclair

So… Dante is a book version of Sinclair with part of Demian’s soul inside him theory… The main thing from where we should start to think about this is the whole number dilemma within Sinclair’s coat. He should’ve been the 10th Sinner before Dante appeared, but then got changed to 11th. Which is funny since 1.0 and 1.1 is a funny version number calambour. So, questions that theories answers:

1.Demian having sudden interest in Dante and giving him riddles that mostly answers the nature of more of a Demian himself as a person, than giving Dante actual usable information

2.Dante seem to have mark 

3.”What will become of me who have been robbed by me”

4.Sinclair is the only sinner we resonated with out of his Canto

5.Sinclair Canto only focusing on the first two chapters of the book, but not taking it as full. His Canto takes not even half of a book, but focuses on a really small part of it. Moby-Dick is a pre-story in Canto V, same basically for Canto I and Canto IV, we are close to the ending of CaP in Canto II and we have seen the true ending of WH in one of the Mirror Worlds with Cathy and Hareton.

6. Why they aren't changing numbers on Sinclair's coat for six Canto already

7. How Demian is able to understand us and how we are able to deeply understand Demian's feelings

8. Why we have any connections to Demian in the past and why we owe him a drawing of all things (Sinclair was a painter in the book)

9. Star is the main motivation of Dante

10. The whole engraving aspect thing. Again, Sinclair was a painter in the book and used drawing as a way to analyze his instinctive feelings

11. Dante having religious motifs and powers associated with either Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge. Sinclair’s EGO “Branch of Knowledge” naming based on that

12. Dante’s White Night motifs. White Night is basically an Antichrist, but also a God, which connects it with the concept of both god and demon and connecting it with an Abraxas

Maybe some other questions are answered too if you think about it for a little. This is just a very solid assumption that will explain why Demian is so important for us and why Dante seems like a descendant of the Star in the prologue. As a character having another big source book I also believe in him having his own Canto and if he is a part of Dante's character then we should have the duo Canto for both Dante and Demian.

Main thing is how it happened. It's mainly fanfiction from now on. We know that there are Mirror Worlds where the whole book plot is already happened at some point (Cathy and Hareton scene in C6). So one of these basically is the one where Sinclair journey happened some other way. Maybe it was the one, where Demian helped him before the whole Kromer situation happened. After that moment in book Sinclair fastly falls back to his family and stops questioning their beliefs, so in my theory he could after all have a prosthetic operation that he was destined to before incident. That way we have his life going more calmly and as a son of prosthetic factory owner he could become a big and rich person. That would explain why Panther, Lion and Wolf were very excited over killing him. So, Sinclair of this universe goes over his way just like book Sinclair and participate in the whole June-985 thing. What else happened in June? World War 1 start. Sounds stupid, but WW1 is the main thing to change the world in Demian as a book. So the start of new world is destined to be in June-985 in the City setting, which represents WW1 starting in the Real World. The whole thing happens, and Demian either dies or merges with Sinclair to become some sort of part of him. To prevent the whole June-985 thing from happening, Sinclair travels back in time (which basically not the same, but another Mirror World) using Golden Bough and tries to engrave something that is a key to preventing the whole mass death thing. Limbus World Demian is pissy with Demian from future trying to stop the new World from happening, so he confronts us, but tries to do it in his own way. That way Dante is Sinclair from future from other mirror world and is partly a Demian himself.

In the LP, Pilot also is a child-like adult, really similar to Little Prince in some way. I personally like to read his journey with Prince as a metaphor for himself maturing and letting go his childish side, which Is again connects Dante to Demian.

So, Dante=other Sinclair=Pilot=partly Demian.

[hughiecampbelle]

hello hello!! hope you're doing well <3 so i saw ships were open again... and i did get one as an anon a while ago, but the format has changed for the 10k so back i am for your amazing writing <3

i'd love to be shipped with someone from the boys!! (i do feel bad requesting for specific characters even though it's incredibly easy to see who i want to smooch in this show. i love them all though and above all love to see authors get creative. go crazy go bonkers. ok with any character but the deep, homelander, stormfront, and firecracker.)

i'm a bi & ace jewish brazilian girl, 1.72m tall, with long, straight, brown hair (that i've always thought about dying but always chickened out of). no tattoos, even though i have a list of which ones i'd get and what do they mean. i'm from brazil but currently go to college in new york, majoring in theatre and minoring in translation. i'm fluent in portuguese and english, learning french, and have the life objective of becoming a polyglot.

i'm in love with theatre, literary analysis, linguistics, music, writing, and art in general — will absolutely ramble about anything i am interested in, and also might have strong opinions on stuff that maybe i didn't need to have a strong opinion on 💀 i can get a bit combative about that at times... i definitely take as my biggest skill, besides singing and acting which are quite literally my intended job (i want to be a musical theatre actress), eloquence and just my way with words (toxic trait is believing i'd talk my way out of a murder fr fr). friends that know me more recently would even say i'm an extrovert because of that, but honestly i am a pile of nerves of an introvert with social anxiety that simply loves yapping and putting on a show. most notable quirk/habit might be how precise i always am with finding the right words because i simply cannot leave an opening for misinterpretation (and that's on anxiety and a suspicion of undiagnosed adhd oops); that might lead me to be a bit picky (for the lack of a better word), specific, and/or literal with the words other people use as well.

other tidbits: i can't cook for shit, i love cats (i have a rescue named lily) but also like dogs a lot, i love kids and have been told i'm good with them. i'm crazy lucky for some reason and i love crime comedy movies. i'm almost always writing or thinking about writing but i can't ever finish a project (and you may have realized by now i write too much). i love arts & crafts & other manual activities, i do knot friendship bracelets to de-stress. my default hangout with anyone ever is grabbing coffee. i'm also pretty proud of my music taste — from alt rock to 40s-50s music, love curating the vibes and i'm a bit of a playlist freak. also i would 100% show brazilian music (mostly rock and mpb, brazilian popular music) to whoever i'm paired with 💥🇧🇷

when it comes to love life oh boy i am a disaster — the two situations i have ever gotten myself into were the objective hottest girl i know and the weirdest guy i've ever come across (and both are my good friends atm). for me doing something creative, like a project together, is the quickest way to bond; and being in cahoots with someone is the deepest form of connection. let's ramble about our interests, be weird together, cause a diplomatic crisis, watch a movie, write something, idk.

this was LOOONG but i hope it's not too much and it gives you plenty of material to write with!! thank you so much for carrying the the boys fandom on your back enna <3

Annie is actually blown away by both your love of and intelligence with languages. She's always trying to learn both Portuguese and French sayings (mostly nicknames/"I love you") to surprise you. She loves the look of joy on your face when you realize what she's trying to say. Her pronunciation could use some work, but it's still very adorable

It melts Annie's heart when she sees you around children. She knows it can be a lot, with kids and their parents running up to her, asking her for pictures, showing off their Starlight costumes. She would understand it got a little exhausting. But you have never minded, instead you ask them questions and make them laugh, telling them they're little superheroes, too

Annie feels like she can truly be herself around you. After all those years with the religious conventions and the time she spent with Vought, she was never allowed to be herself. She couldn't show off her real laugh that's squeaky and high-pitched. She couldn't swear as a teenager or say all the crude jokes she thought of. With you, though, she can let loose. She doesn't have to uphold this image like she's had to her whole life

You and Annie are as equally terrible at cooking. You make a plan to cook together, learning recipes and measurements. Sometimes the food gets burned, or worse, under cooked, and a few times you've had to split it out, wondering where you went wrong? But, overall, it builds your skills together and it makes you feel better about your lack of skills

Annie comes to every show you're in at least three times. She'll bring Hughie and Kimiko first, then M.M. and Frenchie, and the third time she goes along, wanting to see you in your glory, feeling like this moment belongs to her. She shows up with flowers every time and tells you parts and songs she's loved as if you hadn't spent weeks practicing lines and songs with her. She's so proud of you, she can't contain herself. She definitely happy cries at the end when you take your bows!

Want to request a ship?

My love!!!! I hope you like it!!!! :D Xoxoxo💜💜💜💜

[dinoburger]

What are your grey mann backstory hcs?

gosh, where to start?

I think I mentioned, I like to think there's details of it that make it less and less believable the more he talks about it. He'll casually drop that he knew fluent English coming out of the womb, but completely forgot how to speak it while being raised by eagles in the wilderness and had to learn it from scratch. Or that he's had a stint in a side show, being made to eat live animals as part of his act.

There is no way to confirm any of it but a lot of his behaviours are so bizarre, it almost makes it more plausible.

I like thinking Barnabus was the closest thing he ever really had to a father figure, but that relationship was fraught. Barnabus is a complicated beast with a lot of baggage regarding the Mann family, he's capable of sincere compassion but equally loves being perceived as good, regardless of whether his actions reflect this.

Gray tends to feel a little uneasy around the man, often justifiably, but he also longs for kindness. Barnabus also tends to be a bit more sympathetic to his animalistic instincts.

I also tend to think Barnabus made the connection between Radigan and the Manns, as Radigan was a munitions dealer - he could've been connected with Mann Co. and thus Barnabus. This means he was likely the one to introduce Gray to Radigan.

I'm still thinking about how Gray got his start with machines but part of me likes to think he could've started out making little clockwork toys (the vague memory of the Invention of Hugo Cabret comes to mind, with the automaton... that feels sort of Gray-core) but over time coming up with more and more elaborate ideas that he simply does not have the skills or resources to execute to his liking. This is where he becomes more involved with Radigan.

I also feel like, something that's bothered me is the thought of why it took Gray so long to get involved and stop his brothers, while the Administrator has been amassing power all this time. It makes sense that the notes he and Radigan worked on regarding the robots ended up being buried in the Conagher's grave, then locked away in Blutarch's hands, then finally being brought to the light of day by Dell - when Gray got the opportunity to swoop in and take them back.

There's part of me that thinks maybe to start with, maybe deep inside, he wanted to do good by creating the robots to replace vulnerable workers, but the longer and the more he gets caught between the teeth of this hungry, corporate machine, the more it warps him to fit its design.

The more he just becomes bitter and vengeful, watching his dear friend lose an arm to Blutarch's life extender, watching as the workload scrapes bits of Radigan away over time.

Maybe he was alright scavenging resources on the sidelines before, living on the fringes of the Mann empire, but after that? Like hell he will.

... that's about the gist of it, I'm still thinking about him a lot though so aspects of it may change depending on what I think works the best.

[thatstonedwriter]

hello!! since requests are open i'd love to request a ship for the boys <3

i'm a bi & ace jewish brazilian girl, currently in college in the us, majoring in theatre & minoring in translation (i want to be a musical theatre actress and/or playwright and/or translator). i'm 1.72m tall, have long brown hair that i've never dyed (i start thinking about it but chicken out), and no tattoos but very clear ideas of what i'd like to do if i ever got one. fluent in portuguese & english, currently learning french, and i have a life objective to become a polyglot (4+ languages!!).

i'm in love with theatre, literary analysis, linguistics, music, writing, and art in general — will absolutely ramble about anything i am interested in, and also might have strong opinions on stuff that maybe i didn't need to have a strong opinion on 💀 i can get a bit combative about that at times... i definitely take as my biggest skill, besides singing and acting which are quite literally my intended job, eloquence and just my way with words (toxic trait is believing i'd talk my way out of a murder fr fr). friends that know me more recently would even say i'm an extrovert because of that, but honestly i am a pile of nerves of an introvert with social anxiety that simply loves yapping and putting on a show. most notable quirk/habit might be how precise i always am with finding the right words because i simply cannot leave an opening for misinterpretation (and that's on anxiety and a suspicion of undiagnosed adhd oops); that might lead me to be a bit picky (for the lack of a better word), specific, and/or literal with the words other people use as well.

other tidbits: i can't cook for shit, i love cats (i have a rescue named lily) but also like dogs a lot, i love kids and have been told i'm good with them. i'm crazy lucky for some reason and i love crime comedy movies. i'm almost always writing or thinking about writing but i can't ever finish a project (and you may have realized now i write too much). i love arts & crafts & other manual activities, i do knot friendship bracelets to de-stress. my default hangout with anyone ever is grabbing coffee. i'm also pretty proud of my music taste — from alt rock to 20s-40s music, love curating the vibes and i'm a bit of a playlist freak. also i would 100% show brazilian music (mostly rock and mpb, brazilian popular music) to whoever i'm paired with 💥🇧🇷

hope this was good to write with and not too much oops 💀 and thank you so much in advance!! <3

A/n- Hello, and thank you for requesting! I'm so excited to write for a fellow theatre/language nerd! I wish you luck in school, and with your goals of writing and learning more languages. All of that is super impressive! Lots of love to you (and your cat omg give Lily plenty of hugs)

I'm pretty sure this is the first matchup I've ever done, so I hope you enjoy!

I ship you with...

Kimiko!

Your affinity with language and theatrics is what initially caught Kimiko's attention! With how much she appreciates art and music, your singing and acting is such an inspiration for her to express herself.

In the beginning, Kimiko had been incredibly cautious and closed off. When Butcher or M.M would talk shit, you and Frenchie would be the first ones to her defense. Your combative nature is inspiring to Kimiko- she loves how opinionated you are, and how willing you are to stand up for what you believe in.

I’d say one of the first things that got the two of you to bond is making friendship bracelets together. It started out with Kimiko watching you de-stress after a particularly rough encounter with a Supe. The repetitive motion seemed to steady your shaking hands, and Kimiko couldn’t help but wonder if making bracelets with you would help with her own stress and anxiety- after that, it's history

Kimiko's mutism definitely doesn't stop her from joining in the conversation. She began teaching you sign language not long after Frenchie. He would help give you additional lessons/practice.

I would imagine you pick up on Kimiko's SL pretty quickly, given your proficiency with language, but even if it took you a while, Kimiko just appreciates the effort and compassion, not to mention how clear and precise you are with your wording- A refreshing change to The Boys never really saying what they mean.

Your shy nature makes Kimiko pretty protective of you. Even knowing how combative you can be, Kimiko prefers to back you up, no matter what. Every time you say something, Kimiko signs either agreeing with you or emphasizing your point.

I think Kimiko would ask you to dance and sing with/for her all the time. She loves the variety of music you listen to, and can't get enough of your voice. Teach her some new dance moves and she'll be so happy

Dates between the two of you either consist of staying in and watching movies or going to get a quick coffee (you two have snuck out with Frenchie on more than one occasion, to M. M.'s dismay)

Bonus Ship- Frenchie!

It was honestly a tough tossup between Frenchie and Kimiko so I thought I'd add Frenchie in as a bonus, I hope that's alright

Obviously he'd love how passionate and skilled you are when it comes to language- absolutely helps teach you French.

Like Kimiko, Frenchie loves how artistically inclined you are. He'll join in singing and dancing with you, all in good fun. He's probably high as a Kite, so you can expect him to be a bit unsteady on his feet, but the enthusiasm is there

You're gonna get this dude hooked on Brazilian music. His taste is so varied that I think he'd have a great time being introduced to all of your music- even if he doesn't love it, he appreciates you sharing part of your life with him

Frenchie is more than happy to cook for you and teach you if you're interested- but mainly enjoys being able to take care of you, even if its something as small as making you breakfast

Bonus! You and Frenchie/Kimiko more than likely bring at least one stray cat back to the hideout- and no one is allowed to say shit about it or Kimiko breaks their arms

[savianos]

( stanley tucci, cis man, he/him ) — is that really leonardo saviano? i thought so, since i heard the end of the world by skeeter davis blasting just now. well, welcome to cole, wyoming! what brings you here as a 63 year-old? a job as a masseur at oasis spa? wonderful. we’re glad to have you. talk around town is you can be a little austere, but i myself believe you’re more altruistic… but is it true that you were a terrible father to a popular townsperson? wild. well, i’ll let you get back to it!

STATS. 

full name.  leonardo saviano. 

nicknames.  has printed and signed several forms for friends of 20 years and upwards stating that they may, though not more than thrice a week, call him leo. good luck getting one.

date of birth.  17 august. 

place of birth.  cambridge, massachusetts, usa.  

current residence.  cole, wyoming, usa. 

languages.  fluent in english and asl. knows and generously employs a singular italian swear word. 

education.  has a bachelor’s and master’s in nursing. displays his diplomas in a not-at-all passive aggressive spot facing the largest window in the house.

occupation.  masseur at oasis spa. 

gender. cisgender man. he/him. 

orientation.  heterosexual. doubts were made known post his introduction to the indiana jones franchise. 

marital status.  widowed as of last year. 

family.  a leech of an older brother, an infernal cluster of in-laws, and a beloved child. not that he’d ever describe any of them as such. 

pets.  a borzoi puppy named priscilla, contessa of piano di casa. 

PERSONALITY. 

the brief.  grumpy old man with a heart of tarnished gold. would frown at your grocery cart if you but surreptitiously slide a couple of coupons over if you had trouble paying for anything. his sense of humour is perfectly desiccated. his sense of superiority is probably defensive.

the good.  leonardo does not think of himself as a good man. good is the gaudy cotton underwear from the store with the loopy beige logo that takes but a day’s wear to chafe wildfires within nerve endings. good gives people hopes higher than the realm of breathing. blinking, even, if you’re feeling adventurous, which he often is not. he is an honest man whose focus on facts has carved out a clean routine for him to follow, even in the face of ‘well-meaning’ disruptions in the form of cole, wyoming’s residents. some people are down-to-earth. leonardo has been digging out the planet’s molten core since the sixties, scarcely finding himself on the perpetrating end of a stress-induced outburst. beneath his steely calm hides a dedicated compassion that extends to complete stranger. he’s got quite the retirement fund saved up, after all. one, may it be added, that he earned through decades of hard work, loyal investments, and royally painful maintenance of many, many ledgers. if there’s anyone in the world whose word can be trusted, it’s leonardo’s.

the bad.  if there’s anyone who can be trusted to present the rabble with strong words about their life choices, it is leonardo. there is a naked irony in his inability to relax considering his current career path, but if you’ve heard half of what he had to scrub off his scrubs as a nurse, can you really blame him? given, too, that the move to cole was an even bigger change than waking up in a bed for one, his guard and his skull, already things of stubborn thickness, have been perhaps irreparably blunted. it’s made him a square pig right and snug in the square hole of tradition. imagining that some people might not like living exactly the way he has, vitamin spreadsheets and all, is all but impossible. he lives and will, god willing, die by the book.

the ugly.  leonardo is scared to lose more. lose his touch. lose his friends. ose touch with friends. and he wants more friends, of course–no use in buying a marble grave if the only flowers around it will be pitying weeds–but he’s out of practice. he wants to become an upstanding member of cole’s community, an organizer of events, a patron of backyard barbecues and everything he couldn’t be in the city. yet he also wants. this results in as much mixed messaging as one may physically, emotionally, and spiritually cram into a picnic invitation.

APPEARANCE. 

height.  5’7, which seems alright until you see any of the christmas cards with his star quarterback brother. 

build.  stockier since his retirement from nursing. doesn’t much care. does yoga on the weekends, though. 

style.  wears what’s apropos of his chilly attitude–dark neutrals, tight fabrics, and jackets on jackets on jackets. his feet have not been seen in anything but dress shoes since ‘69. 

notable features. severe black glasses that made librarians swoon back in college. bushy grey eyebrows, because his hair had to go somewhere after college. uneven stubble, a true testament to his inability to shave without his wife’s worst playlists whining from the other room.

BIOGRAPHY. content warnings for mentions of death, drugs, hospitals, and terminal illness. 

tl;dr.  guy ignored at home becomes praised at work :) gets married :) adopts a child :) has no time for child :( loses wife :( leaves work :( moves in with child in cole, wyoming :/ gets work :) and gets to be an annoying judgy dad to the whole of cole :)

childhood.  it is sunday in the late sixties. add grain and leathered louts going against the grain to the movie in your mind accordingly. the air has a frigid crispness about it, as does the conversation between leonardo and his parents. well, now, his parents are conversing, while the young boy drowning in his church clothes acts as counsel to whoever seems to be losing with a thoughtful nod or hum or tap of silverware against his goblet of chocolate milk. their words are sharp and shrill, better likened to the hissing of a kettle than the soft bass that rumbles from the radio. they argue. they always argue. in childhood they argued about which of their family-owned diners better conjured italian cuisine from grease, sweat, more grease, and some cheese. in adulthood they argued about who had the more prestigious profession despite both being professors at colleges with equally high rankings and similarly ugly merchandise. then came marriage, or however that rhyme went.

his brother, alberto, makes a booming entrance, backpack hanging off one shoulder. he’s named for senator gore, his parents’ idea of a contemporary rennaissance great. he’s more prone to salacious political practices of profumo, though, as seen by the smudge of lipstick on his collar. and it’s upturned. how scandalous. “coach wanted me to stay. extra practice for the star player.”

leonardo excuses himself to wash the dishes. his father says something about how real men never need excuses before explaining away why he’s fired ten undergraduate assistants in ten days. the night is otherwise peaceful until alberto clambers into the top bunk. the professors saviano could and would purchase an authentic pollock but never, ever separate bedrooms for their sons. maybe they thought masculinity was contagious.

“mr. frehley says i’ve got a career in politics,” alberto says, letting a class president campaign poster fall on leonardo’s face. “what’ve you got a career in, huh? snorting psychedelics?”

leonardo’s eyes drift towards the television in the living room. a dr. kildare rerun. he and the protagonist have a steady hand and an excess of sensitivity unflattering in any wear but a white coat. he makes up his mind then and there. “sure. drugs.”

“you ever going to get into sports?” he asks, steamrolling on to the next topic. “it’s embarrassing, you know, when papa wants you to join in my games with my friends” –here he drops a sock next to leonardo’s teddy bear– “and you don’t know pigskins from the deli stuffs.”

leonardo shrugs. “sure.”

alberto scoffs. “how?”

leonardo sinks into his blanket. he wonders if his parents will let him pull bedtime up to seven next year. “drugs.”

alberto coughs into his fist. “wise guy.”

leonardo, like most boys his age, hates his family. unlike most boys his age, however, he never grows out of it, nor is he given any reason to.

young adulthood.  the campus bar. the bastard institution. tonight, the site of leonardo’s first and last college party. the class of ‘xy is celebrating their graduation in style, no student left behind. even if student includes that brown-noser who spent all four years of his dormitory incumbency borrowing the fattest books in the library and begging that anyone with a tattered lanyard adopt him as their own. rumour is a lecturer recommended him to a top hospital in colorado as payment for total silence in class. rumour’s also that he got the septugenerian librarian phyllis pregnant. whichever rumour makes a pretty woman come up to him and ask for an introduction is the one he doesn’t regret ignoring.

“i’m leonardo saviano. i’m studying nursing.”

“ah. sounds about right. professor neuman isn’t coy about his favourites.” she offers a hand. there are chips of paint beneath her fingernails. he takes it, anyhow. “shirley.”

“temple?” he raises a brow, smoothing down his hair, cursing its thinness all the while.

“you wish.” he does not. her eyes, lined with colour, dart down to his drink. “that’s water.”

“no, i’m wildly inebriated. on the verge of fainting, even.”

“so why’d you become a nurse?”

she starts her sentences with conjunctions. he does not care. they are both mildly shocked by this, though it shows only in what stains on the barstool they choose to hold in their gaze. he clears his throat. “i wanted to get out of school as fast as possible, get as much money as possible.”

“really? you wanted to get out of school fast?”

he clears his throat again, turning to the tinny television set ahead. it’s playing a football game. the difference between scores is hopeless. “i wanted to get away from him.”

“al savi…?” her eyes widen. they don’t, he thinks, need any more pigment to properly shine. “you didn’t have to go this far. guy gets traded like the plague.”

she continues, breathless. “me and my aunt have always wanted a nurse as a neighbour. variety and such. she owns an apartmext complex just a few miles down from here. way closer to that hospital of so-and-so you’re gunning to work at. what do you say we check the place out?”

“my aunt and i, you mean.”

“don’t be a wise guy.”

“sure.”

he learns that she is a writer of columns for a magazine centred on contemporary art. he learns that her aunt is a heavy sleeper. he learns that he has learnt so much about the theory of hormones and so little about true romance.

he soon learns that hospital life is terribly different from the sterile proceedings of school. still, he is unflappable, powering through every 12-hour shift with a particular thin-lipped smile on his face and dreams of proofreading a rival’s column with his future wife.

not-so-young adulthood.  work is wonderful. it takes much less than he expected for his title to leap bounds into a management position. the job demands much of him: detailed documentation of conditions that gave his college freshman self nightmares in footnotes alone, stronger feet than al saviano had in his prime and even stronger arms in case the commode chair’s got a faulty wheel. as such, when he demands higher pay, superiors nod and smile a thin-lipped smile.

life is wonderful. it takes quite a number of years after their marriage, but he and shirley manage to adopt a child. a week of paternity leave is not enough to express how much he wants to spoil them with all the books and toys (but mostly books) money and a touch of throwing his weight around can buy. 

work is wonderful until it chomps away at one’s calendar like a pesky little pet that is actually a wild animal who won the genetic lottery evolution-wise. he trades parent-teacher conferences for conferences that take him trekking across mountain ranges to talk with the nth board member about why, no, they will not be replacing all lightbulbs with the kind that take epileptic patients to the grave. he has his excuses, he always does, but his kid’s rebuttals grow larger and louder as their body does, and when he finally admits he can’t keep up, they’re off to college or a commune or something and say, with the loud slam of a door, that he doesn’t need to.

life is wonderful until it makes a tiny mistake, this translocation tripping over another, this clump of cells staying long after last call. shirley’s condition deteriorates at a rate he would find fascinating if it was happening in a medical drama rather than right beside him, every day for a decade. their home, once full of vibrant noise, becomes silent but for the beeping of machines. at some point, her hand pale and cold in his, she asks that he give his child a full and good apology. at some point soon after she is gone.

staying in colorado is impossible. he turns in his two weeks’ notice before he turns into a harried husk of the professional he once was. he is too young (or prideful) to retire, and in the same throbbing vein too old (or, again, prideful) to work as a nurse again. he calls his child, and for the first time in forever they stay on the line longer than what it takes to mumble ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ around toast and half-solid coffee. at first he stays with friends around the state, helping with cleanups and garage sales and eventually finding new purpose helping a friend with her acupuncture practice.

now.  the attic is a sickly shade of dark, dark brown. planks alternate between displaying their termite damage like it’s the latest trend in floor couture and tempting leonardo’s feet towards rusty nails. what remains of the wallpaper is a floral yellow, the sort scientists dissect in their laboratories with a ten-foot pole. a grey mattress lies in the middle of a dozen discarded boxes and decorations. priscilla, contessa of piano di casa, yips at a broken mirror. this is the worst. 

this is the best cole, wyoming has to offer a family man.

leonardo dials his most recent contact. somehow, the creature on the other side of the line is still alive. he hears glasses clinking, drinks sloshing, boos and cheers in identical measure. his voice, hoarse on its own and worsened by an old-new dalliance with nicotine, crackles through the speaker. “hey, asshole.”

some things never change. “language.”

al scoffs. “how’s the place?”

leonardo shudders. he can’t tell whether it’s the sofa or his suitcase that smells of damp, after such a long car ride. he flicks through the selection of books on his bedside table. if one can have a bedside table without an actual bed. “it’s like the library of alexandria.”

al coughs into his fist. “...nice?”

“after it was burned.”

“you can be funny when you want to be, you know?”

“as opposed to you, the living jester.”

“just her what?”  al gulps. “say, i got a lot riding on this game. call when you can.”

leonardo sits down on the mattress, cautious about his weight distribution. he must make adjustments to his plan. first the housewarming food, then ensuring the whole town knew they were welcoming the best nurse within 393.8 miles, then world domination. or however retirement went.

MISCELLANEOUS. 

radio.  air supply. carpenters. simon & garfunkel. joni mitchell. reba mcentire. 

recommended reading.  a man called ove by fredrik backman. a grief observed by c.s. lewis. miracles of life by j.g. ballard.

potential relationships.  a regular client at the spa who can’t stand his attitude but also can’t comfortably stand without his osteopathic expertise. alternatively, a regular client at the spa who finds pissing him off and putting him up for another hr seminar funny. former patients or relatives of former patients from his very, very long stint as a nurse at a very, very big hospital. someone who wants to introduce him, just-a-city-boy extraordinaire, to the wonderful worlds of equine ventures, camping, or anything else more outdoorsy than a trip to the gas station.

assorted headcanons.  has many hobbies but only takes crochet, croquet, and gossiping about how awful people are at the first two hobbies Seriously. considers his deepest, darkest secret to be his fondness for alternative rock. always has rock-hard butterscotch candies on him. knows nothing about sports out of choice; will make this fact known whenever he gets the chance. cites fake sources in text messages and e-mails to see if anyone will catch on. favourite teenage mutant ninja turtle is donatello.

[ace-of-hugs]

An Introduction to my Original Characters :D :D

This is the link to the picrew I am using to show my character designs because I can’t draw to save my life :D

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1909969

I’ve decided that I want to talk about my characters on here because currently they’re clinging onto my brain and refusing to get into a page, so this is my attempt at motivating them to become an actual story. Also I’ve been working on them for several years and I need people to love them as much as I do.

so here’s the intro post for them! if you ever looked at Heartstopper and thought “this would be even better if the characters where neurodivergent”, then you’ll definitely like my book when it comes out, so if you want to learn more about it follow me to catch my random thoughts and bits of writing while I work on it :) (as long as you don’t mind me completely ignoring social rules and spamming you with reblogs all day)

El Rose

age: fifteen years old

sexuality: lesbian asexual

gender: demigirl

pronouns: she/they

special interests: cats, history, theatre, minecraft, witchcraft, swords, snakes, gardening/plants, art

extra facts:

el is autistic and has adhd, she also has a lot of mental health issues (but to be fair all of them do)

el was born and lives in england but is irish

she has a dog

her MBTI personality type is ISFP

el has two younger half-siblings that she’s not very close to

Iris May

age: fifteen years old

sexuality: lesbian asexual

gender: cisgender girl

pronouns: she/her

special interests: sports, psychology, space, minecraft, animal crossing, ancient mythology, several TV shows

extra facts:

iris, like el, is autistic and has adhd, she also has asthma :D

iris is the point of view character in the second story

iris has an autism assistance dog and three cats

iris is learning BSL (British sign language)

her MBTI personality type is ENFJ

Ember Gold

age: sixteen years ikd

sexuality: gay

gender: cisgender boy

pronouns: he/him

special interests: baking, music/music history, theatre, Shakespeare

extra facts:

ember is autistic and very depressed (but don’t worry, he gets better :D)

ember is the point of view character for the first story

ember is fluent in three languages (English, French and BSL)

ember has a cat

his MBTI personality type is ISTG

Wynter Richmond

age: sixteen years old

sexuality: gay demiromantic (or on the aromantic spectrum in some way)

gender: who knows? gender is a social construct

pronouns: he/him because it’s most convenient for everyone around him (but truthfully he has no strong feelings about it)

special interests: history, horses, collections (he likes to collect books, old coins and crystals), art, mythology, geology

extra facts:

wynter is autistic, very anxious and has dyspraxia

wynter is half-welsh, was born in wales and knows welsh, but moved to England when he was very young (and will likely never speak Welsh in the story because I don’t speak welsh)

wynter gets an autism assistance dog in the future (when he’s in university) but he doesn’t have one now

his MBTI personality type is INFP

wynter has an older sister