#might as well be trilingual

[peach-22]

When I’m at my wit’s end, I stop switching from one accent to the other. I’m pretty sure it’s not just me.

[waitineedaname]

im experiencing scar induced madness again. I feel like people do not give him enough credit for being extremely poetic when he wants to be. sure he might seem stoic, but the dude busts out lines like this like it's nothing

[inthewaytoamultilinguallife]

Hi there! Thanks for your blog, I love it ^_^ I was wondering if you have any advice for learning very similar languages at the same time? I have to return to my studies of Spanish soon, but I'm also learning Italian (~B2). I remember when I first came to Italy and started learning Italian my rudementary knowledge of Spanish was useful in some aspects and harmful others. I'm afraid that returning to it will result in me mixing them up constantly :(( Any words of wisdom? 🙏

Thank you so much! You don’t know how much this message meant to me, especially knowing I haven’t been that active with university and projects and finals!! ❤

And thank you for waiting until I could answer this too!

I don’t know how much wisdom i can actually impart, but i can always try to help out a fellow language learner. What i will share are a few tips i discovered during my 14 years of learning languages (god that almost makes me sound old and experienced lmao), and in my 10 years of learning more than one language at a time. They are not rules and are very much shaped by my experience, so feel free to spice them up at will:

First of all, when possible: Avoid languages of the same family that are way too similar!: The more similar they are, the more difficult to keep them separated, as you might have noticed. But we all know how tempting it is to learn them all, and at the same time, even if we know that if we learn that one language we will be able to understand the others as well because of their similarities. I know you will ignore this one. That’s ok, I did too. There’s some fun to it. Also sometimes we just can’t choose the languages we learn, so let’s go to the “real” advice

Only start a new language once you’re advanced and comfortable enough in the other language you speak: For this I would say around a B1 level is ok, even tho I always started mines when I was at a A2 level, but I must say it was without me realizing it. From my own experience, I would say a B1 level is better. This is so you can concentrate on practicing using and improving one language you already know quite well, while learning new basic vocab and grammar exercises in a new language. if you start another language while you are still in the middle of bulking vocab and grammar exercises and memorizing rules and words, you might confuse the two or get overwhelmed

Consider using different methods for each language: With this I mean, for example, improving your Italian via immersion (watching tv, reading, talking to friends, etc), and studying Spanish the “traditional” way, with exercises and vocab cards, etc 

Consider learning one skill at a time: That is, concentrating on studying only writing in Spanish, and only speaking in Italian. This makes learning a language seem longer, and maybe a little boring for some, but it’s a good way to keep the languages separated in your mind, since you will be focusing on different aspects of the languages at a time 

Designate days and times for each language: Learning each language whenever you feel like it will create more trouble for you than needed, and make you feel overwhelmed and frustrated. A way to counter this is via a good structural learning routine. You can designate specific days to languages even if you don’t take language classes and even if you use all the languages each day.

What designating a day to a language means is just basically that, in that day, you will focus more on that language. Mondays and Sundays are for studying French, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are for learning English, etc, for example. You can even adapt this given your routine: for example, in my case, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are Uruguayan Sign Language days, because my sign language classes are Mondays and Wed, and most Deaf events are on Saturdays. I find it is easier to include them in a routine you already have, and not making a new one around the languages you want to learn

Assign times to them: An alternative, or addition to assigning days. It works the same, but might be more helpful if you have problems keeping or following a routine, too. Instead of assigning whole days, you make it a time of the day. So, instead of learning or using a language during the entire day, you do it only in the morning, and in the afternoon you can switch to another language. All you have to do is keep that order as much as you can without switching them up. This, as well as the day one, will help keep the languages more separated in your mind and help you not mix their grammar and rules and pronunciation, etc

On a similar note, use different notebooks and colors for each language (in ink, highlighters, notebooks, etc). You can also designate different parts of your house to study, or different places around town if you use the language in a certain place (classroom, work, friend’s house, etc). Make the distinction physical, palpable as much as you can

If you forget your routine… well, then now is the best time to start again: If for some reason you forget yo go to a class or sit down and study on your own when you were supposed to do it, PLEASE don’t give yourself shit for it. Do the studying right there when you remembered. Or the next time you are supposed to, if you have/want to keep the routine, 

Concentrate on one more than the other: I know I know, no one of us wants this! But it will help I promise! It doesn’t mean you have to forget one or leave it aside. Just put more time, effort, or a more conscious studying in one of them (I normally do it with the language I'm just picking up, since I already know of the other, and so I can do a more “passive learning” on the one I know the most, and center in the other one)

Learning more than one language at a time is possible, even if they are very similar! You just gotta be more organized than usual, I've found out

[tarotbydelilah444]

describing the type of baddie you are

pile one • 🎀

𐙚 first and foremost, you are absolutely and drop-dead gorgeous. You have unique features, or you could be from a different country, specifically Africa, or Europe (the UK… maybe). Some of you could be of mixed heritage, or you have a beautiful accent that people absolutely adore.

𐙚 you have a great and toned physique to match that face card of yours. Some of you could be or could have been an athlete, or you spend a lot of time working out and maintaining your figure to stay snatched to the gods.

𐙚 some of you could be an influencer or you are very popular in your community. Many people are inspired by you, yet there are some people that are envious and see you as competition. You could attract a lot of evil eye and jealously from haters and people that want to imitate and obtain what you’ve been able to achieve (followers, beauty, and/or success), but aren’t successful, so they stay watching and big mad at you. Muahhh… no access 💋.

𐙚 you are a natural seducer and a flirt. You have this sultriness and confidence that many people respect and find attractive. You have the ability to lure people in with your beauty and charm to get what you want, then become detached and cold when you get what you desire, which is why many people are stuck on you, even when you have disappeared from their lives.

𐙚 it’s hard to impress you and you lose interest pretty fast, if you aren’t constantly stimulated. It’s gives… okay, so what’s next? People tend to have to put in a lot of effort to get your attention and maintain it, or you are very quick to ghost and find something new and more exciting.

𐙚 finally, you are a forced to be reckoned with. You are someone that is well-respected and level headed for the most part, but you are just as quick to go 0-100 real quick, if someone disrespects or slight you in anyway and will not give two f*cks afterwards then continue to protect your peace, like nothing ever happened.

channeled song

pile two • 💗

𐙚 you are hardworking and an overachiever. You are someone that goes after their dreams and doesn’t stop until they reach their goals. You tend to be successful in whatever you choose to go after because you always stay focus on the end goal, without getting distracted. Even when things seem uncertain or challenges arise, you have an unwavering faith to keep going until you get what you desire. 

𐙚 you are a very intelligent and articulate individual, and always open and ready to learn something new, whether if your learning something new through someone else, or learning and teaching yourself. For some, you could be bilingual or trilingual, so you could be fluent Italian, French, and/ or Arabic.

𐙚 for some, you are a wonderful and creative writer, or you are very good with words. You also have a beautiful voice. 

𐙚 your resilience is very admirable. You have the ability to overcome any challenges and obstacles that may come in your path and come up with a solution how to solve any problem that your may encounter. For some, you could want to pursue a career in the medical field, and your resilient and determined spirit will benefit you in the end, so keep up the good work. 

𐙚 you are very mysterious and likely an introverted person. You are perfectly okay with being alone and in your own space. This could be because you might be a little shy and insecure. Your vibe/energy favors Bubbles 🫧 from the PowerPuff Girls, or you have a shy cute nerdy vibe to you, yet underneath that reserved exterior, you are an absolute sweet heart, kind, and loving to those who know you which makes you extremely likable and appealing to others. You have a special way of making people feel invited, heard, and seen with your sweet and caring demeanor. You likely wear your heart on your sleeve and often rely on your heart and emotions to guide you, but you need to be better at not always leading with your feelings and emotions and try learning when to be logical and emotional. I think you don’t know how much you are loved by others. You are being encouraged to step out of your shell and allow yourself to show up and make your mark on the world. You are encouraged to speak up more and put yourself out there. The world is your oyster.

channeled song

pile 3 • 💅🏾

𐙚 this is my rich b*tch energy pile. Your energy /vibe reminds me of the rapper, Saweetie. You are very extroverted and have a very contagious and lively personality that lights up a room and immediately draws people to you. You are very funny and are always cracking jokes, you don’t take yourself or life too seriously and you always have a smile on your face. You are extremely outgoing and pretty much the life of the party.

𐙚 for some, you are a socialite or very influential and well-known in the world or in your line of work. You are always open to meeting and befriending people any chance you get. Some of you could be an entrepreneur, or you have aspirations to create something of your own. You are independent and self-sufficient, you don’t rely on no one to provide for you. You are very passionate and driven when it comes to your goals, dreams, and desires and wont stop until you get everything you want and deserve. Literally self-made and meant to be a boss.

𐙚 you are very outspoken and intelligent. You are not afraid to speak your mind and stand up for yourself and others, if necessary. People tend to underestimate you and what you are capable of because they think you are just a stereotypical “pretty girl” yet, little do they know that you have beauty and brains and you aren’t afraid to show what you know.

𐙚 bougie queens 👑 you prefer the more finer and refined things in life. You look and smell rich and expensive. For some you are actually wealthy and privileged. You take especially good care of yourself any chance that you get. Not the type of woman to accept any thing less than what you deserve because you know and understand your worth and value, then you add tax. You are poised, well-mannered, confident, and unattainable to those that instantly fall head over heels for you.

𐙚 you likely attract a lot of unnecessary hate from people, specifically people that are jealous of yo. You could have people that have tried to do black magic (hexes, curses, evil eye) or send negativity your way to throw you off course and to see fall from grace, but they always fail and their attempts backfire in the worse way. The divine and your spiritual team do not play about you and will be quick to slide, if anyone dares to harm you. People may mess with you a lot because you come off very peaceful and you have a youthful spirit or appearance, so they perceive you as gullible and an easy target. Your presence and essence also intimidates lots of triggered and unhealed people as well.

channeled song

[j0kers-light]

Hey <3 What would Joker think about a reader who speaks lots of languages? Does he speak multiple as well? Would he learn some together with the reader? Or does he not really pay attention to that? Have a lovely day~

Hey hi my love!! 🖤✨

It’s a beautiful day actually and my brain is running a mile a minute to answer this. As someone who is trilingual, (and working on learning more) I find it tricky to answer this ask from Joker’s perspective. 

Because on one hand learning a new language is both daunting and fun; anyone can do it! However it does have a tendency to pinpoint origin and define you as a person. 

Joker knowing a different language (in my opinion) is too risky given his strict, “I have an untraceable past” reputation. If he starts speaking a different language, it can be traced back to his past.

So no. I don’t think Joker would bother learning a different language. He speaks English and sarcasm. Now if it were for the betterment of his Light? He might?

Joker believes that pain translates the same across all languages, so why bother trying to understand what a person is saying as they plead for mercy?

He doesn’t have the need to pick up a new language so English it is!

That all changes when he meets his Bunny who is a foreign speaker. And ohh boy, he wasn’t prepared.

Your accent, the speed in which you talk.. Joker finds it downright sexy! Everything you say has a bit of a kick to it.

He doesn’t know a word you’re saying most of the time and you use that to your advantage when you’re upset with him. 

You stop talking in English and rant in your mother tongue leaving Joker standing there like 👁️🫦👁️

Joker is a certified simp. We know this. He instantly bricks up hearing you speak, especially if you say something during sex that he can’t translate. Horn-Y to the point of no return. 🥵

He is in awe how you speak multiple different tongues in the same conversation, simply because you can. 

One minute you are cracking a joke in English, you pause to listen to someone speak (insert language) and then you reply in a third; effectively blowing J’s mind.

You are constantly translating in your head and thinking of the correct consonants and vowels to use while still engaging in conversation.

It takes a sharp mind and loads of patience that Joker greatly admires. How you do it? He’ll never understand but it’s definitely hot.

Joker finds out that you know to sign and can read Braille too by accident; what are you? A walking Rosetta Stone? At this point what language do you not know?

Imagine his disbelief when he discovers you can sing certain songs in several more languages…

Joker dubs you his Google translate and if he needs assistance, best believe he’s asking for your help. 

You turn to glare at your boyfriend in disdain. He really dragged you out of bed for this. “I don’t know Mandarin, Joker.” You say for the fourth time.

Your response isn’t what J was expecting and his wide grin slowly falls from his face. Tense seconds pass as he hides his disappointment. “Bunny… you know a loT of languages..”

“Yes, but not..” You pinch your nose with a sigh. You are not an automated translator that J assumes you to be. You don't know every language! (that would be so cool btw)

The best course of action is letting Joker's hopes and dreams down softly. “It’s a rather hard and complicated dialect to learn, J.”

“And that mumbo jumbo you sang the other day wasn’t hard?!”

You drew a blank at him cutting you off. “J, what are you talking about?”

“Uhh you sa~ng in the car jusT fine, what's stopping ya now?” He grumbled. It took you a minute to remember what he's talking about and even then, you're still confused.

“Joker. That was Hebrew. Completely different language. Omg, are you really that racist?” You ask.

The poor guy that Joker abducted will just have to wait until you and J finish arguing to confess that he's fluent in English. He's too invested in this discussion to interrupt.

So that was a self insert head canon anon sorry not sorry. 🤣🤣🤣🥴 To clear the air. 

I can speak English, Greek, and Spanish. Although I can read and comprehend Spanish better than speaking it. 😭

I began learning French and Russian when I was in school but dropped it for personal reasons. Oh! I totally forgot that my boss was teaching me Vietnamese for two years back in the day lol.

I can sing certain songs in Hebrew, Danish, Latin, Spanish, French, and Japanese. I also poorly translated a few chapters of a book in German out of desperation until the official release was published in English. 🙃 I'm a menace.

[redrage71890]

HEY NANBAKA FANS!!! Has anyone ever thought about the linguistic skills everyone has? Concerning the fact that the cast is largely international with the inmates primarily besides the guards since majority of them are Japanese (except for Building 5 that's mainly Chinese).

Big Note: I'm not fully caught up in the manga and just basically started it, so this is all coming from an anime watcher. If its somehow explained in the manga then someone tell me please...

Though staying with the primary cast of Building 13, 3/4 of cell 13 are foreigners from specifically English speaking countries being America and Britain. So are the three of them fluent in Japanese? I guess they would because Nanba Prison is in Japanese waters with majority of everyone being Japanese. I understand that the foreign guards would have to know Japanese for obvious reasons.

So here are my personal headcanons/thoughts for the each of the primary characters in the anime (because I haven't finished the manga):

Inmates

I think it depends on the pasts and learning abilities of the inmates for them to have a better understandings of learning another language and retaining that.

Jyugo: I find it hard to believe he would be able to learn another language easily or even moderately. He probably tries to copy how someone pronounces something but he struggles with reading and writing. From all the prisons he's been to internationally, he probably has basic English that was kind of refined from Uno helping.

Uno: Out of everyone in cell 13, Uno would most likely be bilingual with English and Japanese. I don't think he would be completely fluent however, he might struggle with more complex sentences or words he's unfamiliar with. (Also who doesn't think Uno might slip into some angry British English or something...)

Nico: I think Nico would be able to speak more Japanese than English because of watching anime. He can't read so he's going off hearing, so he might have picked up on words from how they're used in phrases and puts them in his everyday. Along with all the guards and Jyugo probably teaching him in some way.

Rock: Honestly, I see Rock using more English than the other three. Using it more emotively especially when he's angry or frustrated, mainly to himself. His Japanese I'd say is decent but not as fluent.

Tsukumo: Definitely bilingual and possibly trilingual. Japanese and English and I'll say Chinese that his 'mum' encouraged him to learn because of possible roles. Probably maintains them by trying them with English and Chinese speaking inmates.

Liang: Japanese and Chinese straight up. Doesn't know English well at all because of the environment and situation he grew up in, but he probably doesn't care about learning another language and just keeps Japanese and Chinese. Too busy training anyway.

Upa: Same thing with Liang. Don't really care and too busy training. English? I think he'd be really competitive against like Liang to see who's better at English.

Qi: Trilingual. Qi is pretty smart so I'm not surprised he would know three languages or so. He might've had foreign clients before he went to prison so he'd have to know English at least. Its Japanese, Chinese and English he knows to spell it out.

Musashi: Most likely the most knowledgeable out of the inmates, considering Musashi went to college so I'm saying trilingual. For all I know he might not be fluent in Japanese but he’s certainly fluent in German and English for obvious reasons (he’s German if anyone forgot).

Honey: Bilingual. He’s half Japanese and American but we don’t know anything about his family so who knows if he was actually taught Japanese at a young age. But Honey is quite smart with his bullets and the thread so I’d say he knows English and Japanese well to near fluency.

Trois: Most likely also bilingual but possibly trilingual. Trois is very intelligent considering his somewhat sadistic self with machinery, in my mind he probably has enough brain space for two at least languages. French is one and the other is Japanese, I said trilingual because I'm not sure if he would know English somehow.

Guards

They gotta be smart in a way and physically strong enough to keep these inmates from escaping. Not to mention the foreign guards having to learn another language to work at Nanba.

Hajime: Strikes me as a man that at least knows decent English but not fluent. I think he's very knowledgeable in other languages but he's too busy to study them or learn them.

Yamato: I don't think Yamato knows a lot of English or any other language besides Japanese. I'm not sure how he met his wife since she's Russian but I think she's bilingual while he isn't really.

Seitarou: Shy English speaker and isn't that confident in his skills, but he knows it decently. Though he doesn't give a vibe that he knows anything other than Japanese or English.

Samon: For obvious reasons he's bilingual with Japanese and Chinese. I like to think that the Chinese inmates and guards talk to each other in Chinese as a way of retaining the language. I see Samon helping some inmates retain their Chinese if some happen to forget like writing.

Inori: Again, bilingual. Highly doubt he would try to learn another language. Would he speak it at Nanba with anyone else? Honestly, he might but probably not often at all yet he somehow still remembers his Chinese.

Kenshirou: I'll be honest here, Kenshirou most likely knows the basics for a bunch of languages from his years in the police and he might of had to pick up basics for other languages for situations or so. Currently, I see his linguistics being a bit broken from not using it and or he forgets because of his work.

Hitoshi: Probably really knowledgeable on linguistics and other cultures but might have trouble speaking. Is very curious about other cultures and actually wouldn't mind learning from the people and feeling a great amount of appreciation for them. Considering the fact that he remembers that Hajime told him that Germans like beer a lot so I think Hitoshi wouldn't mind learning about other languages.

Kiji: This is hard. But I don't think Kiji would be extremely good with learning another language but I think he would know a few words. Like random words he can use and say in the correct times, though he probably would be too busy with his duties

Mitsuru: Ironically, probably knows many languages and surprisingly doesn't butcher any of them. Most likely favours English the most and is most likely fluent. Reason I'd say is from music he listens to or just saying shit for the jokes and memes.

Momoko: Relatively knowledgeable on other languages but isn't fluent in those languages. I'd say as the warden she'd have to encounter many foreigners so she'd know other languages for conversation and what's necessary.

[latibvles]

THE TASTE THAT YOUR LIPS ALLOW.

this week on longform ficwriting that nobody asked for — june & benny first kiss that has been rotating in my head like a rotisserie chicken for the past few months. a special thanks to @flipfloplogic & @upontherisers for lending me two lovely girls who get some name drops in this (Missy Campbell and Henrietta Hobbs, namely)! No warnings for this one besides yanno, June being dramatic as per usual.

[ Read it here on AO3! ]

The lipstick’s out in the hut tonight.

Fern’s singing, so it’s a given. They flew a practice mission today while the other three squads flew over the channel — she went right to the Red Cross girls to ask about hair rollers after the fact. Her hair’s long enough for that now, and she was brimming with excitement about the prospect of “dolling herself up.”

As usual, the beds are alight with conversation.

“And you all better be on your feet,” Fern declares from her spot by the mirror, near the door. “Or I’ll never forgive you for it.” She’s dappling rouge onto her cheeks, soft and subtle enough to get past uniform regulation.

“Yes ma’am,” Missy Campbell, one of Rivera’s girls, affirms from her spot on Jo’s bed, where she’d been showing Jo a letter she’d gotten from her husband down in… Australia? Something like that.

“Oh I know you got me, Soup,” Fern hums, June can practically hear the wink that accompanies the affirmation. “I’m talking to that little rain cloud in the corner over there.”

June lifts her hand, and gives Fern the bird from her spot laid out on her bed, staring up at the curved ceiling. Fern giggles still, and June feels her cheeks burning.

“Come on, Juney,” she pleads in that sing-song tone that she so often uses to get whatever she wants, whenever she wants. June’s resolved to not give in this time. Instead she scoffs, rolling her eyes from her spot and letting her hand fall unceremoniously onto her stomach.

“Hm. No. I could say it in Polish if you want.”

“Nie, right?”

“Well somebody better call the General, Sergeant Carmine’s trilingual!” June announces sarcastically, raising her hand in a faux-triumphant fist before letting it fall once more. That garners a laugh, although it might just be because of the ridiculousness of their current bickering.

“So mean,” Fern counters, more than likely faux-pouting in the mirror, which garners in a few scattered, quiet laughs.

“S’fine,” Lena hums. June can see her crossing the room to sidle up behind Fern, patting her shoulders. “Just send DeMarco after her. She’ll sing a different tune then.”

June’s head snaps up.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” She asks — or rather, demands — her voice raising in pitch. She can see Lena’s smile in the mirror’s reflection, watches her shrug her shoulders and June has to fight every urge to cross the threshold and shake the woman around until she fesses up her secrets. As if Lena can sense June’s current urges, her grin only grows infuriatingly wide.

“You just seem to be spending a lot of time together is all,” Lena hums, but June scowls.

“We do not.”

“Very convincing,” Lena counters, “It’s like he’s got Meatball on a leash and you’ve got him on a leash. Making sure he doesn’t wander off or something. Like he’s gonna get lost and wind up in France.” June hates that it’s a good joke. There’s another round of laughter from the other girls, she even sees Willie in her corner of the hut running a hand over her mouth, trying to maintain a level of composure. June has half a mind to shove her head beneath her pillow and call it an early night. She doesn’t though. She rolls her eyes, standing up and crossing over to swat at Lena’s head. Lena ducks out of it and grins, sticking her tongue out.

“Missed me.”

“I was doing you a favor. Trying to knock your goddamn screws back into place.” June declares, cheeks burning as she glowers at Lena, who’s unsurprisingly all smiles.

“If you two mess me up, I’ll tell Benny you’ve both got the hots for him and started a cat-fight in the barracks over it,” Fern declares as she sweeps a brush over her upper lashes, drawing attention to the vibrant green of her eyes as she paints her eyelashes black. Lena takes a couple steps back, hands in the air in mock surrender. She's still snickering and June thinks her head might just light on fire.

"He's all yours, Junebug," she offers, and June scoffs, throwing her hands up in the air before making her way out of the hut into the waning twilight. Sometimes the clouds break and make for a half-decent sunset out here — orange and purple broken up by chunks of white clouds and wispy chem-trails.

A few feet off, she hears a dog barking, and elects to ignore the beat of butterfly wings once again making themselves present in the pit of her stomach.

—

It isn't that she has a problem with liking Benny DeMarco.

Okay, that's not exactly the truth, either. She does have a problem with it. Mostly that she doesn't want to like him — didn't want to before, but for some reason he wasn't deterred by her habit of snapping at whatever and whoever inconvenienced her in a day. It made him a good friend, and presumably, a great pilot to his boys. That patience of his that has him dragging her to the nurse's station after dark to tend to her torn knuckles. That keeps him from being mad at her when she does something admittedly dumb.

She knows that she is, innately, hard to swallow. And while June isn't especially ashamed of that fact, she also knows that there are easier girls to be around — even in the influx of female crews coming to replace the ones lost. Nice, pretty girls, who he doesn't have to scruff like a stray kitten trying to take out someone's eyes.

So maybe it's not a problem with liking Benny DeMarco, and more like a problem with the nearly-impossible chance that he could like her, too. There's a war on, which is much more pressing than whatever inconveniences she could thrust upon him. And either way: he never would, a fact that has her stomach twisting in a knot in a weird mix of rejection and relief.

"Juuuuuuuney," Harrie's waving in her face, pulling her from her thoughts. She's sat between Jo on her left and Henry on her right. Across from her, Harrie's looking at her puzzled, with Carrie right next to her and an open seat right next to the younger girl. "You hear a thing I jus' said?"

June clears her throat, looks down at her beer.

"Repeat?"

Harrie smiles, seemingly unbothered by June's poor listening skills.

"Cap's birthday's next month, s'what I was sayin'. Wanna know what t'get 'er."

"We still do birthdays?"

"I'm still doin' birthdays," Harrie declares, tilting her nose up proudly into the stuffy air of the O-Club. "We did your birthday. N' we did Fern's in Iowa," she points out. Harrie casts a look across at Fern, who's talking to the conductor over by the band with her megawatt smile, made impossibly brighter by her red-painted lips. She claps and bounces on her feet, which is how June knows she's got her way again.

"So what're you gonna get her?" June asks, resting her fist on her cheek.

"I was thinkin' maybe a nice scarf or somethin'. Could ask my mama to knit it. Gets cold up here 'round fall," she explains, and June's listening, but she's also taking in the space around them. Lorraine and Lena are over by the bar, shoulder-to-shoulder. Willie's by the Bucks. Inez is listening to some conversation Croz and Payne are having that she can't hear from over here.

No Benny yet. She elects to ignore the urge to get up and go sniff him out, not wanting to give anyone at the table ammunition.

"Dunno what I'll get her. I'll sign the card, though," June leans back in her seat. Over on the other end of the room, Fern giggles into the mic and greets everyone with her signature: You all miss me?

Scattered clapping, a couple loud whistles and a Hey Fernie! from Dougie, somewhere else in the room. June feels a hand on her shoulder, and nearly jumps three feet in the air. She whips her head around, tilts it up.

Benny smiles down at her apologetically. There's a stray curl brushing his forehead, falling out of place.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he offers as the other girls start getting up, understanding the assignment given to them back in the huts.

"You didn't scare me," June huffs. "Just… surprised me." She feels warm again. Can see Lena's traitorous grin and Fern's half-baked threat about telling Benny she's got "the hots" for him.

"Alright. Didn't mean to surprise you then," Benny corrects. She thinks he'll make a move to sit, but he doesn't as the music kicks up again and Fern starts singing; loud and proud and melodic in a way that Bucky knows he's not. She recognizes the song, too — Harry James, Helen Forrest, she'd heard it a couple times stateside. His hand is still on her shoulder, a paperweight pressing her into her spot.

She thinks, briefly, that if he retracts it she might melt into the floor. It's a thought that bruises her ego, if nothing else.

Benny looks like he's debating something before he says it, hand moving to run through his hair instead of ensuring she doesn't run from him. The strand just flops back onto his forehead defiantly.

"Dance with me."

June pulls a face.

"Get turned down by a Red Cross Girl or something?" she asks, brows furrowing. Benny puts his hand over his chest, still smiling even as he feigns hurt.

"Low blows, Juney. You mad at me?"

"No," she counters, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Just think you got options, is all." Easier ones, at that. Benny shrugs, lips pulling into a contemplative pout, nodding slowly.

"Maybe," he counters. "But I'm askin' you," he then casts a look towards Fern, over by the band. "And maybe saving your skin." June snorts at that, rolling her eyes.

"My hero," she chuckles a bit, looking down at the floor for a moment before meeting his warm, dark eyes once again.

"Yeah well, I'll be here all night." Benny grins, teasing, and offers his hand to her. She stares at it for a long second — a couple torn callouses on his palms. She's been yanked along by him enough times to know they're warm, rough. She tries not to shudder at the idea of those hands pressed into the small of her back.

She sighs, and takes it.

"Thanks for sparing my feelings," Benny teases again, half-tugging her towards the floor where people are already dancing.

"Sparing your feelings would be declining." June lets him tug her towards him, her hand finding his shoulder to steady herself. "The real victim here is gonna be your toes."

"I can forgive it," he offers of her. His hand is warm on the small of her back. June glances down at their feet, self-conscious in a way that's foreign to her. His thumb traces a small circle where it presses against her uniform. "I've gotcha though. Think I'm a halfway decent lead."

"You think?"

"I've got three sisters and a ma who all like dancing and I think at least one of them would tell me if I was bad by this point."

She laughs at that, looking up at him instead of fixing her gaze on the floor. He's laughing with her, breathy and still managing to crease the corners of his eyes.

"Well I'm trusting you, then." She offers and elects to ignore the weight of a sentence like that.

Benny nods, moving with her around the floor, and she tries to keep looking at him to ignore the feeling that she's being watched in some regard. Like there's something to laugh at right now. She preferred being the center of attention when it came to her crew's flying, not so much her own shortcomings. Benny spins her and is grinning like a madman when she settles back in his arms, wondering if he grew a second head.

"Your brothers never teach you?"

"And give boys another excuse to talk to me? Hell no. Think my dad would throw a fit," she admits after she gets her bearings once more. Benny chuckles at that, nodding slowly.

"And what would they think of it if they were here now?"

Why are you asking me that?

"Piotr would be whisking me away and Antoni would be taking you out back to have a word." It's an immediate response, one that has Benny whistling low and has his brows raising, slightly nudging that hair that she can't stop staring at.

"I'll keep that in mind when I visit."

"When you visit?" June fixes him with an odd look, but he just smiles. She thinks, briefly, about how Meatball stares up at the two of them sometimes — mouth open in a pant, tail wagging without a worry in the world.

"Well if I'm allowed that is. You banning me from the residence, Juney?"

"You don't even have my address."

"Well can I have it?" June blanches at him. She can't really tell if he's kidding or not when he asks that. He spins her again, a little slower, like he's giving her time to think about it without him staring at her. June sighs, reaches up to tuck that stray, defiant hair back into place, and rolls her eyes.

"You're ridiculous." She can feel her cheeks burning, and Benny chuckles.

"That wasn't a no." He points out, and he's right. No, it wasn't. But if she thinks too long about the idea of him showing up on her apartment building's front stoop in his dress uniform, she'll wrench herself out of his hold right now and run for the hills before she does something stupid.

"My mother likes violets," she says instead, tilting her nose up. He nods again.

"Hope that keeps me from getting thrown out on my ass, then."

"No promises," June declares.

And there it is again, butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She wonders if he can feel the sweat forming on her palms, which leads into her wondering if he's disgusted by the warm dampness of it.

When the fuck has she ever cared so much about what a person thinks of her?

The song ends and another begins, this one much slower in nature. For a moment, June's breath hitches, and she swallows hard, feeling shy for once.

"I can go sit if you— if you wanna sit this one out," she points out, feeling obligated to give him that chance to maybe get another girl on the floor. Benny's smile turns almost shy. His hand presses a little firmer into her back, the other giving hers a squeeze.

"Do you want to?" She hates when he asks that, bouncing the ball back into her court and leaving her to make the decision. Because her brain's telling her yes, I want to, this is getting ridiculous, but that stupid desire to be near him is screaming no, no, no.

So maybe Lena's had it wrong the whole time — Benny's the one who's been holding the leash, and she's the dog that might just wander into occupied France if he doesn't tug it with stupid, unassuming questions like this.

"I… don't know," June answers, feeling dumb. He smiles, arm looping around to rest on her hip, pressing her closer to him and leading them in a sway. He leans forward and she feels like she might light on fire with his lips so close to her ear.

"I'll let you figure it out then. Feel free to run whenever you want."

Whenever I want, June parrots internally, ruefully. Sure, Benny, you're really making a great case for me running for the goddamn hills.

He's so warm like this, solid beneath her hand on his shoulder. June wonders if he can feel the powerful hammering of her pulse in her wrist, if he heard it when he lent down to mutter in her ear near that spot by her neck. Fern's still singing, low, smooth and sweet, a proper showgirl if there ever was one. It makes her want to hide, press her face into the crook of Benny's tanned neck and pretend that they're not here.

A dance hall in Chicago would be nice. One of the ones her friends from high school would drag her to begrudgingly — she never liked going to them, because she was no good at this. And she didn't want to give anyone an excuse to laugh at her.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" he asks after a beat of quiet between them.

"First he wants to know my address and now he wants to read my mind. Anyone ever tell you that you're nosy?" June asks, just to feel that rumble of laughter against her.

"Mostly my sisters," he admits.

"Well they're right. And I was thinking of, uh, high school."

"Yeah? What about it?" June swallows, wondering how much she could share before she ends up as the butt of a joke.

"I used to hate dances. But I don't anymore. That's all."

He hums in that pensive, thoughtful way he always does when she says something that's more loaded than she means for it to be. Putting a little bit of space between them, he looks her over, and June tries not to squirm beneath his gaze. His lips part on a sentence she doesn't get to hear before the shrill sound of someone whistling pierces the room.

"C'mon everybody! Race in the Mess Hall!" she doesn't know who said it, but Benny tilts his head before letting go — not entirely, because he takes her hand in a familiar way and tugs along as people start flooding out of the O-Club. June makes a noise of protest, halfway between a whine and a shout of his name as they follow the flood of people.

"Didn't you eat dust last time?" June points out as the guys who have bikes start tugging them along towards the mess, from where they were lined up outside the club. Benny gives her a wide set grin, tugging her with one hand and his bike by the handles with the other.

"I did not, we had that bomb raid before we could call it. Have a little faith in me Juney," he counters, insistent as they stop in front of the mess. He pauses, swathed in the warm glow of the light from inside. It makes his hair look so much darker, his skin even more warm than before. His smile is blinding, the only thing between them being the bike handles. "Do I get a kiss for good luck?"

"What?"

"Benny! You in or what?" Benny looks into the room, then back at her. He hesitates, then walks into the room, still giving her that smile before he goes.

June feels like she's just been knocked in the chest, had all the oxygen siphoned from her lungs. Dizzy, she leans up against the entryway, watching all the guys shouldering and nudging at each other from their bikes, and her knees feel shaky. Her hands curl into fists.

He wasn't serious, she scolds herself, trying to shake it off. No way he was being serious.

And yet her feet can't move those couple steps to walk fully into the room — forcing people and, on occasion, their dates, to squeeze past her. She can't see him past so many people with dark hair and uniforms, and she doesn't even know if she wants to. What if he looks at her and she really does fizzle into dust, right there in the middle of their makeshift bike track?

She can't. She can't do any of it. She's stumbling back, until her feet hit the grass, and then she's standing there with cool summer wind piercing her clothes. It doesn't do much in way of cooling down her pinkened cheeks, but oxygen fills her lungs good and proper again as she turns her back to the door, hugging herself.

Her heart is still pounding, like it had when they danced, and when he'd touched her shoulder, and—

June could come up with an alphabetized list of all the times Benny DeMarco's made her heart race. She wishes it was something she could indulge happily, but really, it just makes her feel mad and dumb like a little kid with a school crush. Like he knows it and does it all on purpose to rile her.

She shuts her eyes, lets the wind brush against her face like it had a month ago when she'd laid in the grass and he'd watched over her to make sure "no other jokers let their dogs off the leash." The thought makes her squeeze herself tighter, like she could force the memory from her brain.

But she can't. He's embedded himself there.

June feels like she's been waiting there forever, but it's only maybe twenty minutes before the night swells again with laughter, people cheering and bemoaning losses, and of course—

"June! Hey, thought you went to—"

She's walking off before he can finish the sentence, towards the gravel road and down it, hoping that maybe Bucky's decided to go for a drunken nighttime drive and will run her over with a jeep. No such luck, the roads are empty and he can hear Benny behind her still.

"June? Slow down, would you?" Benny asks, and she feels the tips of his fingers brush her shoulder before she's turning around and trying to glare.

More hair brushing his forehead, expression so clearly puzzled.

"Your joke's not funny," June declares with a huff. His brows furrow.

"My… joke? What are you talking about?" June points an accusatory finger at him, face burning as she pokes his chest and crowds him.

"Your- your joke! That whole… kiss for good luck, visiting me stateside thing? It's not funny. It's mean!" She's thankful that they've moved far enough away that no one can pay much mind to her words, or her actions. "Did Lena put you up to it? Or was it- was it one of the Red Cross girls? Since it's so damn obvious, right? I'm just—"

"June, what are you talking about?!" Benny hasn't moved her finger from where it pokes at his chest, over his pilot's wings. The metal is cold against her finger tip, a sharp contrast from the warmth of him. She swallows hard.

"That I— That I like being around you! That I like you! It's all just a joke to you, right? That's why you asked that before that stupid bike race!"

"It wasn't a joke!"

Silence between them, heavy and only broken up by the distant murmurings of others. She stares at him, wide-eyed and flushed, finger still pressing into his wings. She feels like she's just run a marathon around the whole of England — heart pounding in her chest, ribs aching, face burning. She wants to bury her head in the dirt.

"What?"

She doesn't have any time to process it before it's Benny's hands on either side of her face. It's Benny, pulling her forward. It's Benny pressing his lips to hers, firm and insistent and warm. He's so warm. His lips taste like whiskey, and they're soft, and her knees are going weak — hardly registering what's happening here beyond that urge to kiss him back, which she does. Eyes fluttering shut, trying to match the pace he's set — insistent and hungry, like he's trying to convince her of something right now.

It's working, she thinks, feeling dumb as she reaches up to card her fingers through messy dark waves, ruining them further.

They part once her lungs start aching, but he hasn't let go of her. His finger traces a line against her jaw, and she stares up at him dumbfounded.

"I wasn't joking," Benny repeats, and June's well of words has run dry in the wake of it. Like in kissing her he's just stolen coherent thought from her as well. "Jesus Christ, June, you really think I'd be that mean? To you?"

She can't tell if she's really hurt him with that or not. She assumes that she has, and she stares at him for a long moment.

"I-I'm sorry.It's just—" June's lips press into a line. "…I'm pessimistic," she starts out. "And… and I'm not patient, not like you. And I hate losing, bad. And I'm really bad at staying up late and I suck at dancing and being all romantic and all that stuff that girls are s'posed to be good at and—"

"June," Benny cuts her off again, thumb sweeping over her cheek. "Makin' it real hard for me to follow you here, honey."

Her stomach twists at the nickname. She wants to kiss him again.

"I'm giving you a warning," June breathes out. Benny chuckles, searing a kiss between her brows.

"Don't need one. I know what I'm getting into," he insists. "S'why I like you."

Benny's smiling like he's just said the best pickup line of all time. And it works, because June is tilting her head to kiss him again and taste the last bits of whiskey on his lips.

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the left is the Redcap, murderous little fey born of bloodlust! 3 - 4 ft (0.9‒1.2 m), these are fey serial killers. They die if they go more than 3 days without soaking thier cap in blood, so it's mainly just a "might as well have fun with it" situation. They specialize in knocking people over and have IMMENSE strength, as strong as that of a grizzly bear. They are fine working with other creatures, so long as thier cap stays bloody and it's an odd numbered group (they're very superstitious). The one in the back is one that soaked its hat in demon blood, called a "madcap." They're wild and explode when they die.

On the right, the Yeth Hound! 5 foot (1.5 m) at the shoulder, this flying fey canine is telepathic, trilingual, and can cause supernatural fear with its howl! Really potent fear too, usually fear effects let you try to resist doing anything that harms you but this is just blind panic. Unwaveringly obedient to thier master, they're sadists who value nothing more than causing terror. They won't go into sunlight though, it's their one fear, as it banishes them to the depths of the ethereal plane and makes them mortal for a while.

[avelera]

So I’ve gone back and I’ve been reading some Old Guard fic (as I try to get motivated to write the last damn chapter of my one damn TOG WIP finished so I can finally moved on), and I must admit, one silly and very minor pet peeve I have in some Nicky/Joe fics for the Old Guard that explore their Crusader days is the trope of having them go a really long time without being able to understand each other. Because based on Nicky’s path as a Crusader even getting to the Holy Land, and the various hints we have that Joe has a pretty worldly background, I would suggest they should have had a baseline to communicate already when they met and that bridging the gap would have gone very quickly for one or both of them once they committed to learning.

There’s a few reasons I find them going a really long time without speaking each other’s language (most likely Nicky picking up Arabic) somewhat implausible:

- First, just based on my own personal experience: I went through a full language immersion experience myself and yes it was painful and yes, having textbooks and classes certainly helped, but all told it was 3-4 months from almost zero before I could start doing normal things for my age group like read simple books and do homework. However, the most effective language learning program in the country, Middlebury, does a full immersion program that gets people to baseline functionality in 6 weeks. Yes, learning a language is hard and I will be the first to say that mastery takes years and mastery without immersion is nearly impossible, but if you’re completely immersed there, without options, it goes much faster. You won’t be fluent of course but you will be conversational. Also, by all accounts, being illiterate or otherwise not bothering to learn how to read and write at the same time and ONLY going for verbal communication actually makes things go even faster.

- People who pick up by speaking (rather than reading and writing) and people who speak multiple languages already tend to pick up other languages even more quickly. Once you learn one or two, a lot of polyglots don’t stop there. There is that old joke: the word for speaking three languages is trilingual, two languages is bilingual, and speaking only one language is American. Which is to say I think native English speaking writers might be the ones underestimating how quickly a language can be learned (at least to a conversational level).

- Now throw in the fact that both Nicky and Joe have been recently in multilingual societies or organizations as a requirement of their meeting during the First Crusade, no matter how you slice it. Either as both coming from a merchant trading backgrounds traveling across international (so to speak) lands, or Nicky being part of the pan-European Christian army where multiple languages would be spoken across the camp, to him possibly having a priest background which would mean Latin as well. Not to mention Greek if Nicky picked up anything while in Constantinople (if he came over land). Nicky also would have been on the road to the Holy Land, if he went overland, for as long as 3 years and in Antioch before Jerusalem.

- Now, as an admitted caveat to all of this, I’ve lived overseas and it is absolutely common for expats to live in a country for years without bothering to pick up the local language at all. There were cultural and societal reasons that European Crusaders and the Egyptian Fatimids who lost Jerusalem wouldn’t bother to learn each other’s languages or any of the common merchants tongue or other common languages like Greek to bother to talk to each other. That’s absolutely fair to invoke for why they wouldn’t have a single word of any language in common.

- However, I will say, once both or either of them decided to try, I think some writers don’t give enough credit for how quickly one or the other would pick a language up, especially if it’s the language of the country they’re in (basically, I think once he tried, Nicky would pick up Arabic very quickly if he’s still in the Holy Land by the time he and Joe start trying to communicate). Effort plus full immersion is probably the single fastest way to learn a language, you’d be able to have rudimentary conversations within a few months at most. Really from there it’s just a question of whose country are they in once they start talking and stop trying to kill each other.

TL;DR I will be the first to say an author should go with what makes their story work best BUT there’s plenty of historically backed reasons why Nicky and Joe should have been able to carry on a basic conversation with each other from when they first met, and not be completely stymied in communicating with each other because of a language barrier.

[gendervoid-tokoyami]

MHA REWRITE - TIDBIT II

Yuga Aoyama’s trilingual - French being his native language, English being his second, and finally Japanese as his third.

His parents put him in French lessons as soon as he spoke his first word and put him into English lessons when he turned two.

While his maternal grandparents & aunts live in Japan; Yuga didn’t start learning Japanese until he was six.

Since Yuga didn’t start properly learning Japanese until after he received his quirk and due to constantly being around them growing up; he picked up a blend of Tomura’s and Kurogiri’s speech patterns (and AFO pre-AFO vs All Might fight). Which is something he tries to hide especially after the USJ (no one notices* or really cares, Yuga’s just has several undiagnosed anxiety disorders)

*Izuku subconsciously picks up on it (post Tomura Mall Encounter) and if Nezu & Yuga ever spoke to each other then Nezu would 100% pick up on it as well.

Divider credit | Rewrite Masterpost

[raptorfae53]

Monster High Reimagined: Heath Burns Character Bio/redesign.

Heath Burns (He/Him)

(Paraguayan-American)

Boitata child of the burns family.

To the average eye,Heath is not the…sharpest tool in the shed,an overly excitable would-be casanova whose desire to impress often leads to him making a fool of himself,exactly the last person you'd think to give the flammable powers and responsibilities of the Boitata. But although an exuberant literal wild child, there's more than a few dimensions to him, most more apparent out in the wilds and nature than in the classroom…

Likes: Being in nature,wildlife,flame print,girls (particularly girls taller than him) and s’mores and other such campfire foods.

Dislikes: Environmental damage and destruction,colder weather, boring or tedious activities,being ignored when chatting,and people being two-faced.

Killer style: nothing but the coolest fashion for this fire spirit! We're talking bowling shirts,chain jewellery, and flame patterns on everything! (For the uninitiated reader, he dresses like Guy Fieri, and nobody has the heart to tell him, heath wouldn't mind regardless)

Familiar: none, besides the whole fire thing heath has no desire to keep animals as pets,he prefers nature wild,free and chaotic,like himself.

Pet Peeve: Seemingly always ending up a laughing stock in his frequent attempts to prove himself as cool,suave or funny as he'd like,Heath laughs it off with the rest of them but it stings nonetheless…

Freaky Flaw: Impatience,at least in man-made settings. Heath…has never done particularly well in a classroom setting and is usually desperate to get anything paperwork related done in a flash to get back to more interesting affairs, his attempts to remedy that being not as well thought out as he likes and usually getting him into more trouble than they were ever worth in the first place!

Spooky Secret: heath can tell his peers are saying stuff behind his back and don't respect him as much as he wishes, and far from his seeming obliviousness to it all it irritates him greatly, that goes for those gossiping about that cute Yeti girl too, she's not scary she's just trying to be friendly!

Dream job: Wildlife ranger,wildlife photographer or anything that gets him out in nature and not cooped up indoors, going to cool places and learning and helping all sorts of cool animals,plants and other such forms of life!

Five Fearsome facts:

Like the rest of his species, Heath's actual form resembles an anaconda made out of living fire. As cool as he and his friends do think this form is, heath takes a humanoid form (albeit one with golden skin and flames for hair) to better navigate society and/or not scare the living daylights out of regular humans.

In turn, heath is capable of controlling said fire with pyrokinesis, or at least he's training to,getting too overexcited tends to end with anyone nearby getting their hair singed as he's come to learn.

Befitting his species original role and bewildering his colleagues used to his airheaded personality,heath is a staunch environmentalist ,striking up a friendship with Venus over their shared interest and collaborating often with the plant monster on various efforts as part of monster high's environment and gardening clubs.

Heath is trilingual in English, Spanish and Guarani, having grown up in a household fluently speaking all three. Recently a pastime of his has been practising the fundamentals of a fourth language to properly chat to a girl in his year,as she's clearly more confident talking in her mother tongue instead of English and Heath would love to get to know her better…

Whilst being made out of fire might seem like a surefire reason to stay away from swimming pools ,heath is an adept and seasoned swimmer, if only his exuberant nature didn't turn every pool he's ever been in into a simmering,steaming hot tub!

Hello again to the second profile of seven this spooky season (I know its still September but personally summer doesn't quite agree with me yknow,bring on Halloween!)

Compared to Abbey, (whose inspiration is well known by most people in the mh fandom) what exactly Heaths monster type and inspo is a little less well-known, so there's some explanation down below regarding exactly that!

Anyways,hope you enjoyed this profile, and see you next week for the next one. (It's going to be one I should've done a while ago tbh,if that's any clue...)

Anyways,regardless of all that, you probably have one primary question on your mind.

What's a Boitata, and why is Heath one?

In regards to the first question, a boitata is an Amazonian nature spirit that takes the form of a giant flaming snake and which protects the animals and plants of the forest from harm. The Boitata is from Guarani mythology, who live primarily in Paraguay and the surrounding countries, hence why Heath is from a trilingual Paraguayan family.

And to answer the second question, like toralei before him, I dont like the whole fire elemental thing, and him being a demon/hellborn goes against one of the fundamental rules I set myself regarding what monsters the monster high characters are based on. No Abrahamic Demons,Angels,direct children of Gods ,Aliens (bar one,but we'll get to them later) and no bigfoot because I thought it'd be funny if that were where i drew the line.

So I had a look at some of the other fire based monsters, and the boitata, in particular, simply caught my eye. (+ the environmental protector thing I thought fit Heaths g3 personality, as all things considered my version of him is a mix of g1 and g3 in terms of design and personality instead of purely one or the other...)

Also for better reference here's a collection of different renditions of the creature to give a better picture:

[rainesol]

(For the TWST OC asks)

What are some mannerisms your OC has picked up from the people around them? (be it other (people's) OCs or Canon Characters)

Have they ever gotten collared by Riddle? For what? How long?

How often does it happen?

How do they feel about Jamil? His workload? Do they think what he did to Kalim was just/did they agree that change was needed in the dorm?

What's a scent you associate with your OC?

What's a hidden talent they have?

What's something they'll never leave home without?

What are their minor fears?

What's their guilty pleasure?

If they could fight anyone with a guaranteed win against them, who would it be?

(FOR: Harriet, Kshoshurankha and Apollyon)

Thank you for the ask!! \o/

Putting these under a read more o7

1

Harriet has lost a lot of her accent over time. As a kid she had a Glaswegian accent, but over time it’s faded. She’s also picked up some English dialects from her friends.

Apollyon has picked up more and more older and more polite language from his dorm mates. It’s a little strange hearing him say stuff like ‘Undoubtably so’ in his SE London accent. He’s also got a habit of mimicking body language and movements and repeating phrases.

Ksho is trilingual. He speaks Serpentine, Hindi and Common. He often uses serpentine idioms, which don’t always make sense translated. He also sometimes mixes Hindi into his speech (not as common as, say, Rook, but still enough to be noticeable) for example, ending sentences in na. Another thing he does is try to mimic human actions. At one point, he (jokingly) did the ‘grinding ball of foot into ground coyly’ thing. He doesn’t have feet and ended up swaying instead.

2

Harriet has been collared. Many times. Ranges from being a nuisance on purpose to almost sending the dorm into pandemonium. She does get away with a lot though, because if she’s collared she can’t leave. [During her intro fic, Riddle says he should forget the collar and put her on a harness. She gets very offended.]

Polly’s worst year of misbehaviour was his first, before Riddle enrolled. I can’t imagine them meeting enough for it to happen. I’m sure it’s been threatened before, though.

Is there any point in collaring Ksho? He weighs like, an actual ton. That’s not gonna stop him. I think that’s another thing that’s been threatened, but not done yet.

3

Harriet doesn’t know Kalim or Jamil. When Cater sends her the gossip she thumbs-up reacts it and changes the subject.

Polly thinks that the situation got way out of hand, but Jamil was justified in getting upset. He’s mostly just relieved that he wasn’t there for this one.

Ksho also thinks that Jamil was completely justified in getting upset, but went about it in the wrong way. Snakes gotta stick together 💪

4

(Grahhhh I was hoping to get this one 💥💥) Harriet smells like vanilla cake batter and various tea. The tea scent comes from her constant tea drinking, but she chooses a lot of soaps and scents that smell like sweets (as well as baking). Shimmer either loves or hates it depending on if she’s eaten recently or not. Fae metabolism, unfortunately. It’s hard being hungry when your friend uses sugary perfumes.

Polly isn’t particularly interesting. Very normal teenage-young adult sitch. Deodorant, whatever detergent he had. Nothing exciting. When he’s back in Briar Valley, he uses more locally made soaps and has a more forest-y smell? He also used to be a smoker.

Ksho does not have sweat glands! Reptile issue. He dislikes most human perfumery (Pomefiore just smells like harsh chemicals to him), and therefore uses unscented soap. He smells like earth, rain, and grass/foliage. If his dad’s just done his hair, he might smell like coconut oil or whatever other conditioner he may have used.

5

Hattie is good at baking! In a homemade kind of way, rather than Trey’s bakery way. She’s also good at physics and thinking ahead at times.

Polly is good at various art forms. He draws and sketches in realism, and has dabbled in whittling. This also comes from Diablo being petrified lol. On top of that, Apollyon is scarily flexible. He can do the Ring levels of gymnastics.

Ksho is cpr certified for humans. He doesn’t tell anyone because he’s scared of actually having to do it.

6

Harriet’s bag has a little bit of everything in it. She obviously always has her magical pen, but also always keeps a little sewing kit on her.

Polly has his magical pen as a given, and a set of cheap headphones.

Ksho has his magical pen on him at all times. When at home, he also has a hunting knife on him.

7

Harriet is frightened of things she deems ‘too big or small’. Whatever she means by that. She also has a habit of panicking and reasoning with people who mean zero harm at all. Both AiW references.

Polly is scared of heights because I like being mean to him. He’s also iffy with mirrors and photos.

Ksho is scared of fire.

8

I can’t think of anything for Harriet :0 If she enjoys something, she’s just going to enjoy it shamelessly.

Remember how the other changelings haven’t grasped the polygon’s age? He lets them baby him sometimes. As a treat.

Plastic. Fuck, it’s convenient. Thank the seven for recycling, I guess.

9

Harriet should be allowed to fight one (1) doctor of her choice.

Polly would fight Crewel if he could. Free him from the science club and get that fucking came out of his face. Also leave his underclassman alone.

Ksho would kick the shit out of the illegal poachers and loggers in his hometown. Probably has.

@tixdixl @cyanide-latte @the-trinket-witch @thehollowwriter @elenauaurs

@emiensr

[thepeanutbutterwizard]

So if Luz doesn't learn about her own glyphs until after the squad are trapped, will she be able to form them without needing to draw them? Will they have thier own look? And will the combos work the same or will it be completely her own unique language? Heh, if a titans glyphs are considered a language unique to the individual that'd make Luz in the future pentalingual. English, Spanish and three titans.

Small disclaimer, some of this might be changed by the time it's relevant in the fic, but a good enough portion of it is settled that I'm comfortable in spilling

Luz will be able to magically produce glyphs eventually, but that seems to be a skill that needs more practice, since King needed to draw his light glyph in the dirt in the timeskip.

I've been heavily debating on whether Luz is going to have her own unique glyphs, or if she's going to sort-of 'inherit' Papa Titan's glyphs, since she's just half-Titan. I've settled on combining the two ideas.

Luz is gonna have a mostly unchanged light glyph, two base glyphs that have different elements than Papa Titans, and the last one will match one of Papa Titan's but have a unique design.

The way I'm making Luz's glyph combo system work vs Papa Titans since it's partially inherited from him is...difficult to explain in words only. I'm working on a visual guide.

And, small spoiler for next chapter: something I've added to the world-building of the Boiling Isles is a language I'm calling Beast-tongue. It's the Empire standard language for all sapient demons whos mouth, throat, and/or vocal chord structure make it impossible to speak Common (English, also Empire standard), and is what demons like Barcus and Eberwolf speak.

It's common practice on the Isles for kids to be taught to understand both languages, and something Eda definitely felt was an essential skill, and thanks to being half-Titan, Luz can sort of speak Beast-tongue as well as being able to understand it (King can actually speak it). So she's already trilingual!

[superconductivebean]

#1010

End of May is marked by a melancholic tide; it drags me to somewhere I prefer not to set my foot.

But alas, unfortunately, I must.

My poetic way of speaking, is it cringe? do peapol look at it and think, ew, a foreigner, tries so hard?

I've met language purists in this fandom, if you wonder from where this grows its ugly stems.

I have also met and befriended many awesome ESL/EFLs, many natives and bi-, trilinguals, to have a true reality check; their opinion is infinitely more valuable to me. I appreciate it. I really do.

Yet sometimes, I'm nibbling at my own certainty in if I am able to be sound; have I reached that point of achieving capability to be a syntactical intention; am I there if I hate everything I write.

Where am I even if I still make rookie mistakes of forgetting articles, misusing prepositions, going Russian syntax in liue of English, barely think of adding an adage or an idiom to fancy up the text, never being verbose and always sounding like the most simple third grader on the planet; if my syntax is never that of books, how am I not this?

And what can it be if not a pathetic attempt at the critic of self; self that perhaps shoud be -- must be -- proud of themselves for dedication, time and effort invested in the language anyone barely speaks around these parts; self who has the rigid perfectionist mindset, of a constructive nature, but desiring to perfect nonetheless; self with a wistful inclination to formulate and mosaic in the language patterns it has never heard in its life.

I now hear my inner critic talking, saying there isn't another way of learning a language, it must be so. Cringy. Overbearing. Fatigue-inducing. He is right, he is well-trained and gives me pointers, so to speak about his constructive -- constructed -- nature; before starting on myself, I had to teach him what do we like, what do we want, and so on.

But on a steppe on the noon, in an ocean with no light, on a flat road with no signs, it's a dauntingly harsh environ to navigate at times. No goals. No souls. No words. Just me and what I can do with free neurons ready to be woven into something sophisticated -- or utterly abysmal, whatever will help to seek the silver lining to follow it up to a great and opened environment with lands to explore, mountains to conquire and places to be.

I might remain cringe to others, still. But at least, I will calm the part of me that cringes. I am in no mood for fiendship with myself; friendship will do.

[starfayy]

Writeblr Intro (cuz i forgot about this)

AYUP everyone my name's Fleur, i'm a 19 years old woman, im cishet and painfully neurodivergent (AuDHD and MADD). Im also brazilian and christian so there's that! (Trilingual beast coming at ya!)

I've been a writer since who knows when, started to write fanfiction in the worst fandom i could've started (...the beatles), went to an amazing fandom -that turned out to not be that amazing but my writing and storytelling evolved exponentially so im grateful- to now being more focused in original works

I'm currently writing a book with my friend (@serenity-of-waffles)*, and i might probably work in scripts for comics, animations and maybe games????? Let's see-

yeah im an artist too hehehe

Genres i enjoy reading/writing: Fantasy, Scifi, Romance, Thriller/Suspense, Horror, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Here comes the lists of things i like to see in a book and that i tend to write it in my own stuff:

FOUND FAMILY!

A good well written romance sometimes doesn't kill ^.^ (im a cliché beast, careful)

Tragic Backstory? Sign me in

NEURODIVERSITY

Supernatural ocurrences and creatures. Analog Horror, Psychological Horror as well

Super heroes? Yes

Mythological metaphores

I write for both Youth and Adult (im a sucker for children's books they can get so dark suddenly and is amazing)

Mystery elements yesyesyes a good suspense

Deep relationships

Consequences. I love consequences.

Historical plots and period inspired fiction

Super powers, creatures, magic, a whole well made worldbuilding (Tolkien wannabe)

SOOOO what am i looking for??

FRIENDS! People to rant about my silly stories and worlds!

More writers to follow and engage and and- ykwim

Current WIPS? hmmmmm

• Eden Fables: The Inkweaver's Diary - (*NOT WRITING ALONE) So this one i won't give much detail, just know that me and my friends we're going absolutely insane over this book and the entire possible series and is our child, you're not fucking ready. The best fantasy book i ever written in my life TRUST ME. Blame Tolkien and C.S Lewis for inspiring us so much- (sorry for the vague synopsis muahahahah) A story of a boy displaced in time and space as he finds his heart and returns to his throne, finding a family along the way while dealing with the craziest adventures.

• Boreal City (future comic :O) - A retrofuturistic cyberpunk super-hero universe about many different points ot view and adventures that are actually connected (like the Marvel Comics universe or DC comics). Its being one of my favorites so far im having so much fun doing it hehe

Its very inspired by many superhero and retro-cyberpunk media, i cant count here how many hehe Synopsis (for at least one of the stories): From a family of superheroes, turned into a villain by his own demise, and disappearing for 5 years, GlitchWave makes his stupendous comeback in an unexpected redemption arc, and it all starts when he meets his brother again.....

• Gritia's Great Mystery - An amazing story about a corrupt kingdom trying to hide all evidence that god exists, aside from other...cruel crimes against certain groups of people. The aesthetic is a mix of enlightnment era, renassaice and victorian age, all together mixed with elements of thriller, romance, mystery and BIG drama. Maybe one of my most serious stories, since i wont hold back in the critics n shit

The Crown Family of Gritia, for centuries, tries to make the existence of the Mighty King, aka god, a tabboo, or even erase him from all existence, alongside his followers. Anything that goes astray the status quo is suscetible of punishment (or worse....)

That makes Spencer's life a bit complicated, even if he doesnt know abt the Mighty King's existence, he's part of a secret society...lets see where this goes right?

OOF DAMMT I SPOKE A LOT HUH SORRY IM A TALKER! Hope to find more writer friends along the way ^.^

[wrongcaitlyn]

I'm sure you've mentioned this before in previous chapters, and I just don't remember, but Will doesn't speak Greek, right?? So does that mean that Apollo never taught him, or was his greek just not good enough to teach him? 😭😭 (ignoring the fact that Apollo had neither the mentality nor the will to teach his son a foreign language at the time)

Orrr, I feel like it's very possible that Apollo just isn't very fluent in Greek anymore bc he doesn't have anyone to talk to. Also, bc he hasn't actually been in Greece in years but like idk

This is probably such a stupid question, but I was just thinking about how Nico's first language is Italian and how overtime he might lose one of the little things that connect him to Bianca 😭😭

Then ofc, my mind drifted to Apollo and about him being fluent in Greek- IDK MAN ANYWAYS I THINK I RAMBLED ENOUGH HAVE A GOOD DAY‼️🫶🫶

ahshhd omg i love this question!! i don’t think ive ever talked about it so the short answer is that no, will doesn’t know greek, he only knows a high school level spanish in this au😭

i actually imagine that apollo didn’t grow up in greece, but in the us (specifically la/hollywood)

his mom probably tried to teach it to him (bc leto is the literal best) but with everything else that he had going on, he just didn’t have the time to ever learn it - his dad always focused more on all of his other hobbies/jobs and his schedule was overloaded enough as it was

but i do imagine that in those years when raising will, he tried to learn it again, just to get in touch with his roots. this is also probably when he first read like the iliad and the odyssey bc i doubt that he read it when he was younger (once again, schedule overload) and generally just tried to learn more abt his heritage and stuff, bc his dad never really brought it up to him

he had been to greece a few times, once for the olympics and a few times for concerts, but he was never really around much to sight see (which, if you noticed, is why i had him going to tourist attractions with nico in athens, when most of the time he tends to stay in the venue or the hotel or tour bus to avoid attention/paparazzi)

but back to the main question - apollo didn’t try to teach will greek bc he was just barely learning it himself, but im sure he’d definitely want will to learn it one day - especially when he would see leo fluent in spanish and nico fluent in italian and thinking how it would be nice to connect will to his culture as well

as for nico, i promise he definitely holds on to italian as a connection to bianca - the last remaining one, too. i think that sometimes he gets scared that he’s abt to forget it, or sometimes his mind will blank on a word and he’ll be terrified (which, tbf, happens in all languages, im bilingual (or trilingual if u count my ap french class which i don’t😭) and forgetting words happens no matter how much u practice) - and so he’ll just talk to himself in italian a bit

i ALSO imagine that whenever he’s talking solely to chiara, they speak in italian. he probably was very excited to hire her for the tour when finding out she was also from italy, and they’re able to sort of keep that going even when traveling the world!

i think by this point, apollo is nearly fluent in greek, but like, the textbook sort of knowing a language. like, he’s memorized all the vocab and grammar and stuff but he’d be a bit clueless in an actual conversation. him attempting to practice his greek in athens would def be hilarious and now i’m sort of upset i didn’t write that💀💀

thank u for the askshkdjs i absolutely love rambling abt apollo and nico likeee ahdksj. so many things i hadn’t even thought abt!!

oh ALSO. ONE OF MY FAV HC’S ABT NICO is that he absolutely loves studying languages. despite being dyslexic, he picks the speaking and understanding part of languages up super easily

so i’m just imagining nico and apollo on the tour bus learning new languages together and nico picking up greek as well so they’ll sometimes try to have conversations in that as well just to practice

they both definitely have duolingo downloaded and are constantly trying to beat each other on the leaderboards