the speed that jude has been learning spanish is INSANE

“ el mejor equipo del mundo, para mi *shrugs in cutie* “

˚₊໒꒱mha men with a Hispanic s/o₊˚

A/N: Two in a day?? Insane

Triggers: nothing!

Characters: Shoto, Izuku, Katsuki, Ida, Hitoshi, and Denki

__________________________________________

Shoto is absolutely adored by your family, they say he’s a very well mannered guy and overall just love him. He always brings gifts to your parents and siblings whenever you invite him over, he loves seeing their happy faces. Convinced you to help him learn Spanish so that he could communicate better with your parents, honestly just made ur parents like him even more. His accent is completely off, but he tries and that’s what matters. You hear him use words that someone in your family says (like no mames, ala verga, güey etc) and you always laugh because he has zero idea what it means but says it anyways. Tia’s love messing with him, “how did you end up with someone like my niece/nephew?” And overall embarrass you in front of him. He’s greats with kids, usually during parties you and him are the ones taking care of all your younger cousins while their parents chill out. Does not hit the piñata at parties and if he does, he doesn’t try, prefers if the kids are the ones who break it.

Izuku is adored by your family, everyone loves him. Whenever you invite him over to parties he makes sure to bring something wether it’s drinks or some flan. He started to learn Spanish on his own; he never told you so when he randomly began to speak Spanish with your parents the three of you where quite in shock. Surprisingly his accent is good but he pronounces thing weirdly sometimes. Always tries to have conversations with you in Spanish but always ends up dropping it after ten minutes because he isn’t completely fluent yet. He’s good with kids but not great, he’s a single child so he can only handle kids whenever they aren’t crying, though he tries. Whenever there’s piñatas at a party he’s always the last to hit because everyone knows he would fuck that shit up in a single hit; kids love him for it though.

Katsuki didn’t hit it off with your parents at first; that was until your mother tasted his cooking whenever he brought over some curry he made at home. She switched up so quick on him, the both of them bond so well. Besides the language barrier they understand each other completely when it comes to cooking, you like being there to be the “judge” of their cooking. You force him to learn Spanish, he acts as if he doesn’t want to but you’ve noticed him muttering words in Spanish during class. His accent and pronunciation are pretty good, he loves to show off by speaking Spanish to your family for long periods of time. Uses a lot of slang while talking to cousins around his age, most he doesn’t even know what they mean but he uses them correctly. Tia’s tease him about being the housewife of the relationship. Is not good with kids, he was raised basically the same way you where but you refuse to let him near kids with such an attitude. Puts his everything to those swings whenever hitting the piñata, he once broke the stick in half and it went flying to the neighbors yard; but at least he gets the job done.

Ida is loved by your parents as well, he’s smart and very well mannered what isn’t there to love about him? He brings you and your mom flowers whenever he’s over. Learned Spanish on his own because he wants to be able to speak to your parents without having you translate all the time. His accent and pronunciation is on point, he’s good. Though he doesn’t use much slang, he’s very formal when he speaks Spanish. Good with kids but is not willing to spend all his time around them, because he isn’t great with them. If there’s a piñata at the party he always makes sure to not hit it hard, both because he doesn’t want to ruin the fun for the kids and so the kids feel like they’re stronger than him. They always tease him about being a weak guy even though he’s pretty toned.

Hitoshi sorta freaked out your parents at first. They said with those eyebags of his he looked like some sort of hobo off the street. Though thankfully he didn’t understand what they said. Took a while for your parents to warm up to him and realize he was a pretty cool guy. Learned Spanish to try and get closer to your parents; of course with your help. His accent and pronunciation are both a bit off but you can sorta understand what he’s saying. You’re parents like the fact he’s trying to learn Spanish to talk to them. Not good with kids, he’s incredibly awkward with them. He’s only ever ever hit a piñata once and that’s because he accidentally let go of the bat and it almost hit someone.

Denki is literally adored by your whole family. Even though he doesn’t bring gifts or anything to parties he has the energy that everyone loves. Always up to dance with literally anyone (of course you had to teach him) and yet he’s still learning so at times he’s accidentally stepping on people feet. Doesn’t stop him from being all happy though, people just make fun of him. Learned Spanish with your help, his accent is horrible but still speaks it anyways; he sounds like a white person. Literally the life of the party. Whenever you know about any celebration going on in your family he has to be the first one you need to invite. Your whole family agreed that he needs to be blindfolded whenever hitting the piñata and that everyone needs to be at least 8 feet away from him while he swings. Cause when he swings, he swings.

Red Scare

Movie/Game/Show: Marvel Dynamic: Peter Parker/Reader Warnings: some au where everyone’s in the compound and happy because :), i wrote out a russian accent for pronunciation purposes (it’s then quickly wrote out but hey), “slowburn” written by someone impatient, fem pronouns Summary: Peter just really wants to hold your hand and gets embarrassed by Nat and Tony to do it. Word Count: 3.5K ~~~

Steve was the one who’d found you originally. Well, fought you - to be accurate. The super soldier was a target you’d been put on as a Widow when Natasha found you both and broke the fight up. She’d just barely managed to convince Steve to keep you around - insisting that she could help defect you from Widowing and mold you into a new Avenger. It’d worked for her, surely, it’d work for you too - she just needed time. Time that, while hesitant to do so, Steve eventually granted.

Natasha graciously took you under her wing and began teaching you about American culture and how to blend in for more than spy work.

Now, Natasha watches with furrowed brows as Wanda approaches you. She had her arms crossed tensely as you two came to a meet in the middle of the room. She watches you, her dear student, reach out, hesitating before softly taking Wanda by the shoulders and leaning in to gently kiss her left cheek, then right, then left again.

“Okay,” Natasha put up her hands, signaling the two to stop, “so, ученик, you see where you went wrong there? If Wanda’s a stranger, you wouldn’t kiss her on the cheeks, right?”

“Vanda is friend, no?” you gestured between you and the other woman.

“She is,” Natasha nodded before jabbing your forehead with her index finger, “but you need to pretend she isn’t, just for right now.”

Throwing your hands up in defeat, you huffed, “Vhat? I’m bad guy because zis is ridiculous?”

“No one’s trying to say you’re the bad guy,” Wanda gave you a smile and pat on the shoulder, “Just in need of a little more practice.”

“We should start working with accents,” Bucky pitches in for the first time since ‘American etiquette’ lessons began that day, “Her’s is a dead giveaway.”

Natasha nodded before glancing over at the clock, “I’m sure you’d love to do that one, big guy.”

“Why me?” Bucky sat up straighter - he was no good with one-on-one interactions unless they were fights, and with your upbringing in the Red Room, Bucky was certain you didn’t need any combat training.

“I’ve got a mission to get to with Wanda,” the assassin pat the man’s arm with a teasing grin, “So, unless you wanna see who else is available for that, just sit tight till we’re back.”

The two redheads were out before Bucky could even reply, a sigh leaving his lips at the new awkwardness of the situation. It wasn’t even his idea to be involved - he just got looped in because of his time with HYDRA. Which, in his opinion, was unfair - Natasha and Wanda were at least actually Eastern European, he was lumped in by association. He stood, beginning out of the common room with a nod for you to follow, muttering under his breath.

“If I may,” you interject, nearly rushing to keep up with Bucky’s hurried strides, “zat eh, Spider. Spider boy. Is only one home. Stark, maybe. But Spider, definitely”

“Parker…” the man takes a glance at you, trying to shove his disdain for the boy back, “Sure. He should be in the lab.”

It doesn’t take long to find Peter with Tony, Bucky knocking on the doorframe to catch both of their attention, “We need help teaching accents.”

“And articles,” Tony interjects, pushing a stool beside Peter’s and motioning for you to sit, “Unfortunately for you, lavalantula, it’s hard to take you seriously when you say things like ‘get in house’ like a cavewoman.”

“Mr. Stark- “

Before Peter has the chance to defend you, you’re quirking a brow at the man and putting your own two cents into his take, “In fairness, vhat idiot vould get in different house?”

“Accent and articles!” Peter claps, a forced smile bright on his lips, “Will do, Mr. Barnes, you can trust me.”

“I really don’t,” Bucky glares at the poor boy all while he leaves, “If she starts making references to your movies, I’ll personally bring you harm.”

“Opposed to what?” Peter murmured, “Impersonal harm?”

That brought a small laugh from between your lips, causing Peter to perk up once again at the positive attention. It isn’t every day he gets to make a former Russian assassin laugh, he supposes he should take it as a compliment.

He cleared his throat as Tony went about the lab, “Alright, I think that first we should start with articles.”

“Sounds pointless.”

“They kind of are, but we use them here, so…” he scratches at the back of his head, “How about we try making the ‘th’ sound first, sound good?”

“Not really.”

It was a few days with learning from Peter, but you’d felt as though so much progress was made towards the lessening of a Russian accent. Or maybe the praise that slipped from Peter’s lips just made the most minor step forward seem like a leap. The praise brought a new bubble of joy in your chest, one that was never there when Wanda, or the ever rare Natasha, complimented your work. Maybe it’s because Peter was born and raised in America that made it seem more valid - maybe it was his buzz and excitement at teaching. Maybe it was just him.

“Why don’t you try telling me about your day, to get used to speaking with what you learned so far?”

“Uh,” you fumbled, trying to translate the events in your head before speaking, “I woke up. I trained v- with Thor. Then he left for mission,” you paused, realizing your mistake and sighing.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Peter was quick to jump in when he assumed self-doubts were bubbling up, “You’ve got a lot of time to learn, don’t beat yourself up over a mistake. English is a pain in the ass to learn, you should be proud of yourself for picking it up so fast.”

“Yeah?” he could sense the hesitant disbelief in your voice.

Even so, he didn’t let up, giving a confident nod, “Yeah. Just start over whenever. You were doing really well.”

You took a moment to plan out the response in your head, running through it internally a few times before giving Peter a verbal run through, “I woke up. I trained with Thor. Then he left for a mission. I went to the lab. Now I’m here - with you.”

“See? You’re already doing so well, you should be proud. We can work on elongating sentences later down the line, but this is already pretty great!”

You take a moment, planning the pronunciation in your head before responding, “Thank you, Parker.”

“Peter,” he jumps to say, shrinking back slightly at his own eagerness, “Peter is fine, if you wanna call me that.”

“Piter,” you try the name on your tongue.

“I don’t think we’re saying it the same way,” he nods curtly, “but that’s okay! Doesn’t have to be perfect the first time.”

“I would like to try again,” you whisper his name to yourself a few times before repeating it aloud, “Peter…”

“Right! Wow, you’re so good at this already,” Peter turns to Tony, who’s doing a poor job of pretending he wasn’t listening to the pair, “Isn’t she smart, Mr. Stark?”

“Coming from you, kid? That’s a big compliment.”

“I think it’s well-deserved,” he gives you a chuckle, “I really mean it, you’re good at this and this is just a few days into working on your accent.”

“You think so?” there’s a wave of sheepishness that comes with Peter’s attention, with his wide-eyed, all-believing stares that leads you to scratch at the back of your neck, “Good. I would not enjoy to be a bother for long.”

“Not a bother, at all. I like spending time with you, even if it’s just to teach you about American accents.”

Tony closes his eyes and shakes his head, honestly not believing the words as they come out of his mouth, “You two live together, you could hang out whenever you want, kid.”

“Oh, yeah, huh?” Peter’s eyes seem to come alive again, “We should, then. Hang out, I mean. Outside of these accent lessons, unless you don’t want to.”

“No, no,” you feel a small, unfamiliar smile stretch over your own lips, “I vou- would. I would like that, very much.”

“Yep,” Tony slaps a stack of papers on the desk before beginning to make his exit, “Definitely have to work on those sentence frames, Captain Ivan.”

For the duration of Natasha’s absence, you’ve stopped coming to Bucky for lessons on Americanization. Sneaking off with Peter to the kitchen when you can.

"I used to think that melancholy was a vegetable."

"You're genius enough to catch Stark's attention, but thought melancholy was the name of vegetable?"

"Doesn't it sound like it though? Can you really tell me I'm wrong?"

"No, no, I can see it. Like celery and the uh, the one fruit. They had a baby."

"The one fruit?"

"The one, I forgot the word. Don't you have a word for дыня?"

"You do realize I have no idea what you just said, right?"

Sometimes to either of your rooms, or walking together around the perimeter of the building, or traversing through the little garden Wanda had been working hard on.

"Would you like some food? I'm ordering."

"I don't have any money, sorry."

"I did not ask if you had money, Peter. Do you want food or not?"

"But I can't pay you back and then I feel all icky on the inside part."

"Think of it as gift then, no paying back needed. Gift for being a good friend."

"Aw, you think I'm a good friend?"

"If I had to have a first friend, then I'm glad it was you. You're a good person, Peter. I'm glad we met."

"I'm really glad we met, too."

Little times set apart to spend time together that always begin as lessons.

"You ever heard of solipsism?"

"Maybe, what is it?"

"Uh, the belief that everything around you was created in your mind."

"Then yes, why, Peter?"

"Well, I just was thinking… You know, if everything around me is imaginary then you're the best thing I've ever come up with."

"Peter…"

"I'm sorry, was that too cheesy?"

"No, I just- it was really nice, actually. Thank you."

"Well, don't thank me, it's true."

Times that quickly morphed into discussions on Peter’s favorite movies or what little parts you miss of home.

"Would you ever go back? Like, to Russia?"

"Only if I had to. Too many poor memories there."

"What would be 'having to'?"

"If someone I really cared about needed me to. You or Natasha, mostly."

"You'd go back for me?"

"If you were in need of saving and I had to return to Russia to do it, yes, I'd go back."

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"Peter, it is quite actually the bare minimum in terms of saving you."

Nobody expected it to last longer than the time that Natasha was gone - she was like a big sister to you, a safeplace when the Tower felt cold. So, when she came home and you didn’t re-glue yourself to her hip - people were quick to notice.

“I didn’t think Parker could get worse,” Sam noted under his breath, “But there he is, digging underneath the bar.”

Truly, Sam could’ve just looked away - but it was hard to do that when he was watching Peter fucking Parker, the littlest Avenger, try to win a game of footsies with you at the kitchen island. It’d be a cute sight if Sam weren’t the one having to see it.

“I’m staying out of it,” Bucky shook his head, staring down at the table as he pushed his food around his plate, “I haven’t been hungry since they got in here.”

Suddenly, Peter stands, “You’re low on coffee,” he points down at your mug before moving around the counter to the pot, “Do you want more? Just, while I’m up and here.”

“I hate that kid,” Sam shook his head, standing up and starting out of the kitchen, “I hope she rejects his ass.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Steve muttered, “In a way only an ex-Widow could manage.”

“She would’ve eaten him alive on the field, you know?” Bucky shook his head as he watched Peter contently refill your coffee and you give a rare smile only he and Natasha ever really knew, “I miss those days.”

“You try so hard to content me…” you begin, unaware of the conversation behind you, and tap your fingers on the counter’s marble, “Why?”

“You seem nice,” he shrugs, deflating when all you shoot him with in return is a skeptical look, “You do - you are. I like spending time with you.”

Before he can scold himself, you’re smiling again, patting his shoulder, “Thanks, Peter, you’re reassuring. I will be training with Nat if you need me.”

Peter expected a lot of things in his life - joint pain when he’s old, to be an Avenger with Mr. Stark, for missions to not always go perfectly, but gaining a crush on a girl who, admittedly, kind of intimidated him, wasn’t one of those things. But, also admittedly, it wasn’t entirely unwelcome, he’s noticed. He waits for Steve to make his exit before turning in his stool to face the only other man left in the room.

“Hey, Mr. Barnes?”

“Oh my- what?”

“You know Miss Romanoff, right?”

“Nat?”

“No, that’s Ms. Romanoff.”

“You mean ученик?”

“Sure, yeah, that’s what you guys call her.”

“Why are you calling her ‘Romanoff’, that’s not her last name at all.”

“No, but she’s like Ms. Romanoff's sister, or daughter, or something, so it fit. Anyway, do you know her?”

“Yes, Parker, obviously I know her.”

“Well, I think I may or may not like her like more than a friend, a lot, and I was wondering if you knew what she was into? Like date-wise… or gift-wise… or hey, even partner-wise, if she talks about that, ever.”

“She doesn’t and please don’t involve me in this. Go ask Nat.”

And so, Peter does ask Nat.

He makes up an excuse about wanting to be more agile on the field to drag her away from you before popping the question, “Do you think she likes me?”

Natasha doesn’t need clarification, she’s seen the way Peter looks at you whenever you’re around each other. It’s sweet. It’s like he’s seeing a full moon for the first time. He’s so attentive and soft towards you. Sure, the dynamic of a gentle-natured superhero from Queens and a Russian ex-Widow, current Avenger-in-training is a little strange, but she’s all for it if it means you’re happy. You’re like the little sister she so desperately wants back.

“She might,” the redhead shrugs, “Poor ученик isn’t so open with her feelings, kid. I can barely get her to open up about what she thought about dinner let alone her feelings towards the others,” when the boy’s face drops, she tilts him by the chin to meet her eyes, “That being said, I’ll talk to her. She’s a lot nicer to you than she is with the rest of the team so I wouldn’t kill that hope so fast.”

Peter barely manages to smother down a smile before nodding, giving an awkward thumbs up, and racing back down the hall, a “Thanks, Ms. Romanoff!” echoing after him.

Nat purses her lips in thought of who could be able to help her. Who was nosy enough and bothersome enough to try and set up two teenagers?

“Hey,” Tony pointed to the group of Natasha, Wanda, Bucky, and yourself on the couch, “Red Scare, in the training room.”

“Vh- Which one of us are you referring to?”

The man simply tapped the door frame with a nod, “Five minutes or I’m docking your missions.”

“He can’t do that,” Bucky shook his head, eyes narrowing as realization sat in, “Can he?”

And so, in under five minutes, the quartet found themselves in the training room with Tony.

“Underoos needs some training with fighting tactics known to HYDRA - so, who here wants to be the helpful little hero to do that?”

You look between the others, quirking a brow and shaking your head, “HYDRA is not a hub of top secret fighting techniques, it would be like pairing Peter with anybody else.”

“Sounds like you need to get familiar with other fighting styles then,” Natasha tuts, “I’ve let you off too easy just training with me.”

“I literally fight Steve and Thor all the time, there isn’t much difference just because he’s American,” you narrow your eyes at the woman, “If you both are up to something just admit it now.”

“No, no, there’s definitely a difference,” Bucky pitches in - though clearly not content with being roped into the mess of getting Parker a girlfriend, “He’s all in-your-face and forceful, you’re more like sneak-and-stab.”

“Because I am spy and he is fighter!” you shout, looking to Wanda with wide eyes, “Am I being the specific one? I feel as though I am not being the specific one.”

Wanda feels guilt run through her veins as she shrugs, actively knowing she’s aiding in tricking you, “You should give it a try. For comparison reasons.”

“You’re all making me feel crazy and I do not like it, I am at least a little certain this is a form of manipulation.”

“You’re a spy, you should be able to tell,” Bucky pats your back, “Anyway, I’m busy - you have to fight the kid.”

“Vision and I had a dinner reservation,” Wanda ducks out of the room quickly.

Tony points at you with raised brows, “You got it then, Xenia Onatopp?”

“I- “ you sigh and throw your hands up in defeat, “I suppose I do.”

A few minutes later, Peter is shoved into the training room while you stuff on a pair of gloves - eyes sliding over to the doorway to look at his jumpy form. You scoff, “They are up to something and I feel like I know what.”

“What? What - what do you mean?” Peter nervously crosses his arms and tilts his head, “Up to what?”

“Peter,” you raise a brow at him in question, “do you expect me to believe you are dumb? They are making us spend time together like this, what could that possibly mean?”

His mouth opens and closes, eyes avoiding your gaze like it’s deadly, “Who knows, honestly?”

Shaking your head, you begin removing your gloves, “Okay then, do not talk to me until you are ready to tell the truth.”

“Wait!” Peter latches onto your hand as you pass him by the doorway, “Wait, wait, wait… I- I’m sorry. I just really like you and so I asked Ms. Romanoff for help and I didn't think that she’d team up with Mr. Stark because nothing really good comes from Mr. Stark meddling in things other than tech and saving the world, but she did and they did this. I would’ve said something but you’re just really cool and I was scared you wouldn’t like me back so I tried to see if Ms. Romanoff could test the waters for me.”

“You see where that was a mistake, right?” you reach up, brushing your hand through Peter’s bangs, “I do like you, Peter. A lot. So I would appreciate you being upfront with me rather than looking through Natasha for answers.”

“Right, and I’m sorry- “

“Was honest mistake, Peter, do not worry any longer.”

“Are you sure?”

“Would not have said so if I wasn’t. I do not like your worry.”

Peter wrought his hands together, lips pursed, "Can we not pretend to train and just hang out then?"

"Are you certain you do not want me to kick your ass?"

“Well, now that you said that I feel pressure to prove that you won’t,” Peter shook his head and sighed, “I’m okay with taking a loss today.”

“You didn’t even try, didn’t even initiate.”

“So I’m the bad guy cuz I don’t wanna get my ass kicked, okay,” the boy sarcastically muttered before laying his back against the wall and sliding down to the floor, “Hey, you’re bilingual, right?” at your nod of confirmation, he continued, “What language do you think in? Russian?”

You pondered the question before shrugging, “I’m not even sure I think.”

---

“So,” Natasha looks between the two, “how was the training?”

“Awful,” Peter shakes his head, “Hated it.”

“Right… and you, ученик?”

You look over to Peter, his subtle grin and fidgety movements, before shrugging, “He’s a child,” you sigh, “Terrible.”

“Oh, is that so?” Natasha squints between the two of you.

You both nod in unison, “Definitely.”

“Anyway,” you cut in quickly, “we are off to ask Thor to let us try and lift Mjolnir. Please, don’t meddle in teenagers who have will-they-won’t-they scenarios, just let us be awkward about it.”

“What she said,” Peter grinned broadly before gently tapping his finger against your hand and withholding a small cheer when you intertwined your hand with his and led him through the halls to find Thor.

He was almost scared how much he enjoyed the feeling of your hand in his, something so small and inconsequential and yet it made his heart flutter all the same.

“This is nice,” he lifts up your hands briefly.

“I would hope so,” you tease, “I like it, though, is cute, no?”

“It is. Definitely is. I think so.”

“I do, too. We should do it more often.”

911 fic ideas I’m probably never going to write….

- Stripper!Buck Buck started working as a stripper while traveling around (it was a quick way to make a little extra money between jobs) but he honestly started to enjoy it and so he keeps it up on free nights between shifts (and the extra income has come in handy). What happens when the team finds out? (Initially unsupportive!Fire Fam but they get it together eventually) inspired by Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan

- Buck and Eddie are both pretty fluent Spanish speakers (they both have the grammar and pronunciation although significantly different accents)but they have very limited vocabulary overlap. (Eddie spoke Spanish regularly growing up but didn’t have much opportunity as an adult, he has no idea how to talk about things like taxes, rent, he couldn’t buy a house, manage a bank account, etc. in Spanish if his life depended on it. And he has a very limited vocabulary for sex/sexuality. Buck learned Spanish from having to rent an apartment, get a job, manage his money, etc. in Spanish, he also has a pretty solid vocabulary for sex, but not any vocabulary for family, relationships, hobbies, etc.) Basically all Buck and Eddie can talk about in Spanish is food. Hilarity ensues. (Points for Eddie watching Buck comb through a leasing agreement or something in Spanish and being utterly confused but possibly a little turned on)

- The team finds out that Buck spent the bulk of his twenties homeless. (Maybe after a joke about how attached he is to his car?)

- Buck and Eddie get Chris an adaptive bike, family fun is had decorating it to Chris’s liking.

- Taylor finds out about Dr. Wells and goes on a mission to destroy her career. (Buck/Taylor friendship, possible Buck/Eddie romance, supportive!Fire Fam, Taylor being an actually good investigative journalist)

- Fake dating to Queer-platonic marriage!Buck/Eddie. Buck doesn’t like dating, sex is fine (it’s fun, it’s nice) but somehow dating makes him feel dirty, like a liar. But the team all keep pushing for him to get into another relationship after Abby. With the pressure to agree to a blind date with someone the team chose rising Buck turns to the internet to find someone to get them off his back. Single father Eddie Diaz is new to LA and really just wants another adult to talk to, his abuela and Pepa are great but he misses having someone his age around. Too busy to get out and meet people he turns to trying to make friends online. Buck is everything he needs in a friend, nonjudgemental, always ready to help, always free to listen, and he knows LA like the back of his hand, the catch? Buck needs a fake partner to convince his friends to lay off his dating life. And he’s a firefighter, at the station Eddie’s set to join. It’s a terrible idea, sure to end in disaster, but it might just be worth it.

- Alternate first meeting! Buck and Eddie both volunteer cuddling babies in the NICU. They strike up an easy friendship, but when Eddie joins the 118 and Buck feels his place in his family is threatened, will it shake their friendship, or will Buck’s team face the brunt of his insecurities?

- Buck got cancer in his 20s, he’s been cancer free for years when he joins the 118 but he’s keeping a secret from the team, they caught the cancer soon enough to save his life, but not to save his leg. But when Maddie comes back into his life it gets harder to keep that secret, and Maddie has a secret of her own, a family secret that could have saved Buck’s leg. (A “what if keeping Daniel a secret had medical repercussions for Buck” story)

- AU inspired by Cate’s Brother by Maisie Peters. Eddie joins dispatch instead of the fire department, he makes friends with fellow new dispatcher Maddie, bonding over trying to put down new roots in the unfamiliar city. Maddie decides to play matchmaker and introduces Eddie to her brother, Buck, who’s moving in with her after finally leaving Abby’s apartment. (Slight AU where Buck is openly avoiding living alone). Eddie is in love with Buck at first sight, but is Buck ready to commit to a relationship with a single father so soon after Abby?

Marleyan Warriors with a Filipino S/O!!

[Author Note: this is literally a re-do of my headcanons bc tumblr’s being mean and deleting my drafts, anyways trying to rush another finished bc outta here 😭 also! Reminder that my requests are OPEN, don’t be afraid to send in any requests!!]

Summary: Marleyan Warriors with a Pinoy S/O!

Recommended Song: Titibo-Tibo by Moira Dela Torre

TW: Swearing.

Theme: Fluff, Modern AU.

Characters: Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Zeke, Pieck, Porco.

Annie Leonhart

Annie knew, she actually met you at an event for those with cultures, and saw you dancing with your friends to traditional filipino folk music.

She was kinda hesitant to go when you asked her to accompany you to the Philippines, she didn’t like traveling.

She was kinda shocked on how welcoming your family was, your mom and dad hugged her out of nowhere and she just let out a squeak.

Your little sister forced her to go to SM mall with her omg- She literally came home with bags of candy.

Yes, Annie has a soft spot for your family, she probably almost spent all her money on them.

Buchi rivals her love for donuts. She looked like she discovered a new universe after eating one of them thangs.

God, help her when she’s watching filipino movies, your family encouraged her to watch movies with them, and by the end of it she was a mess, pretty sure she cried into your shoulder after watching Seven Sundays.

BUT LIKE SHE ENDS UP BEING ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PARENTS.

You see, Annie is a really fast learner, she was bound to learn to be able to speak some point in her stay.

You were shocked when she spoke back to you in tagalog, like ‘dropped my stuff out of shock’ kinda way. 

IT WAS A PAIN GETTING HER INTO A BARO’T SAYA. But bribing her with Buchis got her to keep it on for like 2 hours so like..good enough.

Her favourite filipino song is Porque.

Everybody acts like it’s a concert for every karaoke night because she’s there, like she’s just THAT good.

Reiner Braun

This man was so awkward. He went on a trip with Bertholdt to the Philippines, and met you.

He didn’t think you would understand him, so he just stared at you while you talked with your friends, until you were creeped out enough and asked him if he had a problem.

When you and him started dating, you convinced him to travel all around the country. 

Firstly, you guys visited your family, your dad absolutely loved him, your mom was a little bit hesitant in letting him in the family, he was blonde, big and buff. Filipinos are bound to worry. Until Reiner cooked with her, then she started to warm up to him.

Okay but why did your family’s chickens like him so much??

He likes the feeling of being around your family, him not having a dad left an impact on him and he felt complete being with you and your family, he swore to himself that he’d marry you.

He almost fainted when he found you battling with one of the kids with your pet spider, mf was deathly afraid of your spider, it was like the size of your hand pls-

I think he’d be fairly good at speaking tagalog, he’s got an accent but people can understand him. 

He eats like a tito omg- You lost him at a party once and when you found him, he’s already eaten half of the barbecue. 

Everyone thought he was really old, because of his beard so everyone called him tito Reiner. 

He’s somewhat good with the village kids, you could see Reiner playing soccer with the kids or goofing off.

He says he doesn’t like watching Manny Pacquiao but it’s his guilty pressure.

He doesn’t really listen or watch anything filipino, but he will listen to old filipino bands if you play them in his car.

Bertholdt Hoover

HAHA PLs- you got mad at him for eating your cake and started cursing in filipino. He was confused because he thought you were just blurting out nonsense.

One second you’re explaining what you were saying and the next second y’all are on the way to the Philippines.

He sweats like a waterfall, LITERALLY. Everyone would like move away because he sweated that much.

You had a private island..because y’all were RICH rich. he was kinda awestruck, you literally just said out of nowhere.

“oh yeah, we have a private island.” ‘YOU HAVE A FUCKING WHAT??”

Poor baby was kinda intimidated by your basket-ball player of a brother, he was taller than Bertholdt omg-

You’re always worrying him somehow, he’s be on the toilet and he’d just hear you scream and he comes running down with his boxers, just to see you watching a telenovela and you had to tell him that you were just gushing over the drama.

He has never felt so embarrassed.

Am I the only one who thinks he looks amazing in a Barong?? Like he’d rock that shit- 

He loves eating filipino food, he likes when you guys stay in the country and you go out to buy bread at the nearest bakery.

Like every filipino, he too, dips his bread in coffee.

He ended up learning guitar while he’s in the Philippines, the country’s filled with people who can sing amazingly, he’s bound to learn guitar.

His favourite filipino song to play is Tadhana, it’s also the only song that he knows to sing to, like he absolutely butchers pronunciation for words but this man covers it up with this song.

Zeke Jaeger

He bumped into you and you cursed at him in tagalog, he basically just fell for you at that point.

I just know your family secretly hates this man, he slapped your ass once around your mom and your dad, it’s always tense when he’s around now.

You don’t have the heart to tell him your parents saw because one afternoon, he was gushing and praising your family, you didn’t want to ruin his happiness, his dad’s barely around and his mom passed away. he’d obviously be attached.

Yes you had to talk to your parents about it, a lot of filipinos are very kinds and forgiving, so your parents were very understanding, and made sure he felt loved around the family.

He actually almost cried when your dad told him to marry you already.

He calls your parents nanay and tatay.

You got him to buy a pet spider please- You would catch him fighting a kid’s spider to the death in a match, he’d feel bad though so he buys them new ones after.

Hey this man looks so hot in a Barong, please. You guys had to book a hotel for a night for some alone time yk.

Lord help this man, he tried to do the tinikling dance and he tripped, in front of everyone.

Every night, he comes to bed all shirtless, you could just hear the air conditioner buzzing as he tells you how fun it was playing with the village kids, or talking about he and your titos had a drink while watching a boxing match.

He more so listens to various artists, he doesn’t have a favourite.

but he will replay Joseph Vincent’s filipino covers.

Pieck Finger

She was on a business trip in the Philippines, and you were coincidentally at the same bar they were celebrating at. You were by the karaoke section and she kinda just, fell in love with you. right there and then.

Honestly some people thought you guys were siblings, Pieck can be mistaken as a filipino easily so, you guys expect it from time to time.

She likes to ask from time to time to teach her guitar, your mom probably has a lot of pictures of you and Pieck.

She loves eating the food in the Philippines, she thinks the adobo is great and if you lose her in public she’s probably by a street vendor eating food.

You guys dance to old filipino songs, a replaying song for you guys is Mabagal by Daniel Padillia and Moira Dela Torre.

She learnt Moira’s Part while you had Daniel’s part. 

GUys she looks so beautiful in a Baro’t Saya. And she knows it, she flaunts it so well.

You guys probably have a vacation house in the Philippines after leaving with her to go back to her country.

She helps you with packing balikbayan boxes for your family, she makes handwritten letters, she’s both good at writing and saying anything in tagalog. 

Her favourite artist is definitely Moira Dela Torre, she just loves her airy voice.

Favourite Filipino Movie? Yes.

You cannot tell me she doesn’t have a shelf full of filipino movies you guys watch.

Her favourite street food is probably qwek-qwek. She likes the sauce she dips, and she probably bought almost twenty bucks worth of the fishballs.

Porco Galliard

UGh honestly he’s a little cringey when it comes to the culture, for some reason I can see him accidentally disrespecting it somehow, I can’t help it.

Your family owned a sari-sari store, and he could not help for the love of him, he ended up being the one stocking it up while you chatted with the customers. 

Like Pieck, he and you dance when you’re alone, he probably learnt from Pieck too.

He listens to modern filipino artists, like Ex Battalion, Skusta Clee.

He tries hard to really be respectful, he butchers the way he says nanay and tatay but your parents appreciate the effort.

I can see him being able to secretly make amazing filipino desserts, his ube cake is bomb.

He watches Basketball with your dad, and they both drink during the match.

I can also see him being the type to scream out curses when he hurts himself, a ‘PUNYETA’ comes out of his mouth.

he doesn’t enjoy the hot weather in the Philippines, and due to that, he wears sandos all the time at home, and when he goes out, every girl always looks at him because he’s ripped, yes you’re jealous, but as you should, he’s your mans-

He also knows how use a barbecue grill? You can find him helping your family members while they’re selling barbecue.

he hates going to SM?? He just really hates going, because you genuinely just go for the food court. They sell hella good food.

One time he got chased by the village dogs, so he doesn’t go out without you or a family member.

He secretly loves watching telenovelas with you.

By Hook or by Crook (2)

May 1st, 2270

“Hello, Izuku.” “Hi, dad.” Izuku hadn’t exactly been dreading this conversation, but he hadn’t been looking forward to it either. He’d hoped his mom would do all the talking, having to break the news to his friends had been hard enough. For him. Most of them seemed to have gotten quite the kick out of it. “How are you? Your mother told me you’ve been having a rough couple of weeks.” “Mh.” “Still upset over that visit?” “Mh.” “Speak, son. Sulking doesn’t translate well over the phone.” His father chided gently.

Izuku sighed. “The doctor said I’m never going to get a quirk. I’m sorry.” “Whatever for? It’s not like you have any choice in the matter. Quirks are innate, surely you know that.” “Yes, I do.” Izuku said, staring at the paused frame of All Might’s debut video on the computer screen. The reflection of his own miserable face was superimposed with the triumphant silhouette of the hero. “But I’m sorry anyway. You have such a cool quirk… and mom’s useful too. I could become a great hero with one of them, but I’m never going to get any.” “Again, that’s none of your fault. And I wouldn’t be so sure of that anyway.” “Uh?” Izuku gulped, gripping the phone tightly. “Y-you don’t think I’d make a good hero?” “No, that’s not what I mean.” His father chuckled. “I mean that I wouldn’t lose hope just yet. You’re very young, there’s still plenty of time for your quirk to manifest.” “But the doctor said that all quirks appear before one is four years old. And I’m four. And I have the extra toe joint-” “Tsk! Some doctor they assigned you. As if one could unerringly guess the nature and development of something as unpredictable as a quirk with a single test. An x-ray, of all things. Ancient technology.” “The doctor said there was a study...” “I have an extra toe joint too, you know.” Izuku’s father laughed hearing his son’s surprised gasp. “Studies like the one your doctor mentioned draw conclusions based on the analysis of hundreds, thousands of cases. Those conclusions may hold true for the majority of them, but there are always outliers. Having that oh-so-precious joint and a quirk is indeed rare, but not unheard of.” “B-But…” Izuku’s eyes burned with the feeling of impending tears. He hadn’t expected his father’s reaction to be like this. No one had even remotely doubted the validity of the doctor’s opinion. No one. It almost hurt to hope. “I’m also too old…” “My own quirk didn’t show until I was… fifteen? Maybe sixteen. Way older than you are, anyway. Another important point to consider, don’t you think?” Izuku sniffled. Then cried, quietly. His father remained silent as the boy let the tears flow freely, wiping them on his arm now and then. There was a tangled ball of emotions deep in his chest, that he couldn’t quite unravel. After a couple of minutes though, the sobs abated and he felt better. Better than he had been feeling before his mom handed him the phone. “...Do you really think the doctor was wrong?” “You shouldn’t believe everything doctors tell you. My personal physician keeps calling me ‘the peak of biological and anthropological evolution’, but that’s because he’s been fishing for a raise for years. Clearly you’d expect a Darwinian champion to be able to walk under the sun without protection for more than five minutes without turning into a peeling tomato.” “Uh? Does that really happen to you?” “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that I’m albino? My skin is very sensitive to sunlight, and it burns easily. I have atrocious eyesight too.” “I didn’t know that.” Izuku winced in sympathy. “I’m sorry. That sounds terrible.” “Not nearly as much as you think. I have plenty of skills and tools at my disposal to compensate. It isn’t an inconvenience at all these days, although it did cause me some grief when I was a child.” His father’s tone got softer. “Sometimes it does feel like our bodies are our own worst enemies, doesn’t it?” Izuku hummed in assent, very much agreeing with the sentiment. “I’m happy it doesn’t hurt you any more.” “And I’m glad you didn’t inherit this nuisance from me.” A sudden thought made its unwelcome way in Izuku’s head. “If… If I didn’t inherit your skin and eyes… maybe I won’t inherit your quirk either…” “Izuku.” His father’s tone was kind but firm. There were times when his presence, even just through his voice, felt way more real and solid than that of many people Izuku habitually shared a room with. “Your ability will emerge one day, I’m positive of that. Just give it time and don’t agonize over it.” Izuku nodded, even though he realized that wouldn’t translate well over the phone either. “...Okay.” “Now, what else have you been up to in this past month, other than brooding over a criminally incompetent diagnosis?” Not much, honestly, but Izuku told him anyway. As he kept chatting, his heart grew lighter than it had been in weeks. Mom did always say that his father was a good listener.

July 1st, 2272 “They were talking about it on TV yesterday. It’s an old incident from some years ago, before All Might met Nighteye!” “I see...” “Not many people know about it, because there’s no villain involved, and villains make all the stories more interesting! But it’s a great story nonetheless!” Izuku rattled on enthusiastically, taking advantage of his father’s unresponsive compliance. “Uh-huh...” “So this boy was having some big troubles, I think, and he jumped into a river because he didn’t know what to do about them. But luckily All Might was around! Do you know what he did?” “He offered to cover all the expenses for the years of therapy the boy would need afterwards?” “Uh… They didn’t say that on TV. I don’t know. I think he just rescued him from the river.” “That doesn’t seem to address the underlying problem.” His father commented icily. “Daaad, you’re ruining the story.” Izuku chided him. “Anyway, the funny part is that this boy had a quirk that could turn water into vinegar, and he activated it in a panic while he was drowning.” “Mh. A peculiar quirk...” “So All Might got all drenched in vinegar when he dove in to save him. He made this very silly face in front of the cameras, it was great! And when the boy apologized for causing trouble, guess what All Might told him?” “I’m sorry I’m the living embodiment of this unfair, hypocritical society that has driven you to the brink of despair?” “No. He said,” Izuku continued, breezing past his father’s petty remarks with practiced ease, “It is I who should thank you. My skin’s looking ten years younger now.” “Oh my God…” The man groaned, and a loud thunk-crash noise accompanied his words. “Oh, come on!” Izuku giggled, covering his mouth with his free hand. “It’s so funny!” “Just because they’re called ‘dad jokes’ doesn’t mean I’m legally obligated to laugh at them.” “But it is funny! All Might’s the funniest! Did you know that he just wrote a joke book? It’s called All Might’s Gags and Jokes: A Compendium. It already has amazing reviews! They say it’s warm and relatable and cy.. cyclical…” “He wrote a joke book. A veritable Renaissance man, this one...” His father muttered. Izuku heard something clink in the background. Probably the pieces of whatever his father dropped. “Mom says she’ll buy it for my birthday!” Izuku added, swinging his whole body on his chair in sheer excitement. “That is such a poor use of your remittance. I’ll need to have a couple of words with her…” “It’s for my education!” Izuku enunciated with solemnity, straightening his posture. “There’s a whole chapter of American puns and word plays! It will help me learn English!” “If you want to learn English on your own so soon, please choose a decent source. Start with basic grammar and alphabet books, watch some subtitled shows and movies to get the hang of the correct pronunciation-” “I’m learning a lot from All Might already! The catchphrase he used when he was in college in California was I am here! When he’s surprised, he says Oh my goodness! When he doesn’t believe something, he says Nonsense!” Izuku parroted, taking great care of imitating All Might’s confident, surprised and disbelieving expressions respectively. They would be lost on his father, but he needed to practice them anyway. “If that’s a good American accent, I’m the next Symbol of Peace.” “Dad.” Izuku said, suddenly very serious. He had a very important question to ask, and it had been a long time coming. “Why do you always make fun of him? It’s like… It’s almost like you don’t like him at all.” The words sounded so wrong he almost wasn’t brave enough to say them. Izuku would have been mortified if anyone had moved such an accusation on him. “I suppose he has a sort of… charisma about him.” His father admitted ruefully. “I can’t say it strikes any chords with me though.” “Are you just jealous of him?” Izuku asked shrewdly. “Kacchan also talks a lot of trash about All Might, but it’s obvious he’s just jealous. It’s all right if you are, though, I mean, he’s so-” “I’m this close to hanging up, Izuku.” “But- but how can you not like All Might?! Everyone likes All Might! Boys and girls, children and grown-ups! From age 0 to 100!” “...I guess I just don’t fit the target demographic then.” Izuku huffed. “You’re so boring, dad.” “Says the one who’s been talking my ear off about the same topic for the last forty minutes.” The boy frowned, nibbling at his lip. “...Sorry. Am I annoying you?” “I’ll admit I may have hit my monthly tolerance limit of All Might trivia. Don’t worry about it though.” Izuku did in fact stop worrying, his father’s amusement clearly detectable in his voice. “I think I’ll be able to bear with your unabashed enthusiasm until you hit your mandatory disillusioned teenage phase. Then we’ll see if that obnoxiously cheery act of his will still resonate with you.”

June 2nd, 2274 “His normal body temperature is about two degrees higher than the average. Around 38-39 °C.” “And what can you deduce from that?” Izuku’s father goaded. The boy stared at the scribbles in his notebook in deep thought. “Uhm… that it’s difficult to tell if he has a fever or not?” His father laughed, but not unkindly. “I wouldn’t think so. You just said yourself that that is his normal temperature. Therefore, I wouldn’t call Endeavor’s doctor unless his thermometer read more than 39.5 °C, probably.” “Right.” Izuku nodded. That was obvious, wasn’t it? Why hadn’t he understood that on his own? His father didn’t seem to mind his blunder though. “Try again.” “I think…” Izuku’s eyes were just about to bore a hole into his rough sketch of the hero’s costume. He gave up after the silence started to make him uncomfortable though. “...I don’t know. What can I deduce from that?” “Hm… You did bring up an interesting point. Do you know how fever works, Izuku?” “Yeah. Your body temperature rises when you’re sick. If it rises too much, you can get in serious trouble, you could even die. It never really gets that bad though.” “But why does it rise? What does your body accomplish by doing that?” “Uh…” Izuku frowned. He was sure he’d read or heard something about that, but the details escaped him at the moment. “To help you fight off the sickness, right? You feel worse at first, but it actually helps you get better.” “Exactly. Most bacteria and viruses that infect men thrive and multiply optimally at around 37 °C, which is the average person’s normal body temperature. But the growth of these microorganisms is hindered when the environment gets too hot. That is the principle that makes fever useful for humans. As your body gets hotter, it debilitates the invasors, so that your immune system can remove them more easily.” “..Oh.” It was a pity that his father called him only once a month, Izuku could have easily listened to him for hours every day. He always had so many interesting things to say about so many different subjects, and he always exposed them so neatly. “So. Can you deduce anything new now?” “Uh, uhm… He… I guess he...” Izuku snapped out of his reverie. Right, this was a conversation, not a lesson. He went over the new information in his head as quickly as he could. Higher temperature than normal... Fever... Microorganisms... Immune syst- Oh! “He heals quicker than- no, wait! He doesn’t get sick at all! Because he’s always too hot for the microorganisms! They can’t grow in his body!” “Excellent reasoning!” His father’s warm praise made Izuku’s chest swell with pride. “Obviously he isn’t completely immune to any and all infections, there are lots of exceptions to the mechanism I just explained to you. But yes, I do believe it’s safe to assume that our esteemed Flame Hero suffers from the occasional seasonal maladies far less often than the general population, if at all.” “That’s so cool…” Izuku immediately added the new data to his notes, almost breaking the tip of the pencil in his enthusiasm. “Is that what you wanted me to deduce? Or did you explain that just because I brought up the fever thing?” “I was actually thinking of something else. But, on second thought, it may be too technical a topic for an eight-year-old.” “...Can you tell me about it anyway?” “Of course.” Izuku would never not be grateful for the patience his father had, never denying him any clarification on anything. He was just about the only adult who never got tired of his questions. Even his mom sometimes hid her fatigue behind a mildly insincere I don’t know. “High heat isn’t exactly conductive to the activity of human cells either. That’s one of the reasons why you feel exhausted and achy when you have a fever, your body struggles to keep doing what it’s supposed to do above its normal temperature range. But Endeavor not only is at peak condition at 39 °C, he can also withstand open flames with a much higher temperature. This suggests that his cells must be fundamentally different from the average person’s on a biochemical level, that his quirk must provide some particularly efficient cellular mechanism to prevent heat damage. One example might be some dedicated enzymes to protect proteins from denaturation, but now I’m entering mere speculation.” A pause. “Did you follow me?” “...Kind of.” Izuku said, kind of lying but not entirely. He had followed most of that. He scrawled and circled a couple of terms he hadn’t grasped - Biochemical - Enzymes - Denaturation - on the page. He didn’t want to waste his father’s time by asking him to explain the meaning of words he could easily look up later on his own. “The gist of it is that Endeavor’s Hellflame has at least two facets. Not only ‘creating fire’, but also ‘not incinerating himself’. The first trait would be a fatal liability without the second.” “Got it!” Izuku cheered. Now that he had understood completely. “You sure know a lot about quirks, dad! Like, a lot! About anything, really!” “For the sake of intellectual honesty, it must be said that it isn’t difficult to impress a primary schooler.” His father laughed. “I’m just older than you.” “How much older?” Izuku asked, realizing for the first time that no one had ever told him his father’s age. “Oh, by a lot. Centuries.” Izuku cackled. “You can’t be that old. You still go to work. Our neighbors are 80 and they’re already retired.” “I do try to keep a youthful outlook on life. But yes, quirks fascinate me quite a bit. And they make for the perfect topic to distract you from your incessant yapping about All Might.” “Speaking of All Might-” “No, I-” His father sighed theatrically. “I just walked into this one, didn’t I?” “Yep.” Izuku grinned. “What about his quirk? Do you know anything about it? He never gives straight answers when people ask him about it…” “That may be the single sign of intelligence he’s ever displayed. The more your enemies know about your quirk, the easier it is for them to find your weaknesses. I’m surprised the other pro heroes aren’t as reserved.” “I wonder why All Might does that, though. His quirk is… pretty obvious.” Izuku pondered. “It just makes him strong. Very strong. Like, the strongest ever. But that’s it.” “Allegedly, yes. But as you noticed yourself, if raw power was all there was to it, there would be no reason to skirt around the issue in interviews, no?” “So there must be something else… What do you think it might be?” “I think it would be no less than cruel to deprive you of the thrill of carrying out your own research.” Izuku let out a dissatisfied moan, and his father chuckled. “You are already so very proficient at it. Your mother told me you’ve already filled a whole notebook with hero and quirk analyses.” “Oh, ehr… It’s just stuff I read here and there…” “Mh, I’ve heard enough of your ‘stuff’ to know that there’s more than random factoids in that head of yours. In fact…” Izuku felt his cheeks warm for the compliment. “I think you’ve gotten old and judicious enough to be trusted with my emergency number.” “Uh? What emergency number?” “It’s a phone number I’ll always answer to, on any day and at any hour, in case you may find yourself in a bad situation. Hopefully you’ll never need it, but better safe than sorry. Now…” His father’s voice raised slightly, drowning out Izuku’s impending interruption. “Can I rely on the fact that you are aware that desperately wanting to tell me that All Might saved a kitten from a meteor does not qualify as an emergency?” Izuku pouted. “I know what an emergency is, dad.” “Good. Ask your mother to give you the number then. Don’t save it on your phone or write it anywhere. Memorize it, and be responsible with it.”

December 3rd, 2275 Sorry for the long silence. I had an accident on the job and I won’t be able to speak clearly for a while. We can talk with the included devices. Use your ring finger to activate them. Usual days, usual hours. Hisashi That short note held the first words Izuku had received from his father in the last five months. The first month he hadn’t phoned, Izuku had felt slightly disappointed, but understanding. His father was a busy man, surely something very important must have been requiring his full-time attention. It was fine, Izuku was confident he could manage to sweet-talk him into a double-length call the following month to make up for that. The second month, he had started to worry. His mother hadn’t heard from his father either. It was unprecedented not to hear from him for such a long time. Since Izuku could remember, his father had never skipped one of their monthly calls. They often talked on the first day of every month, and he kept trying to contact them exactly once each following day if his calls were missed. He never failed to reach them past the third day. He always called from a hidden number, so trying to get hold of him was not an option. The third month, Izuku’s mother had decided to use the emergency number. She hadn’t been able to get through to her husband, but the polite colleague of his who had picked up had reassured her that he was indisposed but overall fine, and would get in touch with them as soon as possible… which could still take a while. Curiously, the coworker had also instructed them to collect a sample of their fingerprints and send them to a specific address. Izuku had been mystified by the request, but his mother had readily agreed, commenting that it was “not the strangest thing Hisashi’s ever asked for”. The silent wait that followed had been a little uneasy, but not harrowing. Izuku and his mother reread the message a couple of times before opening the box they’d just been delivered. Inside were only the two mentioned devices with their respective chargers, snuggled among waterproof packaging and stuffing. They looked very much like ordinary mobile phones, except they had no buttons or ports on any side. Some quick experimentation proved that they could be turned on simply by pressing the indicated finger on the touchscreen. The display showed a very minimalistic chat interface, with a fixed red dot on the top left corner. No amount of tapping on the screen could bring up the virtual keyboard though, which was puzzling. There was no way to access the rest of the phone’s functions, if it even had any. It was the third day of the month, so technically still within the familiar communication window. Izuku kept poking and prodding at the buttonless phone for the whole afternoon until eventually, shortly after dinner, the red dot at the top of the chat became green. A minute later, a message popped up. Hello, Izuku. Izuku almost dropped his cup of hot chocolate in excitement, which was quickly replaced by frustration because he still couldn’t type anything in any way. How was he supposed to- Speak. I can hear you. “...Oh! Nice!” Izuku exclaimed. “Hi, dad! How are you? What happened?” I’ve been better. I got decked by a hysterical ape. Izuku frowned. “That’s not funny. Mom and I were very worried.” That wasn’t really a joke. What? What even- “...How? Did you break into a zoo or something…?” Sorry, you’re right. Let me rephrase. I had a violent disagreement with a brute. “Oh…” Izuku was about to ask for further explanations but he waited. The three bouncing dots at the bottom of the screen signalled that his father was still writing. We will have to communicate like this for a while. I hope it isn’t too much of an inconvenience for you. Judging by how long it took him to type even the shortest messages, Izuku thought it was going to be much more of an inconvenience for his father. He felt sorry for him. “No, not all. Is it… is it really bad? Shouldn’t you come home so we can help you get better? It sounds like you won’t be able to work anyway…” I’ll receive better medical treatment here, and I can still get some work done while I recuperate. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll recover fully sooner or later. Izuku picked at the lint of his blanket, choosing his words carefully. “You could… come home anyway. Even if you could work. When you’re feeling a little better. So we could spend some time together.” The three bouncing dots reappeared, but Izuku kept talking. He already knew what his father’s answer was going to be, but he wanted to take advantage of the delay to get a few more words in. “Some of my friends have parents that work far from home too. They’re away a lot, but… they do come back to visit sometimes. Usually for the holidays. At least… At least once.” At least his friends had actually met their fathers once in their whole lives, Izuku completed only in his head. You know how things stand. My job doesn’t afford me this kind of free time. “...What do you even do that won’t let you ever do anything?” Izuku muttered, out of sheer petulance. That was another familiar point of contention, to which his father replied with the same, word-for-word justification he always used. Every detail concerning my activities is classified by the government. We’ve been over this. Don’t be childish. And that was usually the end of it. Any further questioning after the ‘classified’ thing invariably turned Izuku’s father into a slippery wall of smooth deflections. But, considering the current situation, Izuku felt like he could get away with a little more nagging, if he played his cards right. “I know you can’t say anything. But how about…” He physically leaned forwards, trying not to let his tension seep through his voice. “How about I try to deduce something? About your job. Just… for fun.” No new message showed up, not even the typing dots. Izuku decided that it was as much of an approval as he was going to get, so he started to voice his thoughts as they formed. “...Your job is classified by the government. So it’s important, very important, so important that other people can’t know about it.” When he was very young, Izuku had obviously interpreted it as irrefutable proof that his father must be some sort of secret agent. He had exposed his conclusion to Kacchan and his gang once. They had… not-so-respectfully disagreed. Izuku had never brought up the matter with them afterwards. “Your note said that you got hurt on the job. So someone you know from work punched you so hard that, even after five months, you still can’t talk well.” Izuku paused. That was… a scary idea. It dawned on him, for the first time since the beginning of this whole ordeal, that his father may have really dodged a bullet there. What kind of a brute could possibly want to injure someone that much…? Surely a criminal… A villain, maybe…? “Your job is dangerous, and it leaves you almost no free time. It also pays well.” That last item was admittedly a shot in the dark, Izuku didn’t really know much about money handling. But he had noticed that his mother never denied him a gift or a treat on the grounds of its cost (his vast collection of All Might memorabilia was a testament to that), like so many of his friends’ relatives were wont to do. She didn’t need a job herself, and Izuku remembered overhearing a conversation she had with Kacchan’s mom where she had said that they were ‘well provided for’. “You know a lot about a lot of stuff, especially about quirks and heroes. You know a lot of things about quirks and heroes that I couldn’t find anywhere on the internet.” Izuku paused, racking his brain for anything else that stuck out. Before he could come up with more points to make, his father finally wrote back. You sure put some thought into this. I’m impressed. The lack of reprimands was an encouragement in its own right. Now came the hard part. These were all facts that he already knew, now he had to put them together… and no matter how much he tried to come up with different possibilities, there was only one explanation that rang true in Izuku’s mind. “Dad… are you some sort of… undercover hero?” Izuku waited with baited breath for the dancing dots to turn into a complete message. Definitely not. ...Aw, shoot. Although I guess I do happen to deal with heroes quite often in my line of work. Izuku gasped. That was the first real piece of information his father had ever shared with him about his job! And wow, he worked with heroes! And whatever support he lent them had to be pretty vital if he was always so busy and tight-lipped. “So you’re like… a policeman? An informant that tracks down villains for the heroes to catch? Or an engineer bound by trade secret? Or-” Enough, Izuku. I’m supposed to be resting. I don’t think being given the third degree by my own son counts as such. Izuku deflated. So close to the truth, and yet so far… Maybe he could manage to get some other clue out of his father later. But… there was one more thing he simply had to ask. “...Have you ever met All Might?” I’m just going to ignore you after this. Well, it had been worth a try. Izuku finally relented, reasonably satisfied with the result of his investigation. “Okay, okay. Sorry. No more questions. And no All Might stuff. Not that I have much to tell you about him. He hasn’t really been around lately.” Hasn’t he, now? Uh, odd. It wasn’t like his father to miss an opportunity to dodge All Might gossip. Izuku supposed there’d be no harm in taking advantage of this atypical spark of curiosity. “Yeah. It’s been like this for a few months. Rumors say he’s abroad, working on some large scale mission. Something very secret, that’s why there are no articles on him in newspapers from other countries either.” I wasn’t aware of this. That’s very interesting. Although I couldn’t imagine anyone less suited to hushed-up operations. Izuku couldn’t help but snort. In light of the recent revelation, he wondered if his father was so unapologetically critical of All Might because he had worked with him and they hadn’t gotten along… which seemed kind of impossible. How could All Might be the unpleasant type of coworker? Or maybe his father really was just jealous because he couldn’t work with All Might often enough. A sudden thought occurred to the boy. “...Sorry, I guess you don’t want to hear about hero stuff now that you’re, uh… on forced vacation.” Actually, I’d love to. I’ve been a little out of the loop lately, I need to catch up with the news anyway. Fire away all the information you have. Izuku smiled. “Even about All Might?” Especially about All Might.

the adult members with a SO who is a single parent

Always remember that there shouldn’t be a stigma around being a single parent and it is perfectly okay and it isn’t abnormal!!! Sometimes circumstances put us in weird and difficult situations and we have to make the best of them!!!

I skipped Zexion, Roxas, and Xion, just fyi

Xemnas

Honestly, your kids are kind of scared of Xemnas at first? And though he probably would never admit it, he’s kind of scared of hesitant around them, too. But then - THEN he realizes that… holy shit, not only does he have a partner in you, but the fact that you have a kid means that he can also have a little minion that he can teach and support to be a powerful and wonderful ally. If he ends up actually caring about your kids and looking out for their wellbeing, then you’ll just let it happen.

Xigbar

Xigbar doesn’t mind kids. Really, he doesn’t. But here’s the thing: if there are kids, that means that there’s an ex and he sure as hell doesn’t want to get involved in that shit, especially if it means that he’s just a rebound or something. Absolutely not. But…. your kids are too hilarious for him to stay away for long because damn your youngest is a mischievous little monster and Xigbar loves helping them bring a little chaos to the rest of the castle. It would be a damn shame if he missed out on the fun just because he was being a coward and anyway?? he could probably take your asshole ex any day

Xaldin

Listen. Xaldin likes kids. Really, he does. He had a dream, once, of a beautiful wedding with the love of his life and a bundle of joy, living happily ever after, but that was taken from him and he got his heart broken, so he’s hesitant to… get attached. Because he knows it would be easy to be attached and he falls hard and fast so he feels like it’s better to keep his distance at first. But your kids are fearless and they’re attracted by his giant stature and his braided hair and just… want to be near him? Which is wild and entertaining and damn he loves you and them so much and he’s so terrified that you’re going to disappear but he just can’t stay away

Vexen

He’s read parenting books and knows the science behind the behavior of adolescents, but nothing prepares him for actually dealing with a child under the age of five. “I helped raise Ienzo, it’s fine“ Sure, Vexen. Little does he realize that Ienzo was a saint compared to your two hellions, and if you come back after an hour to find him tied to his lab chair and his skin purple from colored markers, well, you have no qualms in saying “I told you so.“

Lexaeus

A BIG BEEFY DAD. Your kids are scared of Lexaeus for about 2 seconds before they’re obsessed with him. They like that he lets them climb all over him like he’s a jungle gym and he can lift them high - high enough to reach the cookie jar on the top shelf. He’s giant and warm and just their big teddy bear and my god, your youngest is so teeny tiny cradled in the crook of one of his arms that it literally melts your heart just to see your kids interact with him.

Saix

DUDE. Be prepared for your two kids to come back to you as if they were military commanders. They say please and thank you and are polite and kind, not because Saix was mean or anything and told them what to do, but it’s more along the lines of... there’s something about him that made them want to be good. You vow to let him babysit more often - and he agrees, if only because your kids beg to be around him so they can get his hard-earned approval.

Axel

Almost immediately becomes Uncle Axel but not really because him being their uncle while he’s dating you would be weird, but it’s the thought that counts. Your little beans are fascinated by his hair and his laugh and the way he treats them like they’re mini-adults and not just kids. You want to cause chaos? You want to nap on the sofa? You want to dress up in princess dresses and have a nice little tea party? Axel is HERE for it. Definitely their number one playmate.

Demyx

Your kids are going to be completely spoiled if they interact with Demyx for any length of time. He really likes kids and is somewhat a kid himself, but you know what??? Just put them all in front of the TV with some juice boxes and they’ll be good. Demyx is great at making sure that they don’t get into anything they aren’t supposed to be in, and they serve as distracting Demyx so that he doesn’t do anything foolish, so it’s a win-win situation.

Luxord

Look, okay, Luxord knows next to nothing about kids but your kids are absolutely fascinated by his accent. They could literally listen to him talk all day about absolutely nothing and they wouldn’t ever get bored. Don’t be surprised if your children start imitating him all the time just because they love his accent. Luxord is absolutely flattered and will absolutely offer to watch over your kids if you ever need a break. Gets pretty attached to them, but it takes a while. He’ll have to get over his complete confusion at dealing with them first.

Marluxia

You would never think that Marluxia is great at taking care of kids, but he goes from Refined Gay Wearing Gucci to Pre-School teacher. You come back to find them all sitting on the floor, your kids eating grapes and strawberries and drinking from juice boxes, absolutely enraptured as Marluxia goes over an alphabet book with them. They repeat his pronunciations, stay quiet when he starts to read, and holy shit you are so lucky to have him because he won’t do this for anyone else’s kids but yours

Larxene

Kids flock to Larxene even if she doesn’t particularly like children, but she knows that if she wants to be with you then she has to get used to being around them. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to being a ‘mom-like’ figure, but would she protect your kids with her life? Hell yeah. They’ll never want for anything when Larxene is around, so yeah, she might not really know how to interact with them, but she tries and she cares and that’s what matters

Kisekae Insights #24: GJ Club - how a spinon became a spinoff featuring Kyōya and Kasumi Shinomiya

(Art by 結城辰也)

The Kisekae Insights series has allowed me to bring the spotlight back on Waifu Network animes that I haven’t posted much about in the past due to lack of fanart or lack of interest. Like Hidamari Sketch in the last instalment, GJ Club will be no exception until I continue posting the usual content in my anime posts. Honestly, it was good while it lasted.

While Hidamari Sketch is a fairly popular and notable anime, GJ Club, sadly, isn’t. The anime was adapted from the light novel series written by Shin Araki and it only received one 12-episode season in 2013 and an OVA in 2014. Since it is a slice-of-life series, not much is known about the characters’ histories, which made it very easy to adapt into my personal project. All these factors coinciding with it being the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who made GJ Club the perfect anime to adapt and expand on.

Background information

For some reason, the light novel has been a bit hard to find. In short, while you are able to read it online, the sources are unfortunately scarce.

From 2013 to 2015, NanoDesu Translations posted translations of the light novel. They published a PDF and EPUB of the first volume (which is available on archive.org) and translated up to Chapter 17 of the second volume. It was then abandoned for two years before Haraguro Scanlations picked it up. As of September 2018, they only finished up to Chapter 3 of the third volume (with the first chapter being translated by Shadowys on Baka-Tsuki) and there are no further updates after that, with the exception of a one-off chapter released in November 2020.

As of August 2021, however, all the original translations by NanoDesu seem to have been deleted from their site. All the translations are available on AsiaNovel, but there are no illustrations because the reader doesn’t seem to support images. If the images weren’t discarded in the code of the novels, then all they would need to do is add support for them and then they would appear.

There are 9 volumes and two special volumes for GJ Club along with 8 volumes and a special volume for its middle school spinoff. It’s honestly telling how popular the series was when the translators have all but abandoned it.

Shin Araki also wrote an additional spinoff to GJ Club, namely GE: Good Eater, and a sequel, namely KB Club. GE is set in a fantasy world with the characters being based off the characters of GJ Club, while KB Club turns everything meta by having both series be the creations of a high school light novel club, with the characters of GJ Club being based off the members of said club, right down to their names. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of that approach given how I’ve adapted GJ Club into my personal project. In the end, I guess we’ll never really know what happens in the novels, but at least we have this.

Watching the anime and listening to the character music was how I first realised that anime was sexist to males because of the female-centric focus in most animes. Kyōya only gets one character song in the series, and even then it’s a duet with Megumi. If that isn’t sexist to you, then I don’t know how I can convince you that a lot of animes are sexist.

In January 2015, I published two posts outlining my idea for an English dub of the series that also fits with GJ Club’s depiction in my personal project. The setting would be changed to London, England, specifically the areas of Chiswick, Ealing and Acton (where their school is located) and the characters would speak with British accents. The images in the original post are dead because I idiotically copied the images from the site instead of saving and reuploading them to the post, but since I’m grubbing for content anyway, I’m going to repost my character details as follows:

Kyōya: The protagonist of the series. When he started Year 10, he was kidnapped by the girls when he walked into an old school building, hoping to find the Culture Club. He moved to London from Manchester just before he started Year 7. His best friend outside the club is someone named Tesshin Yokomizo (横溝徹心) who is a local and not seen in the anime. In the GJ Club, he is nicknamed “Kyoro” and despite his spinelessness, he seems to have talent in dealing with the girls around him. His birthday is December 18. Due to a crisis involving his family during his childhood, he and his sister Kasumi were left in the care of a family guardian just before they moved to London, but she left when Kyōya started Year 10. It might have been that childhood incident that emotionally scarred him and left him spineless…

Mao: The Year 11 president of the GJ Club. Her family is rich and they live in a mansion in Ealing. She has a habit of biting and picking on Kyōya when she is bored or angry. She always reads books and watches shows without kissing scenes.

Shion: The only daughter in her family, Shion is an expert chess player with many brothers, all experts in some kind of activity. She speaks in a Birmingham (Brummie) accent because her mother and a few of her brothers were born in Birmingham. It is unknown if Shion was born in Birmingham herself.

Megumi: The calm and nice middle sister of the Amatsuka family. She likes knitting and she is always seen making tea and cakes in the club room. In the same year level as Kyōya.

Kirara: Born in Swansea, Wales, Kirara is the tallest and strongest member of the club. She speaks English in simple, monotone sentences. Welsh is her first language. Kirara can be seen eating meat, sometimes sharing it with Kyōya, but not with anyone else. She is afraid of spiders and has little tolerance to alcohol.

Tamaki: (voiced by Karen Gillan!) The newest member of the GJ Club when Kyōya becomes a Year 11 student. Like Kyōya, she is kidnapped and forced to join the club. Her nickname is “Tama”. Her family is from Glasgow and they run a Shinto shrine in Acton. She has several younger siblings.

Kasumi: Kyōya’s younger sister, who was born in Manchester. After a visit to the GJ Club, she becomes inspired to start a middle school division when she starts Year 7. She has a brother complex and she mistook Mao for being a primary school student when she met her. Her proficiency in Welsh is better than her brother’s, who can probably speak at a beginner level.

Geraldine: Shortened to “Jill”. She moved to Chiswick from Swansea to be with her sister, Kirara. She first met Kyōya at Ealing Broadway Station when she had difficulty buying a Tube ticket. She didn’t really understand how to use the ticket machine, so Kyōya went to help her. After this, Jill considered Kyōya her “samurai master”. Jill doesn’t speak English fluently, so she relies on her whiteboard to communicate with the others. She is as strong as her sister and she joins Kasumi’s GJ Club when she starts Year 7 in Chiswick.

Seira: The youngest sister of the Amatsuka family. Though she speaks in a typical London accent, she sometimes talks through her cat clip in Received Pronunciation (the Queen’s English/RP) using ventriloquism to state her true feelings to Kyōya, who she has a grudge against.

Mori: The maid of the Amatsuka family. She likes to ride a motorcycle.  A running gag is her twirling before Kyōya much to his pleasure and annoyance to the rest of the club members. Sometimes, her mother takes her place without the family even noticing due to their identical appearance.

Kyōya, Kasumi and Momoka: The Brother, the Child and the Yandere

Normally in previous instalments, I would have described each character separately, but because their backstories are heavily intertwined, I will introduce them all at once in this section. Most of the backstory takes place around the Battle of Koshi Castle in December 2013 and during the Manchester Campaign of 2005-2013, which I have already covered in #15.

When Hiroki Ichigo’s twelfth incarnation was killed at Koshi Castle, he managed to escape in his TARDIS, where he regenerated into his new prototype, namely a four-year-old Kyōya. The TARDIS crashes outside North Manchester General Hospital on 11 December 2005.

Earlier, Hiroki and Akari’s gametes (along with those of Hiroki’s brothers and their families) were taken by Reona Yukawa and placed in the Progenitor so that they could breed super-soldiers out of them. When Takumi Kamijō and Kyōko Sakura manage to escape from their cells (saving Nodoka Manabe and Azusa Nakano in the process), he changes the destination of the baby about to be released into the Progenitor’s time portal. That baby was Kasumi, one of the super-soldiers grown from Hiroki and Akari’s DNA. She ended up at the same hospital as well and was about to be taken home by a couple when Girl Power killed them, resulting in Kasumi being taken by Akari and Shaun.

What remained of Hiroki was contacted by the spirit of Walpurgisnacht. Making a deal with her, Hiroki regenerated into his thirteenth incarnation, the female Momoka Mizutani. No, Momoka is not an OC for GJ Club, but she is based on the character of Apple Lam Chung-yan from the TVB drama A Great Way to Care II, played by Tavia Yeung. Momoka takes Hiroki’s TARDIS and heads to Salford, where with the help of Walpurgisnacht, she establishes a cha chaan teng café in the middle of a trading estate and hires a group of red drone Daleks as her workers, hiding their identities by having them disguise themselves as humans.

Over the next eight years, Momoka gets close to the new Shinomiya family by influencing them through Kyōya’s dreams to come to her café. Eight years later, on 11 December 2013, the Fourth and Fifth Doctors come in with their companions. When the Shinomiya family come in, a confrontation with Ayaka Kikuchi and her army ensues before Momoka transmats the Shinomiya family to a Dalek spaceship, where she prepares to execute them using the Yashio’ori. However, the Yashio’ori is sabotaged by the enemy army so that the laser beam would not charge.

As Ayaka and her army attack the Dalek ship, Momoka uses the Dalek-enhanced machine guns to fend them off. While two Doctors confront the Master, Momoka is killed by Girl Power officers, resulting in Walpurgisnacht taking over her body as she regenerates, maintaining her current appearance. Read #15 to find out what happens after this.

Once the Battle of Koshi Castle and the Manchester Campaign conclude, the Fourth Doctor helps Kyōya and Kasumi move to Chiswick in 2008. Five years later, the events of the GJ Club anime take place. During his time in Chiswick, Kyōya gets a job at the post office there and later, studies a double degree in Japanese Studies and Politics at SOAS in the University of London while also learning Cantonese, Mandarin and Welsh in weekend and evening courses (apparently he also wanted to learn Taiwanese but they weren’t running any courses, but that’s alright, he can always learn it somewhere else, which he presumably did).

On a side note, I volunteered myself to be Kyōya’s English voice actor, so I’ve practiced my Mancunian accent by watching actors like Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Tompkinson, Karl Pilkington and maybe a bit of Peter Kay as well. The only problem was that I’m not even sure that my accent is even Manc because I can’t tell if I’m getting it wrong and sounding like someone from Liverpool, Yorkshire, Newcastle or even Scotland. Oh well, that’s what happens when you really get into things.

I don’t buy expansion packs, I make my own (budget allowing)

So as I said, GJ Club only got one season and an OVA to go with it. Do Kyōya and the GJ Club make further appearances in the series? You bet your ass they do.

After being absent for much of the Next Gen Series in 2014, Kyōya and Kasumi receive a letter from their aunt, Narutaki, asking to meet in Hong Kong after their mother, Akari, went missing following the Siege of Ōsaka, only to be followed by Mao and the rest of the GJ Club, who learnt where he was going and managed to get on the same flight as them.

Narutaki, who had taken her Girl Power friends and established a rogue faction separate from the main group, takes the GJ Club to Nijō Castle, where she explains the background behind the Manchester Campaign and the events of Series 8 and 9. Soon after, Girl Power’s commander, Daniel, sends his brother, Nathan, out to find Narutaki. Kyōya tries to contact Hiroki, but he is unable to get through to him. Luckily, the TARDIS arrives and the Doctor and Hiroki help Angela and the others repel the attacking Girl Power forces. Some more things happen and by the end of the story, we learn that Kyōya and Mao are dating.

That Christmas, Kyōya and Kasumi head up to Manchester, but the Doctor briefly takes them and their friends back to Hong Kong for a picnic with Hiroki and the rest of the Zhuge family.

A few years later in 2018, the GJ Club and Momoka get a cameo at the start and end of the Gokaiger TV movie special. By this point in time, Momoka’s café in Manchester has expanded to many other branches around the UK and in Hong Kong.

The next year in 2019, Kyōya, Kasumi, Mao and Megumi are featured in a four-part adventure in Soulbound Series 3, helping the cast solve the mystery of Parker’s past and Shinbu’s origins. Two years after in 2021, Kyōya and Kasumi move to Hong Kong (along with the GJ Club) and join the Superhero Project as the new ShinkenRed and ZyuohTiger. You’d think Kyōya would be against violence given his harmless tendencies, but I suppose his character has developed over the years despite having abandonment issues.

So this has been the involvement of GJ Club in my personal project. It’s a shame the series wasn’t more popular or it could have gotten a second season, a manga, more (and frequent) translations of the light novel or hell, even a licenced release. This series is just like Sea Princesses in how popular it was, but despite the number of episodes the anime got, at least Shin Araki hasn’t abandoned the series (by putting it in a spinoff no less) unlike Fabio Yabu, who hasn’t made anything new for Sea Princesses since 2010 after getting more animated episodes than GJ Club did. On the other hand though, neglected series with little material has been good development fodder for my personal project as it allowed me to bring awareness to the existence of those series while also developing backstories and afterstories for them.

Marinette’s Balcony Club

Me, feeling productive: Let’s write more for this AU even though I have tons of actual stuff to get done and I have to leave for a thing in, like, 20 minutes.

The link to the original post for this AU can be found: Here

Part 2 for this is: Here

Anyway, this isn’t exactly a part 2 to my previous post, but it is connected. I give you: Marinette’s Balcony Club

-

Marinette was five years old the first time she met a superhero. He was tall, and wore a red, spandex suit that covered him from head to toe, and there was a lightning bolt on his chest.

“Hi!” the superhero greeted with a grin. “You must be Marinette! I’m the Flash!” He spoke kind of funny, like he didn't really know how to sound out the words, and Marinette said so.

"Marinette!" her mother gasped. "Don't be rude. The Flash is from America. French isn't his first language."

America. Marinette had heard of America, mostly as the place that had a lot of superheroes. It had Batman and Superman, and maybe Wonder Woman too. She wasn't so sure about that one.

Fortunately, the Flash wasn't offended. He just ruffled her hair and promised to work more on his French.

He stayed for dinner and her parents doted on him all night. He ate whatever they put in front of him, and they put a lot in front of him. Before he left, he crouched to be on her level and said, "Well it was nice to meet you little missy! I hope to see you again soon!"

He stood and turned to his parents. "She’s one cute kid you’ve got there! She’s only a little big younger than my nephew!” And then he was gone.

But he came back. Not very often, but at least a couple of time a year. And every time, her parents would tell her the same thing:

“Don’t tell anyone, Marinette. It’s a secret.”

That made it all the more exciting.

She knew a superhero. She knew a superhero, and she had a secret.

Marinette was eleven years old the next time she met a superhero. Flash had come by to visit, and he brought someone else with him. He was taller than her, but not actually that tall, and he wore a spandex suit with a lightning bolt on his chest, but it was yellow instead of red and it didn’t cover his hair. That was red.

“Hi! I’m Kid Flash!” he said in terrible French. Judging by how the rest of their conversation went, he didn’t know how to say much more than that. He knew some simple phrases, and once he’d exhausted all of those, things got pretty awkward. At least until her mom put a huge plate of food in front of him. And then things just got messy. 

Kid Flash visited again a few months later, still with the Flash by his side, and this time, his French was much improved. Well, improved in the sense that he could say more than just “How are you?” and “Where is the bathroom?” Marinette helped him with is pronunciation, and in turn he taught her a little English. 

With Kid Flash now at his side, the Flash’s visits became a little more frequent. Marinette overheard her parents whispering to each other how they suspected that Kid Flash didn’t have many friends, so that was why they came over so often. Marinette wasn’t sure who wouldn’t want to be friends with a superhero, but she made sure to give Kid Flash a big huge next time she saw him. He deserved it for how much his French had improved anyway.

Kid Flash started to visit her without the Flash, after that. She’d find him sometimes, just sitting on her balcony, looking down. “I screwed up a fight today,” he’d sometimes say, or “Some jerk at school threw my lunch on the floor.” Sometimes, she’d find him literally vibrating in place, in high spirits as he exclaimed, “I just ran around the world four times and now I’m starving!” Sometimes, he just “happened to be in Paris” and would stop by for a quick hello and a danish before bolting off. Sometimes he’d come in to greet her parents. Sometimes not.

Marinette was thirteen years old when she became a superhero. Now there was something she didn’t see coming. And yet, here she was, swinging through Paris with a magical yo-yo. She met her third superhero (besides herself) in the middle of said swing through Paris. But this was different. It didn’t quite feel as real. Flash and Kid Flash, they were real superheroes. She was just a girl in a silly costume.

And then they defeated some villains, got an arch-nemesis, dealt with keeping a secret identity...well, maybe she wasn’t just a girl in a silly costume. Marinette felt she maybe understood Kid Flash little bit more now.

She can’t talk to him about it, though. She hasn’t seen him since she’s gotten her miraculous.

It occurred to her that even when he did eventually turn up, she’d have to keep the whole Ladybug thing a secret from him.

She still wishes he’d stop by soon. It’d be nice to see him again.

Marinette thinks maybe she should change her tally for how many superheroes she’s met to how many superheroes she’s met as Marinette. Because meeting Chat Noir as Marinette is very different from meeting him as Ladybug.

Not because he’s any different, he’s actually acts exactly the same. It’s just her that’s different. Marinette wonders how different Kid Flash acts as his civilian self.

Honestly, when Chat Noir shows up on her balcony later that night after defeating the akuma, “Just to check up on her,” she isn’t all that surprised. Superheroes come to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. Or they live there. Maybe word got around that they give out free food to any poor hero in need. 

It’s definitely the food that keeps Chat visiting.

He comes by more often than Kid Flash does. Not surprising, since he actually lives in Paris, and Kid Flash lives in America (Central City, Marinette was pretty sure, but she didn’t know American cities very well).

But Marinette gets used to it. It’s nice, to know her partner this way. It felt more real.

Marinette isn’t sure why seeing Kid Flash on her balcony one night some months after getting her miraculous surprises her, but it does. Maybe it’s because they’re on level playing fields now. Even if he doesn’t know it.

“Heya Marinette!” Kid Flash greets cheerfully, a wide grin on his face.

“Hey,” says the guy standing next to him.

Okay, Kid Flash is one thing, Chat Noir actually makes sense, but Robin?!? The Boy Wonder? What’s Robin doing on her balcony?

“Uh...” Marinette stutters. “Hi?”

“Sorry I haven’t been by in a while, things have been pretty crazy back home,” Kid Flash apologized. Beside him, Robin snorts.

“Crazy is putting it lightly,” he grunts.

“Uhhhh...”

“Oh, right!” Kid Flash exclaims. “Robin, this is Marinette! Her parents own the best bakery in Paris! And Marinette, this is my best bud Robin. Yes, the Robin!”

Robin’s brows twitch in a way that means he’s rolling his eyes, but Marinette only knows because she herself has some experience with domino masks these days.

“KF and I were in the area and he insisted we stop by,” Robin explains. His French is far better than Kid Flash’s, the accent is almost perfect. “I hope we’re not a bother.”

“N-no, no bother!” Marinette squeaks. Honestly, she should be used to this by this point, but there’s a huge difference between knowing a few superheroes and meeting the most famous kid hero in the entire world. Well, maybe not that huge a difference, but still. “Um...would you like something to eat?”

Robin grins. “So this is why you like this place so much,” he comments. “Marinette’s Balcony Club is the best.”

(One day, far in the future, Marinette’s balcony would, indeed, become the place where all Miraculous holders come to hang out, and Marinette swears that Robin was some kind of seer.)

Kid Flash and Robin leave a while later with a promise to be back whenever they can. Marinette never found out why they were there in the first place. She never learned that they were scoping out other teen heroes after starting their own little team. She didn’t even know that they knew she was Ladybug (but of course they knew).

Chat keeps visiting. The Flash stops by once and catches up with her parents. Marinette mentioned meeting Robin and he just chuckled and shook his head. “I hope Bats doesn’t find out,” she heard him softly mumble in English (she was pretty fluent in the language now, thanks to her American visitors), but decided to ignore whatever it was that that implied.

It’s actually not too long after when Marinette finds a pair of American teen heroes on her balcony once more. Kid Flash wants food (like always). Robin wants a nap (he says that, but then proceeds to parkour around her entire roof). They’re great company. Until a third superhero decides to stop by.

“What the hell?” 

Oops. That’d be Chat Noir.

-

Okay, so yes, there will be a part 2 to this. It just started getting really long and the tone I had for this turned out completely different from the tone I had planned for the Jelly Chat scene. Stay tuned, nerds.

Okay, so in one of the comments of the first thing I wrote for this AU, I got asked to tag them if I ever wrote more for this, which is really awesome and makes me feel all bubbly inside that someone liked my AU so much, but I’ve never tagged someone before, and I kinda treat my Tumblr blog like I did my first boyfriend, so I really barely know how to use this site. If I fail here, I apologize.

@legendaryneckjudgestudent

Nathanial Info

Ref from pr1ncemax!

Verse: LifeLine

Date: 5/17/21

The Basics

Full Name: Nathanial

Pronunciation: umm

Nickname/Alias: Nate, but prefers real name

Meaning: Gift of God

Origin: idk honestly...

Pet Name: Kid (Aarron), Snap (Cobra), Annoying Pest (Starkiller)

ID Number: unknown soul number

Gender: Male

Gender Role: He has no limits

Orientation: Pansexual

Real Age: 10 (cant's age

Age Appearance: 10 (can't age)

Birthday: Jan 7th, 1994

Deathday: Nov 3rd, 2004

Birthplace: Denmark

Family

Immediate Family: Unknown

Upbringing: A Good Boy

Infancy: Unknown

Childhood: HYPER

Specific Looks

Species: Human/Dingo

Ethnicity: Scandinavian

Blood Type: Unknown

Preferred Hand: Right Handed

Facial Type: Oval

Eye Color: light Green

Hair Color: Blond/orange fur

Hairstyle: kinda sticks up

Skin Tone: Pale

Build: Skinny and Short

Height: 58in

Weight: 50lbs

Birthmarks/scars: Scar on left hand

Distinguishing Features: Black tipped tail

Mental

Health: dead...

Energy: way too much

Memory: He can't remember anything

Senses: Great Sight and Smell

Handicaps: small limp in Left leg

Medication: Needs some...

Phobias: Atychiphobia, Autophobia, Belonephobia, Catagelophobia, Scoptophobia

Mental Disorders: ADHD, PTSD

Looks Overall

Grooming: messy

Posture: depend

Gait: fast and clumsy

Coordination: Very clumsy

Habits and Mannerisms: bites hands when nervous, taps foot when excited

Scent: The smell of children

Behavior

Mood: Excited/happy

Attitude: Veryapproachable and friendly!

Stability: Due to his PTSD, it differs

Expressiveness: Hides feelings of unease/depression

When Happy: taps foot, runs around

When Depressed: bites hand, hugs legs, balls up

When Angry: He has no anger, just sadness

Living

Current Residence: 8 5 11 11 (Lower Land)

Community: oH mY gOd DeMoNs EvErYwHeRe

Family: Cobra (Daughter/sister),

Friends: Viper, Reed, Jack, Aarron, Caine

Enemies: None :)

Bosses: Basically Anyone

Heroes: Cobra

Relates to: Jack...

Pets/Familiars: Also takes care of Terrance

Material Objects

Wardrobe: hoodies mostly, and little kid t-shirts

Home: Shabby House, protected by barriars. No yard. Room is shared with Aarron, with checkered orange and black carpet.

Neighborhood: Shady

Transportation: Walking Mostly

Collections: Stuffed Animals

Love life

Lovers: Aarron

Marital Status: Dating

Turn-Ons: He has no requests

Turn Offs: Aggression

Position: Sub

Plays: um

Virginity: He's a small boy leave him alone

Element: Air

Beliefs

Religion: None I guess

Morals: Pretty Rightous person

Motivation: Everything!

Priorities: His Family, Love, friends

Philosophy: Glass half full

Etiquette: Think of a Child

Motivations

Main Goal: To protect and Love Cobra

Minor Goals/Ambitions: Nothing! He makes no goals for himself

Career: A Animal Rehabilitation Worker

Desires: Love

Wishlist: He'll be happy with whatever

Accomplishments: convincing Aarron that hate isn;t what he wants.

Greatest Achievement: Unknown

Biggest Failure: Letting Thorn get close to Cobra

Secrets: He wishes that Cobra had let him die and saved Thorn

Regrets: trusting Thorn, Not being able to protect Cobra

Worries: Aarron turning Evil again, strangers

Best Dream: He has no clue

Worst Nightmare: Cobra dies and he's left alone

Best Memories: Anytime that everyone around him was happy

Worst Memories: Thorn's Death

Personality

Hobbies/Interests: draw, watch movies

Skills/Talents: Good at Acting and filmaking

Likes: Everything

Dislikes: people being mean or rude to him, being called short

Sense of Humor: childish

Pet Peeves: Argueing

Dreams/Nightmares: PTSD of Thorn's death and his own dead 16 years ago

Quirks: twitching ears, mutters in sleep, able to make cooing noises

Savvy: Random Things

Can't understand: Politics, Anger, Complex emotions

Closet Hobby: Unknown ;)

Well Rounded

Strengths: Great listener, paitent with people

Flaws: impaitent with events, socially awkward, doesn't like being grabbed, Eye contact is hard

Perception: It could be better

Conflicts: Unknown

Instincts: look behind him, shut doors

Lures: Helplessness, fun

Soft Spot: Cobra

Cruel Streak: Get fooled he's perfect

Supernatural

Powers/Abilities: Teleportation

Origin: death

Ability: Pretty good for a kid!

Immunities: Unknown

Restrictions: Has to focus on where he's going

Alternate Forms: Has soul form (dingo) since he died, and human form

Small Personality Quirks

Favorite Colors: orange and yellow

Favorite Animals: Any!

Favorite Mythological Creatures: Phoenix

Favorite Flavors: ANything sweet

Favorite Foods: candy

Favorite Drinks:orange juice

Speech

Languages: A little Norweigion, English

Accent: Hard to tell cuase of lisp

Voice: high pitch

Speech Impediments: stutter and lisp

Insult: Stop it!

Laughter: -intense giggling commences)

Signature Quote: "I know there is some good in you. Now we just have to find it."

Personality Quiz Answers

Temperament: Chloric

Enneagram: The Enthusiast

Ego/Superego/Id: Inperfection and harm

The Self: (The center/core of your character)

The Shadow: clingy :(

Creator Notes

Alignment: Good

Symbol:

Song: I'm still standing by Elton John

Vice: Envy

Virtue: Patience/Charity/Kindness/Humility

Defining Moment: Insisting Mercy

Tropes: The little brother

One Word: Perfect

Hi meg I love so much reading your posts about learning Italian and so earlier on the summer I started to learn and I wanted to ask about your advice for basic steps for me to learn easier? Thank you so much! Sorry english is not my first language 🤗

Helllooo! Ah don’t you worry, your English is fine! ❤️

Yey for you learning Italian!!!! I am no expert at all but I can pass on some tips for how I’ve learned the basics and some things that have really helped me put stuff together and especially to be able to read and pronounce. I may be stating the obvious here but I thought I’d include a total noob’s version as that’s what I was!!

First thing, learn the alphabet and letter sounds. Italian has a total benefit of being pronounced via each letter (except for some v specific exceptions) so going from English and other languages which are full of silent letters and complex sounds made by a collection of letters, Italian is a JOY! It’s mainly pronounced as per each letter and it makes reading it much easier (and is part of what makes it sounds so pretty!). To start, learn the exceptions for letters C and G and the SC sound... alongside approaching double letters! Also learn the letters that Italian DOESN’T have and what they use to make those sounds aka “Y” (unless they use foreign words)

Learn basic words. Sounds obvious as hell but when I say that, I don’t mean “hello”, I mean stuff like “sometimes”, “maybe” “often”, “only”... that was the damn key for me! Learn the top 1000 words used in Italian! Honestly, this was the gateway for me in terms of reading. It makes Italian subs easier to read too. For me, the verb is the key and then all these extra words slowly slot into place. Learning specific to Italian words too helps massively like those classics like “allora” and “ecco” etc help woth conversational stuff

Obviously the basics of language learning, you’ll need the question words and basics in articles but with Italian it’s MUCH harder than in English but it depends what your mother tongue is because, to you, masc and fem articles etc may be normal. If not, LEARN. Just practice with tons of words. Duolingo is good for this practice. So you want to know the definites and indefinites for each and the exception (damn you words beginning with vowels!)

Verbs. God I don’t even know where to start but, for basics, learn the common verbs ending in ARE, IRE and ERE in basic present tense and then learn basic regular conjugation. This is kinda obvious for learning languages but again, it depends what your mother tongue is! English is kinda simple in many ways for this aka “I do, you do, they do” but if you learn conjugation tables then you’re onto a winner! For irregular verbs... lord, it’s a case of just learning them. (For example, MORIRE can get screwed! I forget it all the time). Verbs like essere, avere, uscire, andare, potere, sapere, stare, prendere are a MUST as a start. They’re the foundation on which it’s all built tbh!

I found it VERY helpful in the early days trying to just create basic sentences like “the cat is called Bob” hahaha and then changing it to “I am called Bob” and then “they have a cat called Bob” and from there you get good practice.

Learn some fun vocab! Look at foods and drinks and animals and clothes and body parts and furniture and you can start using them in sentences. Duolingo sucks for quite a bit but it’s VERY good for this stuff

Buy some Italian task books! Instructional books are great but exercises are the best for me and you can work through them bit by bit as you progress

Learn numbers - just stick to 1-100 first (it’s pretty simple tbh) and learn days of the week (obvs) but when you have done that you can move to TIME and places in time.... which will the lead onto the past tenses but the present tense is good for now and in Italian you can kinda use the present for the future in many circumstances!

Listen to a podcast called Coffee Break Italian. It’s brilliant!

Listen to italian music, watch tv shows (Skam It was a total key for pronunciation for me... and now I can hear the accents it’s so weird for me to watch it back! My teacher speaks northern italian and sounds v different to most of the Skam It folks) and movies. Read poetry. There’s a website that has Italian fairytale videos (google is your friend) which helped me a lot as it’s simple language but it’s also good for practice

That’s about it, for a start! Once you have the basics like introducing yourself, as you learn the other stuff it’ll all slot into place. Like, learning “mi chiamo” in lesson 1 meant nothing to me other than oh that’s how you say “I’m called” but it wasn’t until I did verbs I realised why you say “chiamo” and why that changes to “chiami” or “chiama” etc... and slowly it all pieces together like a puzzle.

A MAJOR PLUS with Italian is that the words are mainly ordered in the same order as English... for the most part. So if you can speak/know English then it’s fab! There’s obviously differences but generally, it’s not too tough to construct a sentence as you develop! German, for example, used to drive me mental with verbs all over the shop! Haha

I hope this helps in some way! If you have the means, I’d absolutely suggest taking classes. They’ve helped me so so much as I get to speak much more and make all those silly mistakes and actually try to speak on the fly which has made it so fun. At the start my teacher would ask us to say “my name is Megan and I live in London”..... now, it’s like “ok Megan, I want you to tell me how you felt when you graduated, where you were, who attended, what you wore and tell me about your friend’s last birthday party and give me directions from your home to a nearby church and tell me what you’re having for dinner and how to cook it then tell me about your entire family and tell me how to give instructions to citizens in a local park” and I’m like 😑😑😑😑 hahaha

Sending love to you! I hope you love learning it as much as I do!

Personal Post

I just wanted to write this because it’s been on my mind and I find it frustrating how few resources there seem to be about it. With Cinco de Mayo coming up, and Latino media being all around, I’m reminded that I’m technically of mixed descent, which to be clear, I’m pretty proud of. I was raised by my mother and her side of the family who are white through and through so for a majority of my life that’s what I identified as and where a lot of my mannerisms and cultural understanding comes from. I imagine it was probably for the best, particularly growing up on Long Island, especially considering I am VERY white passing.

I never met my father (who was Puerto Rican [though later DNA tests on myself reveal that genetically speaking he was predominantly Spanish, so white Hispanic)] and have no desire to. Literally, the extent of my knowledge about him is that he was ethnically Puerto Rican to some capacity. I genuinely believed that women just got immaculately pregnant on their own until I was 7 as I just assumed I didn’t have a father (it’s somewhat embarrassing to admit, even if I was young and how was I supposed to know? I didn’t understand what was so special about the story of Mary for a long time to put it mildly.).

I remember the night I found out so vividly. I was at a sports practice and the kids were talking about their dads. I proclaimed that I didn’t have one. One of the older kids informed me that that was impossible. I was honestly offended and went to our coach, who I assume didn’t know how to respond or why I would even ask (I don’t blame him), so he told me that I definitely have a father. Again, outraged, when I got back home I asked my mother about it who told me that I did have a father.I asked “Well if I have a father, that means I must be half something else” as she had grown up telling me her half and that the other half was “American” because I was born in America (lmao). She told me that I was Puerto Rican, which I didn’t have a problem with. I didn’t even know where that was (and I guess by some technicalities, she wasn’t wrong in saying I was “American”, just “American Territory”) so that was of little impact to me. I was furious that whoever my father was chose to have no part in my life and I felt nothing but bitterness, so when she asked if I wanted to know more about him, I said no. I still like to keep it that way if I’m being honest. I am still bitter and if the little snippets I’ve heard in hushed tones from my other family is any indication, I don’t want to know more about him even if I wasn’t.

So, I continued to consider myself exclusively white because that’s what other people considered me, that’s how I was raised, that’s what I look like and likely subconsciously because I was bitter and it did benefit me on some level. As it turns out though, my mother has a thing for Hispanic guys (a little weird I guess, maybe a bit fetishistic [I don’t know the extent and I don’t want to know so I can’t say for certain], but good for her I suppose) and she soon after got involved with another guy, my now pseudo-step father in all but legality really. He’s of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, his father lived in Mexico (and has since gone back of his own volition), his mother (IIRC) lived in Puerto Rico, etc. He’s not deeply associated with his roots, he’s definitely “assimilated” having grown up in New York and California. He speaks broken Spanish, perfect English, and really is an American through and through, save for some more traditional cultural vestiges (which isn’t bad to be clear). He loves chihuahuas, sombreros, maracas, Mexican cuisine, Speedy Gonzalez etc. It’s somewhat superficial and a bit stereotypical, but I understand why he feels a connection to it as a very American man. It’s an easy way for him to very clearly connect to his roots, even if they’re not pieces of great cultural significance. Whether or not it’s problematic, I’m glad it gives him some of the connection he wants to his culture and it makes him proud.

Growing up around him and his kids, I felt a bit like an outsider, and I’ll probably admit, initially I was arrogant. I grew up being an only child (which definitely was a big shift to begin with) and couple that with the fact that I was still at that time an academic golden child in traditionally very (BIG quotes here) “polite” (Read: white) environments, I didn’t really jive with my brothers for a long time. As things went on though, I had my golden kid breaking point, crashed out a bit, eventually my mom moved in with him bringing me in tow, and I mellowed out a bit as I got over some teenage angst. During that time, I never fully connected with the heritage because it wasn’t mine, I’m not Mexican, but I understood and appreciated it. I can earnestly say, it is one of the cultures that I am the most fascinated and captivated by. I can go on and on and wax poetic about the historical achievements of Native peoples of Central America, their food, their ability to weather adversity, and their faith that things will get better. The culture is so much deeper than the “illegal immigrants” and cartel ties that we’re constantly shown in media, and I’m glad that to an extent things are slowly shifting to show the humanity of the people. But anyway, tangents aside, I’m still very culturally white and white passing, albeit with a better understanding of Latino cultures.

As more and more time goes on though, I am starting to feel like I’m a bit disconnected from a part of my culture and heritage, but I feel uncomfortable claiming it. Not because I don’t want people to know that I’m Hispanic, I have no issue with that, in fact I love whipping out that I’m sleeper Hispanic with a Hispanic family when people think they’re safe to be a little racist with me before I call them out on it. The reason is just because I don’t feel Hispanic enough and I’m too white, and it’s something I’ve struggled with for a while, but it becomes more and more obvious to me as time goes on. I understand that this is a really common issue for people of mixed races, particularly for those with mixed heritage upbringings. They feel adrift between two worlds and people are always looking for a way to categorize them into their preexisting schemas of how we view race in America. Some of what these people say when I’m looking for it resonates with me, but a lot of it also doesn’t. It’s not because my life is harder or I’m special or anything, but it is a very particularly niche scenario. I grew up almost exclusively white, it’s difficult for me to convince a lot of people that I’m more than white, I grew up with white privilege, and I never really had a Hispanic/Latino experience.

I want to be clear, this isn’t me crying about being white, particularly also being male, cis, and generally het. It’s been a privilege for sure that’s opened up a lot of doors that wouldn’t have otherwise been open to me, I’m sure, and I wish I could extend those same rights, opportunities, and safeties to everybody. That said, I feel like a complete outsider to those roots and feel dirty claiming them. Like I’m taking it away, diluting, or appropriating those cultural celebrations from the people who really deserve them. My experiences with the people and the culture is that they’re ecstatic to share it and have people take an interest in it. It’s generally very inclusive, friendly, and they love to treat you (or at least me as a very small boyish looking man) like family. It’s genuinely awesome. I can’t not think of myself as the generic white dude who works a boring office job and says every Spanish word with the whitest accent possible (to be clear I do work an office job, but I do a pretty solid job of pronunciation with EXCELLENT R rolls, trills, etc.) invading a space not made for me.

It’s a really complex topic, one that’s hard to fully articulate, which is what I’ve seen is a consistent thread in writings from mixed race individuals talking about their experiences. I’m friends with a surprisingly large amount of white passing Puerto Rican mixed race people and you’d think I’d talk about it more with them, but no. I probably should, but it’s a personal and somewhat intimate topic to just suddenly spring on people. For now though, I suppose I’m content to observe and appreciate Latin-X culture and people “from a distance” and amplify their voices as much as I can as a white passer.

Ten things I’ve learned from watching the ‘Von Trapped Family’ (that’s what the Gilmour family is calling themselves) livecasts:

So....David’s wonderful wife, Polly Samson, was supposed to be doing a book launch of her latest “A Theatre for Dreamers” but, of course, it was cancelled ‘cause of COVID-19. Instead, we’ve been getting several livecasts on Facebook. They are sheltering together at their country home with all of their children except for Joe (at least Joe doesn’t show up anywhere). Son Gabriel built a backdrop that looks like a Greek taverna (the book is set on the Greek island of Hydra). Oldest son, Charlie is the 'interviewer,” reading questions and comments, Polly answers most of the questions and does readings from her book, Charlie’s wife Irina occasionally reads one of Leonard Cohen’s poems (Leonard is one of the major characters in the book) in between taking care of their baby. Romany, David and Polly’s daughter, plays harp and sings absolutely heavenly duets with her father. David plays background guitar, singing occasionally and commenting even more occasionally.  ONE   This may be the only time I’ll get to see David live...who KNOWS when he’ll come up with another album and tour and even then, I think it highly unlikely he’ll ever tour N. America again so....I haven’t given up hope but I am really grateful that I get to watch this.  TWO  UTTERLY charming. The whole bunch of them.  THREE   I LOVE POLLY. No, I mean I really love her. To paraphrase @glorious-blackout​ “Ma’am, I am a simple heterosexual, quit confusing me.” She is so lovely, unaffected, funny, kind, brilliant - she’s an absolute darling. I probably wouldn’t have known anything about her if she and David hadn’t married but she impresses me to no end.  FOUR   Every single one of this family has a beautiful speaking voice, Irina is from somewhere middle Europe - Ukrainian, perhaps? Damn, I adore that accent. She’s very quiet but when she read that poem. WOW. Charlie has that exact pronunciation and modulation you expect from a very eccentric, very educated, very literate sort and I am totally here for it.  Polly has what I can only describe as a warm voice, David too. They have such warm tones in their voices. She’s doing the narration for the recorded book version and David is doing the sound production for it, so you KNOW it’s going to be good.  Romany’s going to have her own paragraph and so is David.  FIVE  There is always at least one dog in the room. The dogs are very much included in everything. I remember that moment from “Wider Horizons” when David was walking by and greeted their old doggie (who is gone now), “Hello Mr. Khan.” He does the same thing with their present dogs. This family LOVES ANIMALS (be sure to Google Charlie’s whole experience with Benzene, his pet magpie).  SIX  Everyone is invited to submit questions on the Facebook feed. SHE ANSWERED ONE OF MY QUESTIONS.  But aside form that, I have to admit that I get really annoyed at both the repetitiveness and, frankly, the disrespect for the occasion in a lot of the questions. It’s HER book that they are launching and they don’t mind answering other questions but, as you can imagine, tons of them are: “Will you and Roger ever play together again?” (really? Really? REALLY?); “When will you be touring again?” “Come back to ____ (fill in location)”  Anyone who knows A N Y thing about David knows that he gets so fucking tired of the same thing AND that he has way too much respect for his wife than to turn it into a PF thing.  SEVEN   I really want to read this book. Leonard Cohen had a big impact on me, since I was about fourteen or fifteen. Polly thinks he is one of the greatest poets of our time and I have to agree with her.  EIGHT   Romany. She. looks. so. much. like. David. Just a tiny bit more feminine but SO MUCH. She plays the freaking harp for pity’s sake. He plays guitar, she plays the harp, they harmonize together like a couple of freaking angels. Chrrrrrrrist. Someone asked if she were going to pursue a career in music and she said, “NO!” Who can blame her? I feel bad for the offspring of famous people who try to go down the same path for all the obvious reasons. Anyway, she’s other-worldly beautiful, as you can imagine. She’s into acting (theatre) and photography.  And Polly said that when she is deep in the writing process and driven by it, Romany delivers cups of tea and snacks to her desk.  NINE  David and Polly. So not only can any of us who wish to find a man ever find a man who really compares but goddamnit, they seem to have one of the nicest relationships I can imagine. I am SURE it’s not perfect (in fact, I know that one of their songs rose out of a fight they were having “What Do You Want From Me”) but it looks really good.  Keep in mind these livecasts are very unstructured and sort of goofy, like you just dropped around to visit them and you have to take what you get. And they just casually say things like this:  David: “It’s a privilege to work with someone who is as great a writer as Polly” Polly: “David is in all of my books”  The way they look at each other.     Sigh. TEN  David. One of the questions was about who cooks the most and what is your favourite dish of that person. Polly said David cooks the most and her favourite creations of his is “posh cheese on toast” (this is also known as Welsh Rarebit OR Welsh Rabbit because the people of the British Isles like to confuse the rest of us). Apparently he adds the leftover brie, which sends it right over the top.  He speaks the least of anyone, unless someone asks him a direct question, which is usually Polly. He noodles about on the guitar, mostly Leonard Cohen songs. Charlie calls him Papa. I am convinced this man is living his best life. He looks so content and mild. His speaking voice just gets better - lower, richer. His singing voice is as good as ever. People hound him about touring and so on. Honestly, why would he? He loves his home, his family, his studio in the barn, cooking, puttering around the garden. Why go to all the trouble? He might still but I don’t think he has any desire for big tours anymore and I can’t say I blame him. He’s been there, done that.  FINALLY   Yes, of COURSE I wish they would adopt me. Okay, that’s not true ‘cause I am lucky enough to been born into a loving family -  but I wish they would be my best friends! How I would love to drop around to the farm and find out what fruit trees David has planted and which roses Polly likes the best. There are no perfect families. There are no “well-adjusted” families. There are always traumas and secrets and regrets. But this one seems to be doing a fairly good job. Best wishes to David, Polly and all of their brood.  And a special hi to Barbounia and Random Dog - extra cute. 

Hi, I'm sorry for being dense but could you explain why that comment on your podfic made you upset? I see that they did not appreciate anything YOU did and they did not praise your contribution but I honestly can't see what is wrong with it - I'm afraid I might have just as well left a very similar comment because I simply did not know what else to say. Could you please explain more? If it's too upsetting, just ignore this ask. I'm just confused/worried my comments might make sb sad. :(

Hi anon! You’re not being dense, and thanks for asking.

I do admit that this comment has a lot of lovely qualities and it’s doing a lot of great things. They thank me for making the podfic, they praise the work, they say they’d love for me to make more. This would, in fact, be one of the lovelier podfic comments I’ve gotten in my life, had they left out the following line: “ even though I sometimes struggled with your pronunciation of Xabi's name (maybe that is just me XD)”

It’s a bit like a fic comment that says “this is a great story and everything is wonderful, except I hate the way you decided to do this one thing that recurs in the story, but can you please do more.” Perhaps a better example is that if someone made fan art and the comment said “I adore your art style and the concept here and the way you’ve drawn these people and the depth and dimension and shading and how you’ve really brought this to life, but it bothered me that this colour wasn’t more red.” It’s sort of a passive-aggressive delivery of unsolicited criticism.

Let’s break it down:

First, as a podficcer, my voice is my voice and my accent is my accent and the way I say words is the way I say words. I can change that to some degree, but it’s important to understand that those things are not necessarily choices I made, but rather actual physical features about myself that I have no control over. So, if someone were to comment and say “this podfic was great, but I hate your accent”, well... that’s pretty insulting, right? Because I can’t do much about that. It’s akin to... that person would be attractive if their hair was a different colour. It’s not. I *could* make it a different colour artificially, but this is what I was born with and this is what I’m working with.

Second, podfic is art. I make stylistic choices. I decide to pronounce things in a certain way because either that is honestly how I think they are supposed to be pronounced or because that is how I decided to do it. It’s similar with writers and word choice. *COULD* you choose a synonym for a given word? Yes. But you often choose one word because that word suits.

Third, I’m not Basque. I’m not a native Basque speaker. I’m not even Spanish or a native Spanish speaker. Basque is a really fucking hard language to say EVEN IF YOU ARE A NATIVE OF SPAIN BUT NOT BASQUE OR FROM BASQUE COUNTRY. So... how to pronounce Xabi’s name... first off, really hard. Second, there’s not even agreement ON THE INTERNET about how to say it. Third, I made a choice and at least I was consistent.

Fourth, THIS PODFIC WAS DELIVERED AS FREE CONTENT. If someone listening didn’t like something about it, that’s fine, but they could have made the choice to not listen to it if it bothered them. Pointing out that they didn’t like it isn’t going to make me go back and change the pronunciation in the podfic, so what purpose does telling me they didn’t like it serve? None. It’s just a thinly veiled insult to my work and choices.

Finally, following up what is essentially a “thanks, I hate it” with a request for me to make more??? If my pronunciation of a thing bothered you enough that you felt the need to tell me about it why do you (a) want me to make more of it? and (b) think I’m going to do you the favour of making more of it?

Hopefully that helps explain the thinking. Point is, this is unsolicited con-crit, it doesn’t offer a solution, it insults the art I made AND my actual person who is unable to say a word in a way that one other person wanted me to, and it could have been delivered in a lovely fashion with the elimination of said criticism.

Thanks, anon! Hope that helps you (and others) as you think about commenting in the future!

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME:  samuel  william  winchester. PRONUNCIATION:  pronounced  how  it’s  spelled. MEANING:  so  from   the  hebrew  name  שְׁמוּאֵל,  it  means  god  has  heard,  or  name  of  god.  it’s  a  little  ironic  considering  sam  is  lucifer,  god’s  fallen  son’s,  true  vessel.   REASONING:  sam  was  named  after  his  maternal  grandfather,  samuel  campbell. NICKNAME(S):  sam,  sammy,  little  winchester,  moose,  738273  other  height  related  nicknames. PREFERRED NAME(S):   sam. BIRTH DATE:  may  2,  1983. AGE:  honestly  he’s  not  sure.  he’s  died  3-4  times,  been  the  vessel  for  demons  and  archangels  which  probably  stalled  his  physical  aging  too.  i  say  he’s  probably  biologically  somewhere  around  35,  even  though  he’s  technically  47ish. ZODIAC: taurus. GENDER:  cismale. PRONOUNS:   he/him. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:  heteroromantic. SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  bisexual.  (  he  can  appreciate  that  men  are  attractive,  has  probably  even  slept  with  a  couple,  but  has  no  desire  to  be  in  romantic,  serious,  relationships  with  men.  ) NATIONALITY:  american. ETHNICITY:   wonderbread  white. CURRENT LOCATION:  san  francisco,  ca. LIVING CONDITIONS:   a  crappy  two  bedroom  apartment  he  rents  by  the  month.  it’s  small,  not  in  a  great  neighborhood,  but  it  does  the  trick.   TITLE(S):   n/a.

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE:   lawrence,  kansas. HOMETOWN:  technically  lawrence  kansas,  but  they  moved  around  frequently.   SOCIAL CLASS:  blue  collar. EDUCATION LEVEL:   undergraduate  degree  from  stanford.   FATHER:   john  winchester. MOTHER:   mary  winchester  (  neé  campbell  ).   SIBLING(S):   dean  winchester,  adam  milligan  (  half  ).   BIRTH ORDER:  dean,  sam,  adam.   CHILDREN:  jack  kline  (  adopted  /  unofficially  ) PET(S):   n/a. OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES:  bobby  singer,  pseudo  uncle.   castiel,  pseudo  brother  /  brother-in-law.   SIGNIFICANT  OTHER:   natasha  herrera,  wife.  (  separated  ) PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS:   jessica  moore,  amelia  richardson,  meg,  sarah  blake,  ruby,  a  few  one  night  stands,  amy  pond  (  first  kiss  ),  etc.   ARRESTS?:  a  few,  yes.   PRISON TIME?:  minimal,  seen  in  folsom  prison  blues.  

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME:   credit  card  scams,  illegal  activity.   SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME:   n/a. TERTIARY SOURCE(S) OF INCOME:   hunting,  but  it  pays  for  shit.   APPROXIMATE AMOUNT PER YEAR:   unknown.   CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?:   this  is  never  the  job  he  wanted.  so  no,  definitely  not.   PAST JOB(S):   student.   SPENDING HABITS:  extremely  frugal,  only  on  necessities.   MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION:  john  winchester’s  journal.  

SKILLS & ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH:   peak  physical  condition,  human,  in-shape.   OFFENSE:   extremely  skilled  with  weapons  and  hand  to  hand.   DEFENSE:  extremely  skilled  with  lethal  and  non-lethal  defensive  moves.   SPEED:  faster  than  average. INTELLIGENCE:  educated  and  above  average.   ACCURACY:   above  average. AGILITY:   above  average.   STAMINA:   above  average.   TEAMWORK:   below  average.  he  doesn’t  work  well  with  people  he  doesn’t  know  or  trust.  it  takes  time  to  develop  a  bond  /  ease  of  working  with  others.   TALENTS:   computer  skills,  digesting  information,  critical  thinking  skills. SHORTCOMINGS:   stubborn,  naive,  reckless,  deep  psychological  trauma,  suicidal  ideation,  a  nice  grabbag  of  issues.   LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN:   latin,  english,  probably  a  bunch  of  other  old,  dead,  languages  that  might  come  in  handy.  he  probably  also  took  spanish  in  school.   DRIVE?:   yes. JUMP-STAR A CAR?:   yes. CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?:   yes.   RIDE A BICYCLE?:   yes. SWIM?:   yes.   PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?:   no. PLAY CHESS?:   yes. BRAID HAIR?:   no. TIE A TIE?:   yes. PICK A LOCK?:  yes.  

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM:   jared  padalecki.   EYE COLOR:   hazel. HAIR COLOR:   brown. HAIR TYPE/STYLE:   long  and  flowing.   GLASSES/CONTACTS?:   n/a. DOMINANT HAND:   right.   HEIGHT:  6′4 WEIGHT:   220  ish  lbs. BUILD:   slender  but  muscular.   EXERCISE HABITS:  rigorous.  he  jogs  in  the  mornings,  does  sit  ups  /  pull  ups  at  night,  and  lifts  weights  during  the  day  in  between  cases.  he  stays  in  shape.   SKIN TONE:   tanned.   TATTOOS:   anti-possession  tattoo  over  his  heart.   it  was  carved  out  in  2026  but  the  scar  has  been  tattooed  over,  replacing  the  original.   PEIRCINGS:   none.   MARKS/SCARS:   he’s  died  and  come  back  so  many  times,  it’s  hard  to  say  what’s  still  there  and  what’s  gone.   he  does  still  have  the  bullet  wound  from  where  he  shot  chuck  though.  it  never  healed.   NOTABLE FEATURES:   nose,  hair.   USUAL EXPRESSION:   smirk  of  disbelief,  concern.   CLOTHING STYLE:   lumberjack  lesbian.   JEWELRY:    he  wears  a  chain  with  his  wedding  ring  around  his  neck,  the  one  he  never  got  to  put  on  for  real.   ALLERGIES:   none.   BODY TEMPERATURE:   normal. DIET:   not  great.  hence  the  need  to  work  out. PHYSICAL AILMENTS:   general  fatigue  from  a  rigorously  active  lifestyle.  

PSYCHOLOGY

JUNG TYPE:  INFJ JUNG SUBTYPE:  Introvert(47%)  iNtuitive (34%)  Feeling(31%)  Judging(38%) You have moderate preference of Introversion over Extraversion (47%) You have moderate preference of Intuition over Sensing (34%) You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (31%) You have moderate preference of Judging over Perceiving (38%) ENNEAGRAM TYPE:   the  reformer  or  the  challenger.   MORAL ALIGNMENT:  chaotic  good.   TEMPERAMENT:   melancholic.   ELEMENT:   taurus  are  usually  earth  elements,  but  i  think  air  suits  sam  better.   PRIMARY INTELLIGENCE TYPE:   logical-mathematical,  probably.   APPROXIMATE IQ:   unknown.  we  know  he  scored  a  174  on  the  LSAT,  which  is  incredible,  but  that  doesn’t  always  translate  over  to  IQ.  i  would  say  he’s  got  a  pretty  high  IQ  even  if  he  lacks  a  few  common  sense  points.   MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS:   undiagnosed  depression,  anxiety,  PTSD,  imposter  syndrome,  and  survivor’s  guilt  —  and  that’s  just  the  tip  of  the  iceberg.   don’t  ask  me  to  psychoanalyze  the  winchesters,  it’ll  break  us  all.   SOCIABILITY:   he  doesn’t  seek  it  out  but  he  can  keep  up  with  the  joneses.   EMOTIONAL STABILITY:   not  good.  he  has  exhibited  severe  signs  of  codependency,  suicidal  ideation,  lack  of  regard  for  his  own  life,  and  believe  that  he’s  cursed.  the  boy  is  a  mess.   OBSESSION(S):  vengeance  after  significant  loss,  saving  people  (  even  if  it’s  from  themselves  ),  trying  to  make  up  for  all  of  the  blood  on  his  hands.   PHOBIA(S):   clowns.  not  a  fan.   ADDICTION(S):   demon  blood  (  previously  ) DRUG USE:   no. ALCOHOL USE:  recreationally.   PRONE TO VIOLENCE?:  can  be,  yes.  

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE:  casual. ACCENT:   american.  nothing  specific.   QUIRKS:   chewing  on  pen  caps,  tapping  to  songs  on  the  radio  against  the  steering  wheel  with  his  fingers.   HOBBIES:   reading,  researching,  pool,  morning  crosswords.   HABITS:   stress  pacing,  irritability  under  extreme  pressure. NERVOUS TICKS:   jaw  clench,  nostrils  flaring,  hands  curled  into  fists.   DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS:  vengeance,  restoring  order  /  protecting  people,  survival.   FEARS:  losing  the  people  he  loves,  hurting  innocents,  isolation.   POSITIVE TRAITS:   dependable,  loyal,  protective,  determined,  strong,  honest,  vulnerable. NEGATIVE TRAITS:  impulsive,  reckless,  guilt-stricken,  naive,  obtuse,  too  trusting.   SENSE OF HUMOR:   dry,  sarcastic.   DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?:   no. CATCHPHRASE(S):  damnit, dean.    jerk  /  bitch.  

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY:   long  drives.   ANIMAL:  hedgehogs. BEVERAGE:   monster  energy  drinks.   BOOK:   probably  the  classics,  or  something  by  neil  gaiman. CELEBRITY:   he  doesn’t  have  one. COLOR:   blue.   DESIGNER:   doesn’t  have  one.   FOOD:  philly  cheesesteak.   maybe  mashed  potatoes,  if  not  the  cheesesteak.   FLOWER:   sunflowers. GEM:   none. HOLIDAY:    none.   MODE OF TRANSPORTATION:   car.   MOVIE:   mallrats.   MUSICAL ARTIST:  none.  he’ll  just  listen  to  whatever  they  have  in  the  car,  or  is  on  the  radio.  before  i  think  he  was  probably  into  top  40,  maybe  even  classic  rock  as  much  as  he  complained  about it.   QUOTE/SAYING:   none. SCENERY:   autumn  leaves  falling  from  trees.   SCENT:   linen.   SPORT:   none.  he  doesn’t  care.   SPORTS TEAM:   see  above.   TELEVISION SHOW:   none.  he  probably  only  watches  soap  operas  every  now  and  then  again.  he  doesn’t  watch  anything  he  would  have  to  invest  time  and  energy  in.   maybe  pawnstars,  or  mythbusters.   WEATHER:  drizzle.   VACATION DESTINATION:  somewhere  warm,  tropic,  and  free  of  monsters.  

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM:   to  have  a  normal  life.   he  knows  he’ll  never  get  it,  has  come  to  terms  with  the  fact  that  he  was  never  going  to  be  normal.   GREATEST FEAR:   ending  up  alone,  watching  everyone  he  loves  die.   MOST AT EASE WHEN:  around  the  people  he  loves.   LEAST AT EASE WHEN:   on  a  hunt  that’s  starting  to  go  awry.   WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN:   turning  into  a  monster  —  the  very  thing  he’s  dedicated  his  life  to  hunting,  or  becoming  evil.  being  forced  into  killing  his  own  brother,  or  someone  he  loves  like  family,  would  also  make  the  list.   BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT:  in  a  really  soft  way,  i  want  to  say  it’s  becoming  a  pseudo  dad  to  jack.  it  might  not  have  been  what  he  saw  for  himself,  or  how  he  imagined  being  a  dad,  but  he  loves  the  kid.   if  not  that,  maybe  stopping  the  apocalypse.   not  that  it  lasted  for  very  long.   BIGGEST REGRET:   not  telling  jessica  the  truth.  he  will  always  believe  he  got  her  killed.  that  guilt  will  set  with  him  until  the  day  he  dies.   MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT:   too  many  to  count.   BIGGEST SECRET:   he  remembers  a  lot  of  what  the  demon  did  when  it  possessed  him  in  2026.   he  fought  with  everything  he  had,  but  every  time  he  broke  through  they  pushed  him  back  down.   TOP PRIORITIES:  figuring  out  what  comes  next,  i  suppose.  

Character Info | Talion Graves

BASICS.

full name: Talion Graves

pronunciation: Tal-ee-uhn

nicknames: So far Talion has only one nickname and it’s Tal, just short version of his name.

height: 6′0

age: 25

zodiac: Pisces 

languages: Common

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour: Black with royal blue on the tips.

eye colour: Light green

skin tone: fair

body type:: Athletic/muscular

 Accent: Sharlayan, although Talion does try to hide it often but you can always hear it.

Dominant hand: Right hand

Posture: Upright/confident, his father always taught him to keep good posture but when he’s comfortable with people he will occasionally slouch.

Scars: Small and extremely hard to see scars on his hands from cooking accidents from when he was first learning.

tattoos: None.

most noticeable features: His hair, his eyes, and his height. Most people will assume it is dyed but the blue on the tips of his hair is actually natural, this is a trait from his birth mother. He never understood why on the tips for his hair on his head turn blue and just stopped questioning it. His eyes often glow based on his emotions or if he is using his aether, it’s a trait from his birth father that he has. For his height he is actually below the average height for a highlander I believe.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth: Sharlayan

hometown: Sharlayan at an orphanage.

birth weight/height: average

manner of birth: delivered by a doctor in Sharlayan at his birth parents home. 

first words: “Oh.”

siblings: None that he knows of, there may potentially be some siblings but he doesn’t know his actual family.

parents: Biological Father (Rygdea Graves) Alive, Adopted Father (Atticus Mason) Alive, Mother (Highlander) Unknown.

parental involvement: Both of his biological parents were never present in Talion’s life and he doesn’t know their names. The only person he considers his parent is Atticus who he met at the age of 10 and was adopted by him. The two are very close and share a father son connection even though Talion isn’t his biological son but Atticus sees Talion as that.

ADULT LIFE.

Occupation: Talion helps at a infirmary in Gridania and they pay him for his assistance, he tends to also take odd jobs here and there so he can travel around Eorzea and see it all.

Current residence: The Black Shroud (The Lavender beds)

Close friends: Balthius Stark, Xev’tan Tatsae(They’re still getting close but we talk about them being close a lot.) 

relationship status: Single 

financial status: Wealthy but mostly from his father, he likes to work for his own money though.

vices: Ale

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation: Homosexual

romantic orientation: Homoromantic 

preferred emotional role:  submissive | dominant | switch |  unsure 

preferred sexual role:  submissive  |  dominant  |  switch |  sex repulsed

libido: Somewhat.

turn on’s: Confidence. Someone with a sense of adventure who can keep up with how often he tends to wander off. A sense of playful danger too sometimes. A strong jaw and a deep voice/strong presence tend to do it for him.

Turn off’s: Weakness, excessive laziness, submissiveness, being rude.

love language: Talion can be somewhat mixed, he tends to show affection throw physical touch but he can also do it in many other ways. They way he looks at you, the kinds things that he would do for you without having to be asked. The words he would speak to you. The man is pretty mixed in it but he’s not great a communicating with it.

relationship tendencies: Talion would be protective of someone he was in a relationship with, the man would constantly try to make them happy by doing small things for them that he thinks they would enjoy. He would also be possessive but not to an extreme, Talion wouldn't try to make his partner feel smothered and would try to give them space. He would want both of the to have the freedom to be their own person without the other but he would want them to be faithful to him. Talion will often have awkward moments do to his inexperience at first and not know how to really act with the person but over time he will come to understand the emotions and how to handle them.

MISCELLANEOUS.

hobbies to pass the time: Reading, travelling around Eorzea, exercise, cooking.

 mental illnesses: None exactly but he does get rather depressed when the topic of his birth parents is brought up.

physical illnesses: None.

left or right brained: I think Talion would be around the middle honestly.

fears: being alone, losing someone close to him.

self confidence level: Slightly above average.

vulnerabilities: Has a tendency to be too trusting towards people at first.

Tagged by: @xevtan (This is probably late but hey I did it dad!)

Tagging: @niamhrunlaeth , @amahrigold , @balthius-stark , and anyone else who want’s to give it a try.

((I’ve been a little backed up on ask’s cause I haven’t had the motivation to do much of them lately, trying to get back on them.))