#which are used quite decently in Spanish

[technicallyaminecraftsimp]

Tonight’s moodboard

[woso-dreamzzz]

Youth Team II

Hardersson x Teen!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Your first crush

You first meet her during a friendly.

Usually, Denmark goes to everyone else to play. Not many teams want to make the trek over especially when it was winter and the snow had settled.

But there are always a few dumb idiots who want to play against the Under-Seventeen Euro winners and are willing to leave the warmth of their own countries to come over.

Today, it's Spain.

You haven't really paid much attention to who is on the other team (it's not like you would really recognise any of them anyway) but you're always up for a challenge.

You clap your hands together as you warm up. It's not too cold for Denmark standards but you can spot the Spain girls shivering as they try to get warm.

"They shake like a newborn deer," One of your friends says with a little laugh," Do you think they are just as unsteady on their legs?"

You stifle your own laugh as you head out to your position on your goal line. "They're just used to Spain. It's hot there."

"Hopefully the snow throws them off."

There's a light dusting of snow on the ground that you've found is pretty typical of the Denmark winter but is usually enough to throw off foreigners when they come to visit.

A small smile tugs at the corner of your lips. "Maybe they'll slip over when they try to kick the ball."

You don't have much to do during the match. The coaches have put out a heavy offence and your midfield easily scoops up the loose balls.

Spain's keeper is nearly as good as you but lets three goals slip through her fingers (though one is ruled as offside). You're better though.

Morsa always says it's not arrogance if you can back it up.

You know you're better than her which is why you're a bit confused when the ball comes rocketing past your outstretched fingers. You've mistimed your dive and your glove misses the ball by mere millimetres as it slots itself into the left corner of your goal.

You roll out of your dive. You're used to the snow of Denmark but it doesn't mean that you want to be lying on it for longer than you have to be.

You catch a glimpse of the forward that got the better of you and...She's beautiful.

She's celebrating her goal, fist pumping up into the air.

You make eye contact.

She smiles.

You go red and look away, your heart going pitter-patter in your chest. You grab the ball out of your goal and throw it off to one of your midfielders.

The pretty girl is still celebrating and you make a vow to yourself to not let any more of her goals in. You wouldn't let her win.

You don't let her win at the end of the day with a scoreline of 2-1 to Denmark. You'd say that your performance was decent enough but knew it wasn't perfect because you didn't come out of it with a clean sheet.

"Hola."

You jump in shock when the girl from earlier appears in front of you.

"Hola."

She smiles at you. It's a pretty smile and it makes you feel all weird and mushy inside. You don't quite understand.

She offers her hand.

You shake it and introduce yourself to.

"I know," She says with a wink that makes a blush appear on your face out of nowhere," You play for Linköping."

You're a little bit flattered that such a pretty girl knows who you are and where you play. You wish you could say the same about her.

"I'm Natalia, by the way. I play for Barça B," She says," Straight through La Masia." She puffs out her chest and you're not too sure why she's telling you this. "We're staying over for the next two days. You know your way Denmark, don't you?"

You furrow your brow in confusion. "Er...yes..."

She's smiling again. "Can I have your number? I'd love to have a proper tour guide."

"Oh! Okay!" It makes sense why she was being so friendly now.

Spanish girls are touchy. You know this because Tia Tana is a bit touchy sometimes so you don't see anything wrong with the girl pressing a kiss on your cheek. She lingers there for a moment and her cheeks go a little red - though you put that down to the cold weather.

"I'll text you."

"Who was your new friend?" Morsa asks when you finally make your way over to her and Momma in the stands.

"Oh...er..." You look behind you to see Natalia smiling at you. You feel like your cheeks are permanently stained red. "She plays at Barça. I think she wants a tour guide."

Morsa narrows her eyes. "A tour guide," She says," Yeah, sure."

"Magda," Momma hisses in warning," That's lovely, princesse. Why don't you head back and get changed and then we can go to dinner?"

"Okay."

Pernille watches you go. "Don't."

"Don't what?!"

"It's nice that she's making friends."

"I think that girl has more than friendship on her mind!"

Pernille laughs. "Remind you for anyone?"

"Huh?"

"I had a little bit more than friendship on my mind when I invited you on that maths course."

Magda's face goes a little red before she turns away. "That's different. She's still a baby. She can't date."

"First of all," Pernille says as she slips a hand into Magda's," She hasn't been a baby for a very long time. Second of all, we've somehow managed to raise the most oblivious teenager of all time. She doesn't even realise that it's a date."

The tension in Magda's shoulders deflates. "Yeah...Well, at least it isn't a crush on Princesse's end."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

You're walking down the tunnel and feel a hand slip into your own.

It's Natalia again.

She smiles at you, swinging your joined hands.

You feel all mushy inside as you try to hold eye contact. She presses another kiss to your cheek.

"I look forward to seeing you soon," She says.

"Yeah, me too."

[astoryisaloveaffair]

Fix You - Chapter 16 - Genesis

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Fem!Reader

Fic Masterlist

Read on A03

Spotify Playlist

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Chapter Summary: 🤷‍♀️

Word Count: 4K

Rating: Explicit

Chapter Warnings: cussing, graphic violence, mentions of sex. I'm not giving more warnings than that, sorry.

A/N: Hey all. First I want to say I'm sorry. I literally had no time or motivation to write this. I'm gonna be honest, this is a really tough chapter, and it was hard to get in this headspace. Suffering a recent heartbreak, things in this chapter are things I have thought also, and so it was really hard for me to voluntarily want to address that. I also started working in veterinary medicine, i do not have the spare time that I used to. We also recently adopted a puppy who we named Bucky! And if you read my earlier posts, you know that I was SA'd last January. All that to say, sorry I couldn't do this faster.

Also want to wish a happy birthday to @musings-of-a-rose, my beloved, my bestie, and my constant support. This is for you. Sorry it's not a happier chapter....

* If a character is speaking fully in Spanish, I will put “[ ]” around the dialogue. I speak pretty decent Spanish but not good enough for this

Suggested Songs: "Exile" Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver, "I Love You" Billie Eilish, "Vampire" and "Logical" by Olivia Rodrigo, "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron and Phoebe Bridgers, "Genesis" by Grimes

You didn’t even flinch at the landing, which was rough, so that’s saying a lot. When the janky cargo door (which looked like at any time during the flight would be ripped right off) opens, you barely even lift your eyes from the floor. You felt heavy and hollow, somewhere suspended in between shock and just not giving a fuck anymore. The only thing you could still fell was the pinching in your heart. It was still broken.

At some point during the journey, the co-pilot had taken pity on you and untied your arms from behind your back and bound them in front of you instead. You hadn’t struggled. There was no point. Where would you go? Jump in the ocean? You weren’t that great of a swimmer and you loved sharks and everything but the open ocean is not where you are supposed to be.

You have no sense of space and time, so you have no actual clue where you are other than not the mainland. You’re dehydrated as fuck, groggy, your vision’s blurry and you’d figured out the sticky moisture on your face was your own blood. 

Because when you had suddenly blacked out it was because they’d hit you, and had absolutely no hesitation doing so. They did not care about you, they did not see you as a human being, they didn’t even bother strapping you into a seat so you had been sliding around the cargo bay the entire flight, bumping into everything. You were in deep danger, any hope that you would have some ransom protection had pretty much disintegrated. You had hoped that the boys wouldn’t come for you at first. Then you had hoped that they would, because if you’re ransom, even if at the very least you’d be alive until then, right? But “alive” doesn’t mean unharmed.

A shadow looms over you and it finally makes you look up, squinting to adjust your eyes to something so close, as well as the brightness of the sun. It feels like it takes you 10 whole minutes to process that you were being spoken to in English.

“Eh!” The man leaning over you snips, and when you simply blink in confusion and don’t answer, he slaps you lightly on both cheeks. You’re stunned enough to finally look at him, his oval face, beady eyes and unique sideburns seeming so familiar to you but quite frankly you wouldn’t trust yourself with recognizing even your dad at the moment, so you push that thought aside.

He kneels down in front of you. “You listen to me. We don’t want you. We want the money. This means if you don’t fucking piss me off, I might be nice and not kill you, you understand? Be a smart little girl, eh?.”

You nod, you probably should be feeling some sort of panic setting in but you don’t. Whatever. Who even cares anymore.

He takes your silence as submission. “Bueno.” He whispers, leaning down and grabbing you by the arm, lifting you until you are back on your feet. He tilts his head and steps to the side, revealing 5 additional men with AKs pointed straight at you. From behind, you feel the sharp tip of another poking your back, urging you forward and down the precarious ramp. The pilots.

You didn’t trust that they wouldn’t hurt you, but you knew you had no other choice. Trying to fight was asking for it, and once you step out of the hold and realize you were in the fucking jungle, there would be no sensical place to go even if you did get away.

You step out of the plane onto a rickety steel ramp that bounces as the footpad of your sandals touches it and shuffle slowly down it. You feel suffocated sandwiched between four men, your hands chafe where they are tied and you have been in the same positions for so long your whole body is sore. Every touch and movement hurt.

You stumble as the ramp ends but one of the men grabs your arm and yanks you so you don’t fall. It wasn’t kindness. It was a way to hurt you that he could get away with. The tiny dirt landing strip is almost canopied completely by the jungle trees, leaving large patches here and there where the plane flew through, not noticeable from far above. It looks like you’re walking to nothing, just a dirt road that ends right into the thick middle of the jungle, but you don’t stop at the edge. You push through.

It’s hot as shit and you felt sweat buildup in every crevice of your body, your thighs are rubbing raw from your asinine decision to wear short shorts to the fair, and you could feel a heat rash growing under your tits that you couldn’t even scratch because your hands are bound.

You walk for forever. You walk until the friction rash on your inner thighs turn to lesions. You haven't drank water in almost 48 hours and it feels like 150 degrees out, with full humidity. You’ve had to stop twice already to vomit from heat exhaustion and you still occasionally gag even though there’s nothing in your stomach to come up anymore. All the years that you did not appeal to insects are making up for it now, they’re all over you and you can’t walk 3 steps without one getting in your eye.  The jungle gets tighter and you can’t breathe because it’s pushing in on you almost as tight as the hands on your shoulders pushing you forward..

You start crying. At least, that is what you tell yourself as you whimper and sob as quietly as you can. You know you’re strong, but this is just beyond reason that any normal person could take. And when you think about how this is probably what life was all the time in Delta for the boys, you cry even harder because you feel guilty, that you have no right to complain.

Finally, after what feels like forever, the tightness of the jungle seems to loosen. More open. You notice some of the trees look more oddly arranged than others. As you get closer you realize they aren’t trees at all, but tents and dilapidated buildings built into the shadows of the trees.  The huge roots and overhanging canopy of the jungle transformed a bustling camp into what looks like a little village. At the entrance, a line of guards in jungle fatigues that were impossible to detect until you got right up to them. You hear someone speak above you, alerting you to a man up in the trees on a platform tucked between the branches. There was another in the tree on the opposite side. He calls to the man with the sideburns, saying something in Spanish you can’t interpret fast enough, but it’s jovial and they laugh, and it makes you feel like you’re going to go mentally insane. 

It’s like it’s not even serious to them. And it’s so serious to you.

You are pushed through the camp quickly, but not quick enough that you don’t see the insane amount of cocaine packages piled up in the makeshift buildings, sheds, and tents toward the back. Men were milling about checking them, moving them and glaring at you as you walked past.

You continue past the main camp, crossing over a bustling creek whose bridge was literally just planks of wood, but you noticed there were tire marks across them so you felt at least safe it could handle a car’s weight. Across the creek, an old stonework manor stood. You can tell at one time it must have been glorious, but the white stone-worked walls were dirty and crumbling in many places, the fountains out front had dried crusty palm fronds and dirt in them and looked like they hadn’t sprayed water since the 1980s.

It was still oddly beautiful. You thought about how this house came to be, what it might have looked like when it had been first built. A beautiful Caribbean sea mansion. A jungle that hadn’t closed in on it yet. Fountains spraying and colorful birds resting on the rooftops. But then you  realize that this place has probably always been used for what it is now. Someone like Carl Lehder probably lived here and ran an entire cartel within this very jungle. Maybe it was the same one, just run by someone else.

There was a shabbily made shack to the left of the manor with padlocks, piles of debris piled next to the door. You assume that’s where you would be taken, but you were instead led up the stairs to the manor proper. And as your eyes focus in on the ground while you were being guided to the mansion instead, you realize the heap of matter by the shack that you thought was some dying plantation was actually a crumpled human body. A boy looking not much older than 17, shot execution style in the head and left to rot.

Then smell hits you, your knees buckle and you vomit on the stonework stairs, a scream of shock and realization pierces the jungle, making the nearby tropical birds explode from the treetops. When the sicarios pick you up and carry you through the mansion door, you’re still screaming.

Eventually whoever was carrying you became fed up, and simply dropped you at the bottom of the stairs and dragged you up backwards by the armpits instead. You didn’t even feel the step edges hitting the small of your back all the way up, but you would later. 

You were tossed stricken and shivering on a disgusting, top-sheeted mattress on the floor in the corner of a room, your feet still bound together and your rope-bound hands looped through a radiator that was long enough only for you to lie down or shuffle over to a bucket for your business. Everything stank and you still had vomit on your chin so you curled up in a ball and slammed your eyes closed, hoping that in time the voices and smells and fear would give way to just simple numbness. You didn’t hear a female voice speaking to you for several seconds.

Your eyes snap open, skin pulled taut from dried unwiped tears,and you jolt upright to look in the direction of the voice. A woman who wasn’t even tied up was propped up against the adjoining wall, and as you take in her condition you could understand why they hadn’t even bothered. She wouldn’t have been able to run.

Her legs look..wrong, splaying at angles that shouldn’t be possible. They look like they could be broken, but you can’t tell for sure because she was wearing jeans that cover up most of her skin. The jeans were ripped in some places and stained with dark blood spots, the color turning brighter wherever her skin shows through the tears in the fabric. She’s missing several fingers on her left hand that had been burnt at the ends to cauterize, and her face was black and blue, swollen and smeared with more blood that seemed to be coming from her scalp somewhere. Her lips are pale and cracking and her eyes are glazed over and barely open. When she speaks, she already sounds like she is dead. 

She swallows and winces slightly in pain, then licks her cracked pale lips.“Is…my…her–my brother. Did you see him? Out there?” 

Your face scrunches in confusion, which actually hurts a little and you’re not sure from what specifically. Perhaps you look just as bad as the other girl. “Your–I—I don’t understand.”

She’s too exhausted to even be annoyed with you. “My brother. They took him from me days ago. They do not talk to me anymore. They don’t—need me anymore.” A single tear falls down her swollen cheek and you suddenly feel so much connection with this woman and how  incredibly fucking strong she is. Her eyes roll over to you, meeting yours for the first time. There are burst blood vessels in them. 

“I think that they killed him.”

Your lips part and you utter a shuddering breath as you connect the dots. There’s no point in sugar-coating it. You nod slowly. “I think so. But it’s not…recent.” You look away as her eyes slowly close, the additional tears she was holding back finally spilling over and cascading down her cheeks. 

“Bueno.” She says. “Then at least he is not suffering like me.” 

You both fall quiet and you look over her again. Her pants aren’t completely done up and her t shirt is ripped at the neckline, exposing a gashed shoulder. Almost like…

You start crying again, and you feel even worse about it this time because you have in front of you a woman who has been through much worse and is somehow NOT crying. You curl tighter into yourself to try and hide. 

But she simply asks. “Who are you?”

You swallow, raising your head up off your arms, quickly wiping the access tears off on your sleeve. It’s incredible how adrenaline and fear can sometimes make you the most clear-headed you’ve ever been. Your thoughts are swirling but you knew one thing for damn sure, if they didn’t know your name yet, you weren’t going to say it now. 

If I look forward I am lost. Focus on right now. Nothing else. It’s my best chance.

You know enough about trauma that compartmentalizing this moment is your best chance. You can’t think what will happen if you don’t escape, if you aren’t found, if they never come for you. You need to stay focused. You need to keep hope alive. You need to stay coherent, because if a chance pops up, you need to be able to think quickly.

“I’m no one.” You mumble. “Just happened to be dating the wrong person.”

She sniffs and looks away, but it’s muffled because her nose sounds congested. You don’t miss her tone though. “Mmmm. His new one then.”

You blink. “What?”

Her glazed over, discolored eyes snap back to yours. “Pope.” She spits. “Your man. Santia—”

“NO!” You cut her off with a shout, you know there is a guy who is in the area and you still don’t know how much these men do or do not know. “Don’t. Don’t give them names if they don’t already know it.”

“I don’t give a shit about Agent Garcia, or his friends, or anyone else, it’s their fault I am here and it’s their fault my brother is dead and..” She finally, finally starts to cry. “I told him I didn’t want to do it. They said they would let us go if we gave them what they wanted.”

“It was you.” You exhale with a shuddering breath. “They found us cause of you. You told them.” You shake your head, and for some reason you feel betrayed by this woman even though you’ve never met her.  “How could you?” 

“Because all I care about is my brother, do you understand?! I wish I’d never met him, Garcia, we would have just snuck away and no one would never seen us, but no, instead we listened to him and helped them steal from fucking Lorea, and now they found us and I knew they would, and YES, I gave them EVERYTHING because they said they’d let us go so long as they found you and–”

“Eh!” A voice trails in with a watchman you knew was hanging out somewhere in the hallway beyond. He slips through the doorway, a smaller man you were not expecting from that voice, and leans against the deteriorating door frame. He crosses his arms and his legs and it makes the handgun on his hip jut out prominently from his skinny hips. “No talking to each other.” His voice is silky and the words all slide together so it sounds like ‘no talkintoeeachother.’

You shrink back into the dirty wall behind you as your associate spits a bloody phlegm ball in the man’s direction. “FUCK you!” She snarls, a tirade of cuss words in Spanish flying from her lips. 

A loud pop almost bursts your eardrums and your heart and you exclaim in terror as your associate is shot point blank in the head, her back slumping against the wall and her head hitting with a bang, pieces of blood and brain tissue spraying over the back wall with pieces flying in your direction.  

The man remains completely motionless with his arms still raised before huffing a laugh to himself, putting the gun back on his hip, and looking at you with the such an unaffected gaze it leaves you feeling dizzy and you scream and scream and scream yourself hoarse, crumpling onto your mattress in a terrified heap, arms over your head, sobbing hysterically.

A gentle but firm palm wraps around your forearm, yanking you back up to a seated position. You look away, but the man’s other hand takes you gently by the jaw and makes you look at him. And just behind him, the woman slumped in a pool of blood and brain matter. You try to wriggle out of his grip but he tightens ever so slightly, and you can’t help but notice how different it is when Frankie would grab you like that versus this man. Frankie held you the same, sometimes harder, but you had trusted his domination and his care of you and because of that, it made it arousing. That same motion with this man has you more scared than you ever have been in your life. 

“Bebita.” He coos, thumb lightly caressing your jaw. He wipes at a small speck of blood you don’t know is even there. You can feel yourself shaking and breathing so fast you can see his half waxed back tousled locks that hang past his temples are blowing in its breeze. You can’t answer him. “Look at me.”

You do. His eyes are a dark, almost black chocolate brown, shape mismatched, a scruffy beard and goatee and thin lips. In another world you would find him devastatingly attractive and the fact that you do makes you feel absolutely violated and disgusted with yourself. 

“Do not cry.” He continues. “You have no reason to if you behave, si? You be good and you listen and I will keep you safe you understand? Well, at least for now.” He shifts closer to you, you can smell his breath. It smells like orange and cloves. “There are a lot of men here Bebita. I am sure you understand what this means, si? Answer me.”

“Yes.” A final fat tear spills from one of your eyes, and it stings as it mixes with your sweat and the raw skin around your eyes. 

He juts his head in the other woman’s direction. “This one, she fight the whole time. I like a easy job. Make my job easy, I make sure you always deal with me. Do not make me call in the other guys, they are not as nice. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He releases your chin and you scoot back quickly as he saunters over to the other woman’s bloody body, grabs it by the arm, and casually drags her as dismissively as possible out the door and out of your sight, leaving a bloody trail behind.

At first you just sit there in a slump staring at the opposite wall,, you don’t know for how long. Probably hours. Maybe days. The man, whose name you figured out from when he spoke to someone else in the hall, is Angel. Sometimes he would sit up and watch you, as if figuring you out, your body and the way you shift and switch positions when you are uncomfortable, what it looked like when you were crying and trying to keep quiet and unnoticed. But most of the time he ignored you. Occasionally others would come into the room and either speak to him or approach you, but upon noticing Angel watching them they would hiss or spit a curse and slink off.

The room reminded you of those old houses from the 70s that had those drafty unfinished basements that were simply concrete floors, painted stucco or white brick. To the sicarios, it served as an overflow area, there was a rotting desk along the side wall with a metal folding chair and piles of scattered papers and random household tools on them. Against the opposite side wall was a pretty nice tv, considering, which was always playing soccer. Angel seemed to make that his home base, his lithe frame sprawled across a grandma-fabric sofa, head resting on one of the puffy arm rests. He binge-smoked cigarettes and his right hand was always stretched over his head resting against his forehead in the direction of to an end table with an massive overflowing porcelain ashtray on it. You didn’t used to mind the smell of cigarettes too much but now it makes you feel sick.

You’re ashamed of how little you actually think about your current situation and like the hopeless romantic idiot you are, mostly all you can think about is Frankie. The things he said–you knew he said mean things when he was mad, or things he didn’t mean, but isn’t there always some truth to things that are said in the heat of the moment? That was enough for you to silently spiral. You thought about every memory you had of him and how it could be viewed through the lens that Frankie just wanted to fuck you. Your self confidence was low enough it was believable, and your mind races through every instance of an older man being in a relationship with someone much younger and how of course it was predatory, and how could you not see it, that you didn’t have anything in common? It’s a tale as old as time. He just wanted to fuck you, he wanted to fuck you and dominate you, his dark desires seducing you into feeling so wanted you can’t believe you thought he loved you and didn’t see right through it. 

And his friends, well, they were all in on it weren’t they, because why would they want to hang out with someone like you either? Why would men such as that actually want to be friends with you when you have never experienced half of what they have.

Fuck him. Fuck him and his lying ass, he was a fucking loser addict and you’re pissed at yourself for even considering him. Like how lonely were you?? To choose an old man with a kid who served in an institution that represented everything you hated about this country? To be so easily blinded by pretty words and love bombs to immediately take your clothes off. Because how, if he actually loved you or even like you, could he possibly have lied about something so big?! Or bought you something nice with all that fucking drug money he stole. Not that you’d want it or expected it, but why wouldn’t you want to treat someone you love as much as he claimed to? 

How could he sit there and make up what happened to Tom like that, when you were being so coddling and trying to be a caring ear. And Benny…Pope...if they were your friends they should have told you, that’s what real friends do…

But they weren’t your friends. They were never your friends. 

And if you went the other way, and considered that it was all true, that he did love you, that they were all your friends, and that he lied to you and threw stones to hurt you and push you away, how was that any better? You couldn't even think about a future not being with him, but obviously he could. He could watch you cry and question him and not even look at you, completely ignore you, then not even think about you again. No texts, no calls. No “I’m sorry, please come back.” Silence. 

How could it be so easy for him? How can he just go about his life like you never happened? Why did you still care?

Why did you still want him? 

Why did you still love him so so much. Part of you wishes they’d get on with it and just kill you. At least then you wouldn’t have to feel this excruciating pain. You wouldn’t have to see him show up to rescue you because he has to, to have to see his fucking face and every line, crinkle, scar, the bald patch in his beard and the tousled little curls that pop out of his hat…only for him to save you and then leave again, or die and then you have the guilt of killing a man who no longer loved you.

Yea. You think you’d rather die.

You feel like you’re going to throw up again. You’d let him force his cock in your mouth as far as it could go, let him tie you up and fuck you hard enough to leave bruises you had thought of as a badge of honor. You’d let him cum on your face. You’d let him fucking cum inside you! He’d gaslit you so you actually wanted him to tie you up with zip ties—-

Your heart almost stops. You can picture how his face looked exactly when he said it.

Sometimes rope can give over time.

That’s why we always used zip ties.

You look down at your bound hands.

They’re bound with rope.

[mundivagantsoul]

✩ Bookshopist Moonboys ✩

Part 2: "A, b, c, d-"

Moon Knight System x Reader

Summary: How the boys have been setting in at the shop

Warnings: Google translate Spanish, a bit angsty at the end with Marc’s self-doubt, coarse language, Marvel depiction of DID

Word Count: 1.4K

A/N: Gave the boys particular fonts so the dialogue isn't confusing. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading :)

Steven

Marc

Jake

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Steven navigates through the labyrinth of bookshelves with a pile of novels in hand. Lightly caressing the spines of various books, his eyes skim over the authors’ last names.

Humming the familiar tune that’s become a staple in their shifts, Steven starts, “A, b, c, d-”

A heavy Chicago accent interrupts his rhythm, “M, z, i…”

Steven sighs, ‘not this again’, he thinks, trying to drown out his headmate he continues, “E, f, g-”

“Q, l, u…” abruptly interrupts his thoughts again.

“H-”

“Y”

“I-”

“T”

“Bollocks, Marc, quit it!”

“Quit what? I’m just reciting the alphabet like you”.

“A-huh, sure you’re being a real help”

“You’re very welcome”

“Look bruv, I need to put these away, and I can’t do it with you distracting me every two seconds”

“Should've thought about that before you ate my food”

“For the last time, I didn’t eat your food!”

“A-huh suree~ First, you stole my wife, and now my food? Your old pals at the British Museum would be proud”.

“Oh for the love of- I’m sorry about Layla!”

“Ahem..”, a frail voice interrupts their dispute, peering down Steven is met with the comforting face of an old woman, “Sorry to bother you luv, can you point me in the direction of the cooking section?”

Cheeks warming up, Steven points towards the aisle, “Just go strain down here and turn right at si-fi, then a left at parenting, and it should be on your left”.

She smiles kindly up at him, “Thanks honey”, then plotters along with a slight wobble in her step.

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It’s been 3 months since they started the job, and Steven’s loving every minute of it. His presence is appreciated, and he’s surrounded by others who share similar interests. Plus, he doesn’t have an aggravating boss breathing down his neck every second, which is a bonus. 

The shop has a decent history and mythology selection. Since the Thor incident in 2011 and the revelation that god exists, people have become more intrigued by mythology. There’s lots of debate amongst mythologists and historians, arguing if the term ‘mythology’ is even correct anymore. Steven remembers reading a post by The Daily Bugle, stating, "Thor is a glorified space alien, and gods don’t walk amongst us." Little did they know.

The aftermath of the past decade and the revelations it brought have given way to more accessibility to novels regarding gods and deities, something that Steven has taken full advantage of.

In his first month of employment, he had managed to procure almost all the Egyptology books in store. Marc and Jake are constantly nagging him about it, stating they don’t have the room nor income to accommodate the influx of novels. Steven’s still trying and failing to convince Marc to turn their storage unit into a personal library, receiving the same answer in return, “We’re not turning the storage unit into your book-hoarding man-cave. We got this job to earn money, not spend it all on your addiction”.

After noticing Steven had managed to clear through all the Egyptology books, you felt the need to enlighten him with some bookshop wisdom. “You know…”, You say whilst ringing up Steven’s latest purchases, “You can order more Egyptology novels from our supplier. We don’t always have enough room to keep them on hand, but I know there’s a few we can get posted in if you're interested?”.

At your words, his eyes light up and you swear stars were floating amongst his coffee eyes, “Really?!”

“Ahí van nuestros ahorros” Jake facepalms.

Surprisingly, Jake has found himself enjoying work at the quaint store. The tasks are relatively simple, mainly involving manual labour, finding books of customers, and putting through sales. At first, he’d been nervous about working at the shop. He was closing in on 40, and the only thing he’d ever served was vengeance and cunt. 

Thankfully, everyone at the store was supportive and non-judgemental. You reminded him one shift, "Believe it or not Lockley, it's okay to be a beginner and make mistakes”. Plus having two supportive brothers and a cat that somehow knows whenever he's feeling down helped. On the topic of cats, Jake was delighted to know that he could bring Viejita into work. “Will be good to get you out of the house” he mumbled to the feline, “Can’t have you growing up socially awkward like your tío Steven”, “HEY!”

Similarly to Jake, Marc was surprised to discover the job wasn’t as tedious as he’d initially predicted. The atmosphere is calm, especially for a retail job, and requires little mental thought. It’s a welcomed change, especially as his employment no longer involves something trying to kill him - though some books in the backroom have had a few good whacks at it. Since they started, Marc's gotten back into reading comics and sci-fi, he’s however, trying to keep it a secret. Khonshu forbid Steven found out he’s hypocritically spending their income on books. 

There’s an unspoken rule amongst employees that if a text perks your interest you’re able to ‘skim a few pages’ to further your knowledge of company merchandise. Obviously, this only applies if you do it without altering physical integrity. All of the boys take advantage of this, finding a quiet corner in the backroom during their break, huddling up with one of the cats whilst eating lunch and immersing themselves in a new story.

Over the last 3 months, all the boys have had some interesting interactions with customers. In the first week, Steven had a lady yell at him about the price of a plastic bag - as if he had any input on the pricing. Marc and Jake were plotting murder for the full duration of the interaction. 

Marc had to awkwardly ask someone for ID because they wanted to buy ‘adult’ manga whilst their mum was present. He then had to explain to the mother why an ID was required. 

And just the other day, Jake had a lady come in asking for a book, only she didn’t know the title, or the author, OR the contents. Only that another bookstore in the area had in four months ago. He spent the rest of his shift questioning humanity's intelligence and pondering how we’ve managed to survive this long.

However, at the end of the day, all the questionable customer interactions are worth it because they get to see you. Your presence is now an anchor in their lives. A lighthouse guiding them out of thunderstorms and eternal seas that threaten to swallow them whole. From your enthusiasm when discussing a book, to the adorable face you make when concentrating. Every second they spend with you they become more infatuated with your being.

“We should ask them out”

“And risk them saying no then having to work with them afterwards? Absolutely not”

“We don’t know that they’ll say no, piensa positivo hermano”

“Okay, I’m positive they’ll say no”

“...That’s a lame comeback and you know it”

“I’m with Jake - not on the comeback comment, but on the fact that we don’t know how they’ll answer”

“It doesn’t need to be a date, solo cafe y pasar el rato”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Marc sighs. Of course he wants to ask you out. Both Steven and Jake know that. He’s just worried you don’t reciprocate their feelings and only see them as friends. Or that he’ll somehow fuck it up for both you and his brothers. Maybe it would be better if he retreated back into the headspace, giving Steven and Jake the freedom to be with you without the burden of his pres-  

Now it's Steven's turn to interrupt Marc. “Oi, we’re not havin’ any of that. We come as a package deal, remember? Burger, chips, drink ‘n’ everything. There’s no us without you, quite literally might I add.”

“Steven tiene razón, te respaldamos. Siempre.”

A small “meow” comes from his feet, looking down he’s met with the adoring eyes of Viejita.

“See even Viejita agree’s”

Mouth twitching up as his heart swells, Marc gives in. 

“Fine... Just coffee”

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Tag list: @0-ramen-0 @sunnyskyapplepie

Leave a comment or send me a message if you want to be added :)

[prefer-to-be-vilified]

I'm going to assume you know a decent amount the Winclair fandom, I'm curious why so many fanfic writers have Wednesday speaking Italian instead of Spanish, considering Netflix Wednesday is pretty firmly considered Latina?

Interesting question. I don’t know for certain, obviously fandom is a community and therefore there are various different perspectives taken when creating fan-content that kind of just amalgamates into various levels of popular and unpopular fanon. So in all honesty I don’t actually know.

But having said that, if I had to wager an educated guess it’s probably a mixture of a few things.

The first being that Wednesday, though Latina in heritage through her father, is also canonically multilingual and Italian is one of the languages she is fluent in. We find this out during her first meeting with Tyler when she fixes the espresso machine.

And though we’ve seen her almost get into a romantic relationship, again with Tyler, that ends almost as soon as it begins when she finds out he’s the Hyde during their first kiss. And so we haven’t yet seen Wednesday take that final step and actually be in a romantic relationship which is where I find most of the Italian comes out in Wenclair fanfic.

One of the more popular fanon concepts is ‘the Gomezification of Wednesday Addams’ which is just Wednesday being as openly affectionate and insanely in love with Enid as Gomez is with Morticia. Sometimes to it’s full extent, though more often than not it’s a more subdued and private version where it tends to stay just between her and Enid and it’s all very cute and romantic.

Obviously as she is multilingual Wednesday and fic authors are then able to take their pick of the more romantic languages she knows when talking to/about Enid. Italian, French and Spanish being the main three that I’ve noticed.

Why Italian is the favoured choice of the three is probably also due to Gomez within previous Addams Family media. Though my favourite will always be the 60’s show most people will be more familiar with the 90’s movies in which Gomez refers to Morticia as Cara Mia (Italian for my beloved) quite frequently.

Though speaking of the 60’s show Gomez is more prone to Querida (Spanish for darling or beloved) in that iteration. So at the end of the day it’s a matter of preference for the author and also likely to them being unfamiliar with the romantic languages and going off of other Wenclair authors and/or using previous Addams Family media in which Italian is often used and spiralling onwards.

[lingering-42-long]

Plsssss

Request: Alejandro x F/Reader.

Idea: the reader is a newcomer who recently joined the Vaqueros, she has difficulties with Spanish and spends more time alone, but Alejandro stays close to her and the two begin to have a relationship in secret.

La carta

Alejandro Vargas x female reader

Thank you so much for this request Anon! The story is short, but sweet. Spanish is rather difficult for many people, including myself (switched to Swedish). Enjoy!

Spanish was translated by using google translate. Somethings may be incorrect.

I wasn’t feeling this story, but it was in my WIPs and I needed to get it out.

Warnings: none, slight angst

When you first arrived at the base, you didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, you knew that a lot of Spanish was spoken. Coming from an area of your own hometown. In the states, where Spanish isn’t as spoken quite heavily as it is here, you were not as familiar with the dialect or the lingo. On some days, it was rather trickier than others, depending on who was speaking it could very between understanding common simple phrases to something more complex. This often lead you to get very frustrated. None of the people who you were talking to but at yourself. Oh sure you had the apps on your phone to help do what you can to translate the words that were being said and you also did lessons as well to help, but it didn’t seem like there was any improvement.

People told you that going to a country would help you understand the language better, but it only seems to cause more chaos than anything else. Sometimes it was just better to sit in your own room as soon as a job is done and to try to converse with everyone at the mess hall.

Alejandro had watched your behavior from the moment you arrived on base to help out too now. He was also very perceptive on you seeing that you were doing your best to engage yourself in whatever conversation was going on. But he also saw the struggle that you were having with connecting with the other soldiers. Some of the soldiers had also taken up the liking at light teasing on your behalf, knowing that you couldn’t understand the language. Whenever Alejandro heard this immediately put an end to it, which made them shut up immediately.

It was one of those particular days where you were sitting by yourself, enjoying your meal, while a small group of other soldiers were sitting a table away, gossiping about you. Alejandro usually likes to mingle with his own crew so walking around he noticed a small group before approaching them and giving them a hard look. “ so tell me why are we picking on her again?”

As soon as he spoke, they immediately shut up and looked down at their half eaten food. “ Sorry Sir it won’t happen again.”

“It better not and if I catch you doing it again there will be consequences”

Alejandro hated seeing people be brutal to one another, especially on his team. He picked the very best of the best and he was not about ready to have his own crew tarnish the name with another group. You had volunteered to come in to help. He decided to move over to where you were, and to sit down from you. “ I hope the special forces have been treating you well.” he looked at you.

“Oh, yes, sir! They’ve been, for the most part, decent. Still having a hard time understanding everyone though.” You gave a nervous chuckle as you continued on poking at your food, not knowing what to do in the presence of the commander. “ yes, that must be rather difficult…. If you wish I could potentially help you with some of the lingo around I understand that it can be rather difficult.” he smiled at her.

“ I would really appreciate it, sir but you don’t have to spend your time wasting it on me. Honestly, I can figure it out on my own.”

“Nonsense! You would not be wasting my time maybe after lunch you can head to my office and I can give you some documents to look over and you can do your best to decipher them” Alejandro wanted to help this new recruit. It felt odd for you. You were so used to doing things without the need our help with the commanding officer. You’re always told to do and to figure things out by yourself as that builds character. This new approach of somebody helping you was unique.

“Then sir, I will be more than happy to see you after lunch” you smile as he got up to continue his rounds.

“ good! See you around two?”

“yes, sir.” You nodded.

“ all right then, enjoy your meal” and once again, Alejandro carried on with talking with the other staff and soldiers.

It was around two when you finally were able to make it to his office. He brushed off any invisible dirt that was on your uniform before knocking on the door.

“Come in” his voice muffled from the wall.

You open the door and stepped into his office. It was a clean space with a large wooden desk with the Mexican flag pinned to the wall. A few small trophies and medals hung on their placards but overall it was pretty scarce. Not much to give away than any other desk or office that was on base. The name plaque was the only real thing that separated him from the others, with the golden letters spelling Colonel Alejandro Vargas.

You sat down on the chair across from him and waited for him to speak. Alejandro was reading some papers before handing them to her. “Can you read this?” He asked, allowing her to see what was written.

You shook your head, “no sir, I see a few words I’m familiar with but full sentences.”

He hummed “Ok then, let’s start with the basics… Hola, como estas?” He asked.

You smiled “that means hello, how are you.”

“¡Muy bien!” He smiled “now when you want to respond, you can say, Estoy bien, witch means I am good. Or Estoy mal, witch means I am bad witch can be used for in place of not feeling good.”

“Ok.” You took mental note.

As it to begin building a closer and closer, with Alejandro, helping her with her Spanish, practicing at least two hours a day, the two begin to develop a very close relationship. There was talk amongst the other staff about how close the two were, but most were pretty much shut up by Rudy. He was the only one who knew how close the colonel was attached to this new girl.

You were sitting in your dorm. You knew where the relationship was going. You had a suspicion for a while, that Alejandro was potentially showing.

Sighing, she got up and walked to the mess hall. A place, especially during this night would allow her to think. Most people were asleep, so it was quiet. Just as she was sitting down, a figure appeared. “Hola mi querida ¿Despierta tan tarde?” The figure, by now was recognized as Alejandro, asked as he was making his nightly rounds from his office to his own quarters. “Oh- sorry sir you startled me.”

“My dear… you know you don’t need to call me that.”

“I know…” you sighed “someone is going to catch us… this is getting dangerous Ale”

Without second thought, Alejandro hugged her. “My love, I won’t let them find out.”

“It takes one word… then it’s over for both of us.” Tears formed on your eyes.

Alejandro gently kissed her and cupped her cheek. “Trust me, my dove”

“I do but… I worry.” You sighed.

“ Listen just go to bed everything will be all right” he continued on rocking her in his arms.

After a few minutes of them, just being together, she separated yourself “good night Alejandro”

“Good night mi corazón” he responded sweetly as he let her go.

You made your way back to your bedroom. There was a plan in mind. You couldn’t be here you couldn’t risk hurting both of you and Alejandro’s reputation. You had given Rudy a letter to give to Alejandro in the morning.

In the morning, Rudy delivered the letter to his friend and Colonel. Alejandra open the letter, and it read: “ To my Love, i’m so sorry to do this. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how I know this is going to break your heart and our trust but I feel like this is the best option. I got called to work in another division. I know this is very painful for both of us just as our relationship was starting…. But because I love you so much I didn’t want you to suffer. Our relationship was very risky and I didn’t want us to suffer from it. I love you so much Ale… please remember that. Love, (y/n)”

Alejandro closed the letter and stared outside. Love was hard, he knew that… he wished he had done things differently, maybe then she would have stayed. Maybe he could find her, but for now he needed to be by himself.

[hannshines]

I love how they are giving Spanglish tutorials for writing and making a more realistic Miguel O'hara in fics.

And it's funny because they're right in saying that it's not just saying random words in Spanish, it's literally putting certain sentences and almost repeating the same thing but in English or more than repeating it is saying something else that reaffirms what you said in Spanish, if you want the other person to understand you well if they don't speak any Spanish at all.

But apart from that, the truth is that not much happens, obviously what will stand out the most in Spanish words and actually in anny kind of language are the expressions

If you are an English speaker but you moved to Mexico and now you speak Spanish almost all the time, the typical expressions that you used to say in the United States or wherever you come from will not go away so easily.

A good tip is to think in that way, if you were that character with a nationality or your parents are from another country and you speak that other language constantly, how would you speak? And what are the expressions you would still use un your language?

They handle that in the film in a decent way, because for example all the expressions that Miguel says in a sarcastic, desperate way and whispers to himself he says them in Spanish (giving you to understand that he is very familiar with the language in the sense of speaking it, so much so that he continues to use some phrases).

That unlike Miles who has a mother who speaks Spanish, he has spoken English all his life and although he is used to his mother's Puerto Rican Spanish (he understands her when she speaks some things) in reality he doesn't speak it, because he never had the need to speak spanish or to express himself with phrases in another language other than with his mother (if that were the case).

And considering Miles' mother, she speaks more fluent Splanglish and her accent is still quite thick, has anyone seen Sofia Vergara in Mother Family? She's literally Gloria

And here comes in also knowing the different expressions for the different Spanish speaking countries which would be almost the same as with American English and British English.

It is not the same to use expressions in Puerto Rican Spanish (which is what Miles' mother should use) to mexican expressions (which is what Miguel should use) to expressions in Spanish spain or other Spanish-speaking countries (which, as strange as it sounds, is what Miguel uses in the film and Miles uses in the short conversation he has with Miguel, calling him "tío")

And honestly it's not a complaint, because I adore Oscar Issac and maybe I understand a little bit about the accent and the words because my man is from Guatemala.

But again is not the same to say "automóvil" here in Mexico, the word means the same thing but here in Mexico we don't use that word much to refer to a car, we call it "carro".

There are words that do become common i'm diferente countries, but back to the expressions.

"Ay coño" is not a Mexican expression.

Yes in Latin America because is it used in other countries and in Spain, but here un México that word is used but almost nothing and not for the same, there are more expressions that are used in Mexico, that somehow I understand that it will not be used, I consider that the common Mexican expressions, the real ones, are very rude and vulgar, but that in some way characterizes us.

I was waiting for Miguel O'hara to say something stupid like "Me está llevando la chingada" (which means he's fed up with every situation and can't take it anymore) because it seemed that at some point the man couldn't take any more with a "mocoso" (brat).

Someone made a post with some expressions and words in Spanish, it is very good sincerely, I hope you see it, but if you want to enjoy a good movie in the dubbing is full of Mexicanisms, see Shrek in Latin American Spanish.

In the Hangover movie the dubbing uses expressions that would be used here in Mexico, if you want more rude expressions with the Spanish dubbing.

But remember that if you want to base it on a movie, all the dubbing should be Latin American which is the closest to Mexican expressions.

In fact that's a problem with Latin American dubbing, as it's mostly done here in Mexico they try to make it global for Latin America but they tend to put in a lot of Mexicanisms that are not understood in other countries but that kill us in mexico.

[blazingstaro]

DotS: Knights of the Stars file #??? — Dark Meta Knight

Name: Calls himself "Dusk" Age: 5 yrs (Young Adult • Artificial Dream Puff) Rank: N/A

As if Meta Knight couldn’t get any more enigmatic! This monochromatic lookalike is the creation of Dark Mind, a poor attempt at copying the original with stolen magic from the Mirror World.

After Dark Mind’s defeat 5 years ago —thanks to Meta Knight, Kirby and company— this shadowy knight was freed of his evil shackles and left to wander without purpose.

Dark Meta Knight is a false Mirror counterpart to Meta Knight, unlike Shadow Kirby. Under normal circumstances, anyone who approaches the Amazing Mirror and has their image reflected upon it will create a Mirror counterpart; yet whenever Meta previously tried, nothing ever manifested into being.

He attempted to utilize this to his advantage against Dark Mind, but the foul wizard was cunning. Well, he thought he was, anyhow, and instead created a rather confused, but legitimate enough counterpart for Meta Knight, which would have never come to be otherwise.

Still, the shadow knight was crafted using the Mirror World’s magic, and so acquired unique properties on top of inheriting some of Meta’s hidden personality. Much to his dismay, he was given Meta’s darkest, most well hidden aspect: his soft and sweet side. Much like his counterpart, he attempts to run away from this; however, unlike Meta, he sucks at hiding it. Absolutely rubbish at hiding anything about himself, as much as he’d like to think otherwise.

As an attempted evil clone of Meta Knight, this gray Puff has a handful of his combat skills. However, he lacks years of experience, and is often easily bested by someone of refined skill. Despite having the form and mental capacity of an adult, he’s only lived for about 5 years, and so has a very limited understanding of how the world works. As a result, he’s ignorant and ironically innocently-minded. His knowledge is greatly lacking, but he does have some decent street smarts and is a quick study.

As one with limited knowledge, his social skills leave much to be desired. He’s blunt to a fault, and speaks his mind openly. He will, without hesitation, sass anyone. He also inherited much of Meta Knight’s vocabulary, including his fluency in the Spanish language. Much of his.... Profane vocabulary to be precise. Both English and Spanish. Though he speaks both languages just fine, he lacks Meta’s restraint, and so does not hold his tongue in either dialect.

This also reveals what exact kind of Spanish Sir Meta Knight truly speaks. It’s pretty ghetto Spanish, which is quite contrary to Meta’s formal and dignified demeanor. Goes to show that the Lone Swordsman hides a lot of himself to upkeep a certain image.

However, on a strange positive side, he lacks his counterpart’s traumatic background, and so has none of Meta’s insecurities. He’ll freely pry his mask off and show his face to others, and be himself unabashedly. He just hates it when he realizes that something about himself is just like his counterpart.

The only true insecurity he has is his lack of purpose, a deep and sad longing to fit in somewhere. His greatest desire is to fit in someplace, and matter. As a failed copy of someone else, he feels that he lacks personal identity— hence why he gets upset whenever a shared trait with Meta shows itself. He wants to be his own person, to be unique, rather than someone’s shadowy echo. It doesn’t help that he has the likeness of someone quite popular and famous on Popstar.

This identity problem of his once got too out of hand. Some time after Dark Mind’s demise, Dark Meta Knight struggled to find use and purpose for himself. So he fell into the hands of some rather dubious people for a time, performing even more dubious acts in the Mirror World. However, once he started gaining a bit of a wild streak, he was abolished from those criminal syndicates. He often ended up being used by rather evil people, and eventually broke away to try and forge his own path, running away from what he was most familiar with.

He tried being the evil master himself, manipulating innocent people through their vanity mirrors, and sowing chaos for his chromatic counterpart in Dream Land. He even once attempted to conspire with the mage Magolor; however Magolor refused to partake in his schemes, having once already learned his lesson— and a hard one at that. The Halcandran was certain to leave this shadowy knight a dire warning to cease his mischief, lest he be damned to a fate worse than death.

And no, he didn’t listen. The boy’s about as stubborn as Meta Knight himself!

Eventually he grew so lost, twisted, and frustrated over the fact that he couldn’t faze Meta Knight, he turned to wreaking havoc on several villages. He made himself a proper threat, in which the Lone Swordsman dealt with accordingly.

Accompanied by his brother, Sir Antwan, Sir Meta Knight faced his dark echo in combat. Together, they defeated him and sealed him away in a void mirror. This became his prison for the next 3 years where he remains. That mirror is currently encased in canvas and locked away deep within one of Sir Meta Knight's many Popstar bases. At least, according to last time one of Meta's men checked. That was a few months ago, prior to the Jambastian debacle that happened recently.

3 years is a long time to think about one’s existence. Perhaps now he’s gotten a grip on himself? Maybe even an idea as to who he wants to be, what sort of life to live? Or perhaps he continues to float endlessly in a void, left defeated with a broken spirit.

He also owes Magolor an apology for failing to heed his warning...

Tracking down information on this fellow required a lot of sources, and help from a friend in the Mirror World. This is a year's worth of work and compiling every piece this truth-hunter could find. While this armored identity crisis doesn't serve under the Knights of the Stars, he's worth mentioning because of his association with Meta Knight.

One can't help but wonder, however, if Dark Meta Knight could find someplace that he'd fit in. it's not his fault that he exists, so he shouldn't be condemned to living forever as someone's shadow. Shadow Kirby mentioned that the last he heard him say that he preferred to go by the name "Dusk". Maybe this is the beginning of a change in him? Or some desperate grasp for self-identity?

That's enough rambling! Stay tuned for more in-depth dives into the mysteries and truths behind the Knights of the Stars...

[homeofhousechickens]

The Mediterranean chicken breeds, champions of egg laying and heat tolerance

In general chickens who are lightweight and tightly feathered are considered some of the most heat tolerant chicken breeds, you also want chickens who have a decent sized comb and wattle because the vascularized tissue helps chickens cool down. Any chicken who fits this criteria is likely going to be more heat tolerant then heavy breeds which are built for the cold regardless if its a mixed breed chicken or not..

That being said there is a group of chickens who ALL fit the above criteria and they are known as The Mediterranean breeds/class, they are called this because most of these chicken breeds have close ties to Italy and Spain which explains their heat tolerance as both of these countries can get very hot during the summer (115 degrees Fahrenheit). Some of these breeds are more rare then others and therefore don't have the same hardiness you might expect but if your able to establish your own line and select for heat tolerance and hardiness these breeds would likely be some of the easiest chickens to use. Some of breeds that fall under this label are the Leghorn, Andalusian, Ancona, Minorca, Sicilian Buttercup, and The White Faced Black Spanish (there are others but im going with these). There are plenty of other chicken breeds who are heat tolerant but i wanted to focus on these guys because they tend to be less desirable compared to popular American and Asiatic breeds.

Non-industrial type Leghorn (The Egg Laying champion)

Pros- Leghorns are prolific layers of white eggs and known for their high strung and independent personalities. These are a highly intelligent and active chicken breed that does well in confined or free range environments. Their large comb helps them thermoregulate in extreme heat and also looks quite silly. Industrial type leghorns tend to be more fragile and less weather tolerant then their heritage counterparts so when looking for a good heat tolerant egg layer try to look for the heritage varieties as they are resistant to extreme heat. Leghorns come in multiple colors with brown and white being the most popular. Leghorns feather in and reach sexual maturity very quickly and have some of the best food to egg conversion rates out of any chicken breed. Heritage Leghorns will still outperform most chicken breeds with their egg laying capabilities.

Cons- It can be difficult to source leghorns not selected for extreme egg production, leghorns selected for this extreme production suffer health consequences and the strain of egg laying makes them less tolerant to extreme temperatures. Their oversized combs make them easy victims of frostbite but this can be mitigated by well ventilated coops during the winter. Leghorns are also known for being trouble makers due to their intelligence and they love to escape their coops and runs, this paired with their high strung nature means that they can be skittish if not properly socialized. Their active nature and small size means this breed is not good for meat production.

The Andalusian (The Blue beauty)

Pros- Andalusian are a very beautiful chicken breed that comes in three colors Black, Blue, and Splash with only the Blue really being recognized for showing. They are a graceful chicken breed that thrives in a free range environment. Like the Leghorn they are prolific layers of white eggs and they reach maturity very quickly. Andalusians are very heat tolerant and cold tolerant and they are known for being great winter layers but like the leghorn their large comb must be managed in cold temperatures. They are a lot less vocal and nervy then the other breeds on this list and depending on the line can have very brave friendly personalities. They are a good all around chicken breed that is flashy and nice to look at.

Cons- This breed really loves to have its space, birds who are kept in small spaces tend to turn towards feather picking and bullying their flock mates. This breed can be very aggressive and assertive towards more docile breeds so its important to make sure your birds have plenty of space and entertainment if you are not able to free range. Some hatchery lines of this breed tend to have poor feather quality and some of the same health problems production leghorns suffer from so as always its important to be mindful of where you are sourcing your birds from. This is a threatened breed.

The Ancona (The Lively and Loyal)

Pros- Ancona chickens possess some of the most precise mottled markings out of any chicken breed, this makes them very beautiful and nice to look at. Anconas are a very busy, talkative, active, and playful chicken breed that loves to keep itself busy. They lay a nice amount of large white eggs and like the other breeds on this list rarely if ever go broody. The roosters are very showy and love to dance and crow. Like leghorns they have a fantastic feed conversion rate and are all around hardy happy birds. The reason i labeled them as the lively and loyal is because once you earn this birds trusts they are very friendly and loyal birds, i know plenty of people who have pet anconas who want nothing more then to follow their owner around all day happily chatting and digging. They also come in rose combed varieties which help with cold tolerance.

Cons- These birds are great flyers who love to travel long distances if given the chance, special care needs to be taken to keep birds contained to where they are supposed to me. Because these birds are used as exhibition birds inbreeding is common and this can negatively impact a birds hardiness. Their vocal tendencies can also make them problem if you have close neighbors. Like the Andalusian these birds tend to not deal with confinement well and can get stressed but thankfully they are not known to be aggressive.

Minorca (The Graceful and Reliable)

Pros- Black Minorcas are thought to be the largest breed in the Mediterranean class though their other color varieties are known to be a bit smaller bodied, its easy for roosters to reach up to 8 pounds. They have slender bodies and a classy look about them. Some lines are more prolific layers then others usually ones with larger white earlobes lay less but both are known for being heat tolerant. In my opinion this is a tropical breed that does best in warm climates though some lines are cold tolerant. This breed is known for laying very large white eggs sometimes competing in size with industrial leghorns. Because of their large size these birds are classed as a dual purpose breed. They have a more serious demeanor then some of the other breeds mentioned but this is still a curious and intelligent breed.

Cons- They birds are known for being quite skittish and due to this some lines dont pay attention to their roosters personality which leads to some lines having human aggressive roosters. If aggression isnt a problem you can expect your birds to still be skittish but like with most chicken breeds they can be won over. They are very alert but not easily made irritable they do however tend to be clannish which means they like to stick with similar looking birds. Minorcas are a threatened chicken breed so they can be hard to source.

The Sicilian Buttercup (The Sassy and Silly)

Pros- These birds are very unique with the hens beautiful plumage and their buttercup combs which are like two single combs but merged. This breed has had a lot of ups and downs with people becoming fascinated in them then losing interest over time thankfully this breed persevered and is still around today. This breed is known for having a goofy and personable personality the hens can sometimes grow spurs and in general are quite bossy to their owners and flock mates. Unlike some other breeds listed here this breed shows sexual dimorphism with the hens having a nice golden spangled colored while the roosters have a more solid red coloration. These birds were mostly selected for their beauty and combs so they wont beat some of the other birds here at egg laying or meat production but they make up for it in their personality.

Cons- while some lines are extremely friendly and calm other lines can be extremely reactive and terrified of humans. This breed isnt supposed to be prolific egg layers but some hatcheries and breeders focus very heavily on production over health which can lead to reproductive issues like EYP and cancer. Also due to poor breeding heart issues are also very common in this breed but if your able to source some high quality birds you should get some birds that are well mannered and hardy in both warm and cold climates but they prefer warmer weather. Their conservation status is critical and they desperately need more breeders to preserve this breed.

The White Faced Black Spanish Chicken (The Aristocrat)

Pros- This is a very old chicken breed that has been around for a very long time. The White Faced Black Spanish chicken is also extremely unique in the chicken world with high quality birds possessing a white face and over sized earlobes which makes for a very stroking appearance. This breed is very heat tolerant but does poorly in colder temperatures. They lay a medium white egg and are decent non broody layers. They are an extremely important foundational fowl that's genetics have helped establish many chicken breeds. These birds are known for being aloof but they are not aggressive and are quite calm and curious as adults. They are good foragers and are quite predator savy.

Cons- This breed is known for being extremely fragile healthwise. Due to breeders focusing on bigger and bigger white faces and wattles they mistakenly didnt also select for health and unfortunately this breed has experienced some serious genetic bottle necks and breeder sabotage multiple times in the modern day. Current lines are still struggling to get back to hardiness and vigor Mediterranean breeds are known for. This breed is critically endangered but all it takes is a couple of passionate people to help turn it around.

Hopefully you enjoyed my little write up on some of these heat tolerant breeds. There is plenty of other birds in this class i could list and some birds outside of it but i chose these birds because i like them and a lot of them need more attention due to critical or endangered status

[aminocamino]

Day 10 - Viana to Navarette 24.1 km and 287m ascent

Carrie told me today she felt she was now hard core…. personally think she has a long way to go. One test is to successfully brush your teeth next to a hairy topless man. He seems to be everywhere she is. In fact she was so put off she didn’t brush her hair - thats three days running she hasn’t combed her hair! Topless man is now a distant memory as we are in our new abode in Navarette now.

Back to yesterday - I slept well enough but the bunk beds are very uncomfortable and noisy. This morning we were wakened at six by those getting ready early. We had decided to leave by 7am which isn’t difficult when people around you are getting up at 6 or earlier. I climbed down the rickety bunk last night possibly around 3am… and was surprised to see that someone was showering.

The walk out of Viana was pleasant with the sun rising over farm fields and vineyards.

The walk into Logrono though was less pleasant being alot of industrial estates. We did manage to grab a decent breakfast there though. I had a piece of sliced brown bread which had been crisped in hot olive oil, then covered in a tomato mix and drizzled with more olive oil. It was delicious. Must try it at home!

Logrono cathedral was worth a look and I was quite taken by this piece of modern art.

Walking out of Logrono is a challenge with the Camino signs totally overshadowed by other signs. We then walked through a country park with a large fishing lake. A number of Spanish men were fishing and it was amusing to see their picnic table set out. Also all the fish were on the other side of the lake hiding under a bridge.

A red squirrel ran across the road in front of us. I was ecstatic and it was Carrie’s first time seeing a red squirrel. We then passed a man feeding one of- he insisted I feed it too. My favourite part of this walk so far.

It is serious Rioja country here with vineyards all along the way.

Our accommodation in Navarette is a beautiful Pension called Casa Peregrinando set in a terraced 16th century mansion and owned by our lovely host Roberto. We have gone from one extreme to another.

We decided on a Pilgrim meal tonight and a la carte (oh luxury!) tomorrow on our first rest day.

We have become aware of the ABA - the All Body Ache. It travels around the body - mine is currently in the calf muscles probably due to the hills these last few days.

[faintingheroine]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do you think Emily Brontë intended to call out the racism that was shown towards Heathcliff?

No, it isn’t a dumb question.

Yes, I think she does intend that. I mostly think that because of the scene in Chapter 6 with the Lintons’ mistreatment of Heathcliff. Lintons are so comically pathetic and bad in this particular scene that I have no doubt we are meant to view their views on Heathcliff critically:

““What prey, Robert?” hallooed Linton from the entrance. “Skulker has caught a little girl, sir,” he replied; “and there’s a lad here,” he added, making a clutch at me, “who looks an out-and-outer! Very like the robbers were for putting them through the window to open the doors to the gang after all were asleep, that they might murder us at their ease. Hold your tongue, you foul-mouthed thief, you! you shall go to the gallows for this. Mr. Linton, sir, don’t lay by your gun.” “No, no, Robert,” said the old fool. “The rascals knew that yesterday was my rent-day: they thought to have me cleverly. Come in; I’ll furnish them a reception. There, John, fasten the chain. Give Skulker some water, Jenny. To beard a magistrate in his stronghold, and on the Sabbath, too! Where will their insolence stop? Oh, my dear Mary, look here! Don’t be afraid, it is but a boy—yet the villain scowls so plainly in his face; would it not be a kindness to the country to hang him at once, before he shows his nature in acts as well as features?” He pulled me under the chandelier, and Mrs. Linton placed her spectacles on her nose and raised her hands in horror. The cowardly children crept nearer also, Isabella lisping “Frightful thing! Put him in the cellar, papa. He’s exactly like the son of the fortune-teller that stole my tame pheasant. Isn’t he, Edgar?”

‘While they examined me, Cathy came round; she heard the last speech, and laughed. Edgar Linton, after an inquisitive stare, collected sufficient wit to recognise her. They see us at church, you know, though we seldom meet them elsewhere. “That’s Miss Earnshaw?” he whispered to his mother, “and look how Skulker has bitten her—how her foot bleeds!”

“Miss Earnshaw? Nonsense!” cried the dame; “Miss Earnshaw scouring the country with a gipsy! And yet, my dear, the child is in mourning—surely it is—and she may be lamed for life!”

“What culpable carelessness in her brother!” exclaimed Mr. Linton, turning from me to Catherine. “I’ve understood from Shielders”’ (that was the curate, sir) “that he lets her grow up in absolute heathenism. But who is this? Where did she pick up this companion? Oho! I declare he is that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his journey to Liverpool—a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway.”

“A wicked boy, at all events,” remarked the old lady, “and quite unfit for a decent house! Did you notice his language, Linton? I’m shocked that my children should have heard it.””

(Chapter 6) (bolded part mine)

Cathy even laughs at their racism!

As Susan Meyer says in Imperialism at Home:

It is so not subtle that if this novel were written today I would have been kind of annoyed at how not subtle it is.

Now, we can discuss how much of a commitment Brontë makes to criticizing racism in the book as a whole. But in this fragment the criticism is blatant, which makes me believe that she was criticizing racism and knew what she was doing.

Also keep in mind that despite his evil actions Heathcliff is the character of the book. The most intelligent, the strongest, the most charismatic. He is a villain but he is also kind of a “super” one. On what to make of him fathering an exceptionally sickly and puny child, the opinions may vary. Some said Linton’s sickliness might be due to the belief at the time that the mixed race children would be sickly. But then Linton’s sickliness seems more a product of his Linton background. It is a difficult topic to parse, I have pondered on it here, though it is an old post.

All in all, could I confidently say that Wuthering Heights is a thoroughly anti-racist novel from start to finish in all of its implications? No. Do I think that Emily Brontë intended to criticize racism in parts of the book? Yes.

[timid-owl]

For some time now been thinking about vashwood pirate au where vash is a pirate captain - or more like a captain of a pirate ship, 'cause he just wants to help people and been sorta stede bonneting his way through the seas but the royal navy and the locals have a diffrent opinion, and Vash is exceptionally tallented with a pistol so at some point you just have to go with the flow.

Also one day he stumbles upon a catholic priest Wolfwood who's been captured by the dutch/spanish/french whomever for some sketchy reason. Vash attemps saving him but the dutch have some real fine canons and the priest is quite good with swords and also has the biggest musket vash has ever seen so he kinda ends up rescuing vash instead.

(Here is where we take a minute of silence to appreciate Wolfwood in a loose shirt open to there, possibly with one shoulder off while he's tied up to a mast or smth thank you)

So anyway they end up dutch-free and on the same ship so they stick together until the next port, and then some other shit happens at the port as well, and they have to flee and well they just stick together in general after that.

Although wolfwood is obviously not (only) a priest but a bounty hunter hired by Nai to bring Vash back to their home country, where the twins are crown princes and nai's planning to use vash in his cunning schemes, possibly to acces the throne and decalre a righteous bloody crusade onto their neighbours, which Vash doesn't approve much.

(They also had to go through some traumatic horrors as kids, like maybe their parents where dethroned and decapitated in whatever Fronde terrors and Nai is like Revenge but Vash is more like No Thank You Bie Bie)

Anyways back to Wolfwood who is of course not particularly successful in his main mission, 'cause vash is kind and gentle and rubs Wolfwood's moronosexuality just the right way, and also the beauty mark under his eye makes Ww reflect on the nature of sin quite a lot.

In their errands they are of course accompanied by Maryl, a young girl from a noble family, who fled her home to become an explorer and publish her research (that she has yet to conduct tho) in cartography or botanics. She also happens to be rather good at navigation so she helps them not to crush every ship they possess. She comes in package with Roberto, a memeber of the Research Society whom the advising council Strongly Advised(tm) to accompany the young lady. He has published like a couple of decent papers but he also use to be a navy surgeon sooo he patches them up and refills the rhum supplies which is a nice bonus

[zaphiyy207]

Rambling

You know, I would like to try and get out of my comfort. I have been rambling a lot to my friend (bless her for dealing with me) so here's me making blog, rambling about Kirby just to deal with me brain rotting about this pink puff game and its characters (mostly the RTDL Squad). I have a lot of headcanons and ideas that perhaps sharing with the community for shits and giggles is somewhat of a decent idea I suppose. Maybe it could be your entertainment who knows.

I'm focusing on speech pattern, because there's a lot of possibility on how they talk and speak, and I like trying to differentiate them in writing or just daydreaming them to pass the time

[Note: I am focusing on the main four. The others will be added soon once I've played more Kirby games.]

I'm also comparing them with the anime as it's the only media that they talked in full sentences (aside from Kirby and Bandana).

— King Dedede

(before FL) would have talk a lot and have a gruffier voice. Somewhat a little rough as it's coming from the base of the throat type of rough.

(After FL) He would have a slightly raspy voice due to him yelling and roaring a lot forcefully which strained his voice. Compared to the anime, I would see him speaking a little quieter and don't talk as much as his counterpart (to heal his voice).

He uses informal words where the g is silent despite being royalty, and have interesting combination of words that sounded strange to an outsider and yet make sense in Dreamland. (Native slangs in Dreamland, I haven't think much of an example) Despite the impolite or somewhat a little rude manner speech, his tone is upbeat which made him more friendly than menacing (despite his large figure)

He would have a slight hint of southern/texan accent and talks fast paced. I do hc that Dreamlanders have Japanese accent rather than English, not sure how to word it out.

— Bandana Waddle Dee

His voice would sounds somewhat a young teen (considering both Kirby and BWD are youngsters) so he'll sound like 13 - 15 at most? Since waddle dees have high pitch voices in FL and RTDL DX, his sentence sometimes ended up in a higher note. Bandana would stutter in his speech sometimes due to anxiety spikes or due to his tongue just stumbled (twisted?) which confused him on what he was about to say. Otherwise, he speaks fairly well. He's also silent and wouldn't say much during serious situations as he always zoned out and focused very much in battles or some serious situations that needed him to strategise.

Considering he spent a lot of time with Kirby, he adopted some of Kirby's speech mannerism with occasional hum in between to think of specific words or just occasional one liners like a joke (You know, like quoting a vine or something but it's an inside joke between the friends).

He also adopted some of Dedede's and Meta Knight's speech mannerism and accents during serious moments. It is quite subtle between the three, but if he's around the waddle dees, it's fairly obvious how different his accent and speech mannerism compared to the other waddle dees.

Bandana has slight bit of southern/texan and spanish. Though it's mostly Japanese (native accent of Dreamland)

— Kirby

Now this is mostly centering around hc of mine of both Kirby and Meta Knight

He has a bubbly voice, following the game voice clips of Kirby. which made him sounds younger than his supposed age range. Compared to his anime counterpart, he has a little deeper voice and accented.

Due to him being energetic, he tends to cut people off which he knows it's bad but he just can't help it. He tried to curb that habit from his friends reminding him or forcing himself to stop and apologized.

Kirby's speech mannerism is a little funny imo. He misused complicated words with meanings he thinks it meant even though it's actually very far off. Meta Knight and Bandana always corrected him afterwards. (He's very embarrassed). He's actually quite nice and polite. It's just that he's very blunt which made him sounded rude and kind of a 'kind' insult even though it's supposed to be a compliment.

Kirby sometimes has a stroke and just said the most confusing abomination of a stroke sentence due to his brain mouth speaking faster than his brain could process, which the others looked at him after a few moments of silence like "what".

Kirby has Halcandra accent when he first came to Popstar and from influenced by Dream Friends, he now has mixed accents (like someone who learned English as their second language and has both UK and US accent). His accents also changed according to Dream Friends, like if he's with Taranza, he has more Florarian accent, if he's with the animal friends, he has more Japanese accent. His original accent comes out around Magolor and Meta Knight. Though his original accent also is slowly disappearing after living in Popstar for so long.

— Meta Knight

Compared to his anime counterpart (JP and ENG), he has deeper voice and slight spanish and Halcandra accent but more Japanese as he was on Popstar longer than Kirby. He also has change of speech mannerism between work mode and relax mode which isn't too noticeable.

Work mode has him talk in short and straight to the point. His tone is more apathetic and curt kind of way? Not with the intention of being rude but it's a way to get others to focus on their work and responsibilities. He has a lot of complicated and bigger words because all this time he reads the dictionary (/j). When he's under pressure, Halcandrian words slipped out and he just speak in full Halcandra which others just nodded along watching him rage for just a moment. This includes curse words. Meta Knight is also silent like BWD as he's also focusing on the fight which he zoned out sometimes.

Relax mode however has him talk more than usual which his tone is a little light, his body language is a little slack as well as his expression not narrowed or angry looking (Of course, it's not obvious because of the mask but the three noticed the difference right away). He still has the habit of brooding because he's workaholic.

He's also very blunt, a trait share with Kirby because of their origins (HC!!). Meta Knight served as Kirby's translator when the little Astral had a hard time explaining what words he wanted to say. He understood the struggle of learning a new language.

Meta Knight also has a stroke like Kirby which happened very rarely nowadays but it always happened when he woke up without a caffeine (hot choco) to kick start his brain or if he has little sleep due to overwork. It also includes Halcandrian slangs which Magolor cackled like a psychopath and Kirby just nodded along as he understood half of what he said.

And that's it, if you come this far consider me being very surprised because this is a way for me to just let out my brainrot moments. Will this turn into a series? Maybe, we'll see how it goes

What do you guys think? What is your view on how the four would speak?

[jackleg-penwright]

Universal Translator head-canon

In case you’re actually coming to this post because you like my Tumblr, instead of coming from the AO3 link in my fic, I should probably mention that I’m kind of hijacking my account here in order to break down some of the quite frankly ridiculous amounts of worldbuilding that goes into the stuff I’m starting to write. I’m autistic, which in my case means that I was the kid who sorted her legos for hours (by color, by width, by length etc) and never did get around to building anything. For me, the worldbuilding is the fun part, while writing the story is the work (though I do hope I’m pretty decent at it too, or at least getting better). 

I don’t want to put the worldbuilding itself into the fics, that would just distract from the story (my acting teachers would always say, never act your homework. When you’re on stage/camera, you have to be in the moment) - but just in case you’re curious, or if you want to use my aliens in your fics, or if you’re just a nerd like me who loves sorting details for their own sake, here it is.

This one is my head-canon for how the Universal Translator works. 

Well, actually I don’t have any idea how it works - do you hear a real-time voice in your head translating, does a text-based translation pop up in your field of vision, does your brain just know what they mean? Not a clue.

But what I do figure is that you can choose how it’s translated - both for words, and for numbers and systems.

There are a number of levels that are preset for you to choose.

There’s translate everything, where everything you hear is turned into the closest approximation that you would understand. If someone said “para mi es chino,” you would hear “it’s all Greek to me,” even though the Spanish version actually references Chinese. Idioms are converted to the closest with a similar meaning.

Then there’s the level where you get the meanings at the level of phrases and expressions, but idioms are left intact. So if someone said “me gusta pasta,” you would hear “I like pasta," but if they said "para mi es chino," you'd hear "for me, it's Chinese" instead of the closest English idiom.

At the next level down, you would instead hear “pasta is pleasing to me.” The literal meaning of the words is preserved, although the word order is rearranged to make the most sense grammatically.

That’s probably as minimalist a translation as anyone who’s interested in the unique beauty of a language would choose to go, and that’s the most minimalist of the pre-sets available.  

If you actually want to LEARN the other language, then you’ll switch to manual settings. Ok, there’s one more pre-set, which is the “vocabulary only” setting. Every word is translated literally, and left in the exact order of the other language. So if someone said “me gusta pasta,” you would hear “to me, pleases pasta.” 

From the vocabulary-only setting, you can manually adjust all sorts of things - you can set specific words or phrases to be entirely untranslated whenever you hear them, you can have a literal translation but use the native-speaker’s original prefixes or suffixes. You can have the parts-of-speech information that’s embedded in the grammar be added to the translation (so “me gusta pasta” might include information like reflexive verb first person singular etc). The sky’s kind of the limit with the manual settings - you can even take a preset level and modify it so that you hear the native suffixes to your own words (which I suspect is where fan-terms like “federaji” come from). 

My headcanon is that when they recorded the episodes, there is a universal translator embedded in the recording equipment, and which settings it is on is chosen by the director for the purposes of his or her artistic vision for the episode. That’s why we hear Klingons speaking English - except when we don’t. 

There’s a whole other set of settings when it comes to numbers and units of measurement etc, which I may or may not get to in another note. For now, suffice it to say that the settings that both Garak and Julian use translate numbers automatically, but leave the units untranslated. So if I had those settings, and I were to travel from the US to the UK and hear people talking about a heat wave of 39 degrees, my translator would not automatically translate the centigrade to the 102.2 degrees fahrenheit I’d be able to picture - I’d hear 39 degrees and have to learn just how hot that actually is. 

I think, as xenophiles, both Julian and Garak would find that appealing.

[autisticcassandracain]

Finished Blue Beetle: Graduation Day! Pros and cons list bc I like lists!

The Good:

I overall liked Jaime’s characterization! The graduation was a good kickstarter for character development and provided an easy way to switch up the setting and Jaime’s life, which I think the comic utilized well. I am really satisfied with where the comic went in regards to Jaime’s future; I think helping the Horizon suits Jaime really well as a character. I also like that the disconnect between him and the scarab came from both of their scrambled mental states rather than outside interference, I think that’s neat. Overall I think this comic did a good job with his character and developing him for future adventures.

I also liked Kori’s characterization! I think they did a good job making her serious but also exuberant. I’m always apprehensive about post-flashpoint Kori (or, tbh, non-NTT Kori) but I think they did a decent job, considering the limited screentime they had for her. I liked the interactions she and Vic had, and the inclusion of Tamaran’s connection to the Horizon was a great way to work her into the plot a bit more. I also enjoy what they did with the language absorption power; it was a really interesting way to utilize what is usually more of a plot convenience than a proper power! I don’t think her characterization was Super Deep, but considering the limited length of the series that’s fine.

The dynamic between Jaime, Brenda and Paco was great and I loved the scene where Paco hugged them. I wish we could’ve seen more of them. Though I don’t think it was quite as good as in Blue Beetle (2006), but like, that’s to be expected.

Kori’s hair really pretty. Love this take on it!

I think The Horizon is a great addition to Blue Beetle lore. It’s an interesting and refreshing take on the previously established lore that has a lot of future story potential. I also think their introduction was, overall, quite well handled. I’m very interested to see what other comics do with them (and really hope they don’t just get sort of handwaved and stuck to the side).

Likewise, I like the new Beetles. I don’t think their introduction was as strong as it probably should’ve been, but I think there’s story potential in Beetles connected to a peaceful split-off from the Reach. I like Nitida’s powers a lot, and Xiomara’s character seems interesting. I hope future comics actually expand on them, rather than just sort of leaving them hanging.

I thought Victoria’s character was fun! I know literally nothing about her (don’t even know if she’s a Graduation Day original, an established post-flashpoint feature, or an established pre-flashpoint feature), but I thought her moral grayness and contrasting moral system to Ted made for a fun character who had fun interactions with the rest of the highly moral superheroes around her.

Gratuitous use of Spanish was great! Love when I’m obviously not the target audience for a piece of media, and I’m saying that completely unironically. It felt like this series was being written for latines with a similar background as Jaime first and everyone else second and that’s great. I, however, am not latine and don’t speak Spanish at all so I cannot vouch for how that was handled. These are just my impressions.

The Meh/Bad:

The biggest problem I had with this series is that I do not understand why we are listening to Batman. Or Superman, for that matter, but Batman was the worst offender. I get that they’re established Powerful, Senior Heroes, but that doesn’t mean they can just order everyone around? Even in the Justice League, while the other members may listen to them, they’re not their soldiers they can just send out and order around at will. Like, why do they have the power to ground Jaime? Jaime’s not their sidekick, he’s not under their command, they have no power over him, yet everyone acts like they do. Like. Why do we care what Batman thinks? A different superhero team clashing in the finale makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense is the rest of the comic acting like Batman and Superman can just decide whether Jaime does or does not do hero work, or why his mistakes should be reported to them, or whatever. It’s weird as hell and I don’t like it.

By extension: weird as hell that it took this long for them to bring Jaime in on a presumably Reach-based crisis, and no good reason is ever given for keeping him out of it, aside from ‘keeping him safe’, which, again, is not Batman’s (or Superman’s) responsibility (beyond the same base responsibility they have towards everyone). Jaime is the world’s foremost expert on kicking Reach ass, and frankly, the Reach in general (or at least, he should be). It’s super weird to me that they all tried to sideline him because, what, he’s young? This is comics? Since when do we care about that? As a result, the ‘we follow Jaime’s lead’ moment at the end that was supposed to be a major character note kinda fell flat to me. It’s weird it took this long and it’s weird Jaime let them walk all over him before that.

To be fair, I have very little knowledge on post-flashpoint Jaime. I tried to read N52 Blue Beetle, and it was reeeaaaally bad, and I just haven’t bothered keeping up since. I’m pretty sure there’s some post-flashpoint stuff I’m missing that makes this make a little more sense; it definitely reads like Jaime at some point had a mentorship under Superman/Batman and that’s why he defers to them. But it’s really jarring when compared to the agency and respect he got in Blue Beetle (2006), and I am really trying not to hold this 6-issue miniseries in a completely different continuity to that standard, but Jaime’s independence was a large part of the reason I liked his character and this just feels like a much less interesting narrative choice. Is it OOC for Jaime to defer to more experienced heroes in an alternate timeline where those heroes never, y’know, left him in space for a year? Not really. (And even pre-flashpoint, he clearly had a lot of respect for Superman. Presumably because he wasn’t involved in leaving him in space for a year.) But I hate these vibes and I will complain about them.

Second biggest issue I have is that at several time this plot falls prey to ‘this only works because nobody acts like a normal human with common sense’ syndrome. Brenda and Paco trusting Fadeaway based on what seems like literally zero evidence. Jaime trusting Fadeaway based on what seems like literally zero evidence. Jaime not getting Victoria’s side of the story before resorting to breaking into Kord Industries and stealing (or, for that matter, talking to Ted if nothing else). Everyone listening to Batman and Superman like there’s a chain of command (why does Ted care what Batman has told Jaime to do?) Nobody bothering to ask why Xiomare wants Jaime dead so badly despite clearly not being evil and actually quite reasonable seemingly, or even bothering to interrogate her stated concerns. Etc Etc Etc. There was just a lot of very convenient losing of braincells when the plot needed it. 

Aside from that the only major issue is that the inclusion of Fadeaway wasn’t particularly great. It wasn’t necessary to the story at hand and obviously only really there as a set-up for Blue Beetle: Scarab War (which I know literally nothing about but that title fills me with dread, please don’t be what that sounds like). I’m also not entirely clear on how much of their backstory was a lie to trick Jaime and how much wasn’t, but I think their character would’ve been more interesting if their motives were genuine rather than a way to trick Jaime. As a straight villain they’re kinda boring so far. IDK I’m not like, upset at their inclusion, I don’t think it tanked the story, but idk, it still feels like a sacrifice for the sake of setting up the next story more than anything else.

From hereon out its nitpicks and minor complaints mostly, that was the structural stuff that really bothered me.

It felt like there were a lot of implicit plotbeats that were just sorta... skipped over. Kori wanting to mentor Jaime is honestly kinda handwaved. Victoria and Ted knowing about the Horizon while we haven’t seen Kori or Jaime give them that information yet. I don’t quite understand why Khaji Da was scared. Was it Jaime’s graduation? The ‘Reach’ transmission? Maybe I’m just stupid but it’s kinda unclear to me. Also, Jaime helping Fadeaway steal the artifact is treated like an obvious mistake when I don’t even get why? Fadeaway said Victoria bought a stolen artifact that should be returned to its rightful owner. Victoria did, in fact, knowingly buy a stolen artifact. The ‘returned to its rightful owner’ bit is where the disagreement lies, unless that was a lie, which was never actually. Stated? Was that a lie? It felt like it was, but again, it’s never stated. Etc etc etc. Most of this stuff was ultimately minor but it was frequent enough it added up for me. Maybe all this was explained and I just read over it, though, who knows, I do that sometimes.

I don’t. Like the casual imprisonment of a citizen by a private corporation. This is a fancy way to say ‘kidnapping’. Like it’s great that Xiomare was held in humane conditions but it’s still deeply fucking uncomfortable. Ted and Victoria Kord should not have this power and everyone else should not be okay with letting them have it.

The characters of the Green and Yellow Beetles are underdeveloped. This makes sense considering this is a 6-issue-miniseries and there’s only so much time, but nonetheless, I literally can count the facts I know about these characters on one hand and that’s kinda sad. Feel like their character introduction could’ve been a lot stronger, even with the limited runtime.

Jaime and Kori’s relationship was rushed and felt way too close at the end considering they’d only had, what, one extended interaction prior to the climax? Again, limited runtime, that’s why this isn’t a major complaint, but still, it was a little strange to me. I liked what we did see, but there wasn’t enough to really make much of a call either way tbh.

The parallels that the comic attempted to draw between how Khaji Da functioned at first and how the Green and Yellow Beetles function fell kinda flat. This may be a result of me not knowing Blue Beetle’s backstory in the post-flashpoint continuity, though, but still, it felt rather weird to hear Xiomare shout about how the Horizon tried to ‘conquer’ them, which just felt like a gross overreaction to what actually happened (they got Scarabs and those scarabs told them that the Reach and their technology are dangerous, which they are, and should be eliminated, which, as a general rule, they should be). As far as I can tell no actual mind control or even forcible persuasion was going on; Xiomare and Nitida seemed in complete control of themselves, they were just working on the advice of scared and wrongly informed scarabs. But, again, I could be missing crucial post-flashpoint context regarding how scarab persuasion/mind control works and be wrong here.

An extremely petty complain but I really don’t like the way this artist draws mouths. I’m sorry I could just never get used to it. They take up almost the entire length of the face and it makes the characters look like muppets. This is highly subjective because it’s clearly a stylistic choice but it really did bother me quite a bit.

An even pettier complaint but I miss Jaime’s ragtag group of misfits :( Like I don’t need the exact Blue Beetle (2006) cast to show up, but I really liked that Jaime’s (superhero) mentors and friends consisted 100% of outcasts, losers, and/or B-listers. It feels weird to see him be so close to a bunch of A-listers and generally respected heroes and I don’t like the vibes as much I’m sorry. This is 100% a post-flashpoint thing rather than a ‘this comic specifically’ thing but it bothered me.

Verdict: A fun comic written by people who obviously care about Jaime a lot, with interesting new lore added that could easily be expanded upon in future stories. Has its flaws, but those can probably mostly be ascribed to the comic being set in the post-flashpoint continuity, and even if that’s not the issue, it’s not that big a deal. Definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of Jaime!

[asksam]

MEET SAM EVANS !!

auditioning with the song: brutal, olivia rodrigo

And I'm so tired that I might, quit my job, start a new life. And they'd all be so disappointed, 'cause who am I, if not exploited?

BIOGRAPHY & HEADCANONS

wait, is that SAM EVANS? they kinda look a lot like NICHOLAS GALITZINE, don’t they? i heard the TWENTY ONE year old is known as THE CROWD PLEASER around mckinley. it seems like they auditioned to be in DULY NOTED which is so lame? people at campus have said they’re CHARMING, but don’t be fooled since they’re also -STUBBORN. rumor has it, you can find them at SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING PRACTICE, PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB, FIGHT CLUB, DIGITAL MEDIA CLUB OR AT A GOD SQUAD MEETING when they aren’t belting show tunes. their entire vibe revolves around RED SOLO CUPS AMONG FRIENDS, LONG NIGHTS IN TRUCK BEDS STARGAZING, DOLLA DOLLA BILLS Y'ALL but no one pays attention to that here in ohio.

LIST ABOUT 3+ HEADCANONS ABOUT YOUR CHOSEN CHARACTER!

Sam has a full ride scholarship thanks to synchronized swimming. So while he’s going to school because of that, Sam’s real passion is his impressions. He’s always wanted to be a voice actor and he actually does have a decent amount of followers on TikTok. Because they’re good or because he posts a lot of cosplay thirst traps is anyone’s guess.

He was pretty much homeless during his senior year of high school after his father lost his job. They lived out of motels and sometimes their car when they couldn’t afford a room. It took a while for them to get back on their feet, but Sam’s job at the local DQ strip club helped out a lot.

He’s very upfront on his TikTok about who he is and his past because it might help someone out there. Whether it’s about his dyslexia, stripping, sexuality (pansexual) or just about struggling with his faith, Sam likes to shine bright, but still keep it real.

Sam does a lot of volunteer work on his off time, he loves helping out at the local animal and homeless shelters.

He's not a stripper anymore, thanks to the world wide web, he has an OF that's actually pretty lucrative. He sends most of the money back home still to provide for his siblings, his parents still think he works at DQ.

MY PERSONALITY IS LIKE A RADIOACTIVE ASTEROID, SPEND TOO MUCH TIME WITH IT AND IT COULD KILL YOU.

BASICS OF SAM:

full name: samuel andrew evans. pronouns: he/him. gender: cismale. nicknames: sam, sammy, white chocolate, captain trouty, evans, trouty mouth. hometown: knoxville, tennessee. birthday (zodiac) & age: may 21st (GEMINI) / twenty-one years old. relationship status: single. sexuality: pansexual. religion: christian. occupation: student at mckinley arts college, "accountant". residence: small house off campus with roommates. sports/clubs: synchronized swimming, photography club, fight club, digital media club, and god squad. glee club: part of duly noted. languages: english, ASL, na'vi, very poor spanish. major: digital media. minor: visual communications.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

faceclaim: nicholas galitzine. height:  6'0". build:  athletic. eyes:  hazel. hair:  blonde (natural, but he does a lot of upkeep because of the chlorine water). piercings: he has his nipples, tongue and ears pierced (just like one of his faves teddy altman, but this version) (sidenote: he takes them all out when he's in the pool). tattoos:  ’You can’t take the sky from me.’ across his left forearm, he has 'i'm fine' on his right arm above his inner elbow, he's starting a sleeve of comic panels on his right that's a mix of all comics not just marvel & dc, he has a few manga panels on his left leg from various artists including jujutsu kaisen and attack on titan. (sidenote: sam uses the best waterproof tattoo concealer money can buy to keep them covered for competitions). other distinguishing features:  birthmark above his upper right lip and on the right and left sides of his chin. style: sam has three looks: homeless man, 12 year old boy & a hooker.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

workout buddy: someone sam can spot for/spot for him at the gym, or even just watch his swim routines and critique.

fellow "accountant": either they can just know of each other and help each other out with tips and tricks of the trade or they can create content with each other.

BFFS/platonic soulmates: they know everything sam doesn't talk about on his social media and they get the real bts content of his life.

friends with benefits: this will probably be a dumpster fire of feels because sam absolutely will catch feelings for the other so to quote sam's audition song "i want it to be, like, messy".

study buddy or tutor: sam needs some extra help and needs someone to help study with or your character is tutoring him!

roommate: sam is a junior and lives off campus in a small house with two roommates !!

rival: either in fight club or maybe one of the other clubs, either way sam totally complains about you to his followers.

D&D: you're a part of sam's party, your characters are rivals, love interests, or friends.

I'm honestly down for any connections for my boy so you can absolute DM me on here or on discord !! LET'S PLOT !!

AND HERE'S MORE ON OUR FAVORITE CROWD PLEASURE THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO ADD ON THIS ALREADY LONG POST.