#but i want to just take a language proficiency and then take actual french classes......... would b so swag. although fuck i don't know if

[macroglossus]

think i have to wait a while before trying to read things in french even easy stuff bc i think my brain is trying to fill in what words mean even when i have absolutely no idea. i don't even remember learning to read in english so i don't know if that's how it's supposed to be...... But. i think i should wait until i have just like. more basic filler words

[glemmeboka]

2023 language goals

I'm updating my languages for 2023 - I'm mainly focusing on improving my Korean and French and learning as much as possible. Plus: one new language

Korean

I want to take the first TOPIK exam this coming year, so I will have to prepare myself for it. I got a huge book on Korean grammar for Christmas and my plan is to learn all the contents. I will also find myself a teacher though, because I honestly feel like I won't get as far as I'd like to the way I'm self-studying right now.

French

Obviously I want to keep up my As in school, but honestly I don't think I have to be very careful because it's usually not a problem. Instead I will try to be ahead of my class at least a little bit so I can fully focus on Latin while in school (which is more of a problem lol)

For non-school studying I have set a goal to read at least one full book, it's probably going to be Harry Potter or Le Petit Prince. I also want to immerse myself more, meaning watch more movies or shows in French (I still haven't seen Lupin), maybe have more French conversations with my mother. Also, I am likely going on an exchange to Orléans in early 2023 (my exchange partner is coming in January or February already. If anything works out, that is. There might still be complications) Generally, I hope to achieve a proficiency of about B1. I won't take a test because that feels like too much trouble (and money, I think), but just...generally that area of proficiency.

Other than that, I have also made changes in my plans for my exchange year which is supposed to happen in 2024/25. As there are only few organisations which have Korea in their programme - and those who do are too hard to afford - I have decided to go for Thailand. I hope it will work out, for real, if I end up staying in Germany the entire year I will likely cry every day because missed opportunites and what not. Anyway, these news are the reason I have decided to pick up some Thai basics, at least. I mean, I take what I can get but I wanna keep the bar low and not expect too much of myself for a change. These are my 2023 goals for Thai:

Thai

First of all, I obviously need to learn the alphabet which...might even take me the entire year. xd For real though, I will focus on that first and then try to find a good textbook which can kind of guide me through it all. Because this language seems so complicated, I don't even know where to start

There's some nice shows to watch for immersion though..

gae:)

please don't stop reading I swear I will stick to the topic now

As for my other languages - Norwegian and Spanish - I will be maintaining those. I have Spanish in school so I will be putting about 2 to 3 hours per week into it anyway. To maintain Norwegian, I will TRY being more active on Duolingo again (because let's be for real, the Norwegian course is actually quite effective and it has given me so much let's take a second to appreciate that) and perhaps even do some more units of my textbook which I have, I admit, been abandoning for quite a while now. Norwegian in general, which is sad because it was my first language love :( Well, I got a week calender with pictures of Norway for Christmas, maybe that will serve as a motivation boost. Like for French, I also want to read at least one Norwegian book to the end in 2023. I have one in mind that the Norwegian teacher at the university gave me when I had my one-day internship there

Wow. I hope I will be able to achieve these goals by the end of the year. I seriously have no idea if it's too much or little because this is the first time I've EVER done something like "good resolutions for the coming year" or whatever it is called. But I recently saw a quote.

Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. — Clement Stone

Not only does it sound very nice because of the connection to astronomy and space, it also reassures me that sometimes it's okay not being able to do everything or one thing just as well as the other. Small progress is also good progress, especially when it is aquired in a constant pace.

And with that, I'm wishing everyone who happens to be reading this a happy new year and good luck with your goals! You're doing great.

Fun fact: In Germany, we wish each other "einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr" at the end of the year. It literally translates to "a good slide into the new year". Honestly, I think it's a bit funny. I hope you have one though. :)

[samuraiko]

As someone who speaks multiple languages, I have to relay my all-time favorite "I'm so smart, I'm stupid" story from college.

I opted to take THREE foreign languages while I was in college.

French (which I already spoke but I wanted to learn more), Italian (which I only barely knew basic conversation in), and Latin (which I didn't know at all).

I took them all during the same semester.

My FIRST semester of college.

Because of the University of Arizona's stupid rules at the time, all general education classes (which included foreign languages) had their final exams on the same day of finals week. The FIRST day of finals week.

Which meant I had three foreign language exams on the very first day of finals (along with my English exam, my math exam, AND a piano music jury).

Cue massive cramming on Dead Day (the day between the last day of classes and the first day of finals).

Then, from 8am-10am, 11am-1pm, 1pm-2pm, 2pm-4pm, 5pm-7pm, 8pm-10pm, it was nonstop finals.

In my absolute frazzled exhaustion...

I answered my ENTIRE French exam in Italian, my ENTIRE Italian exam in Latin, and my ENTIRE Latin exam in French.

Cue all three professors meeting in the Humanities office all going, "WHAT IN THE LITERAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

They realized it was all the same student, and they had to work together to grade my exams.

(By the way, I did in fact pass all three exams and all three classes.)

But that's not the best part.

That came five days later when I got called into the Humanities department by my professors.

Professors: "Is there a reason you took THREE foreign languages?" Me: "I felt like it." Professors: "You realize just ONE would have met the foreign languages requirement, right?" Me: "Oh, I actually CLEPed out of the foreign languages requirement." (Note: the CLEP (College Language Equivalency Proficiency) test is where you paid $70, took a test at the level of 4th semester foreign language proficiency, and depending on your score, were just given equivalent credit so you didn't even have to take the classes. I had in fact done this with French. And still took it anyway above my tested proficiency level so I could keep learning.)

Silence.

Professors: "You are the most brilliant idiot we've ever met in our careers."

Coda to this whole story: I also went on to take Ancient Greek and American Sign Language.

for chinese new year they get all these famous actors and comedians together and they do a lil show and one of the comedians was like “i was in a hotel in america once and there was a mouse in my room so i called reception except i forgot the english word for mouse so instead i said ‘you know tom and jerry? jerry is here’

[shoehorseconstant]

i started studyig french in uni bc i just wanted to pick a foreign language bc i love foreign lagnuages and i'm already sort of intermediate in french so i wanted to see if i could get GOOD

only one of my classes is actually useful and interesting. it focuses on translating btwn english and french and the grammar differences that arise when you do that and i feel like it's exactly what i wanted. it points out all the subtle grammatical differences that take you from an okay speaker to a better speaker and i love ittt!!!

but the other classes are kinda useless. they're just about writing essays and stuff in french but i don't even speak french at that level yet so how are you expecting me to write essays in this language i barely even speak. i'm trying to study french in schoool so i can get good at it but i feel like i'm gaining nothing from these...

i really want to learn how to SPEAK and actually get to a point where i could use this language in my daily life if i needed to, so this focus on reading and writing isn't really helping me...

but also, i can't stop thinking about the fact that there are people who speak multiple languages without ever formally studying them in school... like what do you mean i'm putting my literal degree towards this thing that other people know intuitively at the age of 4

and i'm still worse than a 4 year old!!! these classes aren't helping me

and i know a lot fo times the point of a degree is to give you "specialized" knowlwedge about something, and being proficient in a langauge isn't exactly "specialized" knowledge, so that's why they need me to write essays, cultjural analyses, linguistics, literature, blah, blah, blah but it just all feels so useless!!! if i wanted to do a literature degree i would've done a degree in... literature!

so i can't help but wonder if everything i'm doing is useless. i do this degree to attain the skills that many 4 year olds across the world intuitively know, and the classes aren't even helping me attain this goal. what's the point

[shubaka]

dang that's a lot of languages to have studied! kudos to you just for tackling mandarin and japanese 'alphabets' 😳 may I ask how you would rate/rank your proficiency in all those languages? were you able to retain the previous languages when learning new ones? (if yes, how? lol) also unrelated question and sorry I'm asking so many questions, but is university/college referred to as "school" where you live?

no worries if you're busy, no need to respond

"school" is usually used for anywhere from up to and including post-secondary (university/college). some people are very adamant about only using university or college when talking about it, but overall a lot of people still just say school when referring to post-secondary.

ahahaha it looks more impressive than it actually is. :') i unfortunately don't use the other languages much, so in my opinion, my retention isn't that great. it's important to keep using languages that you're learning! (i say, and then proceed to not do that haha) but i think if i actually sat down and focused on reviewing them for a few weeks, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to pick things up again.

french i learned from grades 4-7 because it was mandatory in my school in grades 4-6. unfortunately i had a very ... let's just say prejudiced teacher in grade 7 so i didn't continue after that. i still remember some phrases and vocabulary words. for more basic/casual conversation level stuff, i'd say i could understand maybe a quarter of it? sometimes i can kind of guess based on context haha.

i learned mandarin in grades 10-12. i'm definitely better at listening than speaking. although sometimes i trip up because i'll think of a word in cantonese first. i think basic beginner/casual is fine. on a side note, when i had cantonese lessons as a kid, we learned it using traditional characters, so the simplified characters end up confusing me half the time hahaha. (when i was 6-8 years old my parents made me take classes on saturdays. it was mostly for reading and writing because we speak it at home so it wasn't exactly "learning a new language")

i took one semester of korean in university... unfortunately my teacher wasn't the greatest at explaining some concepts (to my understanding, at any rate) and i'd often find myself asking the TAs (who were all korean exchange students haha) to clarify... it didn't go very well haha. i can only remember a handful of phrases and vocabulary.

japanese.... ahhh, i actually majored in it in university, so i got to an advanced level, but since graduating i haven't really used it at all -- so it seems like a waste *sobs*. hmm if we're basing my proficiency right now with no extra review to brush up on things, my speaking and listening might be at an intermediate level?

and not mentioned in that poll because i learned them outside of school for fun is ASL and thai (which i am currently trying to learn via self-study).

ASL is great but also one that you need to keep practicing -- if you can get the muscle memory, even better. i took it for a year (evening classes as an adult) and i'd say i'm at a beginner level. this, like everything else, i need to practice more to retain.

with regards to retention of other languages while learning new ones, i think it's mostly a matter of how much you continue to engage with and use the other language. and it can be helpful if you compare grammar structure, vocab, etc with the language you're currently studying and the old one. it can be fun/interesting when you notice similar patterns or words across different languages and that might help you remember things more easily as well.

i love learning new languages but oh god am i terrible at continuing to practice it afterwards :') there are just so many things i want to do and learn and there are only so many hours in a day -- and there's definitely a limit to how much i can think in a day before my brain turns into mush

[minilpark]

hi :) - i was just thinking about what languages the top gun maverick pilots can speak ... and you're the first person i thought of to ask. feel like you have quite a good grasp on them (i say that as if i've already watched it. i haven't). not sure if you even do something like this 🙈

oh my god wait i feel so honoured i was the first person you thought of to ask- i'll do my best but a majority of these pilots will probably be similar

1. rooster

so in his file that appeared on screen closer to the beginning of the movie, we see he has a proficiency in spanish! i'm not sure how well he is in speaking it but he did study it so there's that. i definitely think he has an opportunity to improve if he talks to fanboy or is stationed in spanish speaking countries though!

2. hangman

concerning jake, i think he would know spanish as well. i like to think that jake's known a bit of spanish since high school, but not through taking classes, more so just passive learning through people he's met or interacted with (i def believe he grew up in texas like glen powell). he only really started becoming fluent in college and when he got stationed to spanish speaking countries.

3. phoenix

besides speaking spanish, (i think she'd already be proficient in it because i think nat is part latina-) phoenix probably learned a bit of french as well (don't ask how i know i just have a feeling) but she doesn't use it as much as she does with spanish so she's starting to forget it

another language she totally learned was asl! i like to think she has a cousin and aunt who are deaf and hard of hearing (respectively) so she learned from them and practices it often.

4. bob

now i fully believe bob was enrolled in a spanish immersion program in elementary school so he's fully fluent. his parents thought it would be a useful skill considering how common it's spoken.

besides spanish, bob learned asl in high school and continued those studies in college. he practices often with phoenix and sometimes the two gossip or talk shit through sign

5. fanboy

fanboy knows spanish, bUT i like to think he also learned tagalog too since the languages are somewhat closely related! plus he was stationed in manila for a while (my hc, idk if he actually was). he even made some filipino friends while he spent time in the Philippines and he keeps in touch with them.

6. payback

i feel like payback has been stationed a bunch of places and picked up and learned a lot of languages. however, before leaving the states he learned spanish through classes (which aren't always the best) and improved his skills being stationed in a spanish speaking country. then he learned some russian (and lost it), learned german (and lost that too lmao), and lastly he was stationed in japan for a while before going stateside so he had to pick up japanese.

i would say the only language he can speak now is spanish, but he still understands some things in the others he's learned (especially japanese).

7. coyote

i think coyote learned spanish at a later age but once he picked it up he worked hard to keep it fresh in his mind and he converses a lot with the crew too. besides spanish, i think javy learned portuguese because he has some family from portugal and he wanted to be able to talk to them without his mom translating :)

[yourlunarspice]

I was gonna put this in tags, but it's just a tad too long. I am not bilingual (far from it, actually), but when I was in high school, I took four years of Spanish. The teacher was teaching in her own home, since I and all of her students were homeschooled. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and German (plus maybe more?) and offers all of those classes. Some students even take multiple languages from her simultaneously, which leads to situations such as this one.

After one class, a student went to talk (in Spanish) to the teacher about something or other. They chatted for a moment before I noticed that my teacher had switched to French without even realizing it. She probably switched because the student was also in her French class, as he didn't hesitate before switching to speaking French himself. She noticed after another moment or so and apologized, but I found the entire interaction quite fun to watch.

Additionally, her being fluent in so many languages leads to interesting situations, such as when she had a parent/teacher meeting and wanted to show off how proficient the student was. She spoke to him in Spanish, he translated to German and relayed the sentence in German to his mom, the mom responded in German, and he translated back to Spanish. It wasn't necessary (as the teacher was fluent in German), but gave him a good situation to let his skills in both languages shine.

the thing about code or language switching is that its almost always context-based and purposeful. strip it of its context and it becomes frivolous and meaningless.

the reason “hola mi nombre es juan. oh my god I didn’t realize I was speaking spanish.” is ridiculous is because it’s exceedingly rare anyones going to accidentally switch languages. in everything everywhere all at once, they speak chinglish to each other. they never accidentally speak mandarin to deirdre in the IRS office for example because that would be ridiculous.

eeaao is such a splendid depiction of this. especially due to the varying levels of mastery across their generations. its clear joy understands mandarin but doesn’t speak it (except when jobu is trying to be dramatic). she doesn’t have enough grip of cantonese to tell gong gong that ruby is her girlfriend but she understands enough to know evelyn doesn’t say it. you have to understand that Both of these things can be true for this scene to hit so hard. in particular, i love the back and forth between waymond and evelyn. she fully switches to english when speaking to alpha-waymond. but switches back and forth with her waymond in a way that feels so reflective of speaking languages that represent home in different ways. with an ease you can only grow into with someone having grown up in both environments.

[andromedaa-starss]

chinese-american!les amis bc i can

it is imperative to establish that it was joly and bossuet who came up with the name of les amis de l'abc and it is in fact a terrible pun. courfeyrac wishes he came up with something so bad. he wishes.

it's not even accurate because not all of them were even born in america. combeferre and marius were born in canada and cosette and feuilly came from china.

feuilly was adopted from china due to the one child policy. to this day he still has lingering doubts and thoughts bc of it.

some of them are proficient in mandarin, some are not. most can understand someone speaking though.

most also understand a different dialect.

often you'll hear courfeyrac and enjolras chatting in a mixture of english and cantonese.

enj's mandarin skills are Not Great and he's a bit insecure about that.

marius is half chinese and he's been looking to reconnect ever since finding out the truth about his dad.

combeferre sometimes wonders if he really wants to be a doctor or if that's just expectations speaking. he doubts himself sometimes.

they keep forgetting that other people actually wear shoes in the house.

joly is studying western medicine but also is really into traditional medicine as well.

jehan is fascinated with chinese poetry and probably can recite a number of them if you ask them. (they recite 床前明月光 or w/e the title is all the time to annoy everyone else)

many are expected to do well in school and that's a big stresser for them, especially bahorel. he wants to make his parents proud but he also doesn't want to be a lawyer. sometimes he cries at night about it.

all struggle to reconcile their lives in america with their asian heritage. what does it mean to be apart of two worlds?

many also struggle with their identity as queer people but That's A Different Story. kinda.

some grew up in places where there's a larger asian population, others grew up as one of the only asian kids.

some also took other languages in school. for poor marius, who took many languages (and is still studying more), he can slip up a lot. language is hard y'all.

this is a personal anecdote and has nothing to do with les amis but one time i was in french class and i forgot how to say "i have" in french so i defaulted to mandarin in my head. thankfully the teacher didn't call on me bc then i would've said "我有 une voiture verte" or smth like that.

yes some were pressured to take up violin and/or piano at a young age, but some never had the time or pressure to learn.

if anyone wants to add anything else, feel free to do so!

also note: this really just based off what i experienced and know. it's not all encompassing. im chinese-american but im just one person, and my experiences aren't universal.

[chromatophorium]

Play Simon in DND 5e, version 2!!! This is the final version of the build, I think. But I'm not happy with the formating. So think of it as another draft.

LVL 1 Roll your stats, I guess. Get’s more accurate that way, if you roll right. Try to get 14 str, 12 dex, 14 con, 4 int, 13 wis, 6 cha, after racial bonuses. Or take standard array: 14 str, 12 dex, 15 con, 8 int, 13 wis, 10 cha Race: Warforged Ability Score Increase. Constitution +2, and one other ability score +1. (If standard stats, put extra point in wis for accuracy, and cha for powergaming.) Size. Medium. Speed. 30 feet. Specialized Design. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice. Athletics and… Navigators tools? (Yeah. Simon be a diving robot thing.) Languages. Common (English), Elvish (French) Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits: You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe. You are immune to disease. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal. Integrated Protection. Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enhanced with armor. You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class. You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you must remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way. While you live, your armor can't be removed from your body against your will. Background: Create your own background for Skill proficiencies: Perception, Stealth (Perception for Camera stuff, and Stealth for… you can’t get it from artificer and Simon needs it.) Tool proficiencies: Painter’s supplies (closest thing to camera skill), Calligrapher’s Supplies (closest thing to book things, has cool notebook too) (This doesn’t actually really matter, but I want very many tool proficiencies, to make the omni tool as omni as possible) Class: Artificer (A really bad artificer. You don’t have skill minimums for starting class! hehe) Proficiencies: Combat stuff: Light armor, Medium armor, Shields, Simple weapons Tools: Thieve’s tools, Tinkers tools, Blacksmith’s tools Skills: Sleight of hand, Investigation (Simon solves puzzles, at least.) Feat: Magical tinkering: just look it up, don’t really want to have it all here. Basically prestigitation for artificers. Make a flashlight and shove it into your skull. … Wait, you could make an improvised camera with this. Huh. Spells: Cantrips: Light (Better Flashlight), Guidance (You will need this) 1st: (If rolled stats, you can only prepare 1 spell until lvl 10, lvl 6 with standard stats, I will just put in character spells of 1st lvl here, with explanations) Longstrider (RUN SIMON! Movement becomes 40 feet, which is awesome for later stuff, would just stick with this honestly) Sanctuary (Actually really good for a non combat character like you, maybe stick with this one instead) Expeditious Retreat (RUN FASTER SIMON) Grease (Spill your guts out… Structure gellllll) Cure wounds (Repair organic shit with structure gelllll, get the WAU power) False Life (Repair organic shit with structure gelllll, get the WAU power, necromancy edition) Snare (Yeah, you could probably make one of those?) Identify (Understand stuff by holding it in your hands for a minute… or ten. You choose) LVL 2 Feats: Infuse item: Magic item yooooo. Infusions known: Mind Sharpener. Item: A suit of armor or robes. The infused item can send a jolt to the wearer to refocus their mind. The item has 4 charges. When the wearer fails a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell, the wearer can use its reaction to expend 1 of the item's charges to succeed instead. The item regains 1d4 expended charges daily at dawn. Enhanced Defense, Item: A suit of armor or a

shield A creature gains a +1 bonus to Armor Class while wearing (armor) or wielding (shield) the infused item. The bonus increases to +2 when you reach 10th level in this class. Dread Helm, Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Wondrous item, common. This fearsome steel helm makes your eyes glow red while you wear it. (This could be his red eyes, if wanted.) Orb of Shielding, Necromantic cuz undead, or lighting and thunder cuz robot, Source: Eberron - Rising from the Last War, Wondrous item, common (requires attunement) An orb of shielding is a polished, spherical chunk of crystal or stone aligned to one of the planes of existence. If you're a spellcaster, you can use this orb as a spellcasting focus. If you're holding the orb when you take damage of the type associated with the orb's material, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by 1d4 (to a minimum of 0). The materials and their associated damage types are listed in the Orb of Shielding table. LVL 3 MY SECOND BOY, HE IS HERE! after the other stuff… Feats: Tool proficiency: Alchemist’s tools, (You know how that structure gel works now, you know) Battle Smith Spells: Omg. It’s more spells that my boy knows. Heroism (To not be super afraid of monsters), Shield (Protect yourself, my boy) Battle ready: Useless stuff, like, martial weapon proficiency and int for attack! Steel defender: Here he is! My second boy! (Do a coin toss, see if he’s Simon 2 or 3) By 3rd level, your tinkering has borne you a faithful companion, a steel defender. It's friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys your commands. See its game statistics in the Steel Defender stat block, which uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places. You determine the creature's appearance and whether it has two legs or four; your choice has no effect on its game statistics. In combat, the defender shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, the defender can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge. If the Mending spell is cast on it, it regains 2d6 hit points. If it has died within the last hour, you can use your smith's tools as an action to revive it, provided you are within 5 feet of it and you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. The steel defender returns to life after 1 minute with all its hit points restored. At the end of a long rest, you can create a new steel defender if you have smith's tools with you. If you already have a defender from this feature, the first one immediately perishes. The defender also perishes if you die. Steel Defender Medium construct Armor Class: 15 (natural armor) Hit Points: 2 + your Intelligence modifier + 5 times your artificer level (the defender has a number of Hit Dice [d8s] equal to your artificer level) Speed: 40 ft. (This why longstrider was fun. PC had 40 speed most of the time too.) STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 4 (−3) 10 (+0) 6 (−2) Saving Throws: Dex +1 plus PB, Con +2 plus PB Skills: Athletics +2 plus PB, Perception +0 plus PB x 2 Damage Immunities: poison Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, poisoned Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10 + (PB x 2) Languages: understands the languages you speak Challenge: — Proficiency Bonus (PB): equals your bonus Vigilant. The defender can't be surprised. Actions Force-Empowered Rend. Melee Weapon Attack: your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target you can see. Hit: 1d8 + PB force damage. Repair (3/Day). The magical mechanisms inside the defender restore 2d8 + PB hit points to itself or to one construct or object within 5 feet of it. Reactions Deflect Attack. The defender imposes disadvantage on the attack roll of one creature it can see that is within 5 feet of it, provided the attack roll is against a

creature other than the defender. Oh yeah, and also switch one of your infusions for. Pressure Capsule, Source: Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Wondrous item, common This small capsule is made of beeswax blended with sand and a variety of enchanted water plants. A creature who consumes a pressure capsule ignores the effects of swimming at depths greater than 100 feet (see "Unusual Environments" in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). (Actually, just skip the dread helm and just get this. Glowing red eyes for a robot is just flavor, mostly) LVL 4 Ability score improvement: Choose a feat instead. Magic initiate: Druid. Cantrips: Mending (Pour some more of your structure gel to fix this) Magic Stone (Throw Rocks at people. Steel defender can do that too. Throwing things is one of the only things you can do in game) 1st Lvl: Cure wounds (so you can prepare something else with your one artificer spell that you can prepare.) LVL 5 Feats: Extra attack. But Simon doesn’t attack. He’s peaceful. A peaceful guy. Spells: Already prepared: Branding Smite, Warding bond (None of these are really in character, I think, but could work with some flavor I haven’t thought of…) 2nd lvl Spells: Enhance ability. (This one is the good one. Like, switch between this and Sanctuary and longstrider) Aid, Blur, and Arcane lock could work too, but don’t wanna write descriptions. LVL 6 Feats: Learn more infusions! Do, boots of elven kind, for whoever is Simon 1. Gloves of thievery to… whoever needs it. Or just make another orb of shielding. Or make a resistant armor, and give orb to Steel defender. LVL 7 Flash of Genius At 7th level, you've gained the ability to come up with solutions under pressure. When you or another creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an ability check or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to the roll. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. (Use this on enemy for them to get -3 on stuff. It's like one time use bane thing.) LVL 8. Ability score improvement. Which we're not going to take. Take a feat instead. This feat. Metamagic Adept, Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature You've learned how to exert your will on your spells to alter how they function: You learn two Metamagic options of your choice from the sorcerer class. You can use only one Metamagic option on a spell when you cast it, unless the option says otherwise. Whenever you reach a level that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can replace one of these Metamagic options with another one from the sorcerer class. You gain 2 sorcery points to spend on Metamagic (these points are added to any sorcery points you have from another source but can be used only on Metamagic). You regain all spent sorcery points when you finish a long rest. Take: Subtle Spell. When you cast a spell, you can spend 1 sorcery point to cast it without any somatic or verbal components., And, Twinned Spell. When you cast a spell that targets only one creature and doesn't have a range of self, you can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell's level to target a second creature in range with the same spell (1 sorcery point if the spell is a cantrip). To be eligible for Twinned Spell, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell's current level. The twinned spell is the big one here. Double cure wounds, double enhance ability, (that could potentially make preparing a 2nd lvl spell worth it.) Subtle spell is good for stealth, since Simon will be doing that. LVL 9 Feats: Arcane Jolt At 9th level, you've learn new ways to channel arcane energy to harm or heal. When either you hit a target with a magic weapon attack or your steel defender hits a target, you can channel magical energy through the strike to create one of the following effects: The target takes an extra 2d6 force damage. Choose one creature or object you can

see within 30 feet of the target. Healing energy flows into the chosen recipient, restoring 2d6 hit points to it. (Structure gelly) You can use this energy a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), but you can do so no more than once on a turn. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. (So a once a day heal or extra damage, that can only be activated by one of Simons hitting something. It's in the eh category of usefulness) Spells: You know what time it is, listing in character spells! Lvl 3: Haste (Simon! I keep telling you! Go faster!! Panic level fast!) Intellect Fortress (It's not a fortress made of intellect, Simon could never do that. It makes a creature resistant to psychic damage, and most importantly, giving advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saving throws, something which both Simons could need. Sadly can't twin this spell though.) Protection from energy (could work?? Maybe with some reflavoring…) Then we have this spell: Tiny servant. Wanna make Omnitool Cathrine with tiny leggies??? This is probably the closest thing! Maybe… wait. I have an idea. The already prepared spells are Aura of Vitality and Conjure Barrage. Could be in character, you decide. LVL 10 One of the best lvls!!! Feats: Magic Item Adept When you reach 10th level, you achieve a profound understanding of how to use and make magic items: You can attune to up to four magic items at once. If you craft a magic item with a rarity of common or uncommon, it takes you a quarter of the normal time, and it costs you half as much of the usual gold. Not because of that. Because you learn new infusions and you should make them right away!!! Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Source: Dungeon Master's Guide, Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement) Your Strength score is 19 while you wear these gauntlets. They have no effect on you if your Strength is 19 or higher without them. (Give this to whoever is Simon 3, took a while, but we got the haimatsu power suit to actually have power) Headband of Intellect, Source: Dungeon Master's Guide, Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement) Your Intelligence score is 19 while you wear this headband. It has no effect on you if your Intelligence is 19 or higher without it. (This is not for any Simons. This is for Tiny servant, leggy Omnitool Cathrine!!! Now she only needs to overcome that she can't speak in Omnitool form… but that's kinda canon too! I literally came up with this idea while writing down the tiny servant spell, and man, it fits do well!) Time for a cool trick, that I'll call… prepare-"cheating". So, the rules of preparing spells are like this: You prepare the list of artificer spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the artificer spell list. When you do so, choose a number of artificer spells equal to your Intelligence modifier + half your artificer level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of artificer spells requires time spent tinkering with your spellcasting focuses: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list. So, the trick is this: PC Simon attunes to the headband of intellect before taking a long rest. Then when it is over, he can prepare 9 spells (+the four from the subclass that är are always prepared) and after that, he uses Tiny Servant and gets Cath, and Cath can attune to the Headband! That way, stuff is in character most of the time, but we still get over the Preparing spell problem we've been having. (But honestly, this trick isn't as important as the next trick with Headband of intellect) LVL 11 Now it's time for the most important trick. I'll call it… Multiclass-"cheating". The rules for Multiclassing are: To qualify for a new class, you must meet the ability score prerequisites for both your current class and your new one, as shown in the Multiclassing Prerequisites table. The ability score Prerequisite for artificer aren't met by Simon. So, the PC

Simon has to have the Headband of intellect attuned before Leveling up, then we can gain a level in another class! Cleric level 1 (Cleric?? There aren't any gods in SOMA, that grant Simon powers!? Well… No. But a thing that gives Simon powers is the WAU. So… I am not calling it a god. But maybe a being equal to gods? Idk. This class just works pretty well.) Devine Domain: Grave. (A domain that is described as against undead because they desacrete life and death. So, kind of weird to use this domain for a being that arguably creates undead. But the most of the stuff that one gets from this is pretty in character for the WAU. So… Yeah) (Also, you don't even need to have a holy symbol. The orb of shielding can be used as a spellcasting focus for all spellcasters.) Feats: Circle of Mortality At 1st level, you gain the ability to manipulate the line between life and death. When you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell to a creature at 0 hit points, you instead use the highest number possible for each die. In addition, you learn the Spare the Dying cantrip, which doesn't count against the number of cleric cantrips you know. For you, it has a range of 30 feet, and you can cast it as a bonus action. (The WAU doesn't let things die. This is keeping things alive. Goes with the theme of the WAU.) Eyes of the Grave At 1st level, you gain the ability to occasionally sense the presence of the undead, whose existence is an insult to the natural cycle of life. (There's the subclass judging undead and undead creations… Like I said, kind of weird to use this) As an action, you can open your awareness to magically detect undead. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any undead within 60 feet of you that isn't behind total cover and that isn't protected from divination magic. This sense doesn't tell you anything about a creature's capabilities or identity. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. (I don't know about the in characterness of this, but it would be pretty darn useful for Simon in the game.) Spells: Cantrips: Spare the dying, obviously. Get Resistance. And then… take some of the stuff you already know. The other Cantrips aren't really in character. 1st lvl spells: In character spell explaining time. Or something. Artificer and Cleric overlap kind of much, so I'm gonna skip the ones that I already explained. From the domain, Bane, a better Simon-Style Flash of Genius and False Life, some temp hitpoints, those are pretty good. Bless, just some good buffing for the Steel defender and Cath, and PC too! That's always good. Shield of faith. Use this on whoever is Simon 3, haimatsu power suits are, like, better armor. But the steel defender isn't proficient in any armor, so this is a way of making sure the sense of being more armored is preserved while not knowing if the Steel defender or the PC is Simon 3. Protection from evil and good. Protects from undead(and other types of creatures too), a type of creature that Simon faces a lot of in the game, so that's useful. LVL 12 Cleric level 2 Feats: Channel divinity. You get two options, Turn undead and Path to the grave. Turn undead, makes undead turn away from you and run away for a bit. Useful, but not in-character. Good thing that one has to use a holy symbol, and the PC doesn't even have one, if you use the Orb of shielding for a spellcasting focus. So you can't even use that one… Path to the grave, makes the affected creature vunrable to the damage of the next attack, effectively doubling damage for the next attack. Useful, but not really for a non-combat focused character. But if the time comes where one actually has to fight something, I guess it's good to have. LVL 13 Cleric level 3 This level is just getting 2nd lvl spells so, you know what time it is: Spells: 2nd lvl Already prepared spells: Gentle repose, make stuff not turn undead… put uncalibrated gel on it??? Idk. Ray of imfeeblement. Make stuff… not

strong. More uncalibrated poison gel on stuff???? Idk. Could work. Stuff that's already on the artificer list. Maybe warding bond is a neat thing. LVL 14 Cleric level 4. Ability score improvement. Again, not going to take it. Take the Alert Feat instead. Simon has gotten used to always looking over his shoulder. (Also this is another thing that makes the PC mirror the steel defender's abilities, something I'm looking for in this build) LVL 15 Cleric level 5. You get 3rd lvl spells!!! This is what we came here for! Spells: 3rd lvl: Speak with dead, this is what we did all these levels for. This spell. One of the innate abilities of Simon. It doesn't work like in the game, but it's the closest thing to it. You could just ask what happened in the corpses last moments and nothing more, then it would be like the game. Already prepared: revivify, keep people from dying, just like the WAU. Or don't. This just gives you the ability to do that, for a price. (The price is a diamond, wonder if they have those at Pathos-II.) Vampiric Touch, this spell is the closest we can get to WAU nodes, I think. You take power from a creature, WAU, and use it to heal yourself. (And in a previous version of the game, you could drain energy from mockingbirds, I think… so this is like that?) Back to stuff you have to prepare. Energy Transference, basically the opposite of Vampiric touch, take damage and give healing to someone. I would think the thing also works in reverse… Protection from energy, a protection spell. I like those for Simon. It's just a buff, or whatever. (And you can also destroy undead of ½ CR or lower…. But that's not in character, really. Unless you count maybe poisoning the WAU and by extension killing all mocking birds and people kept alive by the WAU.) LVL 16 Artificer level 11 Another great Lvl! Because of this feat! At 11th level, you can now store a spell in an object. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one simple or martial weapon or one item that you can use as a spellcasting focus, and you store a spell in it, choosing a lst- or 2nd-level spell from the artificer spell list that requires 1 action to cast (you needn't have it prepared). While holding the object, a creature can take an action to produce the spell's effect from it, using your spellcasting ability modifier. If the spell requires concentration, the creature must concentrate. The spell stays in the object until it's been used a number of times equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum of twice) or until you use this feature again to store a spell in an object. (This is lovely. Get steel defender to concentrate on one spell that you don't have prepared, save your… 2 other prepared spells for something else. Anyway, Cath could also cast spells with this now. *Overenthusiastic commercial voice*: Make her do arcane lock and she can lock doors! Just like in the game! Wow!) LVL 17 Fighter lvl 1 A dip into Fighter? Well, those are almost always good. So you get Second Wind You have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Now, there is an option here. This differs a bit between what Simon the PC ends up as. PC is Simon 2, Take the fighting style: Superior Technique. You learn one maneuver of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice.) You gain one superiority die, which is a d6 (this die is added to any superiority dice you have from another source). This die is used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. Choose one of Tactical Assessment, Evasive Footwork or Ambush for

your manuver. Doesn't matter which, we'll get the other ones later. PC is Simon 3, Take the fighting style Defense. While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC. LVL 18 Artificer lvl 12 Get back to artificer! You get an ability score improvement. Take a feat instead! This also depends on which Simon is the PC. PC is Simon 2, take the feat Martial Adept, Source: Player's Handbook You have martial training that allows you to perform special combat maneuvers. You gain the following benefits. You learn two maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). You gain one superiority die, which is a d6 (this die is added to any superiority dice you have from another source). This die is used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. Now you have all of the stuff that I mentioned before! (Rally also seems in character, but you can make temp hit points for allies with false life already, so I didn't choose that) PC is Simon 3 Heavy Armor master You can use your armor to deflect strikes that would kill others. You gain the following benefits: Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20. While you are wearing heavy armor, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that you take from nonmagical weapons is reduced by 3. (Benefits of the power suit. Sad that it has to be from weapons though.) (Also at this level you can prepare 3 artificer spells! Yay!) LVL 19 Artificer level 13 You get 4th lvl spells! Spells: 4th lvl: Stoneskin, put this on whoever is Simon 3. Resistance against bludgeoning damage is what I would constitute as being Resistant to the pressure of the abyss. Freedom of movement, just… run around and don't get caught. Kinda a bit like safe mode. LVL 20 Idk. Do whatever. This build was done at lvl 19. 14th lvl of artificer has some stuff I think? Upgrade the ogre strength gauntlets to belt of hill giant strength. Bracers of defense to the Steel defender if it is Simon 3. If Simon 3 is the PC, then… I think PC Simon 3 has enough AC, from full plate and defense fighting style and maybe enhanced armor. So give like… ring of free action to someone, Cath, Simon 2, Simon 3, doesn't matter.

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

Hey if you still want to do the 3 headcanons thing, how about Kira? I'd love to know more about her!

Why thank you for the ask! I’d be happy to share!

Obviously, since she’s an OC, these things are less headcanon and more “canon” but since she’s technically a product of the fandom, anyone and everyone is welcome to make up headcanons about her!

- Kira was so proficient in the French classes her mom made her take that it was only natural for her to take another language. Her mom wanted Spanish, but Kira insisted on Russian. Now she’s proficient (almost fluent) in both. Her brother is amazing at French too so sometimes when they’re talking shit about someone they’ll speak in French. Nina, who’s good at French too, sometimes joins in.

- Kira abhors cheaters due to an incident in her past. It’s an extremely sore point in hers and Eddie’s relationship that oftentimes rears its ugly head during the worst of their arguments. I reckon that once Jerome two-times Mara and Willow, his and Kira’s friendship is going to take a spectacular nosedive.

- She is actually quite agile, and could have been an amazing athlete had she not been so annoyed by every athlete she’d come across—including Eddie and especially Benji. She did in fact consider trying out for a team when coming to Amun Academy, but ultimately decided against it. However, she’s fast and is just as good as Eddie at a game such as… I dunno… dodgeball?

You can read Two is Company here

[duine-aiteach]

Does the current curriculum for Irish fail the language?

On the 2016 census 1.7 million people indicated they could speak Irish, which was a 13,000 decrease from the 2011 census. 420,000 said they never spoke Irish and 587,000 said they spoke it only in education. A mere 200,000 indicated they spoke it weekly or daily, and I fear that that number is only going to fall. The number of fluent Irish speakers has declined since The Famine despite various attempts to revive it, and current opinions towards the language aren’t helping it recover. There has to be a change in the way it is implemented.

 The current examination system for Irish at Leaving Certificate level has an oral examination, an aural examination and a written examination. The results of these are then averaged out to get a final grade. This may seem like a good idea as the students can play to their strengths. However, the level of Irish required to take this exam is generally higher than students can manage. The teachers knew we didn’t have enough Irish to answer the questions on our own, so we were given essays and pages of notes to learn off. By forcing us to take exams at a much higher level than we could speak, most people who had any bit of interest lost it. If the way Irish is taught, and subsequently examined, isn’t changed the language will die.

Stringing a language along that not many people want to speak just to preserve it is ridiculous and ultimately a waste of time. Forcing the language on people does no good. At the moment we have a country full of teenagers who loathe the subject. We can’t actually speak it but can somehow answer an in-depth question on the themes of a poem?

 My proposition is to begin at the root – education – and split Irish into two separate subjects – Irish (native speaker) and Irish (learner). The first will be aimed mainly at Gaeltacht areas and Gaelscoils and rarely be taken outside of them, whereas the latter is aimed at people who don’t often use Irish outside of school.

Irish (native speaker) can stay pretty much the same as the current Irish curriculum since it’s aimed at people who can speak Irish the way most of us do English. Whereas Irish (learner) would be set up more like the foreign languages – French, German, Spanish etc – that are taught in schools already.

Currently, people who have only learnt simple introductions and past tense verbs are coming into secondary school expected to be able to write essays by themselves, and as time goes on it gets harder and harder. We are treated as if we should know things about Irish that we have never been taught. That needs to be changed. We need to be taught what things mean and why we use them more than just “because we do.” In primary school we were made to learn lists of Irish words off – liom, leat, leis, lei, linn, libh, leo; orm, ort, air, uirthi, orainn, oraibh, orthu etc – but it wasn’t until Leaving Cert. that I learned they had different meanings and you didn’t just alternate based off your gut feeling. I only learned that because of an offhand comment my teacher made that we as a class then asked about. He grew up in Connemara and seemed very surprised that we didn’t know the difference.

 Irish isn’t spoken widely anymore outside of Gaeltacht areas and the vast majority of Irish people who can “speak” Irish haven’t spoken it since leaving school. Most of what they do know is due to learning by heart and not actually learning to speak the language. The problem isn’t a lack of interest, it’s mainly the curriculum which forces the teachers to not actually teach the language properly because that isn’t important to get us through our exams.

I struggled with Irish greatly in secondary school and I believe most of that is down to being pushed into an exam I wasn’t able for. I was discouraged from taking ordinary level because as long as I passed, I would get more points in higher level. I put myself under a lot of stress that I think could have been avoided if I had had the choice to study Irish as a language I was learning, rather than one I seemed to be expected to know.

 If it was taught differently more people would want to and would enjoy learning the language. The only way Irish will properly survive is if they actually start teaching us how to speak the language not just acting like we are already fluent in it. I have heard a vast amount of people say that they can speak French or German better than a language they’ve been “taught” since they were four years of age. The language you’ve been around since early childhood should be much easier to speak than one you’ve been learning for three or four years.

 Although every Irish person’s first language used to be Irish it has to be understood now that that isn’t the case and the way of promoting and encouraging Irish needs to be changed to reflect that. A hundred years ago testing students on analysing a poem in Irish would work since the person spoke the language fluently, but now we do not and without a serious change in teaching we never will be. There must be a change to increase proficiency of the language in the general Republic or it will die out. 

[theatricalities]

⧼   A mask of perfect innocence hiding the machiavellian intentions forever lurking beneath the surface — the ace up your sleeve, the trick coin with one side weighing heavier than its opposite because chance is simply a game that’s far too risky for the likes of you; the claw marks left on absolutely anything and everything in your wake — it’s not desperation that makes you cling so fervently to the objects of your desire as much as it’s your own way of ensuring survival; the self-imposed solitude clouding your ocean eyes  — questions of identity and belonging are forever at the heels of your every decision, begging you to turn back before it’s too late.   ⧽ 

  ━━   hey, isn’t that ZEPHYRINE TRAVERS ? i read a daily prophet article on them, once ; the 24 year old part-Veela WITCH is a SLYTHERIN alumnus who has gone on to be an ACTRESS IN THE WIXEN WORLD. i’ve heard they can be quite AUDACIOUS & BEGUILING, but i don’t know…they came off very EXPLOITATIVE and DELUSIVE in that interview. it really is hard to know what to believe these days though, isn’t it?

(  takes a hiatus...comes back with a new character  )

Heya ghouls, gals, and nonbinary pals! It’s me, ya girl. Zephyrine is my second little child to enter the group and I’m real wild about her! She’s inspired by DE idea #17 which you can find listed here!  Obviously, Zeph is an OC, but her tie to canon is that she’s the daughter of Travers, the Death Eater who killed Marlene McKinnon and family. Also, because I just don’t know how to write contented characters, Zeph’s a bit of a wreck, too — has some daddy issues, wants more than the world can offer, doesn’t have a true sense of self...but she’s got great fashion !

Below is Zephyrine’s bio and general information. Wanted connections can be found here ( very under construction rn ) and they’ll be updated as play progresses! Please feel free to pm me here or on discord ( debaucherie#6347 ) if you’d like to plot ✿

BEFORE THE WAR — “ Everyone wants something...”

[ trigger warnings for death, murder; ]

On the night that marked Zephyrine Travers’ birth, the world in return exalted her upon arrival, singing the praises of the newborn babe as boldly as a songbird in spring.

Or — that was the tale upon which her mother raised her, and it was one the girl found fitting enough to believe, even if all the world around spoke to the contrary. After all, her father (whose only claim to the term was in the scientific sense alone) created so empty a home that such fantastical ideas were perhaps the only source of hope that the young girl could find. At the age of two, Zephyrine and her family were quietly removed from their ancestral home as her father was sentenced to Azkaban for the murder of Marlene McKinnon. She and her mother were stripped of all riches, no matter the fact that the young girl continued the bloodline of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. 

And so, life continued on in this way, with little yarns of fantasy spun each and every night in the dreariness of their one-room hovel, spoken in assuring whispers as they cooked by candlelight or repaired a worn and weathered dress when there was no money to replace it instead. Despite the woe-be-gone skirts and helpless shoes, she was determined that no one should know about the unexpected poverty that marked her home life, and walked into the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with every intent on looking the part of the Travers name even if it was in name alone that she remained connected  —  going so far as to insist to the Sorting Hat that she was meant to be in Slytherin, as her family had been for centuries, even when it argued she was better suited to Ravenclaw instead. 

In many ways, her adolescence was a long, drawn-out course in the art of convincing others — she could manifest a stream of tears to reassure a fellow Slytherin that she truly felt for her father just as easily as she could feign prolonged wooziness to avoid Flying class for a week. She flashed her blessedly charming smile across the House tables in the Great Hall, befriended everyone and anyone while still keeping them at arm’s length, and convinced even the most doubtful that she was an invaluable creature — not because of her name or the weight it still carried in certain circles, but because she believed herself to be and would not rest until it was an undeniable, unequivocal truth.

At sixteen, however, the meager world she’d known her whole life shattered entirely, its fragments not pieced together with the loving touch of her mother, but instead the fearsome presence of her father, who broke out of Azkaban along with ten other Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange. Unsurprisingly, he was asked by Lord Voldemort to prove his loyalty, and continued his murderous warpath — but instead of getting caught this time, he ensured that another would take his place. Zephyrine’s mother, innocent as a dove, was framed for his crimes and swiftly locked up in Azkaban, and Zander Travers was restored all riches seized upon his arrest.

By seventeen, Zephyrine had all the hallmarks of the dreams her mother raised her on : wealth far beyond her dreams, a manor estate fit for royalty and all the accompanying fanfare upon being properly introduced into a society of Death Eaters, but lost her mother in the process to a nightmare come true — the very woman who had instilled in the girl so great a belief in the impossible, that even this seemed like something Zephyrine could undo. 

She now balanced quite a precarious act, appearing to her father as his perfect little Death Eater in training, while turning spy for the Order in exchange for their help in freeing her mother once the War was won. 

AFTER THE WAR. — “...and once you know what they want, you know how to move them.”

When the time came, however, her mother was one of the many forgotten in the shadow of the Order’s triumph, relegated to little more than a broken promise as she rotted in Azkaban along with her husband, once again sentenced for his crimes. Their daughter, however, now took up the mantle of the new head of the Travers family, left with the ruins of her father’s blood-soaked legacy. In a world rebuilding itself, there was no game to be played when each side no longer had a reason to fight — and so, she waited. Seethed, more accurately, and busied herself with cleaning up the Travers name as time passed by. After receiving a formal training with the Wixen Academy of Dramatic Arts, she cemented herself firmly as a darling in the wixen theatre scene. In truth, it was all too easy. For twenty years, she’d practiced different ways to be believed — not to lie, she’d argue to herself, for any of those perceived lapses in truth had simply been her playing a character in order to get what she needed, and the silver-tongued sweetheart she portrayed to the public was no different.  To believe was the notion her mother instilled in her, but to be believed was one she’d determined necessary for herself, even if it meant losing any sense of self in the process. And so, upon hearing word of a reformed Death Eater legion under Bellatrix Lestrange’s leadership, she appealed to their cause, vowing that she could easily become a spy within the group which once held her loyalty — in exchange, once more, for the release* of her mother. Her allegiances, of course, are unknown to the public at large. In fact, when asked by the press on such matters, she voices her support for the Ministry and their efforts at preventing another tragedy to ever mark the Wixen World’s history again. Naturally, it’s all an act, as it has always been, and she’ll keep playing the game for as long as it take to reunite* with her mother, gain the most powerful of allies, and secure her own survival. 

[ * — while i’d love to believe that zeph’s mom is still alive, i think mrs. travers is likely to have perished rather soon after being wrongfully imprisoned. however, i believe that this information was kept from zeph as a way of controlling her, first by her father, then perhaps by the order ( i’d have to actually plot this one out w/an order member for this to be true ), but certainly by bellatrix and the DE clan. ]

BASICS.

FULL NAME:  Zephyrine Travers NAME MEANING: Zephyrine is of French origin and means ‘west wind’ ; Travers is of English origin and means ‘to cross’  NICKNAME(S):  Zeph ( used by family and close friends, only ) GENDER IDENTITY: Demigirl DATE OF BIRTH: 29 October, 1995 ( i put the wrong age in my app bc maths are not my strong suit, so technically Zeph is 24 but will turn 25 soon ) BIRTHPLACE:  Travers Estate, Hampshire, England  CURRENT PLACE OF DWELLING:  London, England  SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  pansexual panromantic LANGUAGE(S): English, French, basic Latin

LIFE.

OCCUPATION: Actress  EDUCATION: Homeschooled from ages 4 to 11; attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry from ages 11 to 18; attended the Wixen Academy of Dramatic Arts from ages 19 to 21. SOCIOECONOMIC LEVEL ( GROWING UP ):  Born upper class, but lower middle class from ages 2 - 16, upper class ages 16 - onward. SOCIOECONOMIC LEVEL ( CURRENTLY ): Upper class. RELIGION: Atheist

MAGICAL.

BLOOD TYPE: Not quite pureblood — but, publicly pureblood  SPECIES: 1/4 Veela  WAND TYPE: Hawthorn, unicorn hair core, 13″, reasonably supple SKILL LEVEL: Reasonably proficient, but a distinct knack for transfiguration and healing magic. Is adept at DADA, but often flees from the scene of battle before needing to utilize curses, jinxes, etc. PATRONUS: Incapable of producing a corporeal Patronus, but if she could, it would take the form of a shrike. BOGGART: Herself — albeit, a different, unrecognizable version of herself. In all her lying and betraying and such, Zeph has lost sense of herself and just doesn’t know the depths she might go to in order to get what she wants — and so I think it’s very possible that her biggest fear is the worst possible version of herself, the one that resembles her father in his uncaring bloodlust, messy and indiscriminate and entirely lacking in the nuance she prides herself on. AMORTENTIA: Fresh popcorn, the collar of a well-worn leather jacket, the scent of a newspaper so fresh the ink smudges one’s fingertips MIRROR OF ERISED: TBD. HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin ( the Sorting Hat debated for approximately nine minutes between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, but ultimately decided on Slytherin because Zephyrine asked it to. ) FAVORITE SUBJECT:  Transfiguration. LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECT:  Arithmancy. CLUBS / EXTRACURRICULARS: The Slug Club ( Year 7 ), Theatre Club ( Years 2 - 7 ), Keres Club ( ages 22 - present )

RELATIONS.

PARENT(S): Zander & Odette ( nee Lynd ) Travers SIBLING(S): Two older sisters, both deceased, from her father’s first marriage, and a younger sibling born one-two years after her from her father’s affair. SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): tbd. EX SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): tbd. CHILDREN:  none. PET(S):  Two cats, Beryl and Belinda. 

PHYSICAL.

HEIGHT: 5′7″ HAIR: silver-blonde EYES: blue BODY MODIFICATION(S): Three piercings in either ear. Despite Bellatrix’s insistence, she has staved off getting the Dark Mark under the guise that it would harm her status as an actress. In truth, she simply would hate to get something so permanent when her loyalties are rather, well, impermanent. NOTABLE SCARS / BIRTHMARKS:  No scars / noticeable birthmarks. A scattering of freckles. GLASSES / CONTACTS: Only when required for an acting role, but not usually needed. CLOTHING STYLE: Quite a soft, ‘feminine’ style — lace, ribbons, ruffles, pastels — but there’s always one or two little things hinting at something decidedly more aggressive ( platinum collar-tips pointed and sharpened, metallic makeup, earrings in the design of tiny daggers, black lace gloves hiding perfectly manicured claws ) ; zephyrine also wears her mother’s choker, which is platinum-plated and has a handshake as a clasp. DOMINANT HAND: Ambidextrous

PERSONALITY.

ZODIAC: Scorpio ( sun ) — observant, expressive, secretive, vengeful, enigmatic // Gemini ascendant, Capricorn moon PERSONALITY TYPE: ENTJ, The Commander — confident, charismatic, strategic, ruthless, stubborn, emotionally naive MORAL ALIGNMENT:  Neutral Evil TEMPERAMENT: Phlegmatic  ELEMENT:  Water VICE(S): Wrath VIRTUE(S):  Diligence CHARACTER PARALLELS: Dahlia Hawthorne ( Ace Attorney ), Amy March ( Little Women ), Margaery Tyrell ( ASOIAF ), Vesper Lynd ( James Bond ), Eva Perón ( history / ‘EVITA’ the musical & film )

[boopypastaissalty]

We Are Not Broken

The Session

Dr. Flemmings cleared his throat. “Now that all of you are here, let’s begin. The first thing I want you all to do is tell everyone what happened to you. It’s okay that you are here and you all have had similar experiences. This is a LGBTQ+ safe zone, so don’t be afraid. Who wants to start?”

Everyone looked at each other, none wanting to go first. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Logan took a deep breath, “I was kidnapped and tortured because of my gender and sexuality, along with Roman and Remus,” the twins both flinched at the statement, remembering all too well what had happened and what they had all been through together, “I have scars all over my body from the various weapons and beatings. It was hell, we were all malnourished and suffering, and I remember having to watch our kidnappers beat the everloving, pardon my language, f*ck out of Roman and Remus, I don’t remember the times I was beaten all too well, but it was all because some people thought not being cishet was a crime, found the twins and then found me.”

Dr. Flemmings nodded, “Use whatever language you need to, Logan”

“Does Spanish count?” Roman piped up, both twins were multilingual, both parents being native spanish speakers, their father from Spain and their mother from Mexico, in high school Roman took French and Remus took German and begrudgingly, at their parents request, taught each other and had become proficient in both languages. Sometimes the twins talked to each other in a strange mix of English, Spanish, French, and German, something they called Enspanchan.

“Preferably a language we all can understand, Roman”

Roman slumped a little, “Ay, lo siento” he said under his breath.

“Logan, do you have anything else to say?” Dr. Flemmings asked.

Logan shook his head and fidgeted with his hands, he had never been good at processing strong emotions, he usually distracted himself by researching and educating himself on random topics, incorporating them into his Sign Language lectures at the school he worked at.

“Uh well, I guess it’s my turn,” Patton said, interrupting Logan’s train of thought, “I was taking a walk, and some guy noticed the strap to my binder and commented on it. I didn’t think much of it, I ignored him and kept walking, but then he grabbed me and started calling me… horrible things and he dragged me into the nearby woods and…” Patton took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, “He took off all my clothes and destroyed my binder. He told me I’d be beautiful if I didn’t try so hard to be a man. He called me an ‘exotic beauty’ and kept asking me what kind of asian I am. And then he started touching me and…” Patton started full fledged crying, not wanting to say it. He got quieter and almost whispered, “He r*ped me… And now I’m pregnant.”

Everyone was silent for a few long seconds, Virgil finally broke the silence “That’s… horrible. What are you going to do with the baby? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Patton took another deep breath and said “I’m probably going to put them up for adoption. Someone out there probably really wants a baby and can’t have one themselves. I’m not saying everyone should do that, though, I mean everyone’s different.”

Dr. Flemmings took note of how much Patton was crying, “You feel broken, don’t you?”

“I feel broken, violated, I wish time would just stop for at least a little while. I wish I could turn back the clock to last month and tell myself to not go on a walk that day, but I know I can’t. I feel like I’m not trans enough, like maybe I’m not actually a man.”

Virgil looked at Patton, “Bullsh*t. You’re trans enough. You are just as manly as you need to be. You’re f*cking valid.” He clapped for emphasis. This was unusual behavior for him, as he didn’t like to have attention drawn to himself, but he hated it when other trans people didn’t feel valid, mainly because he knew how it felt.

“Well, kiddo, I don’t know about all that, just look at me”

“You. Are. A. Man. And. That’s. What. Matters.”

“Fine, you win”

During this exchange, Janus had been writing out their story and held up their hand in a sort of “Stop dooting your horns, you middle school band class” gesture. Everyone looked at them, they just seemed to have that presence, the type that made people shut up and pay attention without really trying. Janus passed around the notepad, which said: After a concert, a lady came up to me, nothing new there, and was haggling me about being nonbinary and how I’m just a “broken man” and then all of a sudden, I don’t really remember this well, I felt something swipe across my throat and there was a strange warm liquid coming from my neck and then it started to hurt. The next thing I knew, there was yelling and I was on the ground with my friend Ethan, he’s the drummer, Hel, pressing down on my neck. Lola, our bassit, Truth, was calling 911. I think I passed out, and when I woke up in the hospital, I was very confused. I was on so many painkillers that I was basically high out of my mind and the most important thing to me at that moment, for some reason, was chocolate chip cookies. I specifically remember being distraught that no one would bring me cookies because I couldn’t communicate that I wanted some. Anyways, that’s not important. This person probably ended my career, the one thing I actually wanted to do with my life, and I don’t know what to do about it. I might never be able to talk, let alone perform, ever again. Also some dumb*ss took a video of it and put it on YouTube and so the whole world knew before I had even arrived at the hospital.

Once everyone had read what was on the notepad, they all stared at Janus. They looked down at their legs. After a moment, Patton got up and walked over to Janus and touched their shoulder. “What else do you like to do?” he asked.

Janus shrugged.

Virgil suddenly blurted out, remembering the chaos after that concert a few weeks ago, “Wait someone put that on YouTube? How has that not been taken down?”

Janus shrugged, not knowing why either, and pulled out their phone. They found the video and played it, looking away. Patton and Virgil looked away from the video, while Logan and the twins watched, all three feeling bad that they couldn’t seem to pull away from the chaos happening on screen, like some sort of morbid scene in a TV show.

When the video finished, Logan, Roman, and Remus were in stunned silence while Janus fumbled to keep the next video from playing, the “What’s in your pants?” meme, which was when one time Janus and the rest of Duality were on a talk show, all in costume, and the host asked Janus the dreaded question, “What’s in your pants?” and Janus had immediately responded by pulling things out of their pockets and listing them, the items getting more obscure as they went “Phone, wallet, keys, worm-on-a-string, tiny rainbow plastic babies, a dead mouse, Quetzalcoatl? [Quetzalcoatl is Janus’s pet hognose snake], and a barbie head.” the clip had spread like wildfire and had become a large part of what Janus’s stage persona, Deceit, had been known for. Everyone in the band had their own costume, usually involving half of the face being different from the other, Janus’s Deceit costume had a Jack the Ripper vibe and they had makeup to look like scales on the left side of their face. Ethan’s Hel was an all black suit and the left half of his body was made to look like dead, rotting flesh. Lola’s Truth had a black and white lace dress and her makeup was meant to make her look inhuman and had several extra eyes on the right side of her face. The final member, Tori’s Valhalla looked like a norse warrior, the right side of their face looked scarred and they wore an eyepatch over their right eye, like Odin.

“That kind of reminds me of what happened to me,” Virgil said with a shudder once the video was over. “I was hanging out with my friend, May, after your,” Virgil pointed at Janus, “concert and ended up crashing at her place. I tend to sleep pretty heavily, so I was surprised when I woke up on the autopsy table for the mortuary science program at the college I used to go to. I had barely woken up before I felt something that felt like a punch in my abdomen. I saw May, she had a knife and looked angry, she stabbed me four more times, repeatedly calling me a dirty tr*nny. I don’t think she realized I was awake. Thing is, she was the one who supported me the most during my transition and always had my back when I had first come out. That’s what hurt the most. She had apparently secretly hated me all these years and just now was releasing all that. I didn’t dare move until she had left and I started to crawl towards the desk phone at the professor's desk. I was almost there when I passed out. I woke up again to the professor shaking me, he’d always liked me and was concerned about me. He told me he had called 911 and shortly after I was hauled into an ambulance and carted away to the hospital, swimming in and out of consciousness. I think May was planning on killing me and having me be found dead on the autopsy table as a morbid surprise for the mortuary science teacher and his first period class of that day.” He was trying to control his breathing and he felt his heart rate speeding up. Virgil hoped that no one would notice and call him out on it.

Janus started writing and then showed Virgil: Was May at the concert too?

“Yeah why?” Breath, dammit, breath. Virgil chided himself

Janus scrunched their eyebrows and started writing again: What does she look like?

“Do you think-” Virgil cut himself off, took in a deep breath, and found a picture of May on his phone. She had a black bob with straight bangs and wore dark makeup.

Janus looked at the picture, That’s her, they wrote. One thing I didn’t mention before was that she had gotten away.

Suddenly Remus started talking “I’d stim and they’d hurt me.” Roman looked at his brother, remembering how Remus would make weird sounds, start shaking his leg, or drumming his fingers on whatever surface he could get to, and after a while their kidnappers had realized that Remus’s fidgeting and sounds were him stimming, one of his ways to try and calm himself down, started beating him more when he did. “And it started happening more and more because I was more stressed and then I had to force myself to not and I had so much pent up, that everything was a million times louder, even the smallest touches were too much, and my head felt so light and it was like I was feeling everything and nothing all at once, like I was both on fire and numb and I don’t know how to describe it.” Even now, Remus was trying to keep himself from stimming, he had his hands firmly grasped together and his legs were crossed unnaturally tight and he was visibly getting upset.

This was the first time Roman had even heard Remus talk about it. He hadn’t realized how much Remus had suffered and how different it was from how Logan and Roman had suffered. No wonder he was so despondent. He was overloaded in every way. Roman noticed how tight Remus was wound up and pulled something out of his pocket, a long, green silicone fidget toy that had small bumps on it for texture. “Hey,” Roman addressed his brother and handed him the fidget toy, “breath.” Remus took it and fidgeted, reminding himself that it was safe to stim now. “You never said how bad it was for you.” Roman said quietly.

Remus nodded, “I didn’t know how to say it.” He had nothing else to say.

Roman looked around after a long moment of silence. “I felt powerless. I’m almost always able to help, but I couldn't do anything. It was so awful only being able to watch, almost worse than getting beat regularly.” Roman fell silent again, not knowing what else to say.

“You feel like you have to be the hero, don’t you? You feel obligated to do it?” Dr. Flemmings asked. Roman thought for a moment and then nodded. “Since we’re coming to a close, I want to tell you all that you all did a good job today. Here’s what I want you all to do: Patton, read Galileo by Pual Tran, I think you’d benefit from it. Janus, I want you to write, I don’t care what you write, whether it be a song, a poem, a backtrack, whatever, as long as you express yourself with it. Virgil, I want you to use methods to regulate your breathing like the 4, 7, 8 technique and I want you to try carrying around a stress ball, same goes for you, Remus. Logan, I want you to express yourself more and come up with a way for you to get your feelings out in a safe manner. Roman, I want you to think about why you feel obligated to be the hero. And lastly I think you all can benefit from each other, as you have all had similar experiences. Thank you all for attending.”

Everyone started saying their goodbyes and started leaving. Janus met up with an older guy in the lobby who nudged them and said “Happy birthday, kid.” The older guy looked a little sad, like he was remembering something tragic. Everyone heard him wish Janus a happy birthday and started wishing them a happy birthday as well.

Patton looked at the guy and said “Is this your dad, Janus?”

Janus shook their head no and at the same time the guy said “I’m their brother. John, by the way.”

“You guys are siblings? Wow! I never would have guessed!”

Janus looked slightly embarrassed, everyone always confused John for their dad, which wasn’t too far off as John and his wife had raised them. “Yeah the twenty-one year age gap doesn’t help,” John said, lowering his gaze somewhat, just wanting Patton to change the subject.

Janus broke off from John for a moment, wrote something down and handed it to Patton. It said: He’s a little sensitive about family history. Mom died while having me and we don’t know who my dad is, so he had to raise me. That’s why he looks a little sad today.

Patton’s mouth formed a silent “O” as he slipped the paper into his pocket and waved goodbye “Have a nice day!”

John looked at his sibling, “What did that say?”

I said you were having a bad day.

“Oh, okay” he believed the white lie.

Logan was on the phone “I know dad, you’ve told me the story every year for as long as I can remember. I’m about to get in the car, so I’ll call you back”

John looked at Logan and whispered to Janus “What are their pronouns?”

He/him Janus wrote

“He looks and sounds a lot like the doctor who delivered you.”

Janus shrugged and started walking towards their car, a black Jeep, and got in, deciding to go to the cafe that John worked at, knowing that John had to go to work, and besides, they were hungry.

Masterpost

[bellarxse]

Get to know: Cesca Joyce (TMOHB)

100 Questions (https://the-moon-dust-writings.tumblr.com/post/159843387908/100-oc-questions) to get to know Cesca Joyce, MC in The Motion of Heavenly Bodies

1.    How do they present themselves to others? Soft femme – she has had the importance of femininity and her appearance drilled into her from an early age by her mother, but she has withdrawn from the idea of high-maintenance femininity as much as she feels she can

2.    Do they like animals? Cats and marine life. She doesn’t like dogs.

3.    How do they dress? Often as casual as she can manage, and often in something which hides her chest.

4.    How many language do they know? Fluent in English and German. proficient in French. Likes to watch K-dramas with subs, so she can pick up on the odd phrase now.

5.    How big is their family? Parents divorced. Two full siblings, two paternal half-siblings.

6.    What is their purpose in the story? Uh..they’re the main character. Ha. No, Cesca’s “arc”, such as it is at this point, is going to be about the importance of recognising and pursuing your own desires rather than letting people tell you what you should want.

7.    Do they know how to fight? The extent of her knowledge is basically that you should tuck your thumb into your fist if you throw a punch. That’s basically it.

8.    What is their back story? Distant father (working in international finance), mother (thwarted model, pregnant too young and unable to cope) at home with children she never wanted in the first place. She wants them to be the successes she never was, to shine with radiance that blinds the world. Sarah, their first daughter, is genial and hard-working but painfully plain, and the youngest, Alice, is manipulative and cruel, and looks it. But sweet little Franze, with her angelic curls and innocent blue eyes? Yes, she will do nicely. But it isn’t long before she rebels. Skinned knees and grubby hands (“Mutti, look what I found!”), and a profound disinterest in how to make herself more beautiful. So Julia tries again, taking away her rocks and microscopes and replacing them with vanities and lotions and potions, until Franze is a dejected little doll – almost literally, listless and lifeless. A teacher at school flags up “Cesca’s” (Franze’s) behaviour as being a “concern”, and threatens to involve child protection services. But how could it possibly be a concern? This is what little girls are supposed to be like.

9.    Why is their name their name? Conceived on holiday in France – and it’s generally considered an upper middle-class name in both countries

10.Do they have any nicknames? Francesca (anglicised), Franze (German diminutive), Cesca (English diminutive – her favourite), C (school friends)

11.Do they have a romantic interest? …I mean, yeah, that’s the point – but that would be telling. So instead, let’s talk about her only other long-term relationship, Julian, when they were both 17. A son of Father’s friend—and Father is friends with some of the best society has to offer, he’s told her himself—he is sure of himself and charismatic enough to make Cesca believe it as well. She thinks he loves her, though he only ever really loved chasing her, and she cries when he breaks up with her, not one week after they had had sex for the first time.

12.How do they cope with struggles? At work, depends on the struggle. She tries to judge carefully what the best course of action would be – either she’ll take some time away to let it simmer; or she’ll keep at it until she finds another way in. In her personal life, she avoids whatever she can get away with.

13.Do they have anyone they can lean on? More than she knows – she’s never tested it with anyone else other than Sarah. She isn’t always sure how her friends feel about her, not truly, especially after she is selected to go on the show without them.

14.How do they react to someone dying? Lot of numbness. She can seem insensitive or uncaring, but it takes a while for it to sink in.

15.Can you name 5 personality traits they have? Reserved, analytical, emotionally perceptive, avoidant, sensitive

16.How did they become a character? Because I was fed-up of the S3 MC being just different flavours of the same bold, confident person. I mean, it’s a CYOA game, there aren’t exactly many opportunities to feed in complex hopes/wants/fears, but even the S2 MC could choose to be “cool and mysterious” or “all out”.

17.Do they get along with others? She often chooses the path of least resistance – so often people think they get on with her better than they actually do, because she isn’t always honest with how she feels about things or people

18.What flaws do they have? Arrogant (mostly at work), naïve, perfectionist, practical, rigorous/over-zealous

19.How do they influence the story? A little too spoiler-y for now…

20.What do they look like? Honey blonde curls (usually pinned back), blue eyes, 5’ 3”. Quite pale, even after weeks in the Spanish sun – it would take a lot more time and effort for her to tan. Some freckles, but not many. Looks delicate at first blush, but is deceptively strong for her build. Bottom hourglass.

21.What are their hobbies? Collecting and listening to old vinyl records. Swimming and free diving.

22.What are their ticks? She blushes at the drop of a hat, and she bites her lip. She doesn’t intend it to come off as sexual or flirty (quite the opposite) but people don’t believe her.

23.Do they like children? If you ask her, she’ll laugh and tell you no, loudly. But Sarah has just had twin boys, and Cesca thinks that she might just die for them anyway, even if they don’t need her to.

24.How do they react to being around wild animals? Aquatic animals – loves it, very affectionate/serene (even when she went cage diving with sharks). Land animals? More of a mixed reaction, depending on how physically large/imposing they are.

25.If they were given the task to prank someone, who would it be, what would they do and would it work? She doesn’t so much prank people as plot to ruin their lives, particularly careers.

26.Do they have survival skills? Not really – her mother didn’t think it was necessary for girls, and she has thrown herself into science since.

27.Are they more book smart or street smart? More socially savvy than she gives herself credit for, but mostly book smart

28.How do they get out of a difficult situation? Depends on the situation. In a dangerous situation, she will call for help. In a socially awkward position, she’s like to use her looks to get out of the situation (e.g. sending someone off to get her a drink from the bar and then disappearing into the crowd). In a romantic situation, she’d use her intellect and talk through in excruciating detail why they’re not compatible.

29.Do they use their body, mind, personality or force to get what they want? See 28

30.What music do they enjoy? Older music, from the 1960s-1980s (90s at a push). She does like some more modern things, but usually if they’re either drawing inspiration from older trends or europop. Trashy Europop is a guilty pleasure of hers.

31.How do they overcome obstacles? Grit and determination, mostly.

32.When faced with a difficult decision do they get stronger or break? At work, stronger. Emotionally, she’s never fully broken down but she’s come close a few times.

33.Do they have any special powers? Just her brain.

34.How do they change throughout the story? She gets a little more assertive in articulating what she wants – but there will still be some room for growth

35.Do they have any friends? If so, are they close knit? Two close friends from school, who would do anything she asked of them (in terms of emotional support), but she is too scared to ask them. So their friendship appears more superficial than it actually is, in terms of what they do together

36.How is their family life? She only really sees her older sister. She avoids Alice (younger full-sister) like the plague and doesn’t make an effort to see her father’s new family. Will basically shut down if she has to see her mother. Christmas is not a happy time for her.

37.Are they likable? I certainly think so, but she’s my ambitious little alien baby so…

38.Are they the hero, or anti-hero? Depends on your viewpoint – certainly some of her “competitors” wouldn’t see her as the hero…!

39.Do they make questionable choices? I mean, we’ll see.

40.How do they become who they are? Through putting her head down and ploughing on. Ultimately running away from…

41.How was their childhood? …being made to feel like the only thing that mattered were her looks. Her mother tried to enter her for pageants and the like, and it was actually one of the terms of the divorce – her father wouldn’t give her mother any alimony if she made Cesca compete in anything like that.

42.Are they close with anyone who is going to screw them over? Again, we’ll see, don’t want to get into plot elements too much…!

43.How do they adapt to different situations? Do they adapt at all? She adapts because she has to, but she’s not particularly good at it.

44.How do they speak? (e.g. soft-spoken, hot-headed, vulgar) Usually soft-spoken, which makes a genuine laugh all the more startling.

45.Are they opposed to violence? There’s something about having been raised to be a good girl and knowing how people should behave in polite society which makes taboos like violence more exciting.

46.When is their birthday? 1st January 1997

47.Are they quick to judge? She tries not to, but she can make snap judgements based on appearances or actions that she finds hard to shake

48.Do they have anything they are trying to hide from others? How she doesn’t like being complimented on her looks, because they just wouldn’t understand.

49.Do they act different around different people? She is much more confident around her work colleagues, because she feels like she can show off her processes, rather than dumb herself down for people. She is very reserved around people she doesn’t know well and most of her family.

50.Do they enjoy the arts? Not a huge fan of reading, unless it’s science-related. Loves music, especially on vinyl. Likes films, usually action/thriller/horror.

51.Do they like science? Loves it. There’s a kind of beauty about it, about how it lets her order the world, and how she can see the world reflected in her microscope.

52.Are they more emotional or logical? I mean I don’t agree with the premise of the question, because it’s a false dichotomy, but she would say she’s more logical. Make of that what you will.

53.How do they deal with their emotions? Distraction tactics. Which means that there’s some stuff that she’s just…never dealt with. Massive issues with her mother.

54.How do they cope with sadness? She’s almost constantly sad, and she’s never really let the weight lift from her shoulders. It doesn’t bother her personally – it only really bothers people that care about her.

55.What is something they care about? She cares about the environment – she tries to be as sustainable as her budget allows, and she’s almost fanatical about saving water. (So she’s clean but she showers only as often as she needs to)

56.Would they die for anyone/anything? Probably her nephews.

57.What do they do when they are happy? Being happy looks very like being sad – she behaves much the same way, but she might fidget less or smile slightly.

58.How would they come across to other characters? E.g. messy, lazy, caring, childish Calm, shy (especially in the context of Love Island, since she doesn’t cope well with being flirted with overtly), clinical

59.Do they have a phrase they use over and over? No? Not yet, anyway

60.In a crowded room are they in the corners, sides or middle? She would gravitate to the sides, so that she can see everyone more clearly. If she’s with friends she trusts (and particularly if she’s had some alcohol) she’s not averse to being in the middle of the room, but it’s not her first option.

61.Are they comfortable being in a crowded room? She can find it overwhelming.

62.How do they relax? Listen to records, watch TV. She usually needs to relax by herself and “de-person” for a bit.

63.Have they ever harmed anyone and regretted it? Verbally or physically? She is usually the one to break off any budding relationships, usually before they become sexual. So for some of these early relationships, they were hurt because they thought she was really into them, but they were usually at an early enough stage that it was fairly minor emotional pain.

64.Do they like to dance? Not unless she’s drunk some alcohol. She doesn’t feel like her body moves very naturally, she needs her inhibitions to be much reduced before she even considers it.

65.How do they get around their environment? (vehicle use) She cycles a lot. She learned to drive when she was 17, but she’s a nervous driver and she doesn’t like it.

66.What about pet peeves? Loud chewers. It’s a sensory thing, she really doesn’t like it. Linked to this – people who talk with their mouths full constantly (she’ll allow it if you’re surprised or if you didn’t expect to be asked a question but if it’s your default? Get in the bin)

67.Do they have a disability? No.

68.How do they react to getting flowers? It depends on the person – if they’re someone who she would like to receive flowers from, it can make her month. If it’s from someone she wasn’t expecting, she can be a bit unsure of how to react – are they are thank you? Are they a proposition? She really doesn’t like receiving flowers from a “secret admirer” or something like that.

69.Would they ever wear a flower crown? Not usually, maybe for something like a wedding? And definitely not if she’s the only one.

70.Do they like themselves? Sometimes. She likes herself when she’s at work and successful. She usually likes herself when she spends time with friends. If she’s left on her own for too long she can start to doubt herself.

71.Who do they dislike? People who aren’t genuine/honest. People who focus on their appearance too much.

72.What is their motto? When she read “If I look back, I am lost.” in the first ASOIAF novel, she had to take a few minutes.

73.Do they have any markings on their body? A few minor scratches from falling off her bike a couple of times. Some freckles, more on her arms than her face.

74.Have they ever been abused? Physically, not at all. Emotionally? Most of her interactions with her mother and her sister are hostile in some way or another, and her father’s attitude can best be described as neglectful.

75.What is their biggest fear? Not to get too body horror about this, but her recurring nightmare is that she makes someone (and the person changes depending on what’s happening in her life) and they push/hit her and she’s hollow, or she smashes to the ground like porcelain.

76.What are their goals? She wants to finish her research into biodegradable plastic, and ideally start a second study to see if the same desired results can be achieved with fewer/cheaper resources.

77.How do they go about achieving their goals? She keeps her head down and ploughs on.

78.Do they have a fight or flight response? Yes, but she almost exclusively chooses to flee.

79.Is there someone in their life that they care about more than themselves? Her sister and her nephews. I don’t necessarily think that her having fewer people she cares about more than herself indicates that she’s selfish or overly arrogant. It’s just that her feelings are a little more subdued, so she doesn’t necessarily think about most people in that way.

80.How would they fare in a zombie apocalypse? Pretty badly, probably – unless she was in an area that hadn’t been affected yet, and she was able to work on a cure/”silver bullet”.

81.Do they have any tattoos? If so, are they significant? No, but she’s not averse to getting them. But if she gets one, she wants it to be significant, and she doesn’t want it to be linked to something that she might regret (like a relationship)

82.Are they good at mental math? Frighteningly so.

83.Do they get along with others? Again, she often takes the path of least resistance, so she seems to get along with lots of people, but she can get quite resentful.

84.Are they lazy? No

85.Are they self-motivated? Yes

86.How do they cope with anger? Short answer, she doesn’t. She was told from an early age that girls don’t get angry, and that means she struggles now to pinpoint when she is feeling angry. She often experiences other symptoms, like headaches or nausea, which she will treat instead of expressing herself.

87.Have they ever been in a situation where they were helpless? Physically, no – she’s been lucky. Emotionally – she felt helpless for a lot of her childhood, and then worries now about letting someone else make her feel helpless again.

88.Are they organized or messy? Pathologically organised – think Monica from Friends.

89.Can they remember a lot of information at once? In the right context, yes. At work, she’s like a machine, remembering formulae and compounds. In her personal life, she often gets overloaded. But she picks up on a lot, and it’s a sign that she likes you if she notices or remembers little details about you.

90.What is their occupation? Environmental scientist (specialising in chemistry, but her degree is in biochemistry).

91.Do other characters respect them? Yes, I think so. Especially at work, she’s seen as one of the key members of the team. In her personal life, it depends – she chooses friends carefully, and her friends respect her. Her father and siblings (aside from Alice) respect her more than she’s willing to notice. Her mother doesn’t, and Alice (younger full sister) loathes her.

92.If they were given minutes to live, what would they do? Who would they want to see and say? She would want to spend time with her sister. She wouldn’t want to talk about her feelings, but she would be more physically affectionate.

93.How do they deal with stress? Burying herself in work. Also, free diving is a good stress-reliever for her, because it requires so much of her concentration that she cannot afford to think about what is stressing her out.

94.Do they have a more submissive or dominant personality type? Depends – very dominant at work, less so among family and friends. I’ll cover NSFW stuff in a different post, but the short answer is, “it’s complicated”

95.Do they have a pet? No – she would like a cat, but she feels bad about leaving it in a London flat all day.

96.Do they have a stash of weapons? …no?

97.Where do they live? Who do they live with? She used to live in Putney with Ellie and Tina; now she lives alone in a small one-bedroom flat in Westminster that’s really meant for students.

98.How do they calm themselves down? Listening to music, staring at a wall. I’m a little worried that I’m making her sound crazy, but she can feel the tension leak out of her, and she can move on, at least in the short term.

99.Are they co-dependent? She makes an effort not to be – she is so affection- and touch-starved, though, that she is in danger of seeing another person as a source of self-worth.

100.                 Are they a day or night person? Day person – she wakes up very early (probably at about 5am), even when she doesn’t need to, and so she struggles with late nights. She isn’t usually smug about being an early bird, but she will let herself be a little more overt if there’s a particularly annoying Morgenmuffel…!

[dumbthinmint]

My Personal Proficiency with Romance Languages:

Just a little exploration I wanted to do, just to have a reference for if/when my skills improve in the future and to laugh at French.

Spanish: Can understand spoken and written Spanish with little to no trouble in non-distracting environments. Can speak and write Spanish well enough, but with my usual autistic tendency to ramble and stutter, plus grammar goofs. Can easily translate from English to Spanish and am taking interpretation classes. 

Portuguese: Can understand large chunks of spoken and written Portuguese, mostly thanks to its similarities to Spanish vocabulary, grammar, and phonetics. Can roughly piece together a written response to something written in Portuguese by using the original text as a template/reference, but not on the fly. 

Latin: Can understand the gist of ONLY WRITTEN Latin, using context clues for unfamiliar vocabulary but with limited grammar comprehension (and therefore limited comprehension of direction, tense, etc.). Can pronounce phonetics properly when reading aloud. Actually comes in handy from time to time.

Italian: Can understand the gist of ONLY SPOKEN Italian, with similar parameters to written Latin above. Am vaguely familiar with Italian phonetics, so if I take the time to read written Italian aloud to myself, I can understand bits of it, but not as much as I’d like. Only really helpful when playing Assassin’s Creed II.

French: What. The Heck. Is Going On. With French. 

Romanian: Honestly I’ve never found myself in a situation to test my ability to understand written or spoken Romanian. I’ll update if I ever find out!

[moniadler]

( margot robbie. twenty-nine. cis female. she / her. ) was that monika adler ? i heard a rumour they work for the faust family, but who knows for sure ? they can be a bit calculating & vindictive but i also heard they can be adventurous & ambitious. you’ll usually find them at wolves in their spare time, when they’re not being a caporegime & burlesque dancer at centro del sole. you may want to keep an eye on that one !

bonjour! it’s me again—your local trashcan chrissie with another muse. this is my precious angel ( more like a demoness, tbh but still ) bby girl monika and, to quote the legends that are queen, she’s a killer queeeeen. she’s sassy, classy and a lot badassy. she’s a rather feisty, fiery, ball of rage and anger with hella abandonment issues like woah. but uhhh, anyways, hmu for plots here or on discord, i’m open to everything and anything so fire away!

MONIKA’S PINTEREST BOARD!

fundamentals.

full name. monika odette adler.

nicknames. moni, mon, & nik.

current age. twenty-nine.

date of birth. august 15th.

gender. cisgender female.

pronouns. she / her.

nationality. american.

religion. agnostic.

birthplace. manhattan, new york city, united states.

current residence. chicago, illinois, united states.

sexual orientation. pansexual.

romantic orientation. aromantic.

education. psychology degree obtained from nyu.

past occupation. bartender, & dancer at genesis.

current occupation. burlesque dancer at centro del sole.

affiliation. the faust family.

rank. caporegime.

connections.

birth mother. unknown.

birth father. unknown.

sibling/s. unknown.

adoptive mother. rachael adler.

adoptive father. william adler. †

adoptive sister. lucy adler. †

adoptive brothers. jacob, & noah adler.

significant other. n/a.

child/ren. n/a.

pet/s. a balinese cat named tigger after the character in winnie the pooh.

proficiencies.

spoken languages. english, spanish, french, italian, german, & russian.

negative traits. brusque, obstinate, destructive, deceptive, & promiscuous.

positive traits. elegant, headstrong, observant, independent, & confident.

strengths. optimistic, energetic, creative, practical, spontaneous, rational, knows how to prioritise, great in a crisis, & relaxed.

weaknesses. stubborn, insensitive, private, reserved, easily bored, dislikes commitment, & has a rather risky behaviour.

skills. skilled with blades and various knives, skilled with firearms, hand-to-hand combat, memory recall, physical stamina, able to use initiative, & excellent problem-solving abilities.

talents. violin, piano, ballet, dancing, singing, bartending, & photographic memory.

appearance.

eye colour. blue.

hair colour. natural blonde.

height. 5′5″.

weight. 61 kg.

build. she is considered average height for a female and is both slender and toned.

scars. a rather noticeable one across her clavicle and a few others in less visible places.

tattoos. a crimson lily on her left shoulder.

piercings. both earlobes.

glasses. n/a.

prominent feature. sparkling sapphire eyes.

miscellaneous.

zodiac. leo.

strengths. creative, passionate, humorous.

weaknesses. arrogant, stubborn, self-centred.

likes. theatre, being admired, expensive things.

dislikes. being ignored, facing difficult reality, not being treated like a queen.

element. fire.

colour. gold.

day. sunday.

ruler. the sun.

lucky number. three.

house. gryffindor.

myers briggs type. istp-a ( introverted, observant, thinking, prospecting. )

alignment. chaotic neutral.

enneagram. type 7: the enthusiast ( the busy, fun-loving type: spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered. )

temperament. sanguine.

intelligence type. intra-personal.

character label. the vixen.

diseases. infertility.

past mental disorders. drug abuse, acute stress disorder, depression, & anxiety.

current mental disorders. addiction, & abandonment issues.

addictions. tobacco, cocaine, & alcohol.

vices. lust, greed, & wrath.

virtues. temperance, diligence, & humility.

allergies. penicillin.

diet. vegetarian.

dominant hand. ambidextrous.

accent. american.

blood type. o negative.

felonies. petty theft charge when she was fifteen. she also has a history of both kleptomania, & pyromania when she was a teenager.

vehicle. red 1966 shelby 427 cobra.

background.

( triggers for abandonment and abandonment issues ) in truth, monika isn't entirely sure where—or how—her story originated. well, minus the obvious: the birds, the bees, yadda yadda. whether or not her biological parents ever actually cared for her or loved her will remain one of life's greatest mysteries. at only one month old, she was discarded by those who gave her life; left abandoned and unwanted. a feeling the girl would grow up carrying around like a weight around her neck for the rest of her life. an incessant voice telling her she wasn't worth it, niggling at her every single time she would allow herself to get close to another human being. a dark shadow looming over her shoulder, whispering sinister thoughts into her ears—warning her that everyone would eventually leave in the end. they would always leave in the end.

( trigger for a mention of foster homes ) monika's earliest memories feature fragmented visions of various foster homes and the faces of many guardian figures; some good, some bad and some not worth even mentioning. that was her life for the majority of her childhood—bouncing from one home to another but never sticking in one place for too long. given her turbulent upbringing, she was somewhat of a difficult child. too boisterous, too unruly, too stubborn, too inquisitive. too much of everything but never enough of anything. never enough for anybody to want her. 

( trigger for a mention of adoption ) finally, after eight long years of being uprooted and thrown into new environments time and time again, monika was adopted by the adler family. and, from that instant onwards, her upbringing was mostly positive. of course, she was thankful and grateful that she had been welcomed into their family and given a good life. things could have been a lot worse for her and she knows that. still, it didn't take the girl too long to figure out that it was just her alone, against the big bad world. from the age that she was old enough to realise it, monika knew that she had to fend for herself—that she could never truly rely on a single soul but herself. rachael and william adler were the best family that she'd ever had. the only family that she ever truly felt she might have belonged to. the only family that she cared enough about to continue carrying their last name, even to this day.

however, once monika reached a certain age, her personality shifted south. she was outgoing as ever but soon became meddlesome, troublesome and much too outspoken. the hollowness inside her chest never quite satiated, leaving her empty and only too well aware of the lack of her real parental figures. as a young adolescent, this started to crawl under her skin and mess with her mind. it rendered her void of affection and unable to form genuine bonds with others—filling her with deep-rooted resentment that festered beneath the surface of the indifferent demeanour she plastered over herself every day. no matter what the adler family done, monika always felt starved of love. despite their best efforts, monika never felt fully satisfied—as if some integral part of her heart was missing, leaving a gaping void nobody could ever fill. thus, as a teenager, she started searching for a cure in the wrong places. she fell in with the wrong crowd, causing trouble for both herself and her family.

as a result of her out of control behaviour, monika found herself shipped off to an esteemed all-girls boarding school from the ages of fourteen to eighteen. once again, she felt as if she was being cast aside. admittedly, at first, it didn't seem so bad and although she took a while to settle in and adjust, it wasn’t long until the girl found her feet and made her mark. she had always been intelligent so it was no surprise that she excelled in her classes and extracurriculars. of course, true to form, she remained prone to rebellion every so often, but never enough to become detrimental. she had a small group of friends and the clique was rather close-knit and she finally felt she belonged somewhere.

( triggers for mentions of death, cancer, mental health issues, alcohol, and drugs ) however, as all good things do, they come to an end. in monika's case, those few blissful years reached a rather abrupt cessation—taking a drastic plummet into darkness. she was sixteen when her younger sister, lucy, tragically passed away after battling leukaemia. as a result, monika lost control of herself and of her path in life. she spent weeks alone and aimless, wavering on her tracks. she became isolated and withdrawn. she hid away in her dorm room that school year, only leaving to go to classes. she became quiet, reserved and wanted to be alone. after months of this—reverting to type—she went looking for stability in the wrong places once more. running with the ‘wrong’ crowd was simply something that came naturally to monika, as if she felt comfort in pressing the self-destruct button when times got tough. for her last year at school, she partied hard, drank way too much, experimented with drugs and with people and although these instances gave her a thrill, it never lasted too long. therefore, she continually crawled back to the things and the people she knew deep down was no good for her. but as long as she felt the high, nothing else mattered.

( triggers for mentions of death and huntington’s disease ) after she graduated, she moved back home to her adoptive parents and brothers, which, at first, felt as gloomy as she'd expected with the absence of her sister. due to her lifestyle in the final year of her education, monika's grades didn't quite cut it—not for her dreams of attending an ivy league university, anyway. after some consideration ( and the encouragement of her mother ), she attended night classes in order to obtain better grades before she managed to obtain a place at nyu where she studied psychology. but, once again, tragedy hit the adler's like a freight train. the summer before she left for university, her father passed away. while monika had always known that william's death was imminent given the fact that he had huntington’s disease, it didn't make the reality hurt any less. still, monika knew that life had to move on—as it always had—thus, she had no choice but to pack up her belongings and move to into her new home for the following few years: nyu campus.

during her university years, monika worked a lot of jobs around new york while visiting her family home on weekends. finally, once she graduated with rather impressive grades, she'd decided that her life was no longer tethered to manhattan. so, aged twenty-two, she packed up and travelled around the states for two years until, eventually, she wound up in chicago. in the beginning, she managed to get herself a job at genesis as a bartender where she met oliver faust ( without knowing his surname, of course ). completely clueless as to his prominence within the city, the two had a one night stand, seemingly never to see one another again. at least, until a year later.

after bartending in the club for quite some time, monika plucked up the courage to take her work a step further and take her place on the stage as one of the dancers. it was during this time that she met another faust member and quickly, the two became friends and through this friendship, only then did monika find out a little background information on the faust name. this faust member was the one who brought monika into the fold where she started as an affiliate. of course, you could imagine her surprise when she uncovered oliver's role as the boss—especially after a whole year had passed since their first encounter. regardless, monika felt secure and welcomed among the faust family, thus she was more than happy to work for them.

due to her no-nonsense approach and attitude, and her ability to handle herself whilst dancing, she found herself promoted to a solider. then, after ‘dealing’ with a target ( a regular at genesis who just so happened to request a dance from monika every night ) under the guise of an escort, the blonde was swiftly advanced to a crimson whilst continuing to dance at genesis. after maintaining the role of a crimson for a year, she climbed the ranks where she now remains a caporegime while now dancing at centro del sole. 

throughout her twenty-nine years of life so far, monika has built herself back up time and time again. with every punch swung her way ( both figuratively and literally ), she has risen to her feet each time. for as intelligent as she is, she is just as resilient and unyielding. the need to prove people wrong is almost overwhelming but never to her detriment. while she continues to bear the emotional scars of her past, monika refuses to write herself off. she allows herself to admire people, history, art, music, places, but she never grows comfortable enough that she is prepared to show even the people closest to her, her innermost, truest self.

as a result of her chaotic upbringing, fragments of monika are broken beyond repair—lost to the depths of her mind. yet deep down inside, the faintest sliver of that optimistic little girl remains. where she is now is precisely where monika wants to be and perhaps this is the exact path she needs to take in order to fully emerge from the ashes of her haunting past. from her teenage years, she easily fell under the bracket of an adventurous, charming, ‘party girl’ which hasn't altered much over the years. honestly, monika is content with playing this ‘role’ of a carefree, curious, typical blonde as she finds it helps with her work. after all, how unsuspecting does the pretty blonde dancer seem? not many people look at her and realise just how deadly she is underneath.

all in all, monika gets from one day to the other by dancing her worries away or drinking her problems out of her head. she rarely lets herself get attached to anybody and builds the highest walls around herself to ensure nobody wants to put the effort into trying to break them down. it's that little voice that's rattled around inside her head from childhood that has her this way—still telling her she isn't worth it. and she believes it. she believes that if she ever slowed down and stopped adopting her reckless lifestyle that the emptiness and loneliness would creep in and hold her prisoner. and if there's one thing that monika adler swears she'll never be, that's a slave to her mind or to anybody else.

some tidbits.

nicknames: monnie, moni, mon, nik, barbie, blondie ( if u wanna lose ur eyes ) … spawn of satan  >:-)

scared of goats. thinks they’re satanic creatures. those eyes are hella creepy, don’t even try and tell her otherwise.

her signature scent is chanel N°5.

she’s fearless af. throwback to her upbringing, most likely.

she’s all sweet smiles and charming words until her expression turns sharp and deadly. it’s her tactic to entice then pounce, if you will.

she loves to surprise people. most assume she’s a pretty blonde but oh, she loves the look of shock on their faces when she waves a knife at them.

in a way, her words are like her weaponry but really, monika would much prefer to point a gun in a person’s face. plus, it’s more efficient, she thinks. 

an angel of vengeance in a pair of designer sunglasses tbh. 

much prefers to be called a murderess / demoness as she believes it has a nicer ring to it rather than murderer / demon. she’s dramatique like that.

owns waaay too many pairs of heels.

her signature look is her blood-red lips.

often wears suits and totally rocks them.

she’s … experimental. she’s experimented with just about everything: hairstyles, clothing, drink, drugs, people …

quite power hungry tbh.

she does have a shot at redemption but she doesn’t want it lmao. she’s already been to hell so why bother trying to right her wrongs?

and boy, are her wrongs a century long list shkjsh.

doesn’t believe she’s capable of loving anyone.

when it comes to whether or not she is morally decent or an extremely bad person, she is somewhere in the middle of that spectrum—she isn’t heartless but she isn’t compassionate either. 

she’s v ambitious, v morally ambiguous, v self-serving and v self-involved.

extremely skilled with knives and blades. always her weapon of choice when on a job. always carries one on her person at all times.

although she wears a lot of red, black is actually her favourite colour. she feels her most powerful in an all-black outfit.

her most prized possession is her brushed chrome zippo. it has her initials engraved on it and where she got it or from who is something she’ll never tell.

always seen with a cigarette in hand. she seriously chain smokes. always says she needs to quit but never does and probably never will either.

when she was a little girl she’d always dreamed of having kids of her own one day and told herself she would love them unconditionally and never abandon them as her birth parents had but unfortunately, she is infertile and the likelihood of having her own kids one day is extremely slim. this is something that devastates her every day but you’d never tell. she has never told anybody about this.

drives way too fast but loves the thrill of it.

she can be pretty deadly if you piss her off enough.

thrives on chaos.

a tad theatrical.

is truly an independent woman who don't need no man.

plot ideas.

ok so pls excuse me and my last two remaining brain cells—we try real hard but it's tough skjhjks but gimme all of the connections from friends, frenemies, enemies, hookups, exes, rivals and everything else in between. added bonus if there’s angst or drama. if you have anything in mind feel free to throw it at me, i’m open to the majority of things and have zero triggers so come at me bro! below you can find some connections i’d love for my deadly bby.

the faust member who brought her into the fold. open.

her adoptive brothers. open and open. ( their names are listed as jacob and noah, but this can be changed if ya ain’t feeling those names! )

you’re a bad idea, but i like bad ideas. so, this could be somebody that monika knows through her dancing at genesis. maybe this gentleman pays for private dances and tips extremely well? i have an idea in my head that this man would trust monika and confide in her. in a way, she’d kind of act as a therapist for him and his paying for her private time would be more about talking than anything else. maybe over time, she would tell him things about her past or about the things she has done. maybe he could be somebody who, when he/if he realises she works for the fausts, asked her to take out a target for him. there are endless possibilities for this one! of course, added angst if he’s affiliated with a different gang. OPEN.

when friends become enemies. maybe this person and monika were friends from new york that she hung around with and got involved in reckless behaviour with. or maybe this person was someone monika befriended during her university years. or they could be someone that monika met when she moved to chicago. under whichever circumstance they met, one fact remains: the two are no longer on friendly terms. they were once close and trusted each other with anything but now, there is obvious hostility. perhaps there was a betrayal, blackmail, a breach of trust, lack of communication, a simple misunderstanding. whatever it was that cracked this relationship is set in stone and is unlikely to ever go back to how it once was. some things are just too broken to be mended. OPEN.

you’re in my veins, you fuck. monika has always had bad habits. has always gravitated to toxicity like a moth to a flame. thus, it would be safe to assume that 90% of her relationships have also been bad for her. the broken element inside her always found itself magnetised to the darkness in people. more especially, attracted to people she knew were no good for her. though, in the end, monika would always manage to break free and leave these people behind. however, there was always this one person she couldn’t seem to stay away from. she met them when she moved to chicago and instantly she knew they would break her heart yet it didn’t deter her from continuing to crawl back to them. these two have what can only be described as a toxic relationship. neither is good for the other yet neither can seem to walk away. OPEN.

if you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character. of course, it goes without saying that monika is the kind of woman who could make enemies for herself very easily. due to her sarcastic and distant nature, it would be safe to assume she has quite a few enemies and rivals. though this particular person would be the enemy of all enemies. somebody that she cannot abide and someone who cannot abide her either. they can’t stand the sight of each other and refuse to share the same space unless absolutely necessary. otherwise, there’s a massive chance of a fight outbreaking between them. there could be a history between them that has brought about their hostile nature toward each other. or they could simply dislike each other for no real known reason other than a sense they get from the other. bonus points if they’re walsh affiliated! OPEN.

a gal gang / her ride or dies. taken by amara ricci, & genevieve bisset.

a chance encounter / one night stand. taken by oliver faust.