The most intimate side of Aitana Bonmatí, a normal girl at the top of football.
The immensity of her figure is overwhelming. Her name runs like wildfire, echoes through the pitch and lingers in those who have seen her play. Aitana Bonmatí (Sant Pere de Ribes, 1998) is a special player. Exceptional. Extraordinary. Her care for the ball, her respect for the game and her love for football have catapulted her to the top. The world around her is gigantic, even though it becomes smaller and smaller as she conquers new goals. This Monday, in Paris, she will become the new queen of football. However, while everything around her accelerates and becomes a maelstrom of recognition and trophies, she is still the normal girl who comes back from training every day and meets her friends for a match in Plaça Marcer. The world around her has changed, but she remains the same.
"She's a very close friend, someone you can really trust. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but when she opens up, she opens up a lot. She keeps very much to herself," says Xavier Rovira, one of her lifelong friends. They met when they were five years old at the town's esplai GER, where they had activities every weekend, in addition to the camps and the camps in summer. Despite being a year younger, since they met they always went as a group and did everything together. Despite going to different schools (she to l'Escola del Pi, the others to l'Escola de la Riera de Ribes), she spent most of the time with them. "Apart from the esplai, we lived in the center during the week, which is in Ribes where there is a bar, a mall and a theater. We took music classes, where we both played guitar. We spent a lot of time there, as our parents would go for a drink together while we played football in the street," he adds.
With a ball at her feet. This is how she has been remembered since she was a child. While her life has been transforming as she goes through stages of football, what surrounded her outside the playing fields remains intact. Her environment has become her pillar, and Ribes has become her place of calm. An oasis where, after the hustle and bustle of training sessions, photoshoots, meetings and commitments, she can once again take refuge. Where she is Aitana, just another girl from the village.
"She could have taken, for example, the decision, simply for convenience, to move to Barcelona or closer to where she trains and works. But she has stayed in Ribes because it is where she has her people. It is where she has lived all her life and it gives her a certain tranquility. It's a way of disconnecting from the strident world of football and not being in the spotlight all day. If you're in Barcelona, you don't get out of the football ecosystem much either. She prioritizes her family and friends, who are the ones in Ribes," says Xavi. Aitana keeps the structure of her whole life intact. The foundations are the same as when she was a 15-year-old girl going to high school with her friends.
Ribes, her place.
Aitana is a girl of habits. Every day she goes to the village bakery to buy bread and her lemon cake, she shops in the small stores and every evening she meets her friends in the Plaça Marcer. Everyone knows what Aitana is going to order, there are few options and she has a predilection for matcha, to which she has also hooked Xavi: "We meet to make matcha. At her house, at the bar, when we meet to watch football...Always matcha. All the time, but especially in the afternoon, around five or six o'clock, which is when we meet. She doesn't drink wine or sugary drinks, she normally drinks water, but if one day she wants to drink something it has to be sweet or fruity wine. It's the only one she likes. But she doesn't love it either," says Xavi, who admits that they don't go out partying much. "We went out recently. And it was the first time I went out with her to a disco since she became a professional player," he confesses with a laugh.
When she leaves the Ciutat Esportiva and gets in the car, Aitana switches off. She almost always plays Catalan music. Txarango, The Tyets... Although from time to time reggaeton sneaks in. She takes advantage of the journey home, which takes about half an hour, to answer Whatsapp using the handsfree phone. "She answers at the moment and they are non-stop conversations. If I look at WhatsApp with her right now, I have three weeks where we talk every day. Yes it's true that she must have lots and lots of messages, and obviously in general she will take longer to respond. But for her circle, she's always there. She sends a lot of voice notes, not very long either. It mostly depends on the topic. We have had times of deeper conversations, then yes they are audios of a minute or two. But not on a day-to-day basis," says Xavi as he reviews their chat.
Voice notes and matchas.
Although message conversations are constant, they prefer to see each other whenever they can. "We make life every day in Ribes. you could say... gosh. We thought we would see Aitana, who has games every weekend and trains every day, once a month or every two weeks. But no! She's the friend I see the most. We meet three days a week on average. Or four. She comes home from training and says: "Come on, let's go for a drink, I have to explain to you. Free weekend? Well, let's take advantage of it and we'll all go out together. Free time? Come by the house and we'll watch a couple of things. It's very cool, because you never know what's going to happen. You're 15 years old and you have a group of friends and where does each one end up... And she, on the other hand, gets to where she is now, top of football, and you think: "”Maybe I'll lose her.” On the contrary," he says proud of Aitana, with whom he always finds time to go for matchas or brunch in Vilanova.
Aitana is a leader in the field and her skills on the pitch are also transferred to her group of friends, especially when they go on a getaway because she has the weekend off. She is in charge of the board games and always carries Jenga in her suitcase. Also Dixit. From time to time, they also play cards together.
"She's still a world champion, we all know that. You see her the day before playing a match in Cordoba against Switzerland with the national team and the next day we are here, so normal, having a matcha in the bar and talking about our shit. She's a very normal girl," says Xavi, who will accompany her to Paris with the rest of his friends, staff and family. She will lift the Ballon d'Or and achieve the biggest milestone of her career at an individual level. But a few days later she will return to Ribes. And she will sit in the Plaça Marcer like any other local.
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You making me choose, man. Not nice
Anyway, here you go
Sorry, if the quality of the image is bad I kinda don't have a clue what format is the best
So it's the drawing about that scared anon who likes cookies. I found the idea of scared animal kinda funny so yeah
There was a continuation here, but I didn't really like it. That's why the composition is a little strange
Also, I hope it's okay that I left you simplified. I was not really sure what to add. And I had a great torture figuring out how your clothes work.
I hope you like it. It's okay if not tho👀
I LIKE IT DHSGFRGDFSGS THI S IS SO CUTE FZFFFFFFg
Pspspspspspspsps come get this cookie
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Not too sure how right I am with this one but I headcanon LMK Wukong as autistic, I might also be seeing this because I'm autistic myself but it's the way that he masks in amnesia rules that really solidifies it for me.
I've seen a few main types of masking as an autistic and I feel like Wukong really fits what I call the people pleasing, high energy version of masking. I kinda feel like LMK Wukong would of been pretty happy once his brothers and master were out of the picture too because it meant that he didn't have to mask anymore, he could go back to flower fruit mountain and actually relax and now have to constantly be on high alert or put on an act anymore.
Sorry if this was just incoherent rambling I just love whenever people bring attention to his masking.
no this is great!! i love hearing other people's interpretations of SWK!! (/gen)
and this makes a lot of sense tbh... huh.. great read anon tysm!
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The Councillor by E.J. Beaton
Complex high fantasy world
Centered around one bisexual disaster scholar adopted by the queen
Queer cast of likeable yet morally grey politicians
Can be a bit dense but very rewarding
Very good foreshadowing
Bad french, alas :( I'll forgive it because one city is called Bref and that's absolutely hilarious
Not a cliffhanger but gods I wish I could get the sequel like, right now
8.5/10
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