Tumgik
#The Scottish Fairy Book
enchantedbook · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media
From 'The Scottish Fairy Book' illustration by Morris Meredith Williams, 1910
535 notes · View notes
thefugitivesaint · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Jill Karla Schwarz, 'Tam Lin', ''Fairies and Elves'', 1984 Source I'm going to use this post as the perfect opportunity to direct you to my favorite song from the folk band Fairport Convention from their 1969 album 'Liege & Lief', Tam Lin (which, I'm sure, I've posted about at some point)
2K notes · View notes
thebeautifulbook · 7 days
Text
Tumblr media
THE SCOTTISH FAIRY BOOK by Elizabeth W. Grierson (New York: Stokes, 1910) Illustrated by Morris Meredith Williams.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
source
139 notes · View notes
bookishfreedom · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
so, i went to scotland. yes, it was life changing
the entire trip felt straight out of a fairytale. we swam in the fairy pools. we frolicked with sheep. we spent hours wandering castles, museums, and bookshops. we ate many scottish breakfasts. and yes, merry of soul, we sailed on a day, over the sea to skye
and during the hours we spent driving through the gorgeous scottish highlands, we also played that song ad infinitum.
although originally inspired by outlander, this trip was about so much more. it was about stories and magic and history and falling a little bit in love with the world at every turn.
until next time, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Sláinte
112 notes · View notes
shxpeshifterr · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Todays new book buys ✨
15 notes · View notes
thegirlwiththelantern · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
Insta: @ littlepiscesdreaming
1 note · View note
bbanimalstories · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Joseph Noel Paton from Timelife: The Enchanted World Series, "Fairies and Elves", 1984
4 notes · View notes
originsofthelaoich · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
David Fergusson is working on an Origins of the Laoich prequel comic, “Devil’s Fool” and here’s a preview of the front cover!
0 notes
blairstales · 2 years
Text
How To Get Free Books On Folklore
Tumblr media
I do not believe in gatekeeping knowledge, so this post will be sharing how I get all my folklore books for free, legally.
To explain, when a book gets over a certain age and the copyright is not upkept, it falls under “public domain.” When that happens, many different websites will provide those books as a free download.
This is not restricted to one type of book, either. You can grab anything from Sherlock Holmes to history books, to folklore, and more.
If you are looking for a specific book, you may have to check more than one source, so I suggest bookmarking more than one website.
Example Websites:
Internet Archive
Project Gutenberg
Google Books
Open Library
Electric Scotland (Scottish books)
Sacred Texts
National Library of Scotland: Ossain Collection
Forgotten Books
Hathitrust
For me when I download a book, I then upload them to my Google library so that I can use the search functions as well as bring up the books anywhere, but a popular PC option isCalibre.
If you are interested in Scotland-specific folklore, I do have some suggestions of books you can start with.
Scottish Folklore Books:
(link) A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Briggs (1976)
(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)
(link) Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1900)
(link) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1937)
(link) Notes on Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland by Walter Gregor, M.A. (1881)
(link) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)
(link) Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland by J. Maxwell Wood (1911)
(link) Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)
(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)
(link) Folk-Lore From The West of Ross-Shire by C.M. Robertson (1908)
(link) The Fairy Mythology / Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley (1850)
(link) Popular Tales of the West Highlands by John Francis Campbell (1862)
(link) Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales by Sir George Douglas
(link) The Scottish Fairy Book By Elizabeth W. Grierson (1918)
(link)
(link) Popular Superstitions of the Highlands By W Grant Stewart (1823)
3K notes · View notes
chazzielynx · 3 months
Text
Some Random Listener Headcanons I Wrote Down Part One
- Darlin likes cuddling in close and making Sam play a little with his powers while doing it. A little flame or sth like that. They like it because they can feel the dim light of his core that way. (Extra angsty points = they do that bc they can't bridge with him)
- Starlight didn't like the name 'Starlight' at first because they love astronomy and didn't think they deserved that title. But Avior was stubborn and the more he uses it, the more they melt at him saying it.
- Freelancer loves being in the sun but their eyes are sensitive to light. Until they met Gavin, they used to wear sunglasses a lot, but now Gavin eases their light sensitivity with magic when they're out on a walk. They didn't notice him doing it at first but he had to confess it to them when they wanted to go on another hike with Huxley and thought they didn't need to take their sunglasses (He has to actively control it).
- Sweetheart has stomach issues because of the stress at work. When they told Milo, he started learning more about what kind of foods can help with that and integrated them into the meals he cooked on date nights.
- before Lovely was turned, they used to love late night drives in general but then also with Vincent. Now they're used to them so much they forgot about the love they had for city lights at night.
- Darlin (yes, again, leave me alone) drinks tea. They never really tell anyone that bc it doesn't really fit their image but Sam found their collection when he was looking for anything edible in their kitchen again. They like Scottish Breakfast and Sam learned how they make it so that he can make them a cup of it when he's drinking his coffee.
- Baabe reads romance books, all kinds, also spicy ones and Asher loves stealing their book when they gasp at the pages and reading the spicy scenes to try them out later.
- staying with the book theme: Coworker reads High Fantasy and goes on rants just like Lasko and he loves nothing more than having his head in their lap, letting them play with his hair absent-mindedly and listens to everything they tell him.
- Asset constantly argues with James about why they can't have tattoos. One of their technicians had some and they asked about it and now they genuinely don't understand why they can't also have tattoos (this one might be a little bit of a stretch but I think it's cute).
- Honey knits (possibly also crochet). Guy likes to mess with them when they count stitches but he only does that when their project isn't that complicated or important. He proudly wears every single sock they make him and always asks for more "Honey, can I get one that says 'i am the best boyfriend ever but all I got were these lousy socks?'" followed by a pillow thrown at his head.
- Baby (Ollie's Listener) loves fairy lights. They hang them up everywhere all year round. Ollie had to set the rule in place that they aren't allowed to put up more without defending their case in front of a judge (which is Ollie and their cat).
- Bestie loves dyeing their hair on a regular basis. Not in the impulsive way, they genuinely just love looking different every two weeks and combining colours.
- Smartass likes to sing. It took them a while to be comfortable singing in front of Aaron. Once, they hadn't heard him come home and he listened to them sing in the kitchen while he just sat in the hallway. They almost tripped over him. Now he sometimes asks them to sing sth when he's holding them bc he loves hearing and feeling them sing.
170 notes · View notes
thefugitivesaint · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Anne Anderson (1874-1952), ''Grimms' & Andersen's Fairy Tales'', 1912 Source
132 notes · View notes
atopvisenyashill · 5 months
Text
alright here is my rec list for everything george rr martin:
Tumblr media
(link will be in reblog). in it you will find:
the list of all the asoiaf books and related supplemental books and graphic novels (just to like, cover all my bases here)
books and authors across all genres that george has name dropped as having an influence on the series, from historical books written in the late 1800s about random scottish castles to the beginnings of the sword-and-sorcery genre written in serials in magazines.
books about the history he's taken inspiration from besides the ones he's name dropped - basically i found non fiction books that seemed well reviewed on an academic level but also sounded like narrative non fiction bc i can’t do anything too dry or technical. however,,,, i included notes in this section on what part of the story is inspired by each book. i kept it to the stuff that he’s name dropped - like dorne being a mash up of wales, moorish spain, and palestine, or hadrian’s wall or the anarchy - so if you think something sounds interesting but the book i picked was ass, basically every subject had a bunch of books on it!
(caveat i mean, i picked stuff that was readily available to me through my library system as someone in the greater chicagoland area lol so ymmv as to whether there's a lot of info available to you. if you want to know about how to use libby, hoopla, or kanopy tho, hit me up!!)
books i think it's very likely he took inspiration - this is the smallest section, i’m not about to project onto this man, its at the very bottom of the sheet & it’s just like, lolita, some fairy tale stuff, and other books george has written, so it’s also about further understanding his ~style~ + i am simply interested in these titles.
if anything is kind of unclear or if you noticed i missed something george has said, feel free to let me know!
205 notes · View notes
uwmspeccoll · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Andrew Lang Fairy Stories
With this semester - and my internship - coming to a close, I wanted to hop back into my wheelhouse for the remainder of my time in Special Collections.
The Elf Maiden: And Other Stories is a collection of eleven tales edited by Scottish poet and novelist Andrew Lang (1844-1912) and illustrated by Henry J. Ford (1860-1941). The book was first published in London and New York by Longmans, Green, & Co. in 1906. The stories in this edition first appeared in three of Lang’s popular “Coloured" Fairy Books:  The Yellow Fairy Book (1894), The Pink Fairy Book (1897), and the The Brown Fairy Book (1904). Lang’s Fairy Books were a series of 24 children’s fairy tales, the most popular being the 12 Coloured" Fairy Books, that Lang’s wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne (1851-1933) helped collaborate and translate.
Lang was considered to be one of the most versatile writers of his time. While he was a poet, historian, journalist, and critic, he was best known for his publications on folklore, mythology, and religion. Lang took an interest in folklore at a young age; he read John Ferguson McLennan before going to Oxford and was heavily influenced by Edward Burnett Tylor. 
Henry J. Ford was a prolific and successful English artist and illustrator. While he began exhibiting with historically-themed paintings and beautiful landscapes at the Royal Academy of Art in 1982, it was his contributions to illustrated books that raised him to fame. I was excited to find that he was most famous for the illustrations he provided for Lang’s popular Fairy Books, which captivated an entire generation of children in Britain; these books saw translations and republications during the 1880’s and 1890’s.
View more posts on books by Andrew Lang.
View more posts on fairy tales.
View more posts from our Historical Curriculum Collection.
-- Elizabeth V., Special Collections Undergraduate Writing Intern
648 notes · View notes
shxpeshifterr · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
How beautiful is this 😍
14 notes · View notes
sanctus-ingenium · 4 months
Note
I’m really inspired by your world building and the creatures you use. I’m trying to kickstart my own world using Celtic, Norse and Scottish myths (it also involves werewolves because they’re cool)
But I’m stumped and a bit overwhelmed. How’d you start your project and what were huge sources of inspiration for you as you worked on The Black Horse?
hi there!!! this will probably get wordy i have a lot of thoughts on this but here's how i built up my inver setting
i had the characters first, and the werewolf establishment was basically the first thing invented about the world. I wrote a decent amount about the characters in the pre-1st draft slush pile just getting a handle on their voices, their history together, etc. the first slush draft was in painstaking chronological order telling of their lives from birth to like age 40 - it wasn't pretty to read but it meant I knew what big moments formed their worldview, their relationships with others, things like that. and then i got to pick and choose which ones would feature in the actual 1st draft, and which i would leave unsaid, in flashback form, or only in the form of vague allusions. the plot and world events changed significantly as i wrote the actual 1st draft so this ended up only being useful for backstory stuff and not book plots, but it was still good to have.
There was an important moment of a character being kidnapped into a faery realm, which is what started me off thinking about fairies in general. they weren't originally a part of this world - it was an undefined space before just for the characters to exist in, because i was (and still am) more interested in the characters than the worldbuilding. but i still like for there to be SOMETHING there in the background, and it gives a lot of opportunities to inform characterisation, so i started to make my setting. I picked the Púca as a pivotal being & major inspiration source to include because of its relatively large presence in the fringes of my childhood in stories told by my older relatives and i like the unusual aspects about it as well, how it has been both heroic and malevolent in different stories. you have to remember i grew up in this culture too, i knew a lot already, and that's what got me thinking of alternate Earth history - as in, the setting of Inver as alternate history, not wholly original fantasy set in a fantasy land.
So then I had to think about the implications of that, and here is where I think a lot of authors adapting extant mythology fall short. A world where faeries/mythological monsters/gods based in real cultures exist and people interact with them is indistinguishable from our own. We already live in a world where people interact with faeries in their own way; I've heard many older relatives recount stories of being trapped in their fields by faeries, how you can only escape by taking off your jumper and putting it back on inside out. There was no question as to whether they believed this was a concrete, meaningful interaction with a supernatural being. We have a motorway that was diverted while it was being built because the builders didn't want to risk cutting down a hawthorn tree. There is a deep stigma against harming hawthorns. Now, tell me how things would be any different if faeries were real irl? ftr I do not believe in the supernatural whatsoever, not even a little bit, but it is impossible to deny that I live in a world deeply shaped by it - I need only look out the window at the stands of whitethorn around my house to know that. because the main expression of that supernatural element is in how the people of that culture react.
you cannot, you cannot pick and choose only the monsters from a legend and leave behind the people who made & propagated that legend. you're only taking a single thread from a rich tapestry. I'm not arguing that other cultures should be untouchable, far from it, I'm just saying that to truly appreciate it, you need context for everything you adapt. you gotta know what you're writing about
in that sense, the people are more important to building Inver than the faeries. a citizen of Inver not immediately affected by the main plotline would likely never see or interact with magic in their lifetime, but their society is still shaped by it. so is mine (though that's more on the catholic church than anything else)
So now that I'd had that realisation, I decided to dump a lot of the traditional fantasy tropes I'd been working with. Think basic fantasy setting stuff, pop culture "The Fae" tropes, even the terminology of 'Fae' at all - that is not something I've ever heard the older generation in my life call them. It's just 'fairies' to them (although I did shift the spelling to match the Yeats poem because I could not handle writing characters making accusations of being A Fairy and have it not come across as a unintentionally homophobic accusation lmao). I did some research; mostly on JSTOR, using my institutional access, because my own university is mostly science and didn't have a big library of anthropological texts. I read An Táin Bó Culainge which is honestly one of the greatest stories of all time PLEASE READ IT if you are at all interested in Irish myth. It is a fantastic story and extremely comedic as well (a canon mmmf foursome lol). In terms of academic sources specific to the Púca, I have a drive folder of pdfs I will share with anyone if they ask.
I decided I was not going to include anything from what people actually think of as pre-christian Irish mythology - no fianna [rangers notwithstanding], no Ulster cycle, no Tuatha Dé, no Irish gods. All the things I include are post-colonial aside from the notion of the Otherworld in general. This decision wasn't necessarily accurate to what might have happened in this alternate history (given that christianity still has no real foothold in Inver) but it is a colonised society after all. It's why I got slightly steamed once when someone filed my Púca art into their irish deities/irish polytheism tag (I have my own issues with iripols/gaelpols for the same reason I dislike people taking myths out cultural context and in this case contemporary cultural context), because the Púca is in fact a postcolonial being - it comes from the UK, and likely the mainland as well
One of the last things I did before starting on my 2nd draft, which is what turned into Said the Black Horse, was decide to always capitalise the word 'Púca'. Because what really clicked from doing my research and remembering what I'd heard as a child was that the Púca is a specific character. Not a species, not a class of monster. A character, one guy. And you'll find this everywhere - the obvious example is the Minotaur being one specific guy, the son of Minos, not just 'a minotaur'. One very funny consequence of speciesifying mythological characters is dnd ppl saying their character is A Firbolg (fir bolg is plural!!). Fantasy bestiary books like Dragonology or Spiderwick Chronicles have done some amount of damage to how people relate to myths and legendary creatures, and I am not immune as someone who loves speculative biology, but in Inver I decided to cut all of that out.
Next once I got that out of the way I had to think about tone, atmosphere, and intended results. I didn't achieve my holy grail of a very atmospheric, undefined, and uncertain story that provides no answers, due to limitations in my own abilities, but I tried. I have given less than 1 second of thought to how magic or faery biology in Inver works because that is not conducive to the atmosphere of a fairytale. Many of these source myths and legends are really about the fear of the unknown. They are rationalisations to explain away something unknown, some mystery of life, and you cannot explain the unexplainable and expect it to carry the same punch as the original myths that you are drawn to adapt. That's also why I try to never actually give facts about fairies, but instead I talk about what people think of them. The word 'considered' does some insanely heavy lifting in that linked post lmao. Is any of what I wrote true with regards to the Red King?? It is for the people who believe it.
I'm saying all of this because these are all points I had to think about before writing that 2nd draft, but also because I think they're worth considering for your own story as well. I'll admit I invented my werewolves from scratch, they have no mythological basis, because they pre-date the faery stuff and also I wanted them to fill a very specific role and appear a little more concrete than the other supernatural elements. It is what it is; I wanted a werewolf element that didn't match myths and legends (and honestly was partially inspired by me rolling my eyes about those posts going around moaning and whining about 'the doggification of werewolves missing the point of werewolf stories'. I thought, well, there's more than one story you can tell with a werewolf - it isn't always 'i fear the beast within', sometimes it's something else! sometimes it's daddy issues! it's okay to make something new)
ok i think that's all i have to say.. modern Inver is a bit different, that worldbuilding is largely the same but with a big dose of actual ecology because the main characters are rangers and in Inver in 2017, rangers mostly do environmental monitoring. and that's a whole different sort of worldbuilding lol
good luck with your story!!
162 notes · View notes
intheshadowsbehindyou · 2 months
Note
Mercenaries finding random kid in the base. Who will punt the child and who will take care of it
Oh boy.
The TF2 Mercs finding a random little toddler in the base
Warnings: Thankfully none?
Scout:
- Oh god oh fuck oh shit. Stiffens up when a random fucking toddler runs by him in the hallway. He was just on his way to grab some more energy drinks from the fridge. Who let this little shit into a war zone?! Scout’s brotherly instincts kick in pretty damn quick and runs to grab the child before they could get into any artillery.
- Talks to a child how he’d talk to a normal adult. Just with less cursing and petty condescension. “The heck you doin’ here?” etc.. While the toddler completely ignores him. Bounces the little thing up and down a little. Scout’s actually had decent socialization with kids before due to his huge family.
- Scout doesn’t realize how comforting he is to a young developing mind. He’d make a great father and adamantly denies it. Partly due to his own father’s… untimely disappearance let’s just say. The other mercs are kinda floored how someone as annoying and troublesome as Scout has even the slightest amount of paternal instincts. Especially Spy. Hmm, for some reason he looks completely destroyed and devastated.
- Scout rolls a baseball on the ground with the kid and teases them lightly while Miss Pauling — stressed out of her mind — tries to find resources for this situation and figure out how a child of all things managed to end up in the middle of a battlefield. Let’s just pretend Spy isn’t standing there with his head in his hand. Realizing the consequences of his own past actions with utter depression written all over his outward body language.
————————————————————————
Soldier:
- DO NOT LET A CHILD NEAR SOLDIER. NEVER. DO NOT FUCKING DO IT.
- Are you insane? Are the parents insane? Is everyone in the world fucking insane? Soldier is practically an oversized toddler. He’d immediately make friends upon finding the child and give them a shitty nickname related to war in some way. Like “Captain diapers” or “Lieutenant Titsucker.” Now everyone else has to suffer soldier insisting the baby is his now.
- Tries to teach the child how to shoot a gun. Does not blow over well with literally all the mercs combined. Tries to read them the art of warfare and Heavy secretly has to switch that book out for a children’s fairytale mid story. Leaving soldier confused as to why the alleged warfare book contained faries and unicorns. “AND THEN MR. UNICORN SAID TO HIS FRIEND THE FAIRY: WHAT LOVELY LOCKS YOU HAVE. DEAR GOD!! THIS MUST BE SOME ADVANCED MILITARY STRATAGEM BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING! GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ITS OUTSTANDING STEADFAST PROGRESSION!”
- Miss Pauling is absolutely livid when she finds out Soldier gave the baby a buzz cut. How the FUCK is she supposed to explain that to the parents? How the fuck is she supposed to explain that their lost child will come back knowing half the entire history of WWI now and knows how to recite the pledge of allegiance at like two years old?!
—————————————————————————-
Demoman:
- Demoman is initially pretty awkward. Quickly downs like several glasses of water in one sitting because it would obviously be a horrible example if he was drunk in front of a minor. He sits them down and tries to ask questions like where their parents were, and failing to understand the child’s not yet fully developed speech. Demoman suddenly empathizes what people mean when they can’t understand his scottish accent. Well shit. Looks like he has a little goblin in his care for a few hours.
- Demoman has a headache now. Surprisingly not from the child’s excited screeching and playing but the previously mentioned alcohol he had to manage with water. “Aye.. Quiet down a bit there..” He says flatly. Miserably holding his head while the child bounces around with endless energy. Maybe babysitting while recovering from intoxication wasn’t the best idea. He gave the kid some empty bomb shells to play with. Even bothered to draw faces on them to humor the kid.
- The child holds one of the shells up to his face “This is bob! Say hi!” they exclaim. Demoman stares at bob tiredly. Taking the shell into two fingers. “Guess you could say bob is the bomb.” The kid manages to stutter out. Which then immediately snaps demoman out of his exhaustion for a split second and causes him to choke on the water laughing his ass off. The kid’s laughing too. Overall the least insane experience the poor kid could have in the team’s base.
———————————————————————
Engineer:
- A small baby is in the intel room, trying to reach the briefcase. Naturally, the sound of the intelligence shifting in the other room would catch Engineer’s ears faster than anyone else’s. Especially considering the stats on his PDA show something bumped against one of his sentries on its way in.
- He enters the room pretty slowly. He knew whatever it was, it wasn’t a threat. Nothing that could bap his sentry with the force of a feather would be strong enough to fend him off. Let alone the patrolling sentry — which should have activated and began shooting by now. A blank, emotionless expression on his face as always, Engineer’s eyes trailed to the level three sentry. Which kept idly spinning from side to side and beeping passively. Completely ignoring the… Little child near the intel desk?!
- Engineer grinned, put his wrench on his shoulder and went over, sliding the briefcase away from the little one. “Oop! You don’t wanna get your grubby little paws on that thing, pardner. That there is for the adults, ya got that?” He said in a lighter tone. Very much unlike his usual rasp and frankly unintentionally scary deep voice. He didn’t care that the poor thing started whining. Dell reached down and ruffled the child’s hair. “Now, now. I know it’s disappointing.”
- Not even when the child hugged his legs and called him dada, not even when Miss Pauling asked to watch them for a bit. Engineer was like a nonchalant father lion tolerating his cub’s obnoxious little bites. A child could push his buttons to hell and back and Engineer would just sit there like there wasn’t a screaming child on his lap while he read the Tuefort newspaper.
————————————————————————
Heavy:
- If heavy were to be near a child in any capacity, it would make him nervous. His sisters were a different story. They’re family. But wild encounters with the beasts? What should he do? He doesn’t know them, and frankly he hates the idea of having kids. They’re way too much work, money, and his inner child wasn’t healed enough to take on another one. In a weird sort of way he’d be taking care of two.
- as he stares blankly at the little devil in front of him, the one he found trying to touch Sasha, he contemplated throwing them into the stratosphere like a baseball. His strong disliking for children didn’t come from a place of genuine malice however. He was envious that they still had youth and time to pursue everything they ever wanted. Heavy wanted to do many things in his lifetime and he felt that it was ripped from him due to the poverty he lived through.
- He recalled the time he made a child one time during Halloween and decided not to repeat that. He’ll pick up the child and shove it into Pyro’s room.. With a million dollars in the kid’s hand.
——————————————————————-
Pyro:
- Speaking of Pyro, they’re quite similar to Heavy in the sense that their inner child isn’t healed. But Pyro is once again able to destroy everybody’s outlook on them when they are capable of adeptly playing with children without ever hurting them. Especially catering to their personal needs depending on age. Can and will silently warm up a teddy bear in the microwave and hand them a bottle of chocolate milk.
- Pyro is extremely good at this, all things considered. They seem to have a pretty surface level understanding of childhood psychology and the proper ways to enforce a gentle parenting style. Which only adds to the mysterious era of their humanity; surely a faceless monster couldn’t do the things Pyro was doing. They were too calculated, too thoughtful in their actions. It made the other mercs pretty upset to see this display. In a sense, it was border-lining uncanny valley. Nobody could shake the primitive instinct that something was inherently wrong with this. They don’t even ask for help.
- But nothing violent becomes of it. Pyro had successfully eased the child into feeling comfortable the entire time they’re there. Not a single word left their mouth the entire time. They were only staring intently and tilting their head like a curious animal at the child by the time Pauling finally found the child’s parents. Scout jokes that Pyro is simply playing with his own mouse like a cat and has to be backhanded by a very uneasy Heavy.
—————————————————————————
Sniper:
- His parents — whilst nice — had their own individual flaws that prevented them from teaching this area of life. They did not think Sniper would be ever fit to raise a child and thus neglected his want for a small family. To be fair they aren’t too far off. Sniper is an assassin for hire that drives around nomadically and eats crocodiles for dinner. In no way shape or form would that ever be a proper atmosphere for a child to grow. He took their words to heart as always. He never did pursue a child. His father was angry that Sniper even thought of the idea.
- So imagine the guilt upon seeing the little rat bastard who had wandered into the base and was stumbling around the halls. He quickly realized this kid was essentially doomed. He was the wrong person to find this poor thing. The others weren’t any better. Removing his weapons was the very first thing he does, trying his best to conceal his expression. He didn’t want the child to sense his anger and self loathing. (Kids are sorta smart like that.)
- He then…. Throws the child into Pyro’s room.
————————————————————————-
Medic:
- Walks into his medbay with a bunch of folders. Sees a child sitting on one of the hospital beds. Proceeds to freeze in place like a deer in headlights. Has to double take for a moment to make sure he’s not dreaming.
- Proceeds to ignore the child for a bit for some reason. Even when and if other mercs are present and question him, Medic hushes them for some reason. Medic is like…. Fully convinced that child is an enemy spy in disguise. He moves around the room and half-asses a “Ho! Would sure be a shame if somebody stabbed me in the back while I was organizing papers!…. I SAID it would be a SHAME if SOMEBODY STABBED ME IN THE BACK!” (He fully believes this’ll work because Medic’s superiority complex doesn’t stop at Spy. He’s fully confident that he’s smarter than Spy, and Spy is a complete bumbling moron. Like most people to Medic.)
- The child makes a weird child noise, and that’s when he knows something is up. Medic narrows his eyes and marches up to the bed, staring the child maliciously in the face. “You don’t fool me, you know..” He says, gritting his teeth. “Is your kit broken or something? I can fix it for you for free! It’ll cost you an arm and limb though! Ho! Literally.” He adds “It’s quite an unflattering disguise for someone such as yourself!”
- Child stares blankly. Toddler has no clue what’s happening right now.
- Miss Pauling walks in. “Oh! There he is! Sorry for the interruption Medic, we had a child wander into the base—“ she pauses. Seeing Medic holding his ubersaw up to the child’s chin.
- “What do you mean we had a child wander in?” He is dumbfounded, and horrified.
————————————————————————
Spy:
- Spy opens the door to his quarters and makes sure to lock it behind him, always. He has like a million booby traps set up on his door and in his room to ensure nobody goes snooping for his private information.
- He turns around, adjusting his tie. Getting ready for the trauma of the day….. Then he sees a child sitting right in front of him in the hallway. The two of them lock eyes for a moment.
- …….
- Spy cloaks away immediately.
147 notes · View notes