#anyway do you think if vash just used his fucking words for once that maybe wolfwood woulda hung on
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nanokaiju · 1 year ago
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Stay, please stay, please stay, please stay
I don't want to spend my tomorrows without you
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trigunwritings · 2 years ago
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Names and Things
Rating: General
Relationship: Fem!Reader/Vash/Wolfwood
Summary: On the way home, Vash and Wolfwood argue.
Written by @blood--hunter
Note: A continuation of Bad Habits, but it’s not necessarily canon unless you, the reader, want it to be. The reader is married to Vash and Wolfwood. Implied to be pregnant. Never shown.
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“Can’t believe you forgot the car…” Wolfwood grumbled, adjusting the rope over his shoulder. It was one thing to have to carry his weapon, but something else entirely to drag a man halfway across the desert.
Vash has the decency to at least look a little ashamed.
“Well, forgot is a strong word.”
“You got it fucking stolen. Didn’t you?”
His husband reamains quiet and Wolfwood can only shake his head. “You’re the reason I need to smoke.”
The leader of the Glass-Gang is still passed out, so there’s that. His luck wasn’t all bad today and there was the thought of returning home to their wife with full pockets and a job well done. That—at the very least—lifted his spirits.
“So,” Wolfwood says, trying to focus on something other than the near unbareable heat, “I was thinking Leon D. Wolfwood.”
Vash bulks, swinging his blond head around to look at him. “Who says he’s gonna get your last name!”
“Because I’m the only one who has one! Dumbass!”
“Well!” Vash stalls, obivously trying to think of a comeback as he pouts, “What about Kevin the Stampede?”
“Kevin? Really.”
His husband nods resolutely, “Or maybe—maybe something like Colton!”
“You just really want a hard ‘K’ sound, don’t you?”
“Yeah! I think it sounds cool!”
Wolfwood rolls his eyes and looks back as the man he had been tugging across the sand begins to stir.
“Looks like our bounty is waking up.”
Vash eyes the man as well before looking at Wolfwood with a smile, “Why don’t we ask him? Hey! Do you like Leon or Kevin?”
“Huh?” Is all the gang leader says.
Nicholas shakes his head, passing the rope to Vash.
“I’ve been dragging him for half a mile now. You take him.”
“No way!”
“You’re the one that lost the car!”
Vash takes the rope, pouting. Nick can only watch him, one brow raised. He didn’t dare slip a cigarette into his mouth, knowing that it would just end up flying into the desert like a piece of paper. Though, his fingers did itch for the lighter in his pocket.
“And if it’s a girl?” He asks, not thinking.
Vash gets that far away look on his face, the look he gets when he or their wife accidentally trips on something from his past. She’s always better at soothing him, but Wolfwood doesn’t know what to do in these situations, too used to being “tough” and not letting these things get to him.
“Rem. We’ll name her Rem.”
He’s silent for a few moments more, letting the sun beam down on the back of his neck. “Yeah. I think I like that.”
“I think Kevin sounds good.”
Both Vash and Nick swing their heads around, staring at the man half unconcious in the sand, a rope firmly around his middle.
“Yeah, maybe Leon isn’t so bad…” Vash murmurs, beginning to walk once more, the gang leader slowly being dragged after him.
“Told you … Do you think she’ll like it?”
“Ask her and find out! But I don’t think she’ll go for the middle initial.”
“D is not that bad!”
“…What does it even stand for anyways?”
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volaenii · 1 year ago
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| Trigun Stampede Episode 6 Ramble
Before writing this whole thing I’m about to go on, I just want to say that i will be talking about major trimax spoilers, specifically for volume 10 as well as spoilers for tristamp (obviously)! so if you haven’t read trimax, maybe skip this post! Anyways, onto the ramble!
I’ve had this thought for a while now — since I’ve first watch stampede — but I’m dumb and don’t know how to out my thoughts into words. Along with this, I’m sure there are others who have made posts talking about this exact thing but I don’t care, I just want to brainrot and cry over this.
So, episode 6 of tristamp — “Once Upon a Time in Hopeland” — is the episode in which we as the audience are finally given a glimpse into Wolfwood and Livio’s childhood at the orphanage. And immediately, something stands out about this entire scene — the artstyle changes.
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Instead of the typical CG/3D models that we the audience are used to, we are given this sketchy, simplistic, 2D animation style instead — almost similar to that of which you’d find in a children’s book. This of course, is completely different in comparison to what Tristamp had shown us previously. All the other flashbacks we had been shown thus far had still been rendered in CG. But this. This scene in particular is the only one with this art style. With that being said, it’s safe to assume that Studio Orange did this with the specific purpose of making this scene feel special and distinct. To make it stand out and to signal it’s importance.
Now, with that being said, why would studio orange go out of there way to make a distinct artistic style just for this moment? Not to mention, why make it only geared towards Wolfwood and Livio? Well… I think studio orange is going to use it in relation to Wolfwoods death.
Like, okay hear me out, I’ve seen some people say that there worried wolfwood won’t die next season (for whatever reason) but like THE DEATH FLAGS ARE ALREADY THERE!
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LIKE!! THE FUCKING BELL?? HELLO?? JUST THROW IN SOME CONFETTI WHILE YOUR AT IT! (IM SOBBING SO LOUDLY)
But anyways, back on topic. I think they’ll use this 2D artstyle in a way to make wolfwoods death hit like a fucking train. Like… after rewatching tristamp for the second time, I couldn’t help but feeling like this whole artstyle choice is going to bite us in the ass later.
Like…y’all… I can see the fucking confetti falling in this artstyle…
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Now, this last segment of this ramble is just gonna be me speaking in “what if’s” and just spewing out made up scenes based on this idea since obviously we have no clue what studio orange plans on doing. But anyways, here it goes.
So like…imagine studio orange finally adapting the couch scene, with Vash and Wolfwood having their last drink. Now obviously, the scene would prolly go similarly to the manga, with Wolfwood saying that he’s sorry for saying his smiles were empty and vash telling him to not say stupid things. Cue in the confetti beginning to fall, and in Wolfwoods perspective it shifts art style. And to make it even more fucked up, they could do the thing were it flashes between this and then back to the normal CG models; between Wolfwoods contentment of his death and being at peace with it — depicted like a children book — versus the CG — the true reality of it… the one vash is experiencing as he begs god for just one thing.
On a side note, I’m so so so fucking scared and excited for what Orange has in store, considering the fact that they’ve already paralleled the one fucking confetti frame from the manga (which I will not show cuz I cant look at those panels but if you know, you know) and like, I don’t know, I think I’m just gonna be a mess when that arc gets adapted.
Anyways, UH, I KNOW THERES PROLLY A POST THAT HAS SAID THE SAME SHIT BEFORE BUT BETTER BUT I JUST HAVE HAD IT IN MY BRAIN FOREVER SO UH YEAH!
Take these screenshots as a gift! 💕
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Thanks for reading my dumb thoughts!
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feekins · 1 year ago
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AAAAAAAA TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 3, MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!
once I get some flailing out of my system, I'll get right into my thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read ch 1!!!
(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)
as I've said before, I first read the Dark Horse translation as it came out in the US when I was a teenager almost 20 years ago. I remember always carrying the latest volume around with me at school, reading and re-reading it every chance I got (often when I should've been doing other things, y'know, as you do), and...honestly, I'm amazed I didn't get vol 3 taken away and/or had my parents called on me for it 😅 no spoilers, but lemme tell you: this volume, you can really feel the jump from shounen to seinen. maybe that's one of the reasons why it's among those that most stick out to me? there are other reasons, of course, but I'll get to them as they come up. anyway. I'm excited about this volume, so let's get into it!
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(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)
on the first page after the table of contents, we have context-altering translation discrepancies. I mean, yeah, you could say either one works, but...idk. once again, I'm more partial to the Overhaul. to me, it better emphasizes how much Wolfwood finds uncanny and/or doesn't understand about Vash.
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and these flashbacks as Wolfwood's falling? I never rly understood it. this time around, I see it as Wolfwood ① reflecting on how Vash expresses his ideology and ② getting pissed about it (again).
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I didn't understand what was happening on this page until this read-through! I always thought Wolfwood just hit a wall or something, but no - it's a lil self-own with the Punisher there (no but srsly, o u c h)
on the next page, subtle translation differences. Dark Horse has Wolfwood saying to Gray "Well done...y' big lug! Now, eat your reward! I'll feed you your death!!" whereas the Overhaul has "Nice job...ya fat lug! I'll feed ya yer reward! Now, eat lead!"
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...and here, the translations say THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of one another 😵‍💫
a more minor translation discrepancy is when Leonov is set up to attack Vash with that frickin'...vivisection-made...human taxidermy puppet behemoth...Dark Horse says "27 lethal points!" while the Overhaul says "27 lethal strikes!"
same deal with after Vash guns the thing down (in tHE COOLEST GOTDAMN SEQUENCE!!!). I'm not sure if it's Leonov talking for himself or through the puppet Unica, but either way, Dark Horse has (talking about Vash) "What a baffling fellow. If you're going to aim, it should be for the head, right?" while the Overhaul has "You're a strange fellow. If you intend to shoot me, shouldn't you aim for the head?" before, I thought this was in reference to Vash shooting the puppet thing - but this read-through, with the Overhaul wording things more obviously, it occurs to me that it's actually in reference to Vash also shooting through the tree branch that Leonov and Unica were just standing on.
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that "drilling" bit always confused me. the Overhaul's translation...brings to mind that thing Nightow said in an interview about Vash and Knives leading a 'crawling existence' - this prolonged life alongside and witnessing humanity (to differing extents, of course)...
also. Leonov's face bleeding. I distinctly remember thinking on my very first read-through "dayum, he's got a strong grip!" but this. has nothing to do with that. 😱
on the next page, a minor translation discrepancy which falls under the category of Dark Horse Breaking Down Words And/Or Sentences Weird. in the Dark Horse translation, Unica's like "Splendid. How splendid! The. Raw. Material!" whereas in the Overhaul, it's "Splendid. How splendid! Untainted material!" oh Dark Horse, u so silly~
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anyway! thanks to the Overhaul's translation, I know from the last chapter of the previous volume just how fucked up Leonov's puppets are! which makes this panel that much more horrific to me!!!!! 🫠
and then, over the next several pages, we have a whole monolog by Wolfwood that is rife with context-altering translation discrepancies;;;;;
in Dark Horse, we have this:
"A man...does not change... The name remains, long after the body is no longer bound to the flesh...when the blood is drained, the muscles stripped from the bone... Nothing beautiful enters here. That's reality for ya. ' 'Til death, the outer road tastes like the outer road.' "
...okay???
in the Overhaul, it's a whole 'nother story:
"The world...doesn't change... Yer name might remain, even long after ya die...but yer ideals join ya in the grave. Nothin' good ever lasts in this world. That's just reality for ya. Ya can keep on walkin' down this road 'til ya bite the dust. Nothin' will change."
the way I see it, it's a continuation of Wolfwood's lil ideological disagreement with Vash. this monolog is how Wolfwood sees the world. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: ah, Wolfwood...spoken like a man stuck between a rock and a hard place! 🥲
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yeah, weird translation discrepancy on that left speech bubble 8T
Bardle VS Border has me a bit baffled, tho. it's definitely a mistranslation of an "imported" (therefore written in katakana) word, but that's where it gets weird. I looked it up and the closest "imported" word match I could find to "border" was ボーダー (literally "bo—da—" when romanized, O pronounced as in the American English word "over" and A pronounced as in "father"). SO. I'm thinking maybe the original Japanese used ボーダール (literally "bo—da—ru" when romanized, U pronounced as in "use"), but idk. what I'd give to see this panel untranslated...
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aaaaand we end the chapter with a little slapstick palate-cleanser from the girls 🤭
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magnuslightwoodbane · 2 years ago
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(without you) i’d be gone with the wind
vashwood, 1.9k words, wolfwood inner monologue, pre-relationship, second person pov
read on ao3
You have so many names, and you like less than half of them. Wolfwood is the easiest - you wear that one like a coat, to cover up the rest of you, but you don’t mind it, because you chose to wear it. Nicholas was given to you as a child, and the Punisher affixed onto that like a chain around your neck, dragging you down to the level you belong to, only the solid ground of reality and life keeping you from being frozen in ice for all eternity. The ninth circle, betrayers of special relationships, Judas, Brutus, Satan, you.
You’ve been called Executioner, devil, preacher man, attack dog, Father, monster. Nick is fine. You don’t feel like a Nick, really. Nico belonged to Livio, but Vash said it once, in a dazed state of having just woken up, and it surprisingly didn’t feel like your heart was being wrenched out of your chest, so you let him and only him keep using it. You think that the two of them would have really liked each other, so that makes it okay, somehow.
You’re sat on the hood of an abandoned, broken down car with him, cigarette lit, with only sand stretching out for miles, no matter which way you look. Above, though, the Worms shine and shimmer in all their glory, and you try to pretend that they’re stars. Somewhere beyond them, past the actual stars, somewhere way out there, is Earth. You’ve never felt a connection to it, not really - you’ve barely got any human remaining left in you, you think - but the warm body next to you has you thinking. Vash came to Noman’s Land with the rest of the humans, all those years ago, sure, but the humans at least had a tangible origin point, a home to remember, to honour. Plants come from another fucking dimension . You can’t even begin to comprehend that, how it must be for Vash. And yeah, okay, there are other Plants here, swimming around in great big fuck-off vats, being used by humans to survive, but the humans probably don’t even realise they’re sentient (the thought maybe Knives had a point flashes briefly in your mind here, and you shake it off quickly). But the closest thing Vash has ever had to someone who gets him IS Millions fuckin’ Knives, and that’s just depressing.
The guy might have been cutting your cheques for a bit but fuck me, you couldn’t ever imagine holding him and calling him brother. Couldn't imagine still loving him so deeply the way Vash does, even after everything Knives put him through.
Anyway. Back to Vash.
(It always comes back to Vash with you, doesn’t it?)
Not that long ago, you couldn’t even imagine liking Vash as much as you do, so maybe you just needed to spend a little more time with Knives to really get it. But on the other hand, you would prefer to deepthroat a cactus, as chances are good you would be dealing with less of a prick.
Vash shifts his body on the hood of the rusty metal carcass, and crosses his legs next to you. You can feel the warmth of his leg brushing up against you, far too hot for any human flesh to be beneath those layers of fabric. It must be horribly lonely, being Vash. Wandering, trying to help, being met with fear and hatred at every turn. He must have travelled alone for so long.
And now, he travels with you.
You’d fled the last town you were in with him earlier this evening, Vash having of course stumbled his way into another situation, chased out to gunfire and shouting. You don’t even know what pissed them off so badly this time. Meryl and Milly stayed behind with their apparently innocent demeanours and plausible deniability; you work so well as a unit, the four of you, that you don’t even need to agree a plan of action with them when these things happen - you two run, they stay behind, stock up, and catch up. Plus, it gives the two of them some time alone. You don’t yet know if either has made a move yet, but Milly is so perceptive you don’t believe she hasn’t noticed the looks Meryl throws her way when she thinks no one else is looking. Maybe they already have begun something, and are just so very good at being subtle about it.
He shifts again, and you hear the almost imperceptible hiss escape from his teeth. Your head swivels so fast that you feel you would have broken your own neck had you moved any quicker. You watch as Vash reaches his arm up under his shirt, exposing his tummy - abdomen, Wolfwood, don’t be a child - and the scar tissue that patterns his flesh. His long fingers find their target, and pluck something out, before withdrawing. His shirt falls to cover the expanse of skin and you feel a weird sense of loss. You have no idea why this keeps happening.
You have no time to think too hard about it, though, as between Vash’s fingers is a bullet. A spent one. With blood all over it. That he’d just pulled out of his own body.
And Vash? Well, Vash… he laughs. He grins, sheepishly. “Missed that one, huh?”
You feel like you’re going to fucking explode with rage. You tamp it down before it can boil over, because it’s not Vash you’re actually angry at, more the people who shoot at him without care, whose first response to this angel of deliverance is violence.
Okay, you’re a little angry at Vash too. Stupid noble martyr hero complex motherfucker. “What. The. Fuck. Spikey.” You think you kept your voice level, but judging by Vash’s wince, you wouldn’t be surprised if you’d ended up growling it instead.
“Uh. Sorry?” he says. You seize the lapels of his coat and drag him towards you. He yelps in surprise.
“You idiot, are you hurt anywhere else? Why didn’t you say anything?! What the fuck even happened?! Why did you piss them off so badly they shot you? Why do you never do anything to stop- URGH!” You shove him away, not hard, but you need to calm yourself down, so you release him with some of the energy that had just been building up. You look away from him, and spit out the butt of the cigarette onto the sand below, trying to focus on actually breathing.
You’ve run through a couple of the breathing exercises you’d read about in that trashy little book, and just about stabilised your mood, before Vash speaks.
"I know you think I'm naive, sometimes."
He's right. You do. But you're not sure if it's because he actually is, or because you're so twisted and broken in the opposite way. Maybe it’s both.
He continues. "I think you forget how much older than you I am. I'm this way because I choose to be, because I choose to believe in humans and their capacity for love."
You snort. "Even when we're being run out of towns because they're shooting at you all the fucking time?"
"They shoot because they're scared of me. They're scared because of their love for their people. It doesn't matter that they're wrong about the threat being me, really.”
You groan at his self-flagellating goodness. “Well, you’re just a really, fuckin’, good  person then. Ain’t ya? Not like the rest of us.” Not like me, you don’t say. The words come out like shotgun blasts, but you don’t spit them with venom, because it’s not an insult, not to him. He is good personified, everything you’re not, wrapped up in a lanky, idiot-shaped package.
"Wolfwood, you believe in a soul, right? In an afterlife, in punishment for those who've done wrong?"
Where the fuck is this coming from? "It's… complicated," you say, because it is. You don't look at him, instead staring straight up at the sky. You think the eternal damnation is here and now for the whole of humanity, but you'll never say that out loud. It might break his heart, and you couldn't handle that, just like you can't handle thinking about why that troubles you.
"Well if you do, then you would have to be a good person too, Nico,” he says, softly, gently. “Because you would damn your own soul a hundred times over so other people don't have to. So I don't have to."
You feel your heart stop, the blood thundering in your ears. You don’t see it, but you can feel the movement, as he pulls up his legs and wraps his arm around them. He rests his head on his knees, but that fucking gaze of his doesn't shift. It burns into the side of your face; you can feel it, stripping you bare despite how desperately you try to rebuild the eroding walls. He smiles, softly; you hear it in his words.
"Nicholas, the Protector."
That makes you look at him. There’s not a single coherent thought in your mind, no biting remarks, and you can feel your mouth gape open, shaping out formless words, desperate to respond, to deny, to lash out, anything so you don’t have to accept this honour that you could never deserve. He chuckles, fucking chuckles, and he grins in that way he does, all teeth and eyes crinkling, and you want to kiss him so fucking bad-
Wait.
What?
Oh no. No no no no no no no-
Oh yes, says the irritating narrator that takes up residence in your mind every time you have a crisis, of which this is absolutely NOT. You want him, carnally of course, because you’re just awful like that, but worse. You want to be a better person, for him. Because of him. You have FEELINGS for your closest pal, Punisher.
Vash leans in while you freak out in your own mind, and your body fortunately has the capacity not to flinch as he gets closer. He rests his hand against your jaw, and cups it gently, thumb sweeping over your cheek and flesh warm where you didn’t realise you were getting cold. His metal hand comes to rest on your leg, heavy and comforting, just like his presence by your side is whether sleeping or fighting. He leans closer, so much closer, and his lips brush your cheek in a small, slow kiss. You feel your eyes slip closed as his breath ghosts your skin, and a whimper involuntarily let out. You have no idea what to do with such sheer tenderness.
He leans back, slightly, and you can hear the intake of breath before he speaks. Immediately, your mind runs through a thousand and one things he could say next, ranging anywhere from and between Psych! You suck actually to have my babies, Nicholas.
“Let’s go set up camp Nico, I am beat! ” is what he actually says. It’s so Vash. It’s perfect. He’s.. no, don’t go there yet. “Okay, Grandpa.” You regain the ability to speak as you hop down, but it only comes out as a hoarse whisper. Vash, to his credit, doesn’t react to this at all. He wiggles instead, like he’s doing a little dance, as he walks away to the spot you found earlier. “Respect your elders!” he sings, and you follow. You will always follow.
You have so many names, and you’ve just been given one more. This one you like. You hope one day that you can earn it, but for now, it is his.
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retvenkos · 4 years ago
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“are you always this chaotic?”
A/N: i have an inquisitive anon in my ask box that deserves the whole world, and i decided their amazing (sometime hilarious) ask deserved better formatting, so here we are. sweet anon, this is for you.
tw: language
@bladesappreciationweek​​ A COLLECTION OF RANDOM HEADCANONS AND MEMES FOR THE INCOMPARABLE BLADES COMPANY...
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who reserves the right to say “fuck”?
mal does not deserve the right. 10/10 he would use it every other word just for the effect of it all (scandalizing tyril who is upper class and thinks there are “better, more intellectual insults” and upsetting nia who tries to play it off like it doesn’t bother her, but she doesn’t like it). no rights, we’re censoring mal.
nia deserves the right, but she would never use it. not even in her dreadlord state did she utter it (the dreadlord is also an upper class elitist, fight me) but she argues with mal that she can say it and she would, but scholar vash is watching over her right now and she can’t disgrace him (scholar vash would be vvv proud if she said it, though, don’t even lie). olinda egged her on one night and she whispered it, dissolving into a fit of giggles afterward, but neither of them speak of it afterward.
tyril does not deserve the right. he believes himself too good™ for such a word, so he doesn’t get rights. he says he’s better than banal vernacular, thank you very much, but that’s awfully presumptuous of him and fails to take into account that, at all times he’s 5 seconds away from saying it, now that mal has entered his life. 100%, mal is trying to get tyril to say it by startling him at unnecessary times or just being generally irritating, and he never gets tyril to crack. i imagine tyril does end up saying it, though. aerin turns out to be the bad guy and nia falls into the portal or whatever and tyril is just like “...... fuck.” mal is bitter he wasn’t the one to make it happen, but he doesn’t whine about it until after the dreadlord has been defeated. nia is slightly upset that she was the reason tyril broke his solemn vow, but she also laughed thoroughly at mal’s rendition of the moment and regrets that she wasn’t there to see it.
imtura deserves the right and uses it. imtura curses like a sailor. .....get it? because she’s a— alright, you get it. but yes, imtura gets to the right to say fuck and she says it enough for everyone. if mal ever wants to express himself using the expletive, imtura will gladly say it for him. solidarity. but she’s also sweet, deep down, and she keeps her swearing to a minimum when nia is around. 
olinda deserves the right, 100%. she doesn’t say it often, but when she does, it has such power. mal wishes he had the commanding presence. olinda is generally too intent on finding a solution to the problem to ever dwell on failure, but when she goes into battle and realizes her group is terrible outnumbered? oop, there it is.
kade. oh, my sweet summer child, who swears often enough to rival imtura. 100%, he deserves the say “fuck” because every bard deserves free access to every word they can get their hands on. it’s rather funny that kade has a terrible mouth, since he’s like the golden retriever of the group (barring nia, ofc), but it’s also rather fitting. imtura was taken aback and mal had mad respect after hearing one of his tirades (directed at threep, ofc) and tyril is just like,,,,,, will i ever rEsT? anyway, let kade say fuck.
threep does not, under any circumstance deserve the right. threep will go off if given the right to swear, and it’s terribly annoying. everyone is trying to travel through a small town and then, out of the priestess of light’s travel bag you hear the worst string of curses you’ve ever heard - so many outdated and upper class curses picked up through the millennia and then you hear the most country, farmer swears (thanks, kade). it scandalizes everyone and nia is the poor girl who has to carry threep around. don’t let threep swear, whatever you do. it’s a power far too strong for this world.
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what they get a tattoo of...
mal tries desperately to have the ~aesthetic~ so you know he gets something like a compass or a dagger or something equally as wanderlust and vague. it’s hella intricate and it’s probably on his forearm or something. i feel like mal is 100% that guy who has a tattoo for his mom on his chest but is also deeply terrified of commitment so the mere idea of getting a tattoo for someone else paralyzes him with intense fear. i don’t feel like mal is the guy to have writing for tattoos - he’s much more open to drawings than words. he’s all about the imagery. mal probably has a couple of tattoos though - he might be starting a sleeve or something, idk.
nia would deliberate long and hard before getting a tattoo - it’s permanent, after all, so she wants it to be something special. she 100% puts it on her lower back, which she grows to regret because she can’t actually see it? it is probably a flower a drawing of the temple of light, or a light crystal or something. i have a feeling there’s a prayer written in cursive that kind of wraps around the image she has tattooed. mal took her to get her tattoo and he was a proud brother™.
tyril was 100% that emo kid who wrote angsty song lyrics in a notebook, and that has not changed. i 100% guarantee that his first tattoo is a poem or something that he either wrote himself or desperately wishes he had written. he probably has it tattooed on his side or something equally as dramatic. mal wishes he had the flair that tyril just naturally carries. he’s iconic™ without even trying. he probably only has a few tattoos and most of them are small. he was one big tattoo on his back - it’s elaborate and kind of works like a family tree. it’s unique to him - he likes the idea that he carries his ancestors with him, no matter where he goes. nia notices one night that the company is on it, too, and she never says anything, but she’s touched.
imtura gets all the NAUTICAL IMAGERY. she 100% has one of those bands wrapping around her bicep, made of waves. i also imagine that imtura has a lot of ink? it’s what she deserves, and i feel like orcs are really artistic with their tattoos - their tattoos are culturally relevant and she has a story for every single one. mal knows every single story - they get sentimental on night watches. i imagine that imtura also knows how to give tattoos, so i headcanon that she gave olinda one that represents the company. imtura thought it was very sappy, but deep down, she was honored to do it.
olinda. similar to imtura, olinda has a lot of ink. the only difference is that she gets hers later on. there is one (1) person who knows how to tattoo in riverbend, and olinda got a few from them, but once she goes out to see the world? she’s going to the good™ tattoo artists and she’s fulfilling her dreams. i feel like olinda get’s her tattoos in very pointed spots - she definitely has a sleeve and you can “read” it from top to bottom - the story of her life. kade jokes that olinda’s memory is shot and so she has to get tattoos to remember her story, but he also really admires them. olinda has a lot of constellation tattoos, including some of the ones that kade made up. she’s very sappy, tbh.
kade got one (1) tattoo when he and olinda were piss drunk. it’s a matching tattoo with olinda that’s very weird and makes no sense at all. you had to be there, and tbh, even if you were there, it doesn’t make sense. to top it all off, it’s on his bicep so that when he flexes, it wiggles. at the time, olinda and kade thought it was the funniest thing and they died of laughter. does he regret it? kade maintains that he doesn’t. does he know the story behind it? he likes to say he does, but he actually doesn’t. olinda knows, and sometimes she’ll drop vague hints to see if it jogs his memory. kade maintains that he’ll never get another tattoo. once was enough.
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modern! au ethnicities
disclaimer that there are a lot of great headcanons out there, and i’m here for most of them, these are just my ideas..
i imagine that mal is indian or pakistani, nia is brazilian or dominican, tyril is japanese or mongolian, imtura is maori or samoan, olinda is latina, and kade is half hispanic, half filipino.
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when texting.... (and some handwriting thoughts)...
a modern! au? idk, maybe just an au where they somehow have modern technology? anyway...
mal grossly overuses emojis. his favorites are these: 🤑🔪😎😏. he also never uses proper capitalization and punctuation, and he uses abbreviations far too often. you need a key to figure out some of his texts, but imtura and olinda just know what he means. his philosophy is style and speed over substance. when he writes handwritten notes, though, his handwriting is a very fancy cursive and the care he puts into each letter is amazing. he only ever handwrites love letters to olinda and “i hate you <3″ letters to tyril, though. he did write a heartfelt birthday letter to nia, once. she framed it.
nia is my favorite because she texts like a grandparent, where they format texts like a letter and have perfect punctuation and capitalization. when she got a text from mal, she was very confused by what he was trying to express, but she wanted to know how he got the “cute faces” and mal immediately dropped everything to teach her how to use emojis. she loves them and probably uses a string of emojis at the end of her text as a part of her signature, like: [ the body of the text ] Best, Nia 😇🥰👑💖🌸 but her handwriting! it’s very nice. the temple of light had penmanship classes and nia excelled. ngl, she probably does caligraphy.
tyril uses no capitalization. punctuation only. you can hear the sarcasm through his text. he also hates emojis and memes with a burning passion. he has used this, though: -.-  he did it for nia. she loved it and now every time they text, he ends his texts with his “emoji”. mal teases him because it’s dumb and now it’s a running gag that everyone send the weird emoji to each other. it’s the tyril face! tyril wants to jump off a bridge, but also finds it very sweet? he has people giving him emoji’s? is that like.... friendship? anyway, his handwriting is terrible. glorified chicken scratch. it’s efficient and nearly illegible. perfect.
imtura, on the other hand texts the most “traditionally”. she doesn’t really adhere to capitalization, and she never has the ending period, but you know what she’s saying. it’s decent. she doesn’t like to complicate things, but kade introduced her to memes and now she and him communicate together solely using low resolution memes that no one else likes. it’s very annoying but very endearing. her handwriting is nice - simple and easy to understand. she uses a lot of shorthand and a lot of sailor jargon that goes over some people’s (read: tyril’s) heads, but is smart and to the point.
olinda, actually, is the one to have proper punctuation and capitalization, with little flavor to her texts. occasionally she’ll send an emoji or two, but mostly it’s just... communication. she much prefers calling, and will call you 20 times in a row until you answer. she forces tyril to facetime her and he rolls his eyes but secretly loves it. communication is much more efficient when you can see each others facial expressions, and boy, does context go a long way when talking with tyril. oH! I FORGOT TO MENTION - olinda grew up on a rural farm. olinda chronically says “y’all” and has all of those weird, farm related sayings. kade doesn’t have this problem because he “trained himself in verse” and said that he had to be “worldly” not “farm chic.” anyway, her handwriting is kind of careless in nature - not especially nice, but not especially terrible, either. it’s a hybrid between cursive and print (whatever is fastest is best).
kade texts solely in dank memes and lengthy prose. he is the most chaotic person in the group chat, either bidding the company to draw near by sending them four stanzas of incredibly vague meaning (only tyril and olinda understand) or he’s sending “vroom vroom bitch” memes that mal and imtura adore. the blades book may not have given kade flavor, but on GOD i will give it to him because a bard requires chaotic vibes, even if he has a tragic backstory. you know what? especially because he has a tragic backstory, kade deserves some chaos. give me chaotic kade or give me death. as for handwriting, i like to think that kade has two modes: “drafting” handwriting (chicken scratch to rival tyril) and “final product” handwriting that is purposefully and beautifully penned. he had a lot of time to perfect his writing, being sick, and boy did it pay off.
threep deserves to be in this line up, despite not being able to write. in this chaotic technology au, nia has created an instagram page for threep, and because he’s one of the last living nespers, it goes viral. when olinda and mal stumble upon it they have to laugh because it’s full of really expertly done ~aesthetic~ photos with really sweet captions - things threep wouldn’t say in a million years. the account is only up for a few months and at first the posting is really consistent, and then it suddenly falls apart and the account is deleted soon after. apparently, threep didn’t know the instagram account existed and when he found out, he and nia had legendary fights and wouldn’t speak for like, 2 weeks after. nia made a very shady and slightly vague call out post and it was the first time the company really saw her get petty. the instagram page was the perfect fuel for kade’s scathing and petty remarks at threep, and threep came out hard, making a dig at kade’s writing and his stupid tattoo. threep nearly died at the hands of the two sweetest - kade and nia. it was certainly one for the books.
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high school! au
(you are right, anon, a high school au would be iconic™)
mal is 100% a band kid. he has the “i play the guitar to be cool” vibes. and besides, the guitar player in the band is always a little more ~rebellious~ than the other band kids (superseded only by the standing bass kids in orchestra, who had unrivaled chaotic evil energy). plus, mal has a flair for the dramatic, which the band kids have in spades. mal is a little too much of a rule breaker to have been on any teams or anything super structured like that, and while we all know that he’s a heartbreaker, he’s not a popular kid™ because (at least in my school) the popular kids are always rich kids who run in the “right” circles. mal is too cool for that.
nia on the other hand is the smart prep that’s really sweet. like, the girl who’s friends with the cheerleaders and could have been one, too, if she wasn’t so shy™. she’s mostly overlooked in favor of the more glamorous, but everyone knows nia and they’re all like, “yeah! she’s cute! and smart, and nice.” she’s probably in like, robotics club or something equally as estranged but smart. 100%, nia is the gabriella montez archetype. she’s in a few clubs, including choir, where her angelic voice earns her a few solos. people are always trying to give her positions of power in their clubs, but she graciously declines because she’s stretched too thin and stress is a thing.
tyril. i know you all want him to be like, the smart one who’s in debate club and is really charming, but tyril’s social skills are not cut out for that. tyril is like that smart kid who sits at the back of history class and knows all the answers but never raises his hand. he has one (1) popular friend who has been close with him since they were both in diapers, but he doesn’t feel comfortable with their friends so he just kinda sits alone for the most part. he was picked up once by the emo artsy kids, but it didn’t really stick. he likes poetry class and does a metal working class because he can be alone with his headphones and thoughts™. in high school he’s just brooding without the mystery. tyril cringes at his youth. he’s too strong and iconic in his current age, so he had to be cringeworthy in his teen years. perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
imtura was 100% that cool, slightly edgy girl on the volleyball team. she was popular with the students and the teachers - like, this is the student that the school mentions is going places, and yet are also like,,,, “let’s try to guide you over here, imtura. you have such potential! don’t squander it!” and imtura hates nothing more than their incessant pleas for her to be the model student. she just wants to travel the world, maybe join a punk band, and get lost at sea. that’s not too much to ask, right? she’s also on the football team, and she’s team captain. she lives in sweatpants and workout clothes, and they actually really suit her? definitely crush material, this one. she’s probably also throws some killer weekend parties with mal’s input.
olinda was harder to place, but i imagine that she’s one of those hands on kids, taking woodworking, metal working, and auto mechanics classes. maybe she was on the soccer team, one year, but that didn’t really work out. she’s a team player and all, but she likes something with a little more purpose. she met tyril in metalworking, she met mal when helping with sets for the school play (he was annoying the theatre kids, as per usual), she met imtura in gym class because imtura picked her to be on her flag football team (which was a great choice, really), and she met nia when she went to the choir room, looking for kade. she’s not popular, per se, but people know her face and they think she’s pretty cool.
kade on the other hand, is 100% an artsy theatre kid. he’s not the super obnoxious theatre kid, and he’s not the snobby theatre kid either, he’s kind of like the older sibling theatre kid who’s infinitely cooler than you, incredibly talented, but also really down to earth and ready to create an elaborate inside joke with you over the course of the year. he has it all: the tragic backstory that adds flavor and depth to his writing, the kind personality that gets him friends wherever he goes, the amazing vocals that make him a shoe in for every performance..... but he often gets overlooked. why? it’s one of those injustices that just don’t make sense. he’s decently popular among the art nerds, and everyone wonders why he doesn’t get lead roles. a real ryan evans, if we want to go with a hsm reference.
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AND FLUFF ENSUES.
-- taglist: @musicallisto​, @missameliep​ // message me if you want to be added!
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