#why does he have to use a language that he isn't even fluent in and probably uncomfortable with conversing in

[hanniedream]

fans asking kpop idols to speak in english gives me the same vibes as racist wh*te amer*cans telling anyone they come across speaking in another language to "speak english when you're on our land"

[hrrtshape]

please explain in the beautiful way you explain you things… how does it feel to finally kiss that person? to hold their hand and hum? to smell their hair and hear their laugh and have your knuckles kissed and be held at night?

it feels like giving someone else the password to your childhood email. like letting them see what you named your neopet. or worse, your first draft of a love letter written in comic sans and saved as "final final (2).docx" kissing him is that. that level of mortification. that level of.... okay. fine. you can have it. have the old shame. have the soft belly. have the archive.

you kiss him and suddenly you're fluent in a language that shouldn't exist. your whole life you've memorised things: national insurance numbers, multiplication tables, birthdays of people you barely tolerate. you catalogue, you collect, you file under "maybe relevant someday," and then he kisses you, and you're archiving the wrong things. you're remembering the shade of september sunlight, the exact second his eyelashes close, the sound, god, the fucking sound, of his breath hitching like it's about to leap from something tall.

holding his hand is inconvenient; your fingers were built for restless gestures, for flicking through worn paperbacks and tapping on glass counters and tracing subway maps upside down. your fingers are chaotic, unreliable narrators, yet here they are, quietly cooperating, curling into his palm like the page-corners of a favourite novel, softly creased, inexplicably careful. it's terrifying how naturally this tenderness arrives, unannounced, without clearance.

and his hand is warm. he runs hot. physiologically. and when he holds yours it feels like you're holding a radiator. you're being spoon-fed trust through the palms. maybe this is why humans started holding hands to begin with. not for comfort. but because it's the only place left on the body where skin is dumb enough to still believe in things.

your hand is warm because someone chose to warm it. not because you earned it. not because you begged. but because he did. and keeps doing.

you hum around him, and it's ridiculous because you hate humming, humming is for people who iron bedsheets or believe in vitamins. but he's here, so you're humming, low and tuneless, as if you're inventing religion from scratch in your kitchen. he kisses your knuckles and suddenly they're worth something. which is mind boggling. didn't your hands used to be ordinary? they used to open doors and carry groceries and occasionally throw things at walls, but now they're precious, and they're porcelain, and they're the last copy of something fragile, something out of print.

his hair smells absurdly familiar, a memory you've never quite had but always anticipated. old libraries, autumn in new england, or the inside of a cello case. his laugh is sharp and brief, punctuation rather than soundtrack, and hearing it makes you feel smarter, like you've just decoded some impossible cipher. you start keeping track of things you never thought you'd care about: his sighs at three in the morning, the particular quiet that settles over his shoulders when he thinks you've drifted off.

being held by him at night feels logistical. merging traffic, complicated and necessary. it's not theatrical or cinematic or whispered about over cocktails. it's not even whispered about over bad coffee.

your breathing syncs, but not poetically. you drool. he snores. the sheet is too hot but neither of you move because movement would mean acknowledging this isn't permanent. and that's that. it isn't. and you both know that. and you hold tighter because of it.

it's practical and quiet and essential, knowing exactly which floorboard creaks or the precise way to jiggle the lock when it sticks. it's breathing room, it's small print you happily sign without reading, it's absurdly specific, it's deeply personal, and absolutely, impossibly real.

[ryuusei-niu]

I want to talk about Leo and spanish, because I see a lot of "bilingual Leo" that doesn't make much sense.

Soooo, let me start with this: Leo was not born in a country that speaks Spanish. And only his family talked Spanish. Therefore he would know what the language is like.

But let's not forget that he lives in a place where people speak English.

Well, let me explain this theory based on my life:

I'm argentinian but my mother is Brasilian. Since I was little, Portuguese was spoken in my house. Portuguese was my first language because we were moving to Brazil and I spoke fluent Portuguese until I was 6 years old. But then we stayed at Argentina. So, I had a lot of problems because I did understand Spanish, but I had a lot of mispronunciation and I mixed words between Spanish and Portugues. Over time I had to adapt to speaking Spanish full time, almost completely forgetting Portuguese. Nowadays I'm almost 19 and I haven't spoken Portuguese for years, but there are a lot of words that I thought my whole life were Spanish and weren't.

Based on Leo's story, he might be similar to me in this stuff.

Having said this, let me tell you situations that happen to me with Portuguese that I think would happen to Leo with Spanish:

He forgot how to form complete sentences in Spanish. And even when he tries to relearn Spanish, it is difficult for him and he can't speak or write things in Spanish.

He almost completely understands if someone speaks Spanish to him, though. Maybe he would miss some words but he understands a lot reading or hearing.

He has Spanish words that he always thought were English.

"And then we went to the ferretería and... Why are you looking at me like that... I said something in Spanish again, didn't I?" "Yeah, you did."

Piper and Jason got used to it and know the words he always gets confused.

And there are other words that he refuses to say in English, probably the most common ones, just because he likes how it sound at Spanish.

So whenever he needs to talk about it, he asks Jason or Piper to do it for him.

"I want the... Jason, fresa" "Strawberry flavor, please" "Thank u so much, man"

There are a lot of words that sound funny in English because they resemble words in Spanish

"I'm embarrassed." "You're embarazaste?" "...Yes?" "Wow, Frank, what are you going to name the baby?" "I hate you very much."

Mispronunciations everywhere. But it's something that happens some days. But when it happens it is horribly noticeable.

I mean, he does speak English very well. But sometimes...

SOME LETTERS ARE REALLY DIFFICULT TO HIM SOMETIMES.

People bullied him when he started school because he mispronounced some letters. Like R.

(I think he would have the opposite problem than me, since I was pronouncing the r very soft or as a j without meaning to because in some Portuguese words it sounds like that. So I guess he would have a very strong R.)

Sometimes he would get angry with his mother for instilling Spanish in him so much and that's why the kids make fun of him for talk like that.

Now he miss that his mother speak in Spanish to him.

"DIOS MÍO.", "POR DIOS, JASON", "CHIN", "CARAJO", "JESÚS, MARÍA Y TODOS LOS SANTOS".

Sometimes he says a lot of things in Spanish and makes it seem like he knows how to say them but in reality he used the translator.

"is that a Spanish dictionary...?" "*Kick it under the bed* No, of course not, why would I have one? I know Spanish, muy bueno. Mucho."

"It's very plane." "What? It is not a plane, Leo." "Yeah it is? Like, It is not curved, it has no disturbances. Plane surface." "FLAT, LEO." "NO WAY IT IS THAT. THEN WHAT DOES PLANE MEAN?!#@+$-1(?!"

Now he understands why people looked weirdly at him when he said plane.

He also forget words in Spanish and remember them in English. When this happens he stares at the space and feels his whole soul had lost its essence.

'espanish'

As Spanish speaker, it's very difficult to say 'isn't'. #Team It is not.

"Taired. Terid. Teerid. Tarid. Tæ—" "Tired." "That thing."

"you know, the— the thing. El coso. The coso of the cosito of the cosa—" "You forgot in Spanish too, right?" "Shut up."

SONGS. MEXICAN SONGS THAT HIS MOTHER LISTENED BECAUSE HIS GRANDFATHER LISTENED BECAUSE THEM MAKE HIM REMEMBER HIS HOME.

He doesn't know most of this song, he never listen to this song like, wanting to. They were on the radio, or a CD that his mother was playing while working. But he has those songs on his soul and he recognizes most of them. He even knows how to sing them even if he didn't read the lyrics.

(I'm not Mexican, so please I want Mexican people to make a playlist of which songs he would know. Please I need to know)

He sometimes hears Nico speaking in Italian and for a moment he is there processing because he thought it was Spanish.

(also, this whole thing could apply to Nico and Italian).

[the-ace-with-spades]

From the just hold my hand scenes that (probably) won't be written

Ice can't talk, he hasn't been able to for a while, not long after the diagnosis even, but since his last surgery, he knows he will never be able to again.

He and Mav learned sign language as soon as this became a possibility — they attended lessons together, sometimes online, and they practiced with each other, until they became fluent enough to communicate daily using sign. It became faster than Ice writing whatever he wanted to say and so it became primarily how they talk if it's just the two of them — by the time Bradley enters their life again and brings in a whole new husband and four (and counting) kids into it, they use sign language every day casually.

Bradley and Jake's middle daughter, Ronnie — Ice is her favorite, has been since the day they've met. Mostly due to his calm and soothing demeanor and just the aura of safety he has to him, but also because she's a quiet kid who doesn't talk much — she has a bit of a speech development problem that isn't too worrying at her age but has to have an eye kept on it — and often gets buried under the hyperactivity of her older sisters who talk a mile a minute or under her baby brother who craves attention and often gets it because he's cute as a button when he's clingy. But Ice always took the time to pay attention to her even if she was quiet or if she was not doing anything, even if it was just sitting next to her or holding her or basically looking at her expecting her to show him what she was doing or what she liked. People outside of her basic family (her parents and her memaw) rarely get her as much as he does.

So she's maybe a little clingy about Ice.

And you know, when it kind of settles that Mav and Ice are going to be in their life, Bradley promised himself he'd at least try to learn sign. He's terrible at it, he's always been not that good at languages and despite having the finger flexibility that a lot of learners struggle with, he just doesn't have the muscle memory that lets him have a smooth learning.

When Ronnie sees him practicing at home and asks why he looks like grandpa Mav when he talks to grandpa Ice and he explains that it's how Ice speaks (which Ronnie never thought about because she's a kid and she thought grandpa Mav could just understand Ice so well without speaking out loud because he loves him so much, the same way her parents did with her), she gets obsessed.

Next time Bradley takes the kids for some playtime with their grandpas (while Jake and Bradley have some me-time together...), Ronnie gets all shy when Bradley says the well-known phrase of, "Go say hi to your grandpa," and she signs to Ice.

It's just a little clumsy "Hello, grandpa," the simple wave of a hand looks a bit too much like a salute and maybe she adds a third tiny arch as the sign for grandpa finishes but Ice gets it and it gets everyone — especially Ice — a little teary-eyed as well.

[Also, sign language often has the same kind of insider linguistic slang families have when using spoken languages (you know, your sister once calls the terrace door windwoor when she's five and your whole family still calls it that even though she has kids of her own and a corpo job now... this but with hand signs) and I love the idea of Ice encouraging her to make those mistakes and then having them become only their inside vocabulary that no one else gets]

[dreamjoymemoir]

yoooo anaxa and the herta with a reader who is fluent in 3-4 languages? like they use a main 1 to communicate with them but occasionally the characters catch reader muttering something they dont understand. i feel like reader's langauge settings on thier pc/phone will be different (might even read other books in their other languages

awesome!!

-anaxagoras is of course delighted to have such a multilingual partner; though language studies aren't his primary field, he's also someone who would find it interesting and at least look into learning another language or two himself, maybe dabbling in several amphorean dialects just to learn about different grammar structures and sentence constructions. if he is to spread knowledge to the world, he understands that becoming familiar with different modes of communication is necessary. if you ever want to talk about your studies, he's open to discussion. you might teach each other something new!

-when he hears you speaking to yourself in a different language, he listens closely to see what he can glean from your mutterings even if he can't understand you. he lets you have your secrets but he is also deeply curious. could it be that some languages are more useful for expressing your thoughts than others? or is it that some things can only be conveyed in different words? he wants to know if you'll tell him.

-he's fascinated when he glances over at your phone and notices that it's in a completely different language than you normally use. he likes that you're such a varied person and would never want to limit you to just one language if four is suitable. if he finds interesting books or articles in a language that you speak, he'll share them with you in hopes that you'll find it enlightening. the fact that there are things in this world he can't understand isn't a downside to him but a reminder that he has yet more to learn, and he heartily cherishes that notion.

-herta may sometimes take intellectual talents for granted as the genius she is, but make no mistake she is still impressed by your dedication to language studies. it's one thing to be smart and another to have the means to communicate it with! she might even goad you into learning more languages just for fun. after all, why content yourself with three or four when you could keep going? she doesn't doubt that you have the brains to do it.

-i'd bet anything that herta has a puppet who's programmed to speak basically any known language in the universe. if you ever have a need to chat when no one's around you at least have a little puppet friend to bounce ideas off of. she'll think it's very funny if you sit down and have a conversation with it.

-this does mean that some of your notes or favorite books are inaccessible to her without a translating application (which she surely has), but she takes this in stride and only complains a little when there's a fascinating article or a clever joke she can't grasp the nuances of. she's more interested in science and technology than anything else, so she's not especially keen on learning more languages herself, but she will remember what you tell her if you try to teach her a little bit. if something has to do with you, it becomes interesting to her! i think it would also be fun to read to her in a different language. even if she doesn't understand it, she can appreciate the beauty of your voice pronouncing sounds unfamiliar to her.

[warriorlid14]

So on the topic of Marco and his Latinoness (from a latina)

Here's what we know from canon:

Eva is Latina

Country of origin unknown, but we do know she was born outside the US and later became a naturalized citizen

Marco’s grandma only speaks Spanish

Marco doesn't speak Spanish but does understand it some

Assumptions/observations from canon

No relatives stepped in to take care of Marco after Eva supposedly died

Marco doesn't seem to be super connected to his latinoness (as opposed to say, his awareness that he's short and his awareness of his masculinity)

Peter is probably not latino

Why is this important? See, the thing about latinos is that our culture is very community driven. Specifically, very family driven. (General disclaimer: my family is Mexican, but the trend tends to apply to other latinx communities). Like, okay, the whole moving out and getting your own place at 18 that's expected in American society (financial crisis aside)? Not only is it not expected within the latinx community, but honestly it's seen as a little strange.

I'll use my own experiences as an example. When I decided to leave my city for college, my family was honestly a little bit offended. And I'm not an outlier, many of my friends also got the "there's college at home" talk. And then the "okay, so you're leaving for a few years but then you're coming back, right?" talk. And if you're living away from home and don't call your parents AT LEAST twice a week (or more depending on your parents, even for me, a few years short being 30)? Do you hate your family?? The Family Unit, and not just the nuclear family but the abuelos and the tíos and the tías and the primos and the primas, is the default social group.

And leaving a kid in your family to fend for himself after his mom died and his dad isn't taking proper care of him? Not great in any culture, but in a community-driven culture it would be a huuuge social faux pas.

So even when i was reading the books as a kid, the fact that Marco only had his dad to rely on felt weird. Was Eva estranged from her family? Was her family dead?

My headcanon is that they're just not in the US, at least most of them. Eva at some point in her youth immigrated to the US, maybe to go to school, maybe to live with a relative. She learned the language. She fell in love and then married an american. Had a kid. Didn't teach them spanish, not actively anyway.

Sidenote: the Mexican pride in me wants to go "no of course, Eva taught Marco Spanish. Why wouldn't she?" But honestly? I grew up in a predominantly latinx town where about half the people new Spanish. And yet, the kids who knew Spanish fluently tended to be those of us who's parents didn't know English or mainly spoke Spanish in the house. But the kids who's parents were fluent English speakers? Their kids could understand Spanish and maybe knew a few phrases. They could get by in conversations. But they weren't fluent. Hence the rise of the "no sabo" kid trend. ("No sabo": joke about a latino kid who doesn't know Spanish. Plays on a non-spanish speaker going "no sabo español". I hate that term. It's used to shame the kids as if it's their fault they don't know their language and NOT the fault of American society urging them to assimilate.)

And Eva married a dude who doesn't know Spanish. And doesn't seem to have family around that she speaks Spanish with. And she lives in predominantly white suburbia. And if it's not an active priority to teach your kid Spanish, they may absorb some things (as Marco seems to do) but they're not going to be fluent. Or even conversational. ESPECIALLY if after their Spanish-speaking parent dies, the non-spanish speaking parent doesn't make any effort to have them keep their language. (And also! Many monolingual americans will do the whole "but if you're talking *insert language* to our kid, I'll feel left out :(((" which honestly, go fuck yourself)

So! Full picture: Eva married an American dude who doesn't know Spanish. She speaks Spanish here and there and talks to her family on the phone and it's enough for Marco to get a basic understanding of Spanish, but not enough to be fluent. And then she dies. And with Eva gone, Peter falls apart and doesn't keep communication with her family. Maybe they reach out at first, but it's not like Peter is putting in any effort, and Marco can't communicate with them very well without Eva around, and there's not much they can do to help from thousands of miles away. So the communication stops. And Marco slowly loses whatever Spanish he'd picked up to only recognizing some words here and there. And honestly? It's horribly sad.

(It's scary how quickly you can lose a language if you fall out of practice. Spanish is my first language, and yet after years of not speaking it every day, and especially now after I don't even use it for work, I find myself forgetting phrases and words.)

Side note: I can imagine immediately after the war there's a family somewhere in Guatemala or Mexico or Colombia or some other Latin American country sitting down for dinner and watching the news when their long-dead relative and their primo show up on screen. Hilarity ensues

[hello-universe-lovers]

Hey!Hunted for the send me a character ask?

From this tumblr post

Favorite thing about em:

I am not gonna sit here and pretend that I thought alot about him (looks at my procrastinated ref sheet of him), but I will say I like the novelty of Hunted. He's the closest thing to base urges, for the Long Quiet, with his emphasis on Instincts and all that, but he is explicitly not feral, unless you drove yourself to that point.

Least favorite thing about em:

While I like all of the cat!Hunted art and fanfics, I wished there was more to him. In the game, Hunted is bare, and that's ok, but the fandom should expand a lil and give him smth else that isn't "the cat mom of the voices". It isn't a big criticism, honestly, and you are entitled to however you portray and interpret him.

Favorite line:

"The Look. We've all used it"

The plain delivery is what keeps it memorable to me. Like, here's the voice of the Hunted and somehow he knows about the sacred LOOK™️, even BEFORE the Hero!!

BrOTP:

Skeptic and Hunted: idk why these 2 rotate in my head so much for me. Maybe it's bc Skeptic seems like the type to get wrapped up in his head too much while Hunted is a voice of Action, so Skeptic can be lost in thought and then get smacked by Hunted to remember to eat. I don't have any dynamic off the top of my head as inspiration, but I just push em together purely off vibes (as I usually do)

OTP:

All of the voices are in a polycule

Beast/Den and Hunted are good. They are one of the few straightforward ships in this fandom, as metaphorical (and bloody) it can get. Just 2 life mates, what more can you want?

nOTP:

Nope, none here. Hunted can get with anyone. I will ship anything as long as it's portrayed as healthy and mutual, both in canon and fanon.

Random Headcanon:

He speaks fluent German. No one knows where that came from but it's a good language to have since very few can interpret what he's saying

Unpopular opinion:

Uhhh...I think he is closer to the Long Quiet's physical body than Hero?? I don't think it's an unpopular opinion, more headcanon. But that's what happens when I don't think about Hunted much.

Song that I associate with em:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vjBFftpQxxM&pp=ygUOYnV0Y2hlciB2YW5pdHk%3D

Mainly because of my headcanon that Hunted is on a struggle for both his animal and human side. He can't decide on whether to be an animal or a human, like some of my other Voices. While some do not outright care, Hunted does and both sides tempted him, until he settled with not caring either

Favorite pictures of them:

Hunted doesn't have pictures tho so have a doot of him that I liked

[greenerteacups]

Hey GT, glad to see you're back! I'm still halfway thru Lionheart (just read the world cup chapter, what a delight) and your notes got me wondering.

I'm sure you've probably answered this before but how do you manage to make the world feel so rich? I'm not that into the fandom so I don't know If there are some things fanon agreed upon or if it is your own musings about the magic world. Like Draco explaining to Hermione about portkeys or how many languages Krum speaks.

How do you decide what's important enough to get a mention? Where do you go when you need answers and Canon is not enough to provide it?

Thanks for the kind words, and for the question! It's a matter of personal taste, like anything. Some writers prefer an athletic, streamlined plot, with only as much worldbuilding as you absolutely need (how does Panem run a command economy of 4.5 million people primarily on fossil fuels when its coal district has a population of less than 10,000? fuck off! who cares! they're Y/A dystopias about a TV show where teens beat each other to death!). Some writers, on the other hand, won't bother to start the story until they know the pH of the soil in every region of the world they're writing about. I'm somewhere on the second half of the scale, in that I'll give details that aren't strictly necessary to the plot, just because I like to feel like I'm writing about a world where real, extraneous things can happen. Some details are foreshadowing; some details are Special Mouseketools that will Help Us Later; and sometimes, you just get to know a cool fact about portkeys.

I guess part of the fun of building out a world is getting to think about Everything, which is what my brain normally does. I have a pretty broad body of literature as a starting gate, so there's plenty of room to play. E.g., when I started writing Krum, I thought about how he's not super fluent in English in canon, and that naturally made me ask why, because he clearly has taken English, so either he only started lessons recently or it hasn't been a priority for him; and then I went "wait, what's his first language? Bulgarian, right? But Durmstrang isn't — hang on—" and then I pulled up an actual map of Europe, which led me to realize that he wouldn't likely be speaking his first language at Durmstrang, which means he already had to become bilingual just to start his wizarding education, and that explains part of why he doesn't have a ton of time/effort to spare for a third language, plus he'd probably have a translator available whenever he traveled with a team because he's a B.F.D. — etc., etc. And then you keep thinking about that until you remember that you're supposed to be writing a fic, and you scramble to get back to doing that. Only now, you have worldbuilding! Congrats.

To try for an even halfway useful answer to your question: worldbuilding becomes most important when it creates limitations, because limitations define your characters and give them chances to develop/reveal themselves. So the details of portkeys become important because they explain the limitations of magical travel, which is a big nebulous ??? in the original series, since the introduction of teleportation via Apparating means that all other forms of transportation become inefficient by comparison. It also means the limitations introduced by travel — that is, not all characters can be in all places at once — also go away, because anyone can be anywhere immediately. From a narrative perspective, this sucks massive horse ass. Hence: I dumped a shit ton of limitations on Apparation (i.e., (1) it requires a ton of energy, (2) it's really fucking hard, (3) it's really fucking dangerous, (4) it's more of both the farther away you're going, (5) it's more of both the more people you take with you, (6) you can't Apparate without a clear destination in mind which means (7) you need to have been there already, and so (8) some people prefer not to do it). Hence, I also put limitations on portkeys (i.e., they have to be set up well in advance, you need to identify out both destinations precisely beforehand, and the calculations are difficult to do). Those limitations, and the Watsonian explanations you create for them, are your worldbuilding. They're what make the world feel real, because they give it grit and character. They give you a more complete sense of what you can and cannot do.

The rest of it is taste and preference, really; it's what interests you, and what parts of the world you want to explore. That's going to be unique to every author, and that's the beauty of worldbuilding — it reflects the parts of the world that you like to think about.

[caineinthecorner]

Languages (The Others)

★ Based on my language general hcs + the brothers' hcs.

Hi I am sleep deprived. Behold part two of my shitty hc delusions wooooo.

"Caine you missed some" yeah I'm lazy (+ don't know their characterization well enough). If you want to add hcs for the guys I skipped you can but in the meantime I'll go with the basic bitch options

Gentle reminder I make shit up. (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

★ Solomon.

Okay so like I said with Asmo he knows french (and they're both nasty with it)

Basically he rizzed up Asmo in french

Using the dude he was in based out of he also knows English (native probably), Welsh, German, full-ass Demon Tongue and like some latin for magic bs. Idk

(bcs the guy lived nearby those countries in ye old Europe(tm) and something something immortal so why tf not learn languages while at it)

(also of course he learned demon tongue. He wants to rizz up demons and what better way to do that)

He learned demon tongue from random demons and a lot of trial and error

Plus he knows japanese if we are under the pretense that mc is japanese.

So like Solomon tries to use language rizz to get close to you as the other human student in Devildom. So basically using the Asmo trick with you.

... He's kinda painfully obvious with it

(how tf did Asmodeus fall for this shit?)

If you don't speak any of the languages he is fluent in his ass will ABSOLUTELY pick 'em up and be like "hey I want to learn:)"

He uses language as a tool to get what he wants basically

No wonder him and Asmo get along

If you know a language that is not loquar-translatable and he speaks it as well prepare to get secret-talk'd a lot.

Not having people spying your convos is a incredibly valuable asset in Devildom

Especially since you're around the brothers almost 24/7 and they're fucking VIGILANT

Oh also he 100% knows that Asmo fakes being shit at English.

But he's a simp so 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠•⁠_⁠•⁠  ⁠)⁠ㄏ

★ Luke.

FUNNILY ENOUGH. Two things:

Yes he doesn't need Loquar to communicate with you since he's an angel BUT

For some reason (cough your heritage cough) he keeps messing up in which language speak to you with.

Angel instincts are telling him to just use whatever language with you but the thing is that You Don't Know Whatever Language

Which is odd because that's something he only does with fellow angels????

But you are human so

He doesn't think much of it. He's probably just confused because he's around mean demons! >:T

(His basic subconscious instincts are harder to control since he's low ranking and his Angel brain is going "You = angel = language doesn't matter")

But since he keeps somewhat messing up around you he decides to gesture to hell when talking to you just in case

so you get the gist through his mannerisms in case his words get fucky

His least favorite language ever is Demon Tongue. Even outside of Not Liking Demons he doesn't like how throat-y and intensive it is.

↑ that is a popular Angel opinion btw. Demon Tongue in general is just annoying to use for them and barely any Angels use it outside of in-the-moment communication with Devildom natives.

If you ask him his preferred language he'll say some form of Latin since it's the preferred language of most high ranked angels, as well as Michael's.

But it's actually English.

★ Simeon.

Since he is was a high rank angel, he doesn't mess up what language speak to you with. He has real good control of stuff like that that comes with experience and age.

(in fact he's very confused why Luke keeps messing up so bad around you but doesn't think much of it since Luke is technically still a fledgling)

I already said this but yeah his preferred language is Archaic Latin (shared it with Lucifer pre-fall).

Ever since Lucifer's fall he switched to plain English and that's the answer he'll give you if you ask.

Only Angel that isn't bothered speaking demon tongue and will do so at his own leisure.

If you try to learn the demon language he is unironically so helpful because he isn't a spiteful bitch like Lucifer and actually teaches you shit without throwing you into the wolves

In fact Simeon is amused as hell over the fact that Lucifer is making you learn the hard stuff first. That is so him.

He's like the good cop of the learning dynamic. Cool substitute teacher vibes

Simeon finds accents to be the cutest thing ever since it is an inherently odd concept for someone fluent in Everything Ever

He has (jokingly) cooed over Luci's accent when he speaks Latin nowadays. Lucifer is not at all amused.

★ Barbatos.

He knows every language.

... Yeah that's it that's the list

Look at me dead in the eyes and tell me this motherfucker does not speak Sumerian

Ofc he knows every human language ever. And Devildom's. He knows™.

Funniest thing is that he doesn't even need Loquar to talk to you. He just deadass speaks your language with full fluency and you Never Notice

You only notice one day while having a normal convo with him and then Diavolo walks in speaking full deadass gibberish somehow and you're like ????? and Barbatos says "oh apologies I forgot to apply Loquar to you here you go"

Like deadass he would fuck with you so hard when it comes to languages.

Do not go to this man for language advice he will teach you proper stuff in the most incorrect way possible

(Probably! Or probably not! It depends! On what? Who the fuck knows™!)

He's deadass a roulette of proper, legitimate advice or literal shitposting

He wrote the Voynich manuscript. It was a housekeeping journal he was keeping in a dead Devildom idiom that ended up in the human realm by accident

He didn't retrieve it solely because seeing humans go insane over it was funny as hell and he has a secondary copy anyway. That book has nothing relevant in it besides like two recipes.

He did go to check back on it once to write down a meat pie recipe Diavolo's father liked bcs he didn't have on the copy

Barbatos is the definition of "wtf what language was that" "yes."

He and Lucifer have random days where they just pick a language to speak to each other. It helps to maintain fluency.

Barbatos jumpscared Satan once by going, full ass unprompted mid convo, "Oh right you speak Tagalog."

He knows what languages everyone speaks like a white girl knows zodiac charts

★ Diavolo.

Ok so he probably knows English since it is Solomon's native and humanity's current universal(ish) language

Like of course he wants to communicate with humans! Of course he'll learn their language!!!

Unlike Barbatos and Lucifer who are very impressive Polyglots he's realistic in his language stuff. The more down-to-earth of the three

His English is hilarious

Not particularly because he says things wrong but his accent and tone just makes it sound incredibly funny

He sounds exactly like a dubbed-over superhero doing a friendship monologue At All Times

He is so earnest with it that you don't have the heart to explain why you're laughing

Anyhow fun fact:

Loquar for some reason translates what he says in Demon Tongue the most literal ass sense possible for literally no reason

Which is odd(tm) but mostly just funny as all hell

Everyone has been troubleshooting whatever the fuck happens to Loquar Ad Vos with Diavolo but no idea so far.

The phrase "have you tried unpapplying it and applying it again" has been uttered more than once unironically

The working theory is that since Diavolo is royalty and Loquar Ad Vos was created with the sampling of normal demons it works wrong on him since there's something different(tm)

Reverse engineering the Loquar spell to work on him has been in the works for a while. Loquar is drafted like shit since it is an old human-oriented spell (Basically like spaghetti code needing to be rewritten), so it proves a bit troublesome.

You later find that Diavolo speaks in a very uniquely pronounced manner

↑ Think of it like Devildom royalty has a very distinctive Way Of Speaking. Like an accent but also not. Probably magic related in some way(?)

"do you want to consume nourishment" ← Diavolo's ass getting mistranslated

So yeah Barbatos or Lucifer kinda have to lend a hand when you two communicate.

If you're English speaking then you two kinda communicate that way sometimes. You reassure him on his accent and help him along if he gets anything wrong.

(he's fluent-ish in Japanese as well if we are running in the assumption that the reason why MC's canonically japanese is because they needed someone who A) speaks a language translatable by Loquar Ad Vos B) is also a language Diavolo knows and C) is not of the same social background as Solomon)

He will get so unapologetically excited when you start learning demon tongue. You two can!!! Communicate even more!!!!!

Demons will be genuinely mortified if you gain Diavolo's accent while speaking demon tongue. Why does this random ass human speak like royalty ತ⁠_⁠ತ

Very (un)subtle way to tell everyone that you're besties/partner/whatever of the literal prince of Devildom.

Something something dragon being possessive something

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Clothes Make the Character - Part 2

You know how I said Arthur's Proper Suit was designed to remind you of the iconic dark brown black and white rowing jacket in The Prisoner? So the architecture on the island that Number Six is imprisoned on is styled predominantly to look like an Italian resort town. The reason why Number Six is given a rowing jacket is because the rest of the uniform (mockneck, straw boater hat, khaki pants, and deck shoes) is built around this idea of the people held captive here living out their days as if on perpetual holiday.

Aside from its appropriateness to vacationing in Italian villas, the rowing jacket was originally seen on prep school and university campuses. Rowing crew members wore such jackets in the colors of their school or rowing club, particularly with regard to the piping (or braiding). So it also has collegiate context.

We're using James to show off the outfit because Roger is doing something like this every time you see him.

Their outfit is a re-textured Wellie Suit with turtleneck (you can tell by the single pocket on the left side; the Proper Suit has two). The buttons and braiding on the sleeves have notably been recolored a metallic gold (for real, there's actual shine on them), although in first person view, Roger's braiding lacks this and is simply colored yellow. They both accessorize with a blue-brimmed white naval beret.

When you get to They Came From Below, that's when you get to see the real difference between Roger and James. James apparently comes from very humble beginnings affording him little in the way of aspiration. Roger, on the other hand, is educated, fluent in multiple languages (several of them dead), and went to "the best schools". This tells us that Roger came from money. Boat-owning money. The kind of money that turns the word "summer" into a verb. The kind of money that summers in Italy.

Had it not been for the war, I rather expect Roger would have completed his schooling and set out to the see the world. And the way to do that at this point in time was largely still by sea, not air. And he'd want to do it in proper appointments. Roger wants for adventure, but not danger. He's a Howard Carter, not a Rudyard Kipling. Here for a good time, not a hard time (unless...?)

The naval theme might also just be an easy gag. These guys are "in the Navy" if you know what I mean. The ol' Irish Navy. It'd be a bit of a lowbrow joke, but even Roger canonically isn't too good for that.

But if this outfit speaks more to Roger's character on the whole, then why does James also wear it? Are they one of those strangely codependent couples who have decided to inexplicably start dressing like twins?

Well, you might think that... if you forgot that this relationship is actually a weirdly codependent threesome.

I've given you the evolution of Dr. Faraday to illustrate something about her for you: from the alpha on, Dr. Faraday was meant to have a sense of style. She's wearing the white sunglasses in that first image, even though she was indoors. Very Anna Wintour. They probably nixed that idea because it makes her look like she's in the Rapture Family and because regular glasses are more suggestive of her scientific genius character.

She does look a bit dowdy in her main game appearance since she's just wearing the labcoat variation of the Wellette dress, but she is also being held prisoner out in the Garden District or working in the remains of her exploded lab here, depending on if you're Arthur or Sally.

I think the version of her we see in They Came From Below is the one that she'd consider her stock outfit. It's thematically similar to Sally's (high contrast with the white being quite bright and clean), although this might just be to make her visually consistent with the polished aesthetics of her facility. They re-textured the blocky glasses red for her which is a Statement. Love that for her, honestly. But most notably for our purposes, she's got a tidy row of shiny gold buttons down her labcoat.

Do you know why it takes her so damn long to saunter out from behind the portal machine when you tap on the glass? Narratively, it's because she's arguably the most valuable person in Wellington Wells and even if she's a prisoner in her own laboratory, you're still on her time and at her mercy. But practically, it's because she uses the same walk animation as the models in the design center.

Now I don't think she actually spends a lot of time thinking about the way she looks, but she does care about it. She wears her Happy Face mask even though no one's gonna see her but Roger, James, and Constable Hickinbotham. Roger and James still wear their masks, even though the only people who will see them will attack them on sight for it. She understands the importance of presentation and even weaponizes it (spitefully making the Jubilator look like a teapot because she felt designing it was beneath her).

So I posit that Roger's and James' outfits are actually a uniform she had commissioned for them. Perhaps Roger made some suggestions that gave it the nautical (dare I say Ralph Lauren) bent, but it still features Dr. Faraday's use of gold buttons and her appreciation for stripes (dare I even say Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male stripes). And as for James, he is not going to argue with his boss about uniforms or his boyfriend about aesthetics.

As an aside, now's probably a good time to compare her approach to fashion - as a scientist and as a woman - to Sally's. Like, Sally understands that presentation is important too, but she seems to take no pleasure in it for its own sake. It's a thing she does to keep men interested. Faraday, conversely, has no interest at all in men and yet maintains her appearance. I find that very relatable personally! She's doing it because that is the way she wants to to be seen, in a way similar to Constable Peters and his mustache.

Nick's a little funny in that he actually starts out in a variation of his stock outfit and the first quest in his DLC is ultimately to find a clean set of clothes. While functionally, the blue suit is not much different from the maroon, it is a little symbolic that he wakes up in an outfit we don't know him for (and indeed he doesn't know himself since it's covered in blood) and wants to get into his more familiar and recognizable color scheme.

This is also the one exception to the first-person-until-the-end rule. Here, we need to see that Nick is covered in blood and so his opening cutscene is shot in third-person.

This initial blue version of his outfit as well as his stock maroon outfit... are actually just the Proper Suit re-textured again. They attached frills to the cuffs on the jacket, colored over the trim on the wrists, and pinned a jabot on the neck to hide the tie underneath. Give it a bolder color and some striped pants and you've got a completely different outfit.

Such is the power of accessorizing! Let this be a lesson. If you're building a wardrobe on a budget, get modular base pieces you can mix and match and then use accessories to change their context.

While we're here, know that the maid outfit arms are also just black proper suit sleeves with frills attached backwards. Goddamn, were they crafty with their materials.

Anyway, Nick's actual stock outfit.

This interpretation of the Proper Suit, Nick's Fab Threads, is meant to remind us of Austin Powers' velvet suit. It's almost exactly that outfit, save for the striped pants which give Nick a bit of borrowed Rolling Stones flair (which they were not subtle about alluding to). The Stones tended towards a leaner, more Wellish silhouette than Austin Powers does (recall that Powers is actually from 1967 so his style is heading into the 70's). While Mick Jagger always gets the credit for his fashion sense, I think the striped pants are actually more Keith Richards. An apt design choice, all things considered. No shit, though, I literally, just yesterday, saw a video of Iron Butterfly performing "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and there was a guy wearing Nick's exact outfit in it. That would be 1968 so Nick's ahead of his time. Or rather Davy Hackney is.

Hackney also wears a variation of this ensemble, swapping the striped pants for marigold ones, brightening the hue of the jacket up to fuchsia, and forgoing the white piping. Compared to Sally, who he dresses in his strangest confabulations, Davy apparently dresses Nick in a played up, showier version of his own style. It shows a bit of how he sees their different value in marketing. He gives both of them his haute couture designs, but Sally gets the designs he never intends to sell, while Nick gets designs that will eventually be edited and refined to become part of his ready-to-wear lines. Considering what a merchandising machine Nick is, this follows perfectly.

The jabot, though, I think takes the ensemble in a Biba/Vivienne Westwood direction. Westwood didn't really come into the scene properly until the late 70's and this fashion trend doesn't even pick up until the 80's, but the reason I think this bears mention is there is one other person in Wellington Wells who wears this outfit.

Cap'n Strawbeard, the New Romantic.

Strawbeard's version of the outfit is very pared down, no piping, a drab brown to match his tricorn hat, the jabot necessary not only to tell you this guy is a pirate, but also (again) to hide that there's a tie on the model underneath it.

Although we're never really given a reason to compare these guys in game, I do think it's kind of interesting that Nick is courting the beginnings of what would become New Romantic fashion. Vivienne Westwood's 1981 Pirate collection is when the subculture starts approaching the mainstream, so having an inexplicable pirate character in the game who happens to wear the same outfit as the rock star is sort of like a nod to how music and fashion move in tandem. The color schemes of both Strawbeard and Nick's outfits are already starting to rebel from pop art brights and minimalism and shifting into the ornamentation and richer jewel/earth tones that Biba began popularizing in the late 60's.

One other thing about this that I think is worth noting is that Cap'n Strawbeard seems to have the only outfit in Wellington Wells with universal conformity. He was apparently able to wear it in the Garden District with no problems and he can wear it in the Village as well. He was supposed to have a quest for Arthur in which, if given enough scotch, he would admit to stealing from Wellies and giving his spoils to Wastrels so part of this may be that he has enough social capital out there to get a pass. But it's also fun to consider that Cap'n Strawbeard might be the only person who's struck the balance between polished enough for the Village and scrubby enough for the Garden District.

Last but certainly not least, Victoria.

I mentioned once before that I think if she had the ability to shop them, she'd be a big fan of Hermès. Their long heritage and foundations as a saddlery are a perfect match to the equestrian aspects of her design.

I also think she'd like Burberry too. Her color scheme is very similar to their signature checker print (just in different proportions) and her concept art even had a subtle checked pattern on her coat. Though not as old as Hermés, Burberry also has the benefit of being English and having practical origins in making water resistant outdoor attire, which speaks to her desire to appear of the people.

And just because I like the detail, her boots have Louboutin's trademark red soles, despite his only having been born that year (and despite that you will certainly never see the bottom of her shoes).

I also talked about Victoria's aesthetic in relation to her interior decorating, but a lot of the same principles apply to her fashion sense.

To reiterate, Victoria's design speaks to both her admiration of her father and her extreme desire to maximize her English heritage and minimize her Indian one. Because she wants to appear a proper English lady, she has sublimated her father's militarism for more feminine equestrian affectations (there are no horses in Wellington Wells), to the end of commanding her offices and subordinates with the same authority that he does the Victory Memorial Camp.

Her outfit is unique to her, with few direct comparisons to other characters. Obviously there's some commonality with General Byng; at its most basic, both outfits consist of a jacket, waistcoat, a shirt with a tie, and pants. Since Victoria's playing to a different audience than he is and utilizing more soft power, she's re-contextualized the ensemble for her uses.

Byng's outfit is very front heavy. Waistcoat with a row of gold buttons, piped lapels, the scarf about his shoulders, even a single Albert pocket watch chain. All this layering on the front of what is otherwise a dark, closed off column telegraphs his being guarded there. It follows from his background as a military man; his life is about confrontation and he expects to be approached from the front so all his armor is there.

Victoria's outfit is also front heavy, but it's also much more open. Her waistcoat is abbreviated, covering only the vital organs and leaving the soft white spots of her stomach and décolletage exposed and her jacket is practically bursting open. Part of this is that she's one of the few women in town eating well enough to have any kind of rack worth speaking of, but it's also to convey that she is open and approachable in the way that a diplomat, not a general, should be. But her (gabardine perhaps?) jacket is long in the back, to protect herself from whatever might be sneaking up her. She certainly has no intention of turning around to see.

The pants are a bit of a bold choice for a Wellette. Aside from Sally, Victoria is the only woman in the town who wears pants. In the context of a world that still views pants as improper for women, Victoria choosing them is a signal, that though she loves and enjoys the rigid rules of society, her position is situated above it and she may disregard those rules if she so chooses.

One other thing that I think is interesting about Victoria's outfit re: Sally is that they could have given Victoria the jockey helmet instead. The choice of the bowler hat though, I think, is a lot like giving Dr. Faraday nerd glasses. The bowler hat is the hint that Victoria is, ultimately, a bureaucrat. Her primary occupation is overseeing office work, not diplomacy. So despite how thematically consistent the helmet would have been, Victoria doesn't actually have need of head protection the way Sally does since she's not venturing out from polite society.

There are two pieces missing between Victoria's stock outfit and her DLC one: the Happy Face mask and her gloves.

So Ollie actually removed her mask when he tied her up at her house. It would be a bit of a logistical question to be taping and untaping her mask. Also taking your mask off is a metaphor for dropping pretense, which is what Ollie was trying to accomplish there. So they just use her unmasked model in this scene, though this model still retains her gloves.

We know then that she left the house without her mask, but by the time you get to We All Fall Down, you may have forgotten that. Especially since Victoria's menu image shows her wearing it. the mask is part of how she sees herself and we're never given any reason to wonder about whether she gets a new one or not.

But her hands are presented to the player uncovered almost immediately.

They even put a ring on it to draw your attention. Hello, dear player, I know you were expecting bright red gloves, but instead I've given you a ring to look at. How special! What a treat!

Note how we can't see her nails at this point. Dohoho. We get to see those when she throws up for the first time. I don't have a picture of that on hand (oi oi oi) so here's one with her realizing shit's fucked instead.

The practical reason for the lack of gloves is that they are actually using a re-textured version of Sally's Garden District hands: cleaned up, given a deeper skin tone, and a slick of red polish. And you know, it's fun because red is her signature color, but like Sally, she paints her nails even if she's going to be wearing gloves. It's that presentation matters. Also kinda like that sign in the design center that says no one will know if you have makeup on under your mask, but you'll know. Also also Sailor Moon shit.

But aside from just another clever and economical use of existing assets, this is also a signal to the player that Victoria's finding out about herself.

Victoria was a particular proponent for the Happy Face mask because it enforced smiling, sure, but it also served a purpose for her personally. Recall from Prudence's diary:

I suppose she mustn't. She's not really English, is she? I wonder if she's really the daughter of a maharajah. She mustn't let anyone remember her skin is dark and her hair is dark and her eyes...

Victoria probably thought the Happy Face mask was a capital idea because it she could literally replace her othered brown face with a white one to match every one else's. The gloves serve this same purpose, to hide that her skin was brown from the people she is trying to lead.

Forgoing both of these accessories is the first step towards finally approaching the parts of herself that she'd turned her back on and disavowed all these years, the parts that are associated with her mother and India.

And when we get to the very end, her third person model has also shed her gloves. She's come to terms. And haven't we all by then?

[theshepherdshound]

1 7 and 43 for the lamb ask game

(i think that that's intended as 1 and 7? if not i did answer 17 in this ask)

1. Does your lamb go by any name other than The Lamb? If so, what?

they do! because i am terrible with names i was like ehh i will take fanon name of Lambert. but the more i developed things i was like MMM- so while Lambert is their name, it's their name for non-sheep. they don't really tell it (Lambert) to people for the whole complicated feelings about sheep culture reasons, so while i would think there's some characters who might've learned it as some point they largely simply don't talk about it

the ongoing theme of dehumanization of their moniker as "The Lamb" and how it's used; when it is and isn't capitalized, when they choose to think of themselves as The Lamb vs Lambert vs ---, as well as other characters thinking of the as various lamb, the lamb, the Lamb, The Lamb, are all part of that

in the next passage they only refer to themselves as The Lamb until returning to referring to themselves as Lambert in the next. the lamb is losing themselves and their sense of self and it's rapidly accelerating now that they have no hope of returning to mortality/normalcy. while they knew it was a slim chance, they'd hoped they'd be able to simply go back to being 'normal' again after being a vessel and fulfilling their promise

it only gets worse from here

but it is part of why they don't say narinder's name to anyone else but those who already know it and is subconsciously part of their relationship to and with the bishops and narinder. they know their names, it is to them mentally a close and familiar thing to know, so while they don't really think about it it's a huge part of the intimacy of how they treat the former gods

thinking about it rn- that's probably when they decided to go back on their deal with narinder, when shamura tells them his name. because he was no longer an abstraction, a concept to them- he became a person

7. Where was your lamb raised? A village? A prison? Constantly on the run?

a village! they end up visiting it in a mid 20's chapter. since in my mind the period between a prophecy announced and the last lamb is extremely short- on a few years, they lived an extremely normal life

they'd lived on the steppe, at the top of the map. just... imagine there's no trees there lolololol

which lead me to thinking about the language loss they'd experience, specifically thinking about the loss of Hand Talk (Plains Indian Sign Language) historically. that the rapid loss of culture and those that keep it means that they would never be able to revive their indigenous languages, even more so because of a closed culture it would be likely that there would be very few outsiders who would be even close to conversational let alone fluent for them to speak with

around chapter 15 i think i talk a bit about there being two sheep languages, shepherds talk- their hand language for the plains and open spaces, and whistled speech which would be used for sheep in mountainous regions. and so then, why would the lamb know both-ish. they're fluent in shepherds talk but not whistled speech, good at it, but as a distance language they didn't need to use it nearly as much. mostly they learned whistle speech to sing love poetry to a crush of theirs- but between the two languages sheep are able to communicate fast across great distances without needing to write things down

there's both settled and nomadic sheep; their da decided to settled them on the steppe after their mum died but the lamb left to be nomadic for about a decade before returning to help him retire and become a weaver

43. How does your lamb deal with dissenters?

banishment- the fact that they largely don't is a big problem as while it's known that there's a sheep that has autonomy over death their benevolence leaves them open to the issues that are coming up

i genuinely find these so fun lololol- i put lots of thoughts into them and it's interesting to go through some of the reasons why they are the way they are and think about the bits that aren't filled in

[eldritch-spouse]

Livius slipping into the body of an actress with a catty attitude at a red carpet/awards ceremony, fully intending to cause a scene. He gets obsessed not with the actress but with her stressed out assistant.

She is fretting, readjusting the actress's dress and putting on some last minute adjustments to her look before she's on the carpet, and begging her not to stir any shit up at the event.

I know you and an the other two nominees for best actress don't get along but please be civil ma'am.

TW: Gore; Non-consensual demonic possession.

His plan was simple.

Cause a scandal.

Sometimes he does this kind of thing for fun, other times, he has the pleasure of doing it as a service from a formal agreement. You'd be surprised how many celebrities fish contacts to reach his Ring, to reach Lavineum the Envious. Really, him and Rinx have crossed paths on the surface more than once. Sometimes even Cero is looming by.

People just can't resist a bit of a hellish push to success, can they?

Every week, there's a new pretty face around the corner, some halfwit thinking they're going to make it big, a loser, a pawn, a dolly- People who let it all get to their heads and then, suddenly, one day, making a deal with an unfathomable force seems acceptable.

It just so happened that Livius' current patron is one rival of the gorgeous 32 year old whose body he's currently snug inside, wearing Ms Isabella like a glove. She wasn't particularly hard to get a hold of, most of these movie stars are pretty air-headed. He had her silent and dormant in less than a full minute.

He looks at himself in the mirror, combing over her extravagant dress that's honestly bright enough to kind of bother his sight. The woman's raven locks flow from her shoulders, and he twirls a lock the exact same way she does when in deep though. A practiced smile falls on that screen-friendly face as he switches through a few of her usual expressions.

Piece of cake. She's not very nuanced to Livius, as insulting as it may sound.

When the click of someone entering the room is heard, Livius straightens, then adopts Isabella's usual impatient stance, arm on her left hip, an intense gaze cast to you, the woman assisting this actress. Honestly, he doesn't know how well you get paid, but it can't be enough to justify dealing with Miss "I'm fluent in three languages and so much better than you-" on a regular basis.

" ... Ma'am? " You squint.

" Yes, what is it? " He snaps back the same tone you're probably used to hearing by now. The woman's slight Italian accent flows easily on the tongue.

" I asked you to sit down please, we still need some last minute adjustments. "

Livius glances at you once more before doing as told.

You're very pretty. It's almost odd that he's possessing the celebrity here, yet you have such a sweet little smile and eyes so full of hope that you could easily make it out there in the same areas as the woman you're working under. Maybe that's why she's so rude to you at times. Livius sits in the lush little chair in front of several mirrors and forgets that perhaps he's been staring at you for a little too long, because you shiver eventually.

He needs to be cautious, his gaze isn't like the vacuous glare this woman spares most people, it's something a lot more invasive and whole. When Livius stares, he sees.

Before you can ask if everything is alright, he diverts. " Go on, we don't have all day. "

And the way you jump has him muffling a smile. " Y- Yes, of course! "

As you get closer, the demonlord gets to sense your smell, your perfume rather, but there's a hint beneath that can only be yours alone. He'd be able to gouge it better if not for his host's own disgustingly overpowering, acidic crime of a perfume. Nevertheless, he's much too still while you work, observing every little thing you do. How your fingers twitch, where you lean to, which way your head tends to tilt, the expression you make when you're concentrated.

In fact, he likes that frowning puckered lip look so much that he subconsciously puts it on himself. And you notice, of course.

" Hahah... " You pause, heat rising on your cheeks. " I know, it's silly. You got me. "

Livius is very glad you took it as a joke rather than the amateur slip up it actually was.

When you continue, he schools himself a bit better, forcing himself to relax a little so he's not hyper-focused on studying you. He ponders on the steps he'll take to complete his deal, the most amount of damage he can make to this woman involves flickering through some of her insecurities, her lowest moments and most repugnant thoughts. The core of what makes her human, her disgusting sinuous vein.

Unfortunately, it's more than a little difficult to remain focused with you so close to him. As you shift the woman's luxurious necklace, he feels your small fingers brush against the expanse of her neck, a pleasant tingle up her scalp, the scent of you largely demanding of his attention. You're the type of person he could hold onto forever. It's a shame he's in the middle of a task, because Livius would much rather dwell inside of you at this moment.

This increasingly loud hum begins rocking his chest as the demonlord sways, enjoying the care and sighing while digits adjust earrings. And everything is right in the world, no thought spared to what time and day it is. Until...

The touch vanishes, the extra warmth recedes, Livius is bereft and irritated.

" E- Excuse me, ma'am? "

His eyes snap open.

Livius had been rumbling for a while. Oopsie.

He gets to see your eyes flicker from him, so full of confusion and doubt, to the wide mirror directly behind Isabella. And what you see there makes the color drain from your whole body. Your fear is palpable and thick, like the lump in your throat as you struggle to get in enough air to scream.

Scream like a wild animal, at the top of those itty bitty lungs.

What a wonderful melody. There are other ways he'd like to make you scream, now that he thinks about it. You're just a lot of fun, for some reason.

" Is something wrong? " He mirrors some of your own terror.

All you do is point at the mirror, taking a step back and trying -Failing- To steady your breathing.

He doesn't need to look back to know what's happened. You're seeing him. The actual him.

Instead, said mirror just bursts into a million shards, the force with which it's broken sends pieces flying through the room, your pitiful self cowering and shielding your face as you gasp and sob in shock.

" Oh my... " He starts, knowing damn well that more than a few of those shards have embedded themselves in Isabella's back. She must look like a porcupine, hah.

Livius turns around and pretends to care about the situation, thumbing over the mess he made, watching her bleed just a bit more from the brand new razor-thin blades that cut their way into her digits.

He hears you gasp tremulously somewhere behind him.

Livius allows her visage to distort, senses his sharp grin crawl up cheeks that straighten and elongate to accommodate it, his eyes force her skin to stretch with unpleasant zips of flesh as her eyelids fail to transform in time. He's getting a touch too excited.

" I don't think they'll mind too much, right? " He mocks, Isabella's attractive accent melting into his standard ragged demonic tenor.

The first thing that spins back is her neck, then her body, Livius stretching within the human's physical limits. When her arms and legs elongate, her form expanding into something strained and twisted, Livius sighs in momentary relief.

" Oh God... " You sniffle, legs unsteady, held up only by the opposite wall's support.

" Oh God... " Livius mimics fondly, loving the sound of it.

A click echoes, the room is now locked firmly. You seem to be silently making peace with certain death.

" You know- " The demonlord begins, swatting locks of bothersome curly hair away as he leisurely walks towards you. " In all these years you've worked for me, I realize I haven't gotten to know you all that well. "

You only shake and brokenly gasp when Isabella's bloated, clawed fingers make contact with your shoulder.

" Isn't that a shame? "

Livius chuckles at the small whimper you let out when he pulls your figure closer to his, swaying both of your forms calmly.

" But we still have a bit of time, I reckon. So why not tell me a bit about yourself, hm? "

It's not as if you're leaving the room until you humor him anyway.

[not-sure-what-im-feeling]

any good logan headcanons?

I mean I hope these are good :3 (tbh this is just me projecting but shhh)

- Used to be really excitable when he/Thomas was younger. It started to fade out when the others would get upset when he got too loud or infodump-y.

- Extremely critical of himself, though he won’t stand for it if the others are of themselves.

- Will talk until his voice is hoarse if you give him the chance to.

- Complete shit at cooking. Excellent at baking. This is because in cooking, it’s all “do whatever, measure with your heart!” whereas baking is precise and scientific. (Also Patton is the exact opposite. They assist in making dinners and meals; Patton does the dinner, Logan will do desserts).

- Gets overstimulated easily, especially with Patton and Roman. They're always... a lot, to say the least. Thankfully, Virgil knows how to deal with it. (I've had analogical on the brain, okay?!)

- Writes poetry to relieve himself of certain emotions. It’s very… robotic? Not in an ai generated way, just in the Logan way. Very technical and acute.

- He wouldn't describe himself as creative, but he is, just in ways that aren't "typical". (This one's less of a headcanon and more an observation)

- Prefers classical music to other genres, but if any of the other sides ask him to listen to music with them, he will. Virgil tends to ask him more than the others, leading to him having an acute knowledge of music from bands like MCR, FOB, and the like. When Roman asks him it often ends with Logan (begrudingly) watching a one man performance starring Prince Roman of a musical of said prince's choosing.

- He's the type of guy to get accused of being a bot when responding to an email. He's not. He's just like that.

- He has a fireplace in his room.

- He doesn't often think of some of the bickering with others as actual bickering or fighting, more so as their way of debate. Until things get out of hand. Then even he can admit that it isn't just "civil debate".

- I feel like he'd know German, Latin, French (though he's not entirely fluent), a bit of ASL (in accordance with a Virgil headcanon of mine), and, while it isn't a language, he'd understand floriography (the "language" of flowers) quite well.

- Actually respects Remus and Janus. Another one that’s less headcanon and more observation.

- Holds a festering emotional rage that dates back years. No one else remembers why. He’ll make them remember.

- Really likes sciences! Astronomy especially, but ecology and biology fascinate him, along with social sciences.

[maleyanderecafe]

Get to Know Coffee Date! (Visual Novel)

Created by: Foxin 'Round

Genre: Horror/ Romance

This one is a oneshot in introduction to the character Teddy, and it's a fun little game to play. While there isn't any real big content, we do get to learn more about Teddy's life and point of view, which all climaxes near the end depending on how you view the game. This game is r18 though despite not having any r18 content. You can find more about this game at @foxinround.

I'm going to be using the MC because while Big Chungus is an amazing default name I'm going to die laughing before I can get through the summary section if I use that name.

The story starts out with the MC hanging out at a cafe near their university enjoying the scene when a guy asks to sit across from them. After accepting this, we learn that his name is Teddy and we start to talk to him about various things. He will ask about the type of drink we have and if we choose the sweetest flavor he will agree as he's also a sweet tooth. He will then pick up his drink and the two talk more about their lives, with the MC aiming for a major in Computer Science and Teddy taking care of his grandmother at home. The MC will actually give a recommendation of their own drinks from the cafe that they work at, slying trying to get him to check it out. The two talk about what kind of frappe the MC has and if they choose the sweetest option again, Teddy will stare strangely at them, something that the MC notices but ultimately shrugs off. The two continue talking about the type of languages that the MC will take, with us learning that Teddy is a bit of a romantic and wants to learn French as well as being fluent in Spanish. Teddy will then talk about love and how he wants to experience love in the world, viewing it more optimistically with them asking how the MC feels about it. If the MC responds the same, wanting to see the world in a more positive light, then Teddy will begin laughing, stating how rare it is two have two people connect so easily like this. He believes the two are destined for each other and as his obsession grows, the MC eventually passes out.

If you don't choose all of the viable options with him or have different opinions, then Teddy will ask the MC for their number instead.

The story is pretty short but it does give an idea on how Teddy is as a character as he's romantic, fairly optimistic and family oriented. It's kind of interesting seeing how he thinks considering that you do have to have a similar opinion to even have him get to the yandere ending. It actually caught me off guard for a bit because I did actually match with Teddy's point of view initially which landed me right into the yandere ending at the end. I'm not sure why the MC ends up passing out in that ending, I'm assuming it's just a way for them to end the game, but if they did, I am curious how and when Teddy was able to drug them since we don't get to see when that happens. I'm probably overthinking it though. His design is pretty unique too with one of the few pink haired yandere guys that we have. I am curious how later on his point of view and the MC will have in future games and what exactly Teddy will do to them.

The MC, though brief in this game was pretty fun as well. We get to know that they work in another barista and they seem like a pretty nice person, which does make sense especially if the yandere ending is the most cannon one in this game you would want to have an MC that is able to match him in terms of energy and point of view.

While it was a short game, I do think it was a good introduction for Teddy, being able to see what kind of viewpoint he has. I am hoping to be able to see more of his family in the future and I'm excited for what will be coming.

[joeysmuttonchops]

Jericho: Direct Quotes from 1984-1991

Joseph Wilson, AKA Jericho, was created by Marv Wolfman and George George Pérez for The New Teen Titans.

Joe is mute and DC has varied their care in portraying that. In his original appearances Joe is fluent in sign language, and that is his preferred way of speaking. However, even though Joe is constantly signing, the comics do not always translate his signing for the reader to follow.

I set out to collect specifically direct quotes from his original slate of appearances. From his intro in Tales of the Teen Titans #42 to just before Titans: Hunt, stopping at The New Titans #69. This list collects either direct translations of his signing, or quoted thought/bubbles, with their punctuation preserved.

This does not include his ability to talk using the voice, verbiage, and tone of the unconscious person he's possessing (a power used a lot right at his introduction, which then tapers off), or the times when he is shown to be signing but we are not given a direct translations of said signs. 

This also does not contain his narration in The New Teen Titans #47, which is Danny and Joey reading the auto/biographies of the Titans Joe has written. This is only because that would be a transcript of the entire issue, and I don't think I can fit that in a post.

Finally, this list does not include any spoken quotes from Titans: Hunt, where he was inexplicably able to speak verbally. I didn't include those for two reasons: 1. While there are a few moments when it's clear Joe is speaking and not the Souls of Azarath, ultimately they are both influencing eachother, so we can't be sure it is only Joe's words and verbiage. 2. This post is intended to function as an record of how little Joe was able to express himself in his own/preferred language.

I've included the full quotes, issues they're from, and a brief summery of what Joe is referring to, so beware of spoilers. Where I could not summarize the conversation, I have included Joe and the person he's talking with's dialogue.

I've tried to organize these quotes chronologically, but I may have made a mistake or missed a few. If you spot any, let me know; I'd love for this post to be as accurate as possible.

"Mommy! … Daddy?" — Tales of the Teen Titans #44 — Baby Joe's dialogue when Adeline and Slade arrive where Jackal is holding him hostage

"Will you marry me?" — Teen Titans Spotlight #3 — Joe asks Penelope Lord to marry him

"No! I won't!" — Tales of the Teen Titans #44 — Joe tries to refuse to hurt Dick while possessing him

Dick: "You want to help?" Joe: "Yes." — Tales of the Teen Titans #44 — Joe offers his help storming H.I.V.E. to rescue the Titans

"No." — Tales of the Teen Titans #45 — Joe says he's not ready to show his paintings in a gallery show

"Yes!" — Tales of the Teen Titans #56

"No… I'll help." — The New Teen Titans v2 #10 — Joe says that he'll be the one to help Kole.

"No. Yes. Friends… Not lovers." "Don't be. Stay… Talk… Cry…" — The New Teen Titans v2 #10 — Kole propositions Joey after Adeline finds her father. He turns her down

"Everything's fine." — The New Teen Titans v2 #12 — Joe responds to Kole

"I want to join… to go. Please take me with you." — The New Teen Titans v2 #13 — Joe asks to go with Kory on her return to Tamaran

K: "If you're going, I'll come with you." J: "No… please don't." K: "Why not? I - - I thought you loved me… like I love you." J: "I care… very much… Please understand… please." — The New Teen Titans v2 #14 — Kole tries to convince Joe to stay on Earth

"No." — The New Teen Titans v2 #16 — Joe tells Ryand'r that Kory isn't doing so hot

"Friend." — The New Teen Titans v2 #18 — Joe and Ryand'r agree that they're friends

"I stayed with my mother last night. She told me. I… cried through the night." — The New Teen Titans v2 #18 — Joey has heard about Kole's death after returning to Earth

"Kole is gone and nothing can be done. Go to Dick. His pains have just begun." — The New Teen Titans v2 #18 — Joey tells Donna to comfort Dick, who is reeling from the breakup/Kory's marriage, instead of staying with him after Kole's death

"No." — The New Teen Titans v2 #22 — Joe turns down shooting pigeons

"Yes." — The New Teen Titans v2 #22 — Joe agrees that either he misses the Titans or they've disbanded, it is intentionally unclear

"Yes." — Teen Titans Spotlight #4 — Joe agrees to help Penelope Lord

"Where… is… she… ?" — Teen Titans Spotlight #4 — Joe wakes up after being knocked out defending Penelope Lord

"Yes!" — Teen Titans Spotlight #4 — Addie asks if Joe still wants to be a pat of the mission knowing Penelope might be using him

"Yes." — Teen Titans Spotlight #5 — Joe says he has the promethium blueprints

"I - - agree." — Teen Titans Spotlight #5 — Joe and Adeline agree that the Lords are using them

"Why, Penny - - Why?" — Teen Titans Spotlight #5 — Joey sees Penny working with the H.I.V.E.

"I know." — Teen Titans Spotlight #6 — Joe tells Adeline he knows the Lord's plan

"Home." — Teen Titans Spotlight #6 — Joe explains why the Lord's haven't blown up their base yet

"I have you, my painting, friends. Nothing else is important." — Teen Titans Spotlight #6

"What about Dick, Kory and Raven?" — The New Teen Titans v2 #24 — Donna and Joey are talking about rejoining/reforming the New Teen Titans

"Thank you." — The New Teen Titans v2 #24 — Joe is replying to Wally's compliments

"Donna, turn to me… I can phase into you… Free myself that way." — The New Teen Titans v2 #27 — Joey has been tied to a lightning rod by the brotherhood of evil, Donna is trying to rescue him

"Im going to help or die trying!" — Action Comics #584 — Joey is teaching sign language at a street school when he hears the Titans are fighting Superman

"Down, Starfire." — The New Teen Titans v2 #33 — The bridge by Titan's Tower is collapsing, Joey wants to get into the water to start rescues

J: "Worried." D: "About What?" J: "You." — The New Teen Titans v2 #33 — Conversation between Dick and Joey, when Dick picks Joey up at his apartment. 

"Okay." — The New Teen Titans v2 #33 — Joey confirms Raven's medical status.

*I can't tell if this is Joe or Sarah signing "I mean, he's not the first guy I broke up with, huh? What are you signing?" — The New Teen Titans v2 #41 — Joey is talking with Sarah Simms

"I know… I know…" —The New Teen Titans v2 #46 — After Vicki assaults him, Chris King is worried about what Vicki would have done to Joey if she had caught him

"And I have a date with Tish… at M.O.M.A." — The New Teen Titans v2 #47 — Joey turns down an invite to go to the movies with the Titans

"I don't know." — The New Titans v1 Annual #5 — Joe's answer when Dick asks him where Raven is.

"Night-night!" —The New Titans v1 #52 — Joey tells Vic to knock out the guy he's possessing

"D-I-C-K. R-A-V-E-N." — The New Titans v1 #61 — Joe fingerspells Dick and Raven's names.

"I do." — The New Titans v1 #63 — Gar asks Joe if he knows he and Slade are friends

[tiktowafel]

Headcanons for Neito Monoma?

yup here you go! tagging @fabpops1 because she also asked for Monoma headcanons

no coloring today because the one i made two years ago sucks and i don't feel like remaking it :'D honestly i feel like Horikoshi and I both half-assed his casual clothing sketch lol

him and his parents were all born in Japan but he has some relatives in Belgium, whom he really enjoys visiting. it's the main reason why he seems so interested in european culture (his profile page states he likes french cuisine and franco-belgian comics)

he can also speak french very well thanks to that

he's also fluent in english (though he has trouble understanding Pony sometimes - he's much better at reading and writing than he is at listening) and has a basic knowledge of several other languages. he doesn't really expect it to come handy at any point in the future, he just learns them because he finds it fun

besides that he also likes history, classic literature, theatre... yeah this guy is a huge humanities-leaning nerd and i don't accept criticism

nor do i accept the fact that he's supposed to be a bad student in canon?? like, he's so smart and also competitive, no way he isn't top of the class... he may not be as good in science and math as he is in japanese and history, but nothing an all-nighter can't fix

in middle school he was part of the drama and debate clubs. and while hero course students aren't supposed to join clubs because they should focus on hero work, he managed to argue his way into the same clubs in UA by saying that his theatrics and speeches are an important part of his hero persona. Kuroiro joined the drama club alongside him (didn't contribute to the argument at all, just nodded wisely every time Monoma presented a point)

class 1-B's culture festival performance being a stage play was actually his idea! it didn't really go the way he intended (he did NOT expect it to turn into a four-way crossover more ambitious than infinity war) but he greatly enjoyed performing in it anyway! maybe even too much

his knowledge of quirks rivals Midoriya's. he researches them a lot mostly to help his copy quirk but also out of genuine curiosity

he often helps his classmates with training their quirks and comes up with new techniques to try out. he's particularly good at it because he can actually try other people's quirks himself, which gives him a better understanding of how they function and what their limitations are

^ which is why i believe he'd make an awesome hero course teacher!! (in all might's role - i don't think making him anyone's homeroom teacher would be a good idea, he'd be just as biased towards his class as he is now lmao) it's definitely one of my favorite "future" headcanons

he praises his classmates' quirks a lot and says he considers them all great, but he does have preferences when it comes to copying them

his favorites are Yanagi's poltergeist (somewhat boring, but easy to understand and very versatile both in battle and everyday life), Tokage's lizard tail splitter (he almost died when he copied it for the first time because he barely managed to put his body back together before his quirk's time limit ran out, but that didn't stop him - he always found Tokage's quirk very fun and useful, so he put a lot of work into fully figuring it out and now he uses it pretty often), Shoda's twin impact (Monoma's physical strength.... leaves a lot to be desired, and the second impact always being significantly stronger than the first helps make up for it) and Kuroiro's black (you can move around very fast and it's fun :) )

quirks he does not like copying Honenuki's softening (fun, but quite difficult to control and avoiding collateral damage with such a destructive quirk is a pain in the ass. Honenuki understands that perfectly) and Shishida's beast (just... really not his thing lol)

for some reason i see a lot of people headcanon that he has pet ferrets, and you know what? i agree. he does seem like a ferret person

prefers smart clothing, a polo shirt is the most casual he'll go. he only ever wears tshirts for exercise (which he hates doing lol) and probably doesn't own a single hoodie

in general i think he has a good eye for elegant design... his dorm room is very stylish and nicely coordinated too. i think one of the light novels also describes it as "vaguely french" and yeah that fits

while he tries to keep his room neat and tidy on the outside, all his drawers and cabinets are horribly messy

he's that one kid who has like 17 different allergies and is completely useless if he forgets his meds on a spring day (spring is his least favorite season due to this. i think winter would be his fave)

luckily he is not allergic to dairy so he can eat as much stinky french cheese as he wants 👍

speaking of food i think he's a pretty good cook actually

prefers listening to older (and mostly foreign) music and is a huge snob about it

honestly he probably acts the same about movies and books too

arguing with people on the internet is one of his favorite ways to spend his free time. if there are no 1-A students around, you can always show off your impressive vocabulary by bullying random internet strangers with bad taste in movies!

almost everyone in 1-B considers him a friend despite his... anti-1a bullshit, because he's just really nice and helpful to people he likes + he's a great leader! however he's closest to Kuroiro (friendly drama king rivals! they're constantly arguing about dumb shit using the fanciest words they can think of and they're always trying to outperform each other in the drama club meetings they both attend, but they love each other trust me <3 also Monoma helps Kuroiro with studying because he sucks at school), Pony (when he's not trying to trick her into insulting 1-A he can be pretty helpful with japanese, he also likes listening to her talk about her home country), Honenuki (he's Pony's best friend, so you usually befriend them both at once, but Monoma thinks he's also interesting to talk to by himself) and Tetsutetsu (they don't share many interests but Monoma hates exercising so he has Tetsutetsu force him to do it. his positive energy certainly helps a lot)

ever since they got to know each other during their joint training fight, Monoma's been using 100% of his persuasion skills to convince Shinso to join 1-B instead of 1-A. Shinso is conflicted to say the least

aaand that's all i have for him! hope you enjoyed these!!