#multi-lingual courses

[huevobuevo]

ive fuckingggg HAD IT . i am going to talk about gegg qsmp because idk why but charlie slimecicle made one of the best representations of age regression ive seen in media and i am NOT joking.

so i dont rlly post alot about the qsmp on my blog, thus i wouldn't be surprised if this post goes unnoticed or ignored by a vast majority of my friends & followers. for those of you who ARE reading this with no prior experience with the QSMP lemme just quickly summarize some much needed background knowledge.

(Quackity Voice) The QSMP Is The Worlds First Multi-lingual Minecraft Server; it hosts a wide variety of twitch streamers who speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. the beginning plotline of the server (which is where Gegg came into existence) follows the various players as they are grouped into pairs to care for a dragon egg. The main ones that will be talked about today are Tilin, Quackity's egg, and Juanaflippa, Slimecicle & ElMariana's egg. The eggs are, of course, played by anonymous admins, who have given these eggs their own unique personalitys despite only communicating through signs and emotes. The players have quickly imprinted on their respective eggs, as expected, and have gone on to view these eggs as their own children. The rules were simple - each egg had two lives and two lives ONLY. each day the eggs have tasks for the streamers to complete ON STREAM or else the egg could die of starvation & neglect (points at Trump, Maximus & DanTDM's egg).

i will be referring to Slimecicles character in the QSMP as Charlie or Slime for better coherency. from now on i will be referring to the characters, not the streamers.

Slimecicle and Mariana were not the best parents to Juanaflippa, but it was clear that they truly and deeply cared for their daughter. They supported her transition and, especially in Slimes case, did everything they could to make sure their daughter was safe. Juanaflippa had lost her second life due to an accident, which caused Slime to loose his shit and go on a murderous rampage to try and get the literal Minecraft Jesus Christ of Nazareth to come back and revive his daughter (she came back after a court case. long story.)

Basically Juanaflippa was loved, and she loved her parents back- but there was someone else she cared for the most in the whole wide world

Tilin, who Slime offered to take care of once her father had to log off game. There was another accident, and Tilin was caught in the crossfire between Charlie and a few mobs at night. She was on her second life, meaning that Charlie had officially ended his daughters best friend right infront of her eyes. Distraught and ashamed, Charlie ran off into self-isolation and left Juanaflippa in the care of Mariana and their friend Roier. During his "Eggxile" while he was trying to find a way to bring back Tilin, Charlie learnt that Mariana killed Juanaflippa AGAIN. Instead of going on another tirade Charlie just lost it.

He's now carrying the deaths of two children on his mind, isolating himself from what little friends he had on the main island. During his initial stay on the island there were only English and Spanish players, but when the French and Brazilian players arrived he still spent a majority of his time in isolation. Charlie wasn't apart of a good chunk of the main island lore for a long, long time, and pretty soon it began to feel like he was completely, and utterly, alone. He attended a wedding and a few parties, but it was visible how outcasted he was from all the new events and connections. He had regular breakdowns and pretty soon began to believe that Juanaflippa wasn't dead, she was just... somewhere else. He was gonna get her back. He did it once, he'll do it again. Fuck, he couldn't even bring himself to attend her own funeral, and even when he was allowed one final goodbye with his dead daughter Charlie still refused to accept the fact that Juanaflippa was never gonna come back home. He built a campfire on the beach of his Eggxile house with three chairs- one for him, one for his wife (who hadn't logged on in months), and one for Flippa.

TL;DR q!slime is going the fuck through it.

Later on Quackity decided to get Charlie in on a plan to try and steal from other peoples houses. They both lost their families, so it seemed only fair to Quackity that they ruin other people's lives as well. Basically Charlie had to pretend to be Quackity's NEW egg so that he can get close with the other eggs and fuck shit up.

Charlie liked it. Charlie... REALLY liked it, actually. His egg name was Gegg, and without knowing it he began to age regress.

Im calling Gegg a form of Age Regression because not only is Charlie mentally AND physically becoming a child, but through Gegg Charlie is allowed the freedom to escape his grief and explore what it means to be a "child" who was loved unconditionally. On the last Gegg stream Slime referred to the little goopy guy as something that lives inside of him. Gegg takes over him and he just looses himself in the act. He's not just playing a character called Gegg, he IS Gegg.

In the very first stream as Gegg he expressed his desire to learn what having a family was like- a common reason most people have for regressing. When "regressed" to this state Charlie/Gegg is constantly acting as a young child and actually enjoys it! He LOVED being Gegg! Even if it got too far in the end, Gegg was allowed to be open about his wants & emotions. Charlie was pushed back into the lives of the other players and fully reconnected with several people again for the first time since his self-imposed isolation. He gained new friends, too, once Gegg was introduced to the Brazilian and French players.

In turn the players never made any effort to expose Charlie's regression. while at the beginning there was some distrust & confusion over Charlie's sudden egg act it never went farther then a few subtle jokes at Geggs "true" identity (commenting on his backflips, which is something Charlie was known for). Aside from Wilbur, everybody treated Gegg as any other egg-child. He was cared for, his tasks would be completed on occasion, and the French+Brazilian players ESPECIALLY loved him! They supported Charlie's regression since at this point they began to realize how much shit he has been through since the deaths of Tilin and Flippa. Not only that, but the eggs as well played along with Gegg's coping mechanism; Leonarda (FoolishGamers + Vegetta777's egg) was one of the first to try and adopt Gegg as their own baby, while Chayanne (Philza+MissaSinfonia's egg) & Tallulah (Wilbur Soot's egg) acted as his "Geggsiblings" (even though Tallulah sorta got a bit rude to him during their second encounter, im guessing due to a new admin who wasn't around during Tallulah & Gegg's first interaction),

Infact, one of the best scenes of the Gegg Arc was during an interaction between Gegg & Bobby. Bobby was Roier & JaidenAnimation's egg, and he was also close to Juanaflippa & Tilin. The two kids talked through signs, where Bobby confessed that he held a grudge against Slime for what he did. Gegg said that he had every right to be upset, the poor boy had lost two of his closest friends after all. But then Bobby did something that shocked Charlie- he forgave him. he told Gegg to tell that "green guy" that he shouldn't be hard on himself anymore, both of them needed to move on already. Not only was Bobby a child, but he was one of the main eggs Quackity wanted Gegg to kill off first. Bobby was the reason why Gegg existed, the reason why Charlie was given the chance to heal from his trauma, and now he is telling Charlie to his face that its ok to forgive himself for the deaths of Tilin and Flippa.

Bobby knows who Gegg is, everybody does, which is why they treat Gegg with the same amount of love that every other egg gets.

Age Regression has frequently been misunderstood, and very rarely does it get the proper representation that it deserves. It is a very "taboo" form of coping, which is unfortunate due to how common it actually is. Most people feel uncomfortable with the image of grown adults acting as toddlers in diapers, and lump it together with the whole Age Play/DDLG ordeal- yet they fail to take into account what age regressors are ACTUALLY like. while it is something that just about anyone can do, the type of regression I will be talking about stems from people who seek refuge from traumatic events usually in their childhood. It can be voluntary or involuntary, and is a way for people to explore & reevaluate what it means to be a child. it is just that- a trauma response, one that im sure many of you participate in but are too scared to discuss it due to the stigma around it. Children who have experienced abuse regress, Teenagers who struggle with mental health regress, Adults with severe PTSD regress, and yet it is such a misunderstood part of the healing process that is practically unaccounted for in media. There is little to nothing on age regression representation that delivers it in a respectful, honest manner, due to this stigma, which only serves to push it further into the shadows of mental health discourse.

So to see age regression be used on a fucking minecraft server of all places in such a healthy light is so refreshing to see. While ironic at first, Charlie showcased age regression as something that shouldn't be shunned. It actively aided him through a dark period in his life and showed that he deserves a second chance. After Gegg canonically "died" Charlie returned to the island for his birthday and was finally ready to move on from Flippa & Tilins death (and then, yakno, the whole Codeflippa Arc happened)

TL;DR #2 Charlie Slimecicle's Character In The QSMP Age Regresses As A Way To Cope From The Deaths Of Two Eggs & Oh My God It Was Actually Really Fucking Emotional

[avalentina]

Bookstore Owner Y/N x Christian Pulisic Preview

Warnings: Multi-Lingual (Some Italian mixed in, I will translate most of it), otherwise none as of yet, this is just super cute and fluffy so far, the reader is half American half Italian but grew up in Italy.

892 Words

I’m grabbing another box of reshelves when the little chime above the door of Rose’s Books dings. My grandmother used to call me her little rose and it was her who fueled my love of books. When I get out from the storeroom, a young guy about my age is wandering around looking at everything. He looks like he just finished an early evening run. His short hair has these adorable natural curls to it and when his amazing brown eyes meet mine, the box slips from my hands and thumps to the floor, landing on my foot.

“Merda, ouch.” I yelp as he rushes over with a shy smile on his face and grabs the box. Easily hoisting it onto the nearby counter.

“Is your foot okay?” He asks with an American accent and my stomach erupts in butterflies.

“It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. Bruised toes tend to happen when you own a bookstore.”

“Oh, you own this place? It’s cozy, I like it.” He says, that shy smile back

“Thank you.”

“I take it you’re Rose?” He asks.

“Well technically my name is Y/N, rose is a nickname from my best childhood memories, so it seemed fitting. But anyways, did you just come in to browse or are you in need of a specific title?” I ask, shaking myself out of the daze and back into sales mode.

“I was hoping you had a copy of The Sorcerer’s Stone. I lost mine.” He says sheepishly.

“I don’t have The Sorcerer’s Stone, but I do have The Philosopher’s Stone.” I say with a knowing smile.

“I keep forgetting it has a different name in America.” He says and we fill the short walk over to its shelf with talk about Potter. I hand him the book and our fingers brush as he takes it from me.

“All set then, or do you need some time to browse?” I ask, hoping he opts for the latter option.

“I think I will take a peek around if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” I nod. “Can I get you anything to drink? I’m a firm believer that a good book is always better with a comforting drink.” I’ve got a little setup of some espresso, tea options, water, lemonade, and my favorite apple cider behind the register station.

“Maybe just a small lemonade.” He says and I grab him one before going back to my shelving. As I go around the shop reshelving I feel the weight of his eyes on me from time to time and can’t help but take quick glances over at him as well. He’s just so pretty to look at.

I hear the door chime again, as my best friends and business partners Livia and Nico come in to help me close up the shop. Nico grabs his first box and starts reshelving before setting it aside and rushing back over.

“Y/N why is Christian Pulisic in the shop right now?” He asks me and I guess he’s referring to the cute guy with brown eyes.

“He needed a new copy of Philosopher’s Stone. What’s wrong with that?”

“He's Christian Pulisic, one of the new signings for AC Milan.

“So he’s a footballer?” I ask.

“One of the BEST footballers ever. I bought his jersey to wear to games as soon as the transfer was finalized.”

“Okay Nico, breathe, he’s also a normal human being. Why don’t you do the reshelves in the kids section and I’ll finish your area.”

“Would it be a bad time for me to get his autograph?”

“Of course not, happy to chat with a fan.” The guy who I guess is kind of a big deal says to Nico with a genuine smile and extends his hand so Nico can shake it.

“Ciao. È un piacere conoscerti di persona. Sei incredibile. Adoro quando fai scivolare la palla tra le gambe di un altro giocatore, penso che tu la chiami nutmeg, comunque è così bello.”

“I'm going to be honest. I have no idea what you just said. I recognized nutmeg but that's about it.

“Not to worry Christian, I can translate Nico for you. He said, Hello. It’s nice to meet you in person. You’re amazing. I love it when you slip the ball through another player’s legs, I think you call it a nutmeg, anyway it's so cool.” I say. “Nico just has a tendency to get all of his rushed thoughts and ramblings out in Italian. It's a lot easier.”

“That makes sense. Maybe all I need is an Italian tutor.” He says, looking at me with that shy smile.

“Oooh, Y/N would be amazing at that. After all, she is half American.” Livia chimes in, having finished her round of reshelves.

Christian raises an eyebrow and my face flushes as I explain. “My father was on vacation in Florence when he met my mother who was on holiday there with her friends.”

“Her parents are the best Italian love story. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl enjoy classic Italian food, boy up and moves to Italy to be with girl.” Livia adds and I bury my face in my hands.

“That's actually adorable.” Christian says. “So what do you say? Will you help me learn Italian?”

[didalexiabreakupwitholgayet]

Jenni said three things, first she was critical of herself and the Spanish team and said they committed many errors; second, she said Brasil took the chances they had to score, unlike Spain; and then she commented on Brasil’s anti-sportsmanship attitude. All three things are true. Enoje a quien enoje.

that's exactly how i took it. se acabó and that's it.

sure, happy to share all these different perspectives. and agree, i think the discourse has run its course, so to speak.

now i'm very curious to see potential rematches between spain and brasil moving forward! spicy fixtures indeed! 😄

yeah, i'm sorry but this too much! i'm not a patriotic person at all for spain but even i was feeling annoyed about it😬🙈 jk jk i'm not revoking my senyera flying credentials and turning in my calçotada host card over the olympics of all things! 😄

but definitely noticing a lot of 'fair-weather' fans with barça and alexia profile pictures who seem too quick to jump all over spain when they are down and out. 👀

please don't apologise for your language! i'm a multi-lingual like you too! you are welcome here 🙏

and yes, this has gone too far. it's one thing to disagree with what jenni said or say that she should have worded it better but another thing to be so hateful.

okay, folks, i think all that needs to be said has been said here and we move!

[cissyenthusiast010155]

hi can you do #1 and #50 with alex blake

Heyyyy anon, thanks for the request! Yea, I’d love to write this for you!! Alex Blake is a queen, and I love writing for her 👑💋

Know Your Place, Beneath Me… ~Alex Blake xFem Consultant!Reader

Mommy… Master List

Requests & Prompt-List

#1. “You think you can top me?” 

#50. “Bend over.”

Warnings: NSFW, teasing, age gap (all legal), spanking, implied overstimulation, implied smut, grinding, kissing, pet names, implied praise kink, implied spanking kink…?, etc.

Enjoy (;

Another serial killer had brought the team to the big apple, New York City.

And this particular unsub left lengthy and cryptic messages all over his crime scenes. Due to this, the NYPD had already called in a Linguistics specialist before the BAU arrived.

You were in your really early twenties and already had your doctorate and a PhD. You were the linguistics and behavioral traveling consultant whom the NYPD had called upon. You had just gotten back from a case over in Europe where you had been working with the Scotland Yard.

Meeting the BAU was almost like a breath of fresh air. One agent in particular, a perky blonde, who mad wit very clear that she was not usually in person on cases, left an impression. For once, you had a group of people in the room who could all keep up with you. Well, all except Dr. Alex Blake were a breath of fresh air…

Agent Blake was the linguistics specialist for the BAU who also had a doctorate and a PhD, although she was a considerable amount of years older than you (old enough to be your mother)…

From the moment you met the team, you could sense the tension in her voice.

“Dr. Alex Blake.” She firmly introduced herself with a nod.

~~~

“We have the conference room set up for you, let me know if there’s anything else.” The Captain told the BAU team and you.

“Thank you.” Hotch said, then directing his attention to his team, “Alright, we’re going to split up, Reid and JJ will go to the ME, Garcia and Morgan will go to the first crime scene, Rossi and I will go the second, and Blake will stay, analyzing the writings and what we already know, working with Dr. L/N.”

Alex pursed her lips and tensed up slightly at this.

“Everything alright, Blake?” Hotch asked.

The brunette agent merely nodded and then headed off into the conference room.

~~~

You had already gotten started on the unsub’s writing, when Dr. Blake stepped into the room, leaving the door behind her only slightly ajar.

“It seems we’ll be working together on this case…” you murmured aloud.

“It seems so…” the brunette hummed, making her way over to the paper filled table and partially organized bulletin board.

Her eyes scanned the papers, taking in your work so far.

“What have you found so far?” She asked.

You sighed lightly.

“Well… The writer is male, multi-cultural, probably multi-lingual, well educated. He is stressed, or at least governed by a good amount of negative emotions. And much more…” you huffed.

Dr. Blake raised her brows slightly at what you had already perceived.

“Why multi-lingual?”

“In his writings, the unsub uses multiple British English terms, as if that was what he was taught if English were his second language, and his word order is not as synonymous with an English language, but rather one of the romantic languages…” you explained.

Alex have you a hum in response.

~~~

The long day finally came to a end, meaning you finally got to retire to your hotel room for the night, which coincidentally happened to be the same hotel that the BAU team was staying at.

You rode the elevator up and walked down the floor to your room. On your way, you clocked the one and only Dr. Alex Blake a couple of doors down, entering a hotel room of her own.

Of course, she had a room in the exact same hotel, on the exact same floor, and only a few doors away from you…

You sighed, too tired to deal with the the thought of that brunette, so you simply entered your room and went to bed.

~~~

Your next day on the case wasn’t much better than the first, although you and Dr. Blake did make some progress with the unsub’s letters.

By noon, you were exhausted and hungry.

“I’m going to go down the street and grab a sandwich, do you want anything…?” You asked the older brunette.

“Sounds great, I’d love one…” she sighed, taking her eyes off the papers for the first time in hours.

“What would you like…?” You asked, while grabbing your bag.

“Pastrami and cheese would be great…” she hummed.

You hummed back in response, leaving out the door.

~~~

By the end of the night, neither you nor Dr. Blake could take a single look at any more papers, you were both so exhausted.

You turned in for the night, going back to your hotel room. But you found that the case kept you awake. At a certain point, you accepted that your mind wasn’t going to relent, so you got up and pulled out the case from your bag. But this didn’t help much either.

Suddenly, you heard a knock on the door. You grabbed a bath robe and went to answer the door. None other than Dr. Alex Blake stood in front of you…

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought you might be the same…” she tiringly explained.

You hummed in response.

“And I brought wine…” she added.

You chuckled, seeing Blake hold up a bottle of red and two glasses, “Come in.”

You pulled out the two chairs from the corner of your room with a small table, where you and the brunette sat yourselves with long sighs. The table still had your case files spread all over it. Alex opened the bottle and began pouring in silence. The first sips were also taken in silence. Like the world had paused for a moment…

“No new leads…?” Alex spoke up, breaking the silence, indicating to all the case files in the table.

You groaned slightly and rubbed your temples, “No… It’s like staring at an overdone crossword puzzle… Eventually everything you look at becomes stubborn and frustrating…”

Alex chuckled lightly at your comparison. Silence took the room again, the only sound being your drinking.

“You are quite good, you know…” Alex hummed.

You looked up at the woman in light shock. In the time that you had known the brunette, she never was one to give compliments…

“For your age…” She added on with a chuckle.

At that, you sent her a quizzical look. The alcohol was starting to take into affect…

“What’s that supposed to mean…?”

“You’re young, green, but you’re good.”

“Just because someone is young, doesn’t mean they aren’t inherently good at the job…” you huffed.

“I didn’t say that…” Blake clarified.

“No, but you implied it…” you muttered.

“Ok, do I believe that more seasoned agents are more likely to be better at the job? Yes. But that doesn’t make the newer agents inherently bad…” she rambled.

“But newer agents bring in new techniques, new ideas. They bring new motivation.” You argued.

“You seriously think you could top me 1 v 1…??” Blake chuckled.

Your breath hitched. Your pupils enlarged, and your gaze met the brunette’s.

Your mind went straight to the gutter with her choice of words…

“You think you can top me?” You challenged, with a seductive edge to your tone.

Blake cocked an eyebrow at your words and new direction in tone. When she didn’t answer, you got up from your chair and walked over to the brunette, trapping her in her chair with each arm on either side of her. You were in her face, grinning, and Alex was going to have none of that.

“Bend over.” She stated.

You were drawn a back a little.

“I… what…?” You stuttered.

“I said, Bend over…” she commanded.

You gulped. But you did as you were told. You bent over the older brunettes lap.

~~~

By the time Blake had finished, picked you up, and placed you in her lap— your ass was fiery red, arousal was dripping down your thighs, your face was flushed, and your breathing was rapid and erratic.

“I… that was… wow…” you stammered.

The brunette chuckled, before connecting her lips to yours. You moaned into the kiss eagerly, desperately grinding into her lap. You then quickly stood up, pulling Alex up with you. You began stripping, but she stopped you. Instead, she pushed you onto the bed, crawling on top of you.

“Don’t…” she purred, “I want to take my time with you…”

You sucked your breath in and nodded slowly.

“Yes please…” you whispered.

“Good girl…” Alex murmured, starting to kiss every available piece of skin she can reach.

~~~

Alex Blake Masterlist

[salternateunreality2]

AGSZC and Sign Language (Neurodivergent AU)

from a conversation with @strayheartless (can you tell I'm going through my chat backlog? lol sorry for the spam notifications and thank you for the great inspiration!)

Disclaimer: I don't know sign language and I'm not a neurodivergence expert

-

Cloud knew sign language from an early age, learning with his mom because his speech was delayed due to neurodivergence (ND). He slips into it from time to time in front of his boyfriends, but is embarrassed about it because he'd get teased in the village.

Genesis is the first to realize it's sign language, and rallies everyone to learn it.

They all LOVE Sign, because most of them are ND (GSZC), and one of them just loves his boys (A).

-

Cloud being really embarrassed and mortified at first, but Gen sitting him down and having a heart to heart.

"Beloved, we do a version of this already on the battlefield, it's no trouble. I'm just delighted we finally know when you're saying something. I love hearing from you, in any language. I love this part of you so much. I think it will even help us as a group; especially Sephiroth, probably Zack too. Aww, cherished chocobo, don't cry, you're perfect the way you are."

"It's not weak. You're not a failure. You're multi-lingual! You are amazing, my sweet baby bird!"

"Have you seen the deaf version of Loveless? I'll go put it on right now!" And suddenly Cloud can't argue at all, or even roll his eyes, he just feels so overwhelming loved. Genesis holds his sniffling chocobo super tightly, sometimes kissing his nose, making quiet commentary about the movie until the sniffles turn into chuckles.

(((Gen uses "not wanting to overwhelm Cloud" as an excuse for not inviting the others over, and therefore as an excuse to invite them over for an additional viewing later so he can get moAR LOVELESS. Everyone else is ok with it because Genesis sneakily told them that this would really help Cloud. For the third viewing, he guilt trips ASZ by saying it's Cloud's new favorite movie because it makes him feel special, and then turning around and guilt tripping Cloud by saying it would help Sephiroth, and Genesis really loves holding Cloud like they do every time with this movie.)))

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

Cloud growing in confidence and eventually making any group he's in charge of learn the field signs super well, plus some extras, and his teams get assigned better missions because they're better at communicating, especially when stealth is needed. They're also always looking at each other, and pick up on bad things quicker because of it.

Random trooper Fred notices random trooper Allen being affected by a poison gas because he was checking in with Allen to make sure he wasn't saying anything, for example.

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

Sephiroth being petty and subtly signing insults about board members to Genesis, Angeal, and Lazard (because of course Lazard knows sign).

[vhstown]

pavitr prabhakar ★ general headcanons

content/warnings: implied/mentions of death (his parents+uncle), mentions of bullying, gayatri x pavitr, written by a coconut who is not indian PLS CORRECT ME!!

a/n: the sunny boy himself... (ugly crying) I LOVE HIM. loosely based off of the scraps of canon that i could find. maybe a little projection... (i am desi) atsv version pavitr! written at midnight and not very edited 💀

For some background, Pavitr was born in Southern India (likely Tamil Nadu or Kerala) so one of his first languages was Tamil! A village / small town boy at heart.

After his parents passed at a young age he moved to Mumbattan with his Aunt Maya and Uncle Bihm (of course) and it is very very different!!!

Obviously Pavitr has to learn Hindi and Marathi properly in order to fit in AND English my boy has to be multi-lingual from the start...

Even from early on Pavitr was bullied because he didn't fit in with the city kids. Gets called pagal Prabhakar (crazy Prabhakar — a bit like puny Parker?) and a slew of other names because of his accent, how he mixes up the languages, and the fact that he lives with his aunt and uncle rather than his parents.

Eventually by the time he's in his early teens he "assimilates" in terms of the language and culture but he's a scrawny kid so he still gets bullied... kids are ruthless bro don't you got the JEE to study for 💀

God forbid if anyone found out about his emo phase at that time... Pavitr's just getting onto social media and when he sees the emo subculture he just takes it and runs. (He stops out of embarassment when his Aunt Maya finds out why he's stealing her kajal... There are photos out there somewhere.)

Also meets Gayatri during his lil emo phase. Definitely a chill popular girl and definitely sticks up for him (it's giving Indian Forest Gump... does anyone know about that adaptation 😭)

He's a bit hesitant about Gayatri at first since the popular kids kind of dogpile on him all the time but eventually they become a little duo and he crushes HARD

Enter hopeless romantic Pavitr he is the embodiment of the song "Love Spell" by Param Pannu (Spotify link it's a BOP)

Plus you know he's in love when he admits he had an emo phase to you... in the middle of his emo phase. (Gayatri has all those pictures saved by the way.)

Then comes Mumbattan Visions Academy!! (according to the wiki that's where he goes.)

Of course we know that Pavitr is quite naturally smart so the entrance exam is no problem (RAFFLE BOY like Miles 😊😊😊)

But he is so super concerned about getting in with Gayatri so a few weeks before the exams they're studying together (doing anything but study)

My girl Gayatri is trying to help him out and he has no idea what she's saying and she's so smart and literally knows twice the amount of info you need to know so my boy Pavitr is sweating BULLETS the day before (exam is so easy he thinks he's sitting the wrong one LMAO)

Pavitr does NOT want to stay at the dorms he'll defo miss his auntie and uncle too much (and his auntie's cooking) but he begrudgingly goes anyway...

Enter NADEESH (his universe's Ned counterpart I totally just made up...)

They're roomies and Nadeesh is from Bengal and they actually bond quite easily considering they're not from Mumbattan he's a STEM boy and has a love/hate relationship with it (super smart though maybe just not at school... gadget stuff 😱)

Pavitr doesn't know a LICK of Bangla but Nadeesh teaches him some perhaps to rizz up Gayatri... (they're all vulgar or swear words or words Pavitr picked up from hearing Nadeesh's mum speak on the phone 💀)

SPEAKING OF GAYATRI yeah she's slaying school and also has a lil modelling thing going on too. STEM girlie and fashion girlie and knows multiple languages (her father knows a couple considering he's an officer)

Pavitr is a hopeless romantic but he's just hopeless when he asks her out in Bangla trying to be cool and doesn't realise he called her a whore... (he's so going to kill Nadeesh.)

She finds it HILARIOUS though and they start dating and everyone lived happily ever after and NO ANCIENT YOGI TIME MY BOY IS SPIDER-MAN NOW 🤯🤯🤯🤯

I think Pavitr's initial approach to being Spider-Man is very... impractical. Given he's just gotten his powers and gotten his naturally buff abilities and always amazing hair (yes that is part of his powers) (yes he asked the yogi for it), he's very spontaneous and disorganised. He probably has the stupidest most impractical suit and sweats like HELL in it (kind of like the one in the comics?) My boy's grades kind of take a hit and so does his little freshman year relationship with Gayatri.

My guy Nadeesh is chill though he knows instantly like Pavitr isn't subtle about it... (they're both night owls and Nadeesh is like cramming asf and Pavitr swings in without thinking and he's just like... "okay dude I have a physics exam tomorrow idgaf 😭 wait but that so cool though can I help—")

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a— Okay his Uncle Bihm dies. You know how it goes.

Gayatri breaks up with him (it's exam season and she wants to "take a break".) His uncle is dead. He's flunking school (for real this time) Emo phase 2? Maybe not...

Pavitr ends up spending a lot more time with Maya and while he's a little irrationally spiteful he learns the importance of taking care of the little family he has left. Pavitr doesn't have the privilege of that multi-generational village household he had back when he was young, or parents like the rest of his classmates. It's just him and his aunt in that little apartment, a speck in the whole of Mumbattan, the place he has to protect and call home now.

Okay that got sad real fast but HE CHERISHES HIS AUNT hence why he always makes time to have chai with her, no matter how busy he is or how emo he's feeling.

His uncle Bihm had a couple traditional pieces of clothing and Maya makes him try them on. He feels a bit silly especially since he's gotten used to pushing away his culture and mainly speaking English at his new school but then his aunt starts tearing up and he starts tearing up and "you look just like your chacha" and UGH

After a while Pavitr gets himself together and decides to design himself a new suit. He takes inspiration from a couple of his uncle's fancier pieces and also Gayatri's first advert feature (my girl is going places!!!) so his outfit has a lot of meaning to him.

We gotta go BACK for the yo-yo though y'all. I'm so certain that Gayatri had a yo-yo when they were younger and he learnt it just to impress her... SO HE HAS A YO-YO AS PART OF HIS GEAR 😱😱😱

Of course these little signs add up and Gayatri is like half-sure he's Spider-Man (but not entirely cause when she's saved in the film she's a bit taken aback when he hugs her... my girl is smart but you always got a lil uncertainty!!! Maybe she figures it out after that though...)

Obviously he flunked those exams considering he was NOT studying while he was grieving and when Gayatri checks up on him he's of course not doing the greatest despite his little comeback. However...

"I can help you review if you want?" she asks him. Pavitr's smile comes back that day.

But my boy STILL CANNOT CATCH A BREAK because Gayatri's father gets promoted to Police Captain and is suddenly very protective of his daughter

There's a lot of awkward moments where Pavitr has to play off his association with Gayatri (puts the hopeless in hopeless romantic yet again.) No, she never told him they were dating before (and those pictures are in a SAFE trust) though they're not exactly dating now.

Gayatri is pretty indifferent about it all, to be fair. She doesn't exactly care if her father finds out (and hopefully she can tell him soon) but she also doesn't want her dad to be disappointed in her considering she looks up to him a lot.

A BIT OF GAYATRI HEADCANON but I feel like she's very academically gifted but doesn't exactly want to go into STEM? Fashion is her thing and she eventually might want to go into acting (like this girl in her classes called Meera Jain... OUUU rivalry but not really they're besties I fear)

Gayatri definitely gossips and gushes to Meera Jain about Pavitr like how he gossips and gushes to Nadeesh. They both give the other contrasting advice (they're still not together... SITUATIONSHIP 💀💀💀)

It's not as bad as when Pavitr called Gayatri a whore by accident but getting together again is definitely awkward when they go to get lassi at that very overpriced store that opened up that Pavitr most definitely cannot afford (smiles and fights to pay while a part of him dies inside)

Though their relationship is stronger this time! Pavitr does still have his secret as Spider-Man, but things are looking up! Especially when he finds out that he's not the only Spider-Man (ENTER ATSV CANON STORYLINE 😱😱😱)

Endless high school antics I love this dude and his lil friends

That's it for now I think THANK YOU FOR READING!! I so wish there was more content on him but I had to take matters into my own hands...

🕸️💫🪀

y'all better stop sleeping on pavitr now... HES SO AHHHH I LOVE HIM YOU DONF UNDERSTAND HES THE DUDE EVER

don't talk about my other wips. or why im uploading this at midnight.

ALSO if you are desi (particularly indian) please correct me OR FEEL FREE TO ADD ON i am so whitewashed and my boy needs to be done justice

reblogs so super appreciated! if you wanna read the rest of my atsv stuff click here :p

[commajade]

kibum fucking did it again that teaser video was incredible he's a genius. this mv is gonna be sooooo good. people have been begging for sm to have the promotional shoot and mv have the same concept for ages cuz what used to be surprising and cool got old and felt arbitrary. everything key makes is so cohesive and connected and well thought out and so distinctly key he's a genius.

key's early career image was all about being shocking and standing out and being able to look good in anything because he has style and star power. and at the same time he was the multi-lingual multi-talented one from the start even if he wasn't recognized for it yet, he's always been about adaptability and being global in an organic connected way because he genuinely has in interest in places that speak english and japanese.

he came back from the military a lot more mature and more interested in ordinary people and being relatable and honest and down to earth and it shows in every single career choice he's been making. i live alone and his return to amazing saturday in conjunction with his viral live broadcasts and news stories about his gardening made him a household name in south korea like he had never been before, even at shinee's peak mainstream popularity in 2013.

and now he just wrapped up a fantastic and mainstream popular and critically lauded retro trilogy of albums that show everyone exactly what he likes and what he's capable of. from art direction to costuming to performance to promotion on variety shows he absolutely nailed it. so of course he comes back now with an extremely down to earth relatable feel-good pop song trying to give comfort to his new bigger audience as they live their ordinary difficult lives. he's shown korea through variety exactly how hard he's worked for so many years and how he still keeps moving forward despite the entire industry tending to cycle out and replace idols who are much younger than him.

it's just so perfect! it's definitely influenced by bss's fighting in the office setting and theatricality but he adds the city dance scenes that remind me of in the heights, a musical he starred in. his performance skills were primary in the retro trilogy but here his acting and storytelling skills are at the forefront. it's cute and well made and a little quirky and fantastical in a way only key can even think of.

[ll-but-its-random]

'We're Loric...'

John: We're Loric. Of course we never live anywhere longer than two years. Five: We're Loric. Of course we can't become any more extinct. Six: We're Loric. Of course training is our only healthy coping mechanism. Marina: We're Loric. Of course we have no idea when our legacies stop showing up. Eight: We're Loric. Of course we had the delusion of living normal lives at some point. Nine: We're Loric. Of course we think Mogadorian ashes have a nice smell. Ella: We're Loric. Of course we don't wanna know who's related to us. One: We're Loric. Of course we'll die if we can't backflip to grab a sword. Maggie: We're Loric. Of course the internet is our enemy. Hannu: We're Loric. Of course we're multi-lingual, but can't speak our native language. Henri: We're Loric. Of course we're computer geeks. Sandor: We're Loric. Of course we regret life decisions. Katarina: We're Loric. Of course we won't make it to dying of old age. Crayton: We're Loric. Of course we'll make last-minute changes to our apocalypse plans.

Lexa: We're Loric. Of course we have no social life if we don't go to the quarter moon festival. Pittacus: We're Loric. Of course we're friends, until we're not. Setrakus: We're Loric... no scratch that.

[oddballwriter]

Various MH & EMH Guys with an S/O who can Speak a Different Language

Summary: How Jay, Brian, Tim, Evan, Jeff, and HABIT react to a s/o who can speak a different language

Warnings: HABIT is here

Relationship: romantic 💕

Author’s snip: This idea came to me when thinking about a few headcanons that I have and then thinking about how some of the slenderverse guys would react to you speaking a different language.

Notes: There is no specific language and also if you can speak more than one foreign language that’s awesome. And if you have a native language feel free to place that here too. I just felt like making something for my bi-/multi-lingual peeps.

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy!

꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦

Marble Hornets

Jay

He’s actually the one who gave me the idea for this because I hc that he knows how to speak Spanish

Idk where this hc came from but I just hc that he knows it to the point that he can hold a decent conversation and probably learned it from foreign language classes in high school or whatever

Idk the foreign language requirements for Alabama high schools but I’m just gonna assume that that’s where he got it from

Anyways, if you speak Spanish then it’s fun for him since you guys can talk in a completely different language which feels weirdly fresh to him. Maybe you can help his Spanish become better by doing that

If you speak another one that’s fine too

Jay would probably get curious and ask if you can teach him some words in that language or maybe even how to speak it a little

If English isn’t your first language and sometimes only remember how to say a word or thing in your native language then he’ll have a bit of fun trying to guess what your trying to say via you trying to describe it like it’s charades

You: It’s like… a bug…

Jay: Okay.

You: But like, it’s not born that way, it’s something else at first. Like a worm?

Jay: A caterpillar?

You: Caterpillar! Yes but then it turns into something?

Jay: Oh, a butterfly?

You: Butterfly! Yes!

Brian

He thinks it’s fancy that you can speak a foreign language

Even if it’s not one of the fancy or romantic languages like Spanish, French, or German or whatever languages are considered fancy to know

I actually think he wouldn’t really notice till you were on the phone with a relative or talking to someone who only speaks that language

Once he does he asks you what language you just spoke and what you said

He does the same as Jay where he’ll then ask you to teach him some words and even laugh at some that he thinks sound funny

It’s not to be mean when he laughs obviously

He just thinks that some of the words sound funny

If you forget how to say a word in English then he’ll let you take your time trying to remember

He does however think it’s cute when you try and describe it by trying to imitate the sound that it makes or describe what it looks like

Tim

He doesn’t know how to speak any languages other than English so he finds it interesting whenever you start speaking in any language other than English

Soon he actually likes it when you do at some point even if he has no idea what you’re saying

Idk he just likes hearing you talk

He’d gladly let you teach him some words

Hell, maybe at some point he’ll even ask you to teach him how to speak it so that he can have conversations with you and understand you

It’ll obviously take him a while to get the hang of it but he finds it pretty fun

If the language you speak has weird vocabulary and grammar he’s definitely gonna ask questions

Tim: Wait so even if there’s way more girls than boys in a group, you still use the plural for the boys in Spanish?

You: Yup.

Tim: That’s a bit sexist.

You: Haha, yeah.

EveryManHYBRID

Evan

Look me in the eyes and tell me that he knows any type of foreign language or words that aren’t known in mainstream media or foods

He thinks it’s so fucking cool that you know how to speak a language fluently

He begs you to teach him how to speak that language

Of course he wants you to teach him how to cuss in it first /hj

But no, seriously, he wants you to teach him so bad cause he likes the thought of being able to talk shit about people with you in plain earshot of them and also just having a cool way to talk

He realizes that that’s easier said than done later but he’s still committed to trying

Once he gets the hang of it he thinks he’s so cool because he knows how to speak a foreign language

Let him bask in that glory, it’ll wear off in a bit

He also likes to guess what you’re saying whenever you forget how to say a word in English but he genuinely treats it like a game of charades

Jeff

Here comes Mr. romantic lover boy 🙄 /hj

No, because he thinks it’s so attractive that you can speak a foreign language regardless of what language it even is

He also begs for you to teach him since he wants to be able to talk to you and even flirt with you in it

He likes to use you teaching him how speak that language as a form of date

Maybe once he knows enough to have a basic understanding then you guys can watch movies with the dub of that language so that it’s still a movie date but he’s also still learning how to speak it

HABIT

So I have this hc that since he’s humanity’s bad habit. He inherently knows all of the languages in the world and maybe even some forgotten ones

He’s a weird inter-dimensional demon so it’s not that crazy to think that

Plus he canonically knows French since some of the videos he’s put in the EMH channel’s titles are in French

Im getting slightly off track, anyways

What I’m trying to say is that you can have a full on conversation with him in the language that you speak

Even languages if you’re tri- or multi-lingual

He won’t teach you any tho

He doesn’t have the patience for that

But 100% if you wanna talk in any language at all, you can just start speaking it and the second he realizes which one you’re speaking he’ll just start talking in it

[valfeathers]

you know what. go wild. tell us more L headcanons !!! i'm listening with great attention !!!! i will read 3k of it if that's what you send. v wammyposting enabler agenda !!! 💙

gladly!! olorea enabling me in the inbox oh no

ookay so first i'm gonna info dump about how i choose to draw him bcs i just love talking abt my process & i put way too much thought into my own art lol

i remember some people talking about how i made him look healthier and i've had ppl say that i draw him pretty (which,, thanks sm i try !!)

so i like to mishmash several aspects from different L iterations over the years into my own art! such as the mole on his nose as a nod to the actor ken'ichi matsuyama who played him in L:CTW (& the 2006 dn live actions), and i tend to branch out & draw him with little bits of jewelry because of the 2015 jdrama

and the green jacket that he wears in the musical! (bcs i love that characterization and i think he should be allowed to be more unhinged)

i've noticed that his bitten nails reappear in different media as well, so i try to include those wherever i can

and as for the bitten lips & perpetually scratched knuckles,,, that's mostly projection haha

but anyways here are some more little hcs that i didn't have the opportunity to draw :)

the laces of those beat-up trainers he wears are literally never tied. can he tie them? yes. will he? nope!

he cuts his own hair,, that man has never set foot in a barber's in his life

maybe this is projection but i just cannot imagine him with a posh accent, an autistic non-accent at most

i feel like if he had gone to a proper college he'd have done a course on criminal psychology, and he would have absolutely excelled at the challenge of puzzling out the motives of criminals alongside the just. the crimes themselves.

man's hands are just perpetually cold, i mean it, terrible circulation all round

i think the jdrama might have inspired this one but germaphobe L is so so real to me. he really is just like me fr.

this one is just straight-up canon but i HAVE to mention this. his ability to like,, copy different dialects?? the fact that he's multi-lingual?? cool as fuck

OH AND,, i'm an ace-spectrum L truther. he's asexual on this page babey

this was a little short but!! this'll do for now so i don't wind up losing my mind and rambling for like 10 years straight,,

i relate so so deeply to this weird man and i won't apologise for it!!

[chungledown-bimothy]

Amethar is illiterate.

That says so much about his childhood and the expectations that were, and mostly were not, placed on him.

I don't think anything could make it clearer that he was in NO way prepared to ever have power, and not solely because of his own lack of desire for it.

This is going to make some assumptions about the world, but I think that enough of what we do know is consistent with historical facts that I think they're safe assumptions.

Historically, royal children were highly educated from a very young age. For example, Elizabeth I of England was reportedly fluent in French, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Welsh and English by the time she was eleven. Completely fluent is quite possibly an exaggeration, but she certainly was proficient enough to be translating poetry.

In-world, Jet, Ruby, and Liam are all multi-lingual.

So it wasn't just a matter of Amethar not wanting to study, although I'm sure that contributed a lot in his adolescence.

As the 5th in line behind his four healthy sisters, it stands to reason that his education was simply not a priority. He wasn't taught that he would need to bear responsibilities.

Not to draw another Tudor comparison, but look at Henry VIII. He, too, was raised believing he'd never have the throne; he was allowed and often encouraged to do whatever the fuck he wanted.

And my god was he ill-equipped for the crown when his brother died. In a very different way than Amethar, of course. My point is simply that youngest royal children being left largely to follow their own wants and passions was far from unheard of. Especially the further down the line of succession they were.

Idk how to end this I'm just. Thinking a lot about Amethar and how, in the wake of the unbearable loss of ALL of his sisters, the weight of the world was dropped onto his shoulders, and he could not have been less prepared for it.

[eretzyisrael]

Travels and travails of an Ottoman family

Edna Anzarut-Turner’s distinguished family has lived in Turkey, the UK, Lebanon and Egypt. From there they fled to England at the time of the Suez crisis. Today she lives in Montreal, Canada. Her memoirs are testament to a turn-of-the-century bygone age of comfort and prosperity, before Jews were swept up in currents of change and forced to flee.

Ezra Anzarut, the author’s great-grandfather

Leon David went to live in Beirut where he assisted his father Ezra in the running of the family firm Jacob Anzarut and Son.  They were very close.

He was my beloved grandfather and I called him Nonno.

I remember my grandfather to be an erudite, extremely interesting, multi-lingual warm and very kind man with a keen sense of humour.

He was known to be an extremely honourable man, and was highly regarded by everyone. Leon, was considered a “young prince” in his youth.

My grandfather prospered greatly, and life was good. He had initially trained as a physician. That truly was his first love. He was, however, obliged to give it up in order to assist his father Ezra with the important family business in the Middle East. He always deeply regretted not having been allowed to practice medicine.

Ruins of the Anzarut synagogue at Aley in Lebanon (photo: Nagi Zeidan)

I was sent a photo of my nonno on a visit to Edie Sellinger, a nephew (on my grandmother’s side) who had settled in “Palestine”.

My grandfather had travelled there with his valet, who made sure he was dressed to the nines, with a boutonnière in his lapel.

The bottom of his trouser cuffs were elegantly turned up so he would not get them soiled. He is holding a silver handled walking cane in his hand, and of course an elegant hat on his head.  Edie (the nephew) is holding a rope tethered to a cow that my grandfather had bought him.

Rokhama (Edie’s wife) told me that when Edie decided to go to Palestine, he went to my grandparents, and asked them whether they would pay for his fare. They did, and gave him enough for a “First class” boat fare, as they did not know that there were other classes. Thanks to that, Edie and eight of his friends were all able to go by travelling “steerage”.

Edie, who was an agronomist, ordered strawberry seeds from the U.S., and he and his friends started a moshav in Kfar Azar. He tested the soil in that area, and found that it was perfect for growing strawberries. Kfar Azar is famous in Israel for its delectable strawberries.

Leon and Caroline’s story: My grandmother Caroline, whom I  called Nonna, was a Viennese lady whose family had emigrated to Turkey for business reasons.  Leon was in Constantinople on a business trip for the family firm of Jacob Anzarut and Son. He was invited to dinner by a family called Mizrahi.  They had two daughters who were friends of my grandmother.

According to my grandmother’s niece Lydia Erdal (whose 102nd birthday was celebrated on 30th November 2016)  my grandmother’s siblings strongly urged my grandmother to drop by and visit at the Mizrahi house.

My grandmother was a bubbly, very lively young lady, who had a tremendous sense of humour, and was very attractive. My grandfather was very handsome extremely well-travelled and refined. According to Lydia, my grandparents fell in love at first sight.   This was not at all what the Mizrahi family had in mind .

They were married in Constantinople.

Leon and Caroline being driven away from their wedding ceremony in ‘a satanic metal monster’ – the first car in Turkey

A second cousin of mine found a photograph depicting my grandparents as bride and groom in Constantinople. They were sitting in an open car. At the wheel was one of my grandmother’s cousins Sigmund Weinberg (who owned the first two cinemas in Istanbul, and the first photography shop (this was something quite revolutionary in those days.) Next to him was another of my grandmother’s cousins, Carl Carlman (who owned one of the first department stores in Constantinople on the Grande Rue de Pera).

The photograph was taken during the time of Sultan Abdel Hamid who refused to allow cars to be on the streets in Turkey unless they had a horse harnessed to it. It is therefore a very special photograph as it shows the first car in Turkey. My grandparents, Sigmund and Carl are surrounded by Turks wearing a fez and gawking at the satanic metal monster that moved without a horse.

My grandparents went to live in Beirut, where Caroline adapted to the Anzarut Sephardi ways to which she added her own very elegant Viennese touch.  They built a beautifully decorated large villa and were extremely happy there.

Leon Anzarut, the author’s grandfather

My nonno used to tell me about his travels all over the world. How he contracted yellow fever in Tahiti and the natives looked after him and cured him. He would show me a yellow spot on his cheek which was the only sign left of this deadly disease. He spoke at length of the Boer War and his trip to South Africa, and the wonderful time he and my nonna and their children spent in Aley in Lebanon.

Edna’s Viennese grandma Caroline (in the white dress), with two of her siblings

My nonna’s family came from Vienna, and left Austria to reside in Constantinople. She too had fascinating stories to tell me about her childhood. During the holiday period the whole family would cross the Bosphorus by boatand go to an island called the Tchiflik Polonais. The Ottoman government allowed Polish expats to settle on this island as they had pig farms, and enjoyed eating pork which was a forbidden food in Muslim Turkey.

There were horses and donkeys waiting on the island for my nonnaand her older brothers and sisters. They rode into the forest, stopped by a waterfall and crystal clear brook, and alit in order to enjoy their picnic meal.

My nonna remembered the musical sound of the waterfall and the chirping of the birds in the trees. One of her brothers or a friend would play the harmonica, and everyone would sing along with it.

They would then hike in the forest, and then climb astride their horse or donkey, and journey on till they reached the village and the inn where they would be staying. They would then call the innkeeper “Gertrude…Gertrude” and Gertrude would pop her head out of the upstairs window and excitedly call in German “How wonderful..they have arrived, they have arrived”. She would gallop down the stairs and welcome them in.

After a delicious and lively supper everyone went to bed. The mattresses were filled with straw and leaves, and my nonna. told me that whenever she moved there was a sound of “shhhhhhhh shhhhhhh” made by the straw filling.

Everyone was so tired after the bracing fresh air, and the wonderful supper that they would all sleep very soundly.

At home in Constantinople, there was a grand piano. The family loved music and my nonna played beautifully. The house was always filled with extended family and friends. They played parlour games like musical chairs, or charades, and then would burst into song when someone played the pieces in vogue on the piano.

World War I and departure from Beirut:  Just before World War One was declared, Caroline and Leon held a lavish ball in their villa in Beirut. All the British diplomatic corps and Ambassador were invited. Leon asked the British Ambassador whether it would be wise for the Anzaruts (being British) to stay on in Beirut as this was part of the Ottoman Empire, and the Turks would be siding with Germany. They were assured that they would be perfectly safe.

In the wee hours of the morning, there was savage banging on the door of the villa.   Armed Turkish guards stood outside. They arrested my grandfather Leon who was taken away and interned by the Turks.  War had just been declared.

My grandmother Caroline dressed hurriedly, calmed my dad and my uncle who were little boys, and rushed to the British Embassy. There were Turkish guards everywhere.

The Embassy was completely deserted. The Ambassador and every single member of the British diplomatic corps had fled the country directly after attending the Anzarut ball.

Caroline, who spoke fluent Turkish bribed some officials who then released Leon but warned that my grandparents had to leave Beirut forthwith else they would all be imprisoned.

My grandparents returned to their villa, packed some belongings and left.  They said goodbye to their staff, who were all weeping and asked the wealthy Lebanese owners of a neighbouring villa to please keep an eye on their property while they were away. No sooner had my grandparents left, than those same neighbours went in and plundered the place.

After the war ended my grandparents returned to Beirut for a visit, and to check on their property. The villa had been looted. Their neighbours informed them that the Turks had taken everything. Upon visiting these neighbours who refused at first to let them in, they discovered that was not the case.  The neighbours had helped themselves to everything.

Read Edna’s memoirs in full

How Ezra the Great fell the poor of Aley

[thebibliophilevigilante]

Under the Red Hood

Name: Jason Todd

Alias: Robin, Red Hood, Batman, Arkham Knight

Hair Color: Onyx with a tuft of white streaked through his bangs

Eye Color: Teal

Powers and abilities :

Peak Physical Condition: By matching his former mentor in combat he has proven that he is physically superior to most Olympic athletes, just as Batman is. His strength, reflexes, stamina, and endurance are roughly comparable to that of Dick Grayson, though his litheness is not.

Master Martial Artist: Jason is a highly skilled combatant trained by Batman. Although he was always more of a brawler as Robin, following his resurrection, he gained more training and demonstrated himself to be far more skilled than before. This is shown when he fought his former mentor and Nightwing to a standstill, when Jason held his own against the Green Arrow in a sword fight, and when he overpowered Tim Drake at Titans Tower.

Skilled Acrobat: In his training as Robin, he had been taught acrobatics and gymnastics routines.

Skilled Swordsman: Jason has been shown to be skilled enough to hold his own against the Green Arrow in a sword fight until he ultimately lost.

Skilled detective: Jason has shown some skill as a detective most notably in Outsiders#44 and #45.

Multi-Lingual: Taught by Batman, Jason is fluent in several languages having spoken English, French, German, Italian and various others with Russian being his weakest.

Polymath: After be adopted by Bruce, Jason received excellent education and tutoring from both private tutors and Bruce thus, has deep knowledge in many subjects, including Science, Math, Medicine, Geography, Criminology, World History and English. If you ask him his favorite, it would definitely be English/Literature.

Intermediate Bomb assembly and Diffusal: Taught by a world renowned bomb expert in Russia, Jason is able to assemble and defuse a wide variety of conventical explosive devices, from improvised to military grade designs. It is yet to be determined whether or not he can diffuse Nuclear devices, in contrast to Batman and Damian’s demonstrated ability.

Vehicular Driver: Jason has driven a variety of vehicles from cars and boats, to being trained in the Middle East by an ace pilot to fly helicopters. His main vehicle of choice is a motorbike.

Strength Level: peak for a 6-foot, 225-pound young man with rigorous physical exercise.

Equipment: His Red Hood costume consists of charcoal-colored cargo pants, a charcoal-colored Kevlar chest plate, a cognac leather jacket, and of course, his iconic red helmet that modulates his voice. His weapon of choice would be his Beretta, but he has other tools in his arsenal as well. Batman was always known for being a walking armory, and Jason learned from the best.

Weaknesses: None…not like he’d disclose, anyway.

((Information gathered from Batman Wikia))

Main Background: Jason Peter Todd was born on August 16, 1986 to Catherine and Willis Todd. Willis was an alcoholic, abusive husband and father and eventually went to jail because of it along with the fact he used/dealt drugs and was a hired hand for Two-Face. Catherine was a drug user herself, and was eventually given an overdose (theory is by the Joker to get Jay out of his house or something along those lines). Jason thought her dead and lived on the streets of Gotham, until one dark night. He was stealing the tires off the infamous Batmobile when Batman caught him and took him under his wing. Jason eventually became known as the second Robin and remained such until he was 17. He found out Catherine was still alive somewhere in the Middle East, and he set out to find her. It turned out to be a cruel trap his mother was in on with Joker. Jason was beaten with a crowbar to within an inch of his life and then trapped with his mother, until the place exploded. He died of asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation that day, April 27, 2003.

Grief-stricken and heartbroken, Bruce had him buried at the cemetery on Wayne Manor. The only problem was, Jason wasn’t really dead. He had to claw his way out of his own grave, bleeding, wet and dirty. He ran away until he came across this bakery, breaking in to grab himself a loaf of bread due to the overwhelming starvation. That’s when Talia al Ghul, master assassin daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, found him and took him to the Lazarus Pit where her own father bathed to remain youthful. Jason was completely healed…physically. The Pit was a gift and a curse, giving him new life but warping his mind. He trained under the al Ghuls and the All Caste for several years, learning the ways of the master assassins before returning to Gotham and taking up the mantle of Red Hood.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I recently found out that a lot of surnames came about from occupations. I wanted to do something similiar for my sci-fi story. So, the surnames will also be in all different languages and everyone is multilingual anyway and I'm conlanging lots of languages too. Also, I don't like the 'family name' concept. It is a personal surname, your family doesn't have the same surname as you unless they're in the same job and chose to use the same language. If you change jobs, you can change your surname, if you have multiple jobs you can pick one or do a hybrid. Most children do not have occupations, so maybe their surnames are based on their schooling/apprenticing/desired occupation? There are exceptions of course, like jobless people, jobs that can't be mentioned like a spy, or people who constantly change jobs. Does this make any sense?

Utuabzu: It's not totally unreasonable. Plenty of cultures don't have surnames at all - many Indonesians, for instance, have just one name - plenty of others have additional names that work differently to what we are used to - traditionally, Arabic names are genealogies, sometimes going back many generations, and also include other information like whether the person has completed the Hajj, memorised the Koran, is descended from the prophet Muhammed, etc. - others still are geographic - this is where a lot of names preceded by 'de', 'von', etc come from, they originally just meant that someone was from or otherwise associated with that place. Roman names also included cognomen, names given or adopted by a person because of some notable feature or accomplishment, which is probably nearest to what you want.

One thing you should consider is that people tend to have relatively fixed names, particularly in larger and more densely populated societies, because it makes it easier to know who is who. There's a reason countries like Thailand and Japan forced people to adopt permanent family names in the 19th Century - it was to make it easier to collect census data and track people and know who is who and who they're related to. If people in your society only have a fixed personal name, and a constantly shifting occupation-name, people are going to have to find some way to clarify that when they mentioned Karen Baker, they mean Karen who lives three doors down and was Karen Butcher three weeks ago, and is the daughter of Karen Candlestickmaker.

In this case, patronymics (or matronymics) may be your friend. A patronym is a name that indicates who someone's father is (any English name ending in -son was likely a patronym), and they're pretty common in a range of cultures. Icelandic surnames are almost all patronyms (which is why most end in -son or -dóttir, and aren't inherited), and many Slavic cultures have patronyms in addition to family names (which is why so many Slavic people's names follow a pretty standard formula: [x] [y]evich/evna* [z] - [y] is the father's name, and evich/evna means approximately son/daughter). I don't know of any cultures that use matronyms off the top of my head, but it certainly wouldn't be unreasonable.

*spelling and exact phonology varies between languages. 

Licorice: Almost without exception, pre-industrial societies are interested in keeping track of who is related to whom. This is often due to concerns about inheritance and consanguinity. Who a person is related to is a thing that is known before their job or job class is known, unless they live in a society where jobs are inherited, which isn’t the case in the world you are building.

Naming systems are often used as a way of keeping track of relationships, though not always. In a small community where everybody knows everyone else, names denoting family relationships aren’t always necessary. 

If you haven’t done this already, I think it would be worth spending some time figuring out how your world got to the place where it is now, with everybody multi-lingual, well-educated, and  able to change jobs with some regularity. I’m also getting the impression that family ties or connections aren’t important to them, but I may be mistaken about that. A name is an identifier. Why, in their world, do people identify themselves by their work rather than by their relatives or by some other, perhaps less changeable, aspect of themselves? What historical factors have brought this about?

Feral: I agree 100% with points brought up by both Utuabzu and Licorice. I’d also like to touch on the last two situations - children and people either without a job or with a job that shouldn’t be public knowledge.

Licorice thinks that familial relationships maybe aren’t particularly important in your world. However, indicating the person responsible for the care of a given child, whether that is a biological parent or not, is going to be a much more valuable surname than “Preschooler” or “Future Unicorn Doctor”. Once they’re older, what we would consider a late primary school age, yes, stating that they are the apprentice of a specific master or even just in a particular fields makes sense because you can figure out who they go with - because children need to have someone to be responsible for their care and other adults need to know who that person is sometimes.

For a job like a spy, it would make sense for them to have a cover just like a real world spy would be. It doesn’t seem like Joe the Spy couldn’t get away with introducing himself as Carl the Tailor. 

Which brings up a question you need to decide on - who keeps track of all this? As part of their onboarding at a new job, do the citizens of this world have to submit a name change application? Is it based on the honor system? And if you have a name like Carol Sales Associate and you want to get out of retail, would your name cause you to be immediately discriminated against?

For people without a job, it seems like they would be incredibly marginalized. Would they actually be stripped of part of their identity because they got laid off? That seems cruel. And maybe your society is, that’s fine. I’m just saying, we have a very unjust society right now when it comes to financial instability, but this is really unjust, if possibly a little more honest.

[acommonloon]

Night 2 at Billie’s Craft Beer Fest was much better. Still it was not at all how I’d prefer to spend my time. G loved it though so I endured.

BCBF is about drinking American craft style beer, not the traditional styles for which Europe is famous. The format being 50 breweries (several from America) bringing 8 beers each so 400 total over two sessions.

After a fanfare opening, worthy of a professional sports event at 3:00, each brewery began pouring their first two (100 beers) to the masses. Then the second round of 100 beers began pouring at 6:30 until 10:00 or the kegs blew.

Beers were dispensed into 5oz glasses but most pours were 3-4 ounces.

The most common beer type was imperial stout aged in a variety of barrels with lots of added ingredients (adjuncts) like chocolate, fruit, and spices. These beers are strong, mostly 10-15% alcohol by volume (abv) and syrupy sweet. Not my thing.

The 2nd most common beers were double, triple, and imperial IPAs. These are also high abv beers with lots of sweetness on first tasting but finishing with some degree of dryness due to bittering hops. They also featured adjuncts like spices, fruits, etc. Also not my thing.

I drank mostly wild ales (spontaneous fermentation) and soured beers of lower strength of which there were plenty. Even a couple of lagers though each had some non-traditional aspect. On our second night we had both the glass from the first round and second round so we could get two pours at a time. This made a big difference.

G and I never drank our beers inside with the crowd. We carried them outside navigating the crushing throngs into the cold night air. With two glasses this halved the harrowing trips inside. Outside there were live bands, food trucks, and all the smokers. As there was a near constant breeze the smoke was tolerable.

Also, most of the pissoirs (pictured) were outside and they were a marvel. Given the nature of this event, participants were in constant need of…relief. I never saw a wait. It’s the only instance in which European plumbing is superior to American and we must change that!

To be honest, I’ve never witnessed such a large group of people behave so well. I never heard a cross word either night. Of course I overheard very little English spoken by the drinkers unless they were ordering their beers from the brewers. Of course nearly everyone there spoke English.

All event announcements were in English only and all the bands sang mostly English language songs including the Johnny Cash cover band.

The DJ inside played mostly English language standards and anytime someone spoke to us, they switched instantly to English once they knew we were Americans. Quite humbling really but everyone was friendly and only wanted to talk about beer.

I understand most people in this area speak Dutch/Flemish with English as a second language but Antwerp is a city filled with people from everywhere so I heard plenty of Arabic, some German and French, and some speaking to each other in English with accents that made me think it wasn’t their first language.

During my many visits in Brussels I’ve become used to hearing lots of English, but my two days in Antwerp I heard mostly other languages.

Oddly, most signage in Antwerp is in English!

The oddest thing was sitting in a Five Guys after the first night so G could get ballast for his belly full of strong beer. Every bit of signage was in English, down to the excerpts of reviews from American cities. The second night I was hungry so we got kebaps at a place where little was in English but the pictures were multi-lingual.

[sea-dukes-assistant]

Shit I Love About Sea Duke - Day 13: Er Spricht Deutsch.

This is more of a bonus for me personally but...his German is practically flawless.

It makes sense given he spent a lot of time in Germany with his relatives, and overall his family was multi-lingual. Being a speaker of it to some degree myself, this just makes me happy 'cause it's something else we have in common and I just think it's neat to hear him speak it since most of the time you hear him only using English.

Of course this makes some of the more ~*emotional*~ German songs in my music library hit entirely different now.