#my polyglot projects

[polysprachig]

I hope you haven't answered that somewhere on your blog already (if you have I do apologize for the question), but how much time do you spend learning each of your target languages?

Thanks for the question, anon!

In pre-2019 days I tried to learn multiple languages at the same time, often in a way which was stressful and wasn't suitable to my timetable. I was in love with the idea of spending 2-3 hours per day studying and allocating certain days of the week as x-language days, or establishing months where I'd only plan to read/watch series or films/listen to music in one language.

Tip: don't stress yourself out with nonsensical study checklists. They quickly become uninspiring and lose all the fun.

In 2019 I decided to go about things in a different way entirely, both shifting my focus to solidifying specific skills in my main 5 languages (English, German, French, Irish, Greek) and going from rigid/timed practice to project-based learning. Basically, I made up some silly, yet important goal (with a methodology behind it, considering I teach and assess language levels and can do the same for myself).

Ex. In 2019, I set myself the silly goal of practising my Greek in secret so that I could surprise my family when I visited them in Greece that summer. The plan: keep quiet about it and only learn while at my American grandparents' house (I was staying there overnight at the time to help them back to bed in their old age) so that my direct family wouldn't notice. The methodology: meet 2x or 3x per week for 30 minutes with my teacher, rather than 1x per week for 1 hr, as frequency is better than duration when trying to build speaking confidence at lower levels (and, I would especially argue this is true for passive bilinguals).

Given the types of projects I've worked on in my top 5 languages (and also some others which needed to join the mix to support these 5 over the past few years), I might start out intending to spend 6-8 months one main language project, but have easy access to 2 less intensive (but more long-term projects) so that I can easily go between them based on where my interests have taken me.

[danishphoner]

The Last Shadow Puppets: ‘We've become aware of our vocal harmony, it's a magical thing’ | La Vanguardia | June 2016

Eight years after their first album, the British band present their second album at Primavera Sound 2016

The Last Shadow Puppets have visited Barcelona these days to perform at Primavera Sound 2016, in what has become the band's first performance in Spain. Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane presented their recent album ‘Everything You've Come To Expect’, an album whose cover is dedicated to the singer Tina Turner, featuring a photograph taken in 1969 in New York by Jack Robinson.

The new album, recorded in 2015 in a Californian studio, arrives eight years after the release of their first album, ‘The Age Of Understatement’, and with Turner and Kane's desire to work together once again.

To warm up the engines, at the beginning of 2016, The Last Shadow Puppets released their new album's first single, ‘Bad Habits’, a song full of soul music and with traces of retro rock that has preceded the official release of the eleven singles that make up the British band's new album. 'Everything You've Come To Expect' has reached the number one position in the UK and Belgium, and the 83rd position on the American chart Billboard.

Alex Turner and Miles Kane meet us a few hours before their performance at Primavera Sound, in Barcelona.

Written by David Palacios June 4, 2016

Translation below

Is this your first time in Barcelona?

No, we've been here before on vacations. We like the city.

Your latest album, ‘Everything You've Come To Expect’, was released on 1 April and has hit the top of the charts. How do you feel about it?

We're delighted to have had so much success. On the other hand, we're not too used to it, because it's only our second album. We're really enjoying our most recent work, and all the concerts we've played so far have been great.

It's been eight years between your first and second album...

Yes, we both have been working on other projects in the meantime, but a chance to work together again came up. It was too valuable an opportunity to let it pass, and we've always been interested in working together.

And are you pleased with it?

Yes, very much so. We're very happy to share a project together. We've become aware of our vocal harmony, and it's a magical thing when we sing together. It is like we're brothers.

How was the recording of the latest album?

First, we recorded songs like ‘Used To Be My Girl’, ‘Bad Habits’ or ‘Aviation’, which is the first single of our new album, and every time we recorded new singles, we were excited about it.

Has it been a gift to your fans after so many years?

I don't think our album is a gift to them, it would be a bit arrogant if we went to each one of them to thank them. People already saw that, on the first album, there was a connection between the two of us, and they fell in love with our music. We knew that the first album was some kind of appetizer for what was coming next.

How is the promotion of the album going?

We're doing a lot more gigs with this album than we did with the first one. I believe that with the first album, for example, we didn't get to visit Spain. At the moment, we've done two shows in the US, and we're going to play at some festivals as well. We're really looking forward to it.

Your first album was heavily inspired by the music style of the 60s. Is the latest one as well, or has there been an evolution?

The first album consisted of music inspired by the 60s because all the reference materials we listened to had that musical influence. Despite that, eight years later, there are still some influences from those years in our songs.

What adjective best describes The Last Shadow Puppets?

‘Explosive’ (laughs). We're like the rock when it erupts from a volcano.

[projectbatman193]

Damn it! My cover’s blown!!f

[johnnyreincarnated]

how funny would it be if i made my johnny have just a /slight/ british dialect

like not over the top but you can just about identify the accent

[maevstar]

| Introducing myself in my fame dr ᯓᡣ𐭩

ᝰ. My name is Maeve Amelie Solace, but people usually call me by “Mae”.

ᝰ. I’m 26yo and I’m an A-list american actress and singer. (I was born in 1997 but I didn’t turned 27 yet).

ᝰ. I started my way on acting when I was 16 when my older brother was doing a play on high school and begged me to participate. I did, and since then I’ve been in love with acting.

ᝰ. When I graduated from high school i moved out from my hometown — Austin, Texas — to LA and entered to UCLA School of Theater.

ᝰ. My first big project in Hollywood was “The Edge of Seventeen” when I was 19-20yo, before that I just worked with small projects, mostly from my uni.

ᝰ. That project gave me more visibility in the industry and I became more well known.

ᝰ. Some of my films: The Edge of Seventeen, The School for Good and Evil (adaptation of the books), Lady bird, Scream 4 (2018), Little Woman, Causeway, We Live in a Time, Challengers, Me Before You, Glass Onion 2, Duna, Anyone but You, Don’t look up, No hard feelings, Don’t worry darling, The outrun, and etc.

ᝰ. Some of my shows: Supernatural (Claire Novak), Looking for Alasca, YOU, outer banks (season 4).

ᝰ. I’ve been nominated for the Oscar 4 times as the best Actress in a Leading Role, but I’m just gonna win the award in the 4th time (2024). Futhermore, i’ve won a lot of awards and nominations like Emmy’s and Golden Globes. In 2022, I entered the list of The Most Influential People by Time Magazine.

Now, my singer career:

ᝰ. My mom is a country singer — not much known — in Texas, so I’ve grew up loving music, and I’ve been writing songs since I was 15, but these never turned into real songs, until 2019-2020, when I recorded my EP’s.

ᝰ. My first EP is called “Minor” and it has 7 songs. I released it in 2019 just for fun, was some songs that I’ve been writing during the years. In 2020 I released more 2 EPs, called “Bittersweet” and “Good Riddance”, with 7 and 10 songs respectively, again, just for fun.

ᝰ. Now, my new coming up project on music is my first Album, called “The Secret Of Us”, it has 13 songs (+ 7 from deluxe) and all of them will have a music video, cause my objective is making a visual album.

ᝰ. With my new album, I intend to go on my first tour.

Fun facts about me:

ᝰ. I know ballet and gymnastics cause when my sister was 8 years old she wanted to learn but was scared to do it alone, so I used to go to classes with her.

ᝰ. I have 3 siblings, Will, Kayla and Austin. Will is 2 years older than me, Kayla is younger than me 4 years and Austin is 8 years younger than me. (Another fun fact is that Austin is adopted).

ᝰ. My s/o is Drew Starkey, I met him in a party at Maddie Cline’s house (2021). Also, Madelyn is my best friend and I’m very close to the cast of the outer banks too.

ᝰ. I’m in fact brazilian. I was born there but my family moved to the US when I was 8 — my father is brazilian but my mom is from us, she was in a trip when met my dad in brazil and blablabla — so I have dual nationality. (latinas are better lol). But when I was 14, I moved again to Brazil and lived there for almost 2 years with my aunt before I came back to US.

ᝰ. When I was 16, I made a YouTube channel with my brother Will and we used to talk about the most random things ever (btw it was a flop lol, this channel just came up when we became famous). (another fun fact is that he is also a well known actor, but more on theater plays than on screen).

ᝰ. When I was in high school, I was planning on going to med school — mostly because of my dad, he’s a doctor (my obsession with greys anatomy might got me inclined to that too🤭) — but then I fell in love with acting (when I was 16, like i said) and never quit. Besides that, I’m still very interested with things related to science and human body, stuff like that; most of things that I know are bc of my dad tho.

ᝰ. I’m polyglot. I speak Portuguese, English, Italian, Spanish and a bit of French and Latin. I also know ASL.

ᝰ. I still don’t know how to ride bikes without training wheels cause no one ever taught me (😭).

ᝰ. I love the sea, beaches, everything related to that, it’s one of my favorite places in the world.

mood boards; mood boards details;

─────── ୨ৎ ───────

[spontaneousmilktea]

𓆩♡𓆪 bunny's 60-day glow up challenge 𓆩♡𓆪

hi again, i was searching for a challenge to motivate me till the end of the year and i think i found the perfect one by @dreambunnynotes. please go on her account if you are interested in the rules&template. thank you! ✧˖*°࿐

my chosen habits:

learn polish

study

selfcare

my goals and why’s:

habit one: i need to learn polish at minimum level B1 because i want to move in poland next year and there are not many universities that teach in english and are interesting. i also want to become a polyglot so this is perfect.

habit two: i have to study (besides polish) for my school and my exams because i kinda want that academic validation... i also want to have high scores so it will be easier to get in unis.

habit three: lately i've been neglecting myself and my well being and of course if i dont feel pretty and clean i will feel miserable for the day and wont be able to be focus on my tasks. i want to look pretty for myself. i want to achieve my best self.

my habit energy tiers:

habit one: polish

low energy: achieve all tasks on duolingo

medium energy: finish a section on duolingo; study vocab

high energy: study grammar rules; watch a tv show; read a children's book

habit two: study

low energy: read 10 pages from a book/ lecture; review lessons

medium energy: do hw; finish projects/drawings/paintings; study 2 hours

high energy: study 5 hours

habit three: selfcare

low energy: pilates for 10-15 min + basic shower routine

medium energy: pilates for 15-20 min + basic shower routine + morning and night routine

high energy: pilates for +20 min + everything shower routine + morning and night routine

(edit: i'll change my habits energy tiers so it alligns with my daily schedule) (edit 2: as a reward ill buy for myself some gym clothes)

[ko-garashi]

And here are the headcanons about Albert Whiskers Wesker, which I collected from bits and pieces of my consciousness (with Wednesday Wesker to you) 🕶️

- Albert was born in Germany. And although he doesn't remember anything before his abduction by Umbrella, he speaks German. He knows enough languages ​​that we can say that he is a polyglot.

- Like the rest of the "Project W" test subjects, Albert does not have a superior hand. Both of his arms are equally developed due to acquired skills, so we can say that Albert is ambidextrous.

- Albert doesn't remember anything about his life before he was kidnapped by Umbrella, as if he never had seven. Also, the employees of the shelter where he was staying told him that his parents simply abandoned him, although in fact this was not the case.

- As a child, he was especially close to Alex. But then, over time, this connection was broken and they became not as close as they had been before. But Albert doesn’t miss those times much.

- Albert prefers tea more than coffee. Classic black tea without additives is what he always needs.

- He suffers from a recurring nightmare, where he again and again dreams of snippets of experiments that were carried out on him as a child, the screams of children and the endless corridors of the orphanage. He doesn’t fully understand the nature of this dream, but over time he even got used to it.

- Albert tried smoking before. And it even lasted a couple of years.

- He likes to get up early in the morning and do his hair very pedantically and for a long time. Albert finds special pleasure in this. Besides, he knows his worth. Because he's damn good.

- Albert wears his black glasses not because he is afraid of bright light. He wears them to avoid looking people in the eyes. So he believes that if the interlocutor does not see his gaze, then he will not read his true intentions. So if Albert takes off his glasses in front of you, it means he is at least a little more honest with you than with the others.

- Albert’s favorite sweet is chocolate. He usually eats dark chocolate with a high cocoa content. He himself cannot explain the reason for his love for chocolate.

- Albert plays chess very well and always neglects the words that “White starts and wins.” He proves every time that black wins. Of the worthy opponents, he came across only William and Alex.

- Albert, unlike Alex, does not like Kafka. One of his favorite works is "Vatek" by William Beckford, "Frankenstein", and he also shares part of Birkin's love for the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

[the-way-astray]

Am I crazy for thinking that if shannon was to go left field she could get away with writing grady to be sophies biological father?

hmm . . . well. allow me to share something i learned about shannon's writing tendencies while doing my secret project. there is a general rule with kotlc where the actual answer to any question that's posed isn't ever something sophie guesses previously. there are several examples, but the most obvious one i can think of is that sophie doesn't ever guess or even suspect oralie could be her biological mother before the reveal. same thing with several other questions posed through the series, such as what fintan wanted when he called a meeting and why the neverseen attacked sophie and fitz. sophie had several theories as to why these events happened, but they were all proven wrong. and this is a trend that has pretty much continued from the start. the black swan leak in everblaze? same deal. and so on.

anyway. that's all to say that. the idea that sophie's biological father could be grady has already been brought up in the series, and then rejected. so that definitely dulls my suspicion that shannon will make it him. in fact, it snuffs it out completely. i don't really believe shannon would do that. it's just not in line with the sorts of plot twists i see her putting into the actual canon of the story.

but your ask is about whether she could get away with it without causing any plotholes . . . so let's examine that, shall we?

we know three things for sure about sophie's biological parents: they have no existing connection to each other, their identities coming out could "shake the very foundation of our world", and they have a reason to donate their dna to create . . . something they weren't given very many particular details on (and additionally, mr. forkle has confirmed that both of them are fully aware that they are the donors; there was no stolen dna situation of any sort). there's also the things that are heavily likely, but not set in stone, which are they likely don't have a family and they likely don't share sophie's abilities, but influenced them somehow.

there doesn't seem to be any particular connection between grady and oralie, so it passes that. but now. how could grady's identity as sophie's biological father coming out "shake the very foundation" of the lost cities? he's already her adoptive father. this would shake absolutely nothing about the "foundation" of the lost cities (and by the way, that quote is an exact quote, so). it may shake grady's relationship with sophie and edaline, but it isn't going to shake anything about the actual state of the lost cities. so it certainly doesn't pass what i would consider to be the most important of the three criteria. and moving onto the last . . . clearly grady didn't like the black swan before he found out they didn't kill jolie, so why would he help them? grady's demeanor is also naturally suspicious. i don't see him agreeing to donate his dna on the little information we know the black swan gave the donors. they were incredibly vague. and i feel like that's just not something that aligns with grady's personality.

he has a family, but we'll skip that since it's not set in stone. why would the black swan choose a mesmer? what possible influences could that have on the way they wanted sophie to turn out? we know they wanted her to heal minds, which requires her to be a telepath and inflictor. teleporting is from her alicorn dna. clearly the black swan wanted her to be a polyglot, seeing as how mr. forkle triggered it in her. enhancing's the interesting one to me. sophie's enhancing is a lot stronger on grady the same as it is with empaths, which we're told is because empathy and enhancing pull from the same "inner strength". but it could as easily be because sophie has some empath influence, so it could also make sense that her enhancing is stronger on grady because she has some mesmer influence. however. that still isn't really an influence (like sophie's emotions-tracking telepathy), so much as it is an unintended consequence. and i don't really see a reason why the black swan would choose a mesmer as their donor if they weren't going for a specific sort of influence they were hoping to achieve.

all this is to say: yeah, i really don't think this will be possible if shannon wants to stick to the canon she's created, unless she wants to spend a whole chapter retconning and reintroducing evidence to force a square peg in a round hole. it just contradicts too much of what we've already been told about sophie's biological parents, and while it's true that mr. forkle could be lying about any of that stuff, i just don't feel like that's the sort of thing shannon should be retconning, since that's the only real information we have to make our own guesses as readers. so. i mean. if you find a way around these things, let me know, but as far as canon goes, i just don't think it will be possible.

[writing-in-sin]

BAKUGOU KATSUKI FANFIC IDEA: SUPERHERO

In my previous post (the "Wherever the Chaos is" part of the fic ideas), I had the idea for Kacchan being a solo hero who leaves the whole system of rankings and agencies to be a superhero similar to what we usually see in comics after Izuku rejected him

The title of the fic is inspired by amazing fanarts that were in turn inspired by the song "Let me be your superhero" by Smash into Pieces

It'd be a Kacchan centric fic where he rises to not just be a hero but a superhero. I hc that he's build up other skills in different fields during the suit project so I wanna see that while he's far more willing to work together and help others, he is 1st and foremost, aiming to be the Symbol of Victory and those skills are gonna help him achieve that

Not only he's gonna trailblaze on through to shaping and maintaining a new era of peace but he's gonna drag everybody else along with him whether they want to or not

Its win to save for him after all

He's not here to make nice or for people to like him in rankings and all other bullshit. He's gonna be a superhero that'll win against a world and system that could give birth to villains. To help maintain an era and all the generations to come into retaining their empathy and humanity even when the uglier side of society threatens to break that

He'll be the Star of Victory in both times of peace and strife even after he's long gone, a reminder that there'll be no pyrrhic victories as people struggle and live thru life

Anyways!

Things I'd like to see for this au of mine:

- a secret hideout based on the mountains, named 'Ground Zero'

- different array of skills, he's grown to be a Jack of All Trades in the 8 years since the War. Some of the skills he's learned and perfected:

• Polyglot: Japanese, English (New York accent), Chinese, German, French, Korean, Spanish and Italian

• Medical science & paramedicine: he wants to know everything there is to know about his heart and body so that he can be a hero for as long as he can. Since he's also learned how important medicine is in helping others (as Edgeshot had done for him), he's learned to be a paramedic over the years as well

• Science & Engineering: the suit mostly but also because he enjoys getting to design and create his own gear

• Architecture: I'd love the idea that Kacchan builds his own hideout and house

- his struggle and triumph over his heart problems that he got when Shigaraki killed him

- after working together for 8 years on the suit, he's become close friends with Melissa. He wont admit it, but outside of his usual group of friends back in Japan, he grudgingly admits that Melissa is one of his best friends

- as I hc that Kacchan is both demisexual and demiromantic, he has zero interest in dating unless its with the person he's in love with

- has a (seemingly) unrequited love for Izuku

- continues to be in a band with Jirou, Momo, Kaminari and Tokoyami so they get together pretty often when they're not out being heroes. Its become a tradition for them to perform every year during the UA festival

- eventually, he and Izuku will be partners (both in private and professionally) but it'll take awhile. Still not sure on how it'll happen yet though

- also would like the possibility of Kacchan being one of the founders for the League of Heroes (similar to the Justice League or the Avengers)

------------

So....yeah, thats the gist of what I'd like to write one day

Hopefully 😅

Thanks for reading this far!

[twsthc]

savanaclaw headcanons and projection 🦁

...this is what the poll from like last week was for. sorry heartslabyul and diasomnia fans teehee </3

⚠️ warnings: self harm, eating disorders

last updated: may 4, 2024

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR !! 🦁🥩

🇲🇱🇹🇿🇰🇪 UNLABLED + INTERSEX TRANSFEMNEU (she/him)

APPEARANCE HCS:

Leona is actually the twst character I've drawn the most

I hc all beastmen to have fur everywhere thats elastic and akin to mink skin

You know the texture of squishmallows? It's like that.

╰Doesn't include the thick hair in other places (head, facial, armpits, chest, pubes, etc)

Lots of scars in general + healed dermis self harm scars on thighs

Has a flat nose like a cat

RANDOM HCS:

Savanaclaw mom/big sister...

Overstimulating thunderstorm? Go whine to Leona. Diasomnia students bothering you? Get leona to deal with them. Your food is too hot? Cry to Leona.

During freshman year she was way more outgoing and extroverted but eventually She mellowed out (depression moment)

She used to change hairstyles a lot before settling on freeform dreads

Also got into way more fights back then (also how she became housewarden)

Now she is (kind of) calm. Tranquil. At peace. Has depressive episodes. Relaxed.

Mostly does her own thing, and if that "thing" isn't sleeping it's some other bullshit the underclassmen roped her into

SHE CAN SEW AND MAKE JEWLERY

╰While wandering the castle one day, Leona stumbled upon the servants quarters. They taught him life skills (mending clothes, cooking, etc :3)

Despite being a big sis figure if she doesn't want to do something she Will Not.

And if she does do it afterall it's because she gets something out of it.

NPD, GAD, PDD (persistent depressive disorder)

RUGGIE BUCCHI !! 🍩🌼

🇺🇸🇧🇷 UNLABLED + TRANS MAN (he/him)

APPEARANCE HCS:

Similarly to Leona he has a furry textured skin

Though his body hair is more coarse and longer due to him being a hyena

He has a lazy eye and tipped ear similar to Ed from The Lion King

Probably my second most drawn twst character :3

Healed epidermis self harm scars on inner wrists 🥶

RANDOM HCS:

He's like the cooler afrolatino Luke Blovad

He's either winning the idgaf wars or dying on the battlefield

Has an insane collection of weird shirts from thrift stores

And he makes it work every single time! his outfits go crazy!

More connected to his AADOS/Gullah side than his Brazilian side

Though he does speak Portugese!

In fact, he speaks multiple languages because polyglots are marketable

The type of person to take a half empty bottle of ketchup and rotting apple from an empty ass fridge and make dinner happen

Constantly going to Scarabia to snag their party leftovers

Used to be a scene kid!!!! This is canon and true!!!! Pls trust me

diabetes, GAD, MDD, undiagnosed ADHD

triggering content ahead !!

he has bulimia nervosa

╰fun fact! a lot of food insecure people have eating disorders

self harmed a lot from the ages from 10-12 before eventually stopping at 13

he stopped after his grandma found out and started checking his arms regularly (#projecting)

JACK HOWL !! 🐺🌵

🪶🇪🇬 PANROMANTIC ASEXUAL + GENDER CURIOUS (he/they)

APPEARANCE HCS:

WAY thicker fur than leona and ruggie

Trims his body hair a lot because he overheats in savanaclaw easily

RANDOM HCS:

The type of guy to be totally in love with the world and nature

They're just like. Wow. We were put on a spinning rock. With food to eat, and water drink, and air to breathe. I love being alive.

Had a little garden back at home and named every single plant

Remembers small things about people and brings them up in conversation

╰Hey dude I got you a Chipotle bowl. How did I remember your exact order? You told me. Yeah, I know it was a year ago, but--

Random but I think he dresses how Tupac did

Not even to be tough

But because he's a black suburban kid

(I'm a black city kid but this is probably how black suburban kids dress trust)

Loooves chewing on things. Has one of those chew necklaces

Autistic with botany and physical health special interest

[fake-russian-chick]

Hello everybody!

Okay, somehow people are following me, mostly because of my shifting posts, so I thought it was about time for me to introduce myself (I’ll make a special shifting introduction as well)

I don’t know how to make that pretty pinned posts other blogs do to introduce themselves, and if someone is willing to teach me, I’ll love this person to death and beyond, but until then, bear my raw posts.

I’m Andy, I’m nineteen years old since two days ago, I’n non-binary and bissexual, but any pronouns are fine for me. I’m Brazilian, and a genius with a sociopathic inclination (No jokes here, I’m a diagnosed ASPD) I’m a self-taught polyglot who together with my mother language (Portuguese) also speaks English, Russian, Spanish, Romanian, and I’m on my way to learn Czech.

I’ve been reading fanfics since 2017, first on Spirit Fanfic, then on Wattpad, and in 2021 on Tumblr. I still write for Wattpad, it’s in Portuguese and the profile is @andyushka_, in case anyone is interested.

My main interests are The Vampire Diaries (I’ve been a obsessed fan for over a decade already), Game of Thrones, different cultures folklore and mythology, history (especially the Russian revolution, the Viking Era and WWII).

I’m a born Jewish who follows the ways of the Old Gods, focusing on the Norse paganism and Hel, the Goddess of Death. I love talking about religion, but anyone talking badly about other believes will be immediately blocked.

I also love reading (Dracula and the Six of Crows duo are my favorites) and doing manual projects as crochet, knitting, air clay and etc. if I don’t know how to do something, I’ll learn with easy and add it to my weird abilities set.

Anyways, that’s a little bit about me. Probably no one is going to read this, but I couldn’t care less ☺️

[polysprachig]

I'm planning out my posting schedule for the start of 2025, specifically essays related to polyglot things such as learning multiple languages simultaneously, self-driven and project-driven learning, setting measurable (and unmeasureable) skills-based goals, and polyglot paradoxes. I'll be posting these as notes alongside my polyglot journal excerpts on substack and tumblr.

If you have a specific question/topic about managing or designing polyglot studies you would like to recommend, feel free to send me a message. :)

[lambsouvlaki]

The Crime Lord - 2

Characters: Jason Todd x fem!oc

Rating and warnings: T, non-explicit smut.

Word Count: 1,560

Summary: Jason never stopped his crime lord ways, but he did find someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. They both have to live with what the things he's done.

Masterlist

At a little past six in the evening, she looked up from the organised chaos of her desk in her run down little office building and saw Jason sitting on the corner of her desk, watching her. 

She yelped, and jumped. 

He laughed. Despite her optimism back in the early days of their relationship, it never stopped startling her, and he never stopped enjoying it. 

“Oh, you asshat,” she said, putting a hand over her heart. “How long have you been there?”

“Just arrived.” He was in civilian clothes, with the stubble of several days at his chin. “You’re working hard, I wasn’t even trying this time.” 

She closed her eyes and rubbed them. She’d sent everyone else home an hour ago. Running a non-profit was so much harder than it looked. “This project, I swear. I’m going to pull my hair out.” 

“Don’t do that, you have beautiful hair.” 

“Hmm.” She cracked an eye open. “What are you doing here?”

“Had the evening free, figured I’d save you the bus trip home.”

“You sweetheart.” She eyed her paperwork, then looked at him again. “How’s your Cantonese?”

“Worse than yours. My Filipino is pretty good.”

She perked up. “Is it? You know it’s dangerous to go telling me things like that. I’ll put you to work.” 

“Good. You’ll want to keep me around then,” said her partner of six years and the man who funded the entire organisation. 

She grinned. “You have your uses, I suppose.” 

“You ready to go?” 

“Yeah. I just need to lock up.” 

She never sat down and decided to become a cornerstone of Gotham’s charity scene, she just gently slid into it. While the Red Hood and his crew held the worst of Gotham by the throat, she looked around the supposedly regular parts of the city and was dissatisfied.

There were too many people in the poorer districts who didn’t speak much English and relied on their community, only to be left behind when disaster struck. She had always been something of a polyglot and after her literature degree wrapped up she did some work with charities in the Alley, a little here and a little there, and got to know the movers and shakers in various communities. 

She tentatively started her initiative because nobody else was doing it, and Jason encouraged her. She pushed for it much harder when emergency sirens in English warned a largely Vietnamese neighbourhood that fear gas had been seeded in their waterways and they shouldn’t use their taps for the next twelve hours. The fallout was catastrophic.

She put some people in contact with other people, who then asked her opinion on who they should speak to afterwards. She kept at it, and within a shockingly small time frame she was arranging cross community relief work across half of Gotham and was busy learning her sixth language. 

The whole thing was a money pit of course. Red Hood funded it through several shell companies, and it could be thought of as money laundering, in the style of a washing machine that always eats your socks. He went out at night and beat money out of Gotham’s organised crime, and in the morning she put it back into the city.

She was no great figurehead in the local community, but people trusted her, and that was all she needed to get on with it. Her little office wasn’t a destination but a crossroads, infrastructure that nobody stopped to look at but everyone relied on. 

Information from so many people crossed her desk, from officials in the judicial system, to the head of the Thomas and Martha Wayne Foundation, to handwritten letters from little old ladies who wanted to know just who she was to tell them not to eat produce grown in their own backyard, a little Gotham soil put meat on your bones.

When one of Red Hood’s lieutenant's planned to overthrow him, she knew about it before Jason did. 

He walked her out the back entrance, then opened the driver’s door of his car for her. 

That told her everything she needed to know.

She hopped in and didn’t even bother glancing at the backseat for the rifles that would definitely be within easy reach under a tarp. Automatically she checked the roof opposite her office, and there he was, one of Hood’s men, blending in among the air conditioning units. She had learned to be good at spotting them. She’d gotten good at all sorts of things in the last six years. 

“Where are we going?” she asked, turning the keys in the ignition.

Jason gave her an address, and she drove. 

It wasn’t their home address, or at least it hadn’t been yesterday. That was how this worked. One of the disadvantages of not being a billionaire who only dipped his toes into the Gotham crime scene: there was no retreat for them, just sidestepping.

Jason kept a hand on a gun just below the window the entire drive. He watched the roads carefully, while she planned and adjusted their route to make sure she wasn’t ever boxed in or at a standstill. 

Despite the caution, they arrived without incident. Jason tapped his ear, and said they were in the clear. 

Their home for the night was one of his old safe houses by the docks, a loft apartment she hadn’t seen in years. 

“This takes me back,” she said, as they went in. He slung an arm over her shoulder. “I had a front row seat to watch you throw Tim off of that roof over there.”

He grinned and kissed her hair. “Hopefully no such theatrics tonight. I missed you too many nights this week.”

They went up and settled in. He made her dinner and told her to put her feet up. It had been too many late nights for both of them. 

She lounged back on the couch and watched him cook for her. She smiled wistfully. 

These moments were still so precious. Jason’s relaxed side, his playful side, his sweet and needy side. They didn’t get to come out very often and she hoarded those moments greedily. They were never going to be the norm. She knew that. 

The Red Hood was not an newcomer upsetting the board anymore, and this wasn’t a holding pattern. It was the destination. 

These were not the people they were becoming, but the people they already were. 

Some days she felt the guilt of it all. He had her tacit approval, and she was complicit by every standard. 

Those among Hood's men trusted to know about her had nicknamed her Evita. She found it deeply irritating, and Jason thought it was hilarious. She would contest the comparison, she wasn’t glamorous, and they were hardly living it up. But she knew how this looked, what they were doing. 

“Al Capone was loved by his community too,” Nightwing had told her once, sourly. 

No matter how much good she did, her passion project was funded by drug money. On the days when Jason felt the weight of his chosen work too heavily, funding hers justified it to himself. Maybe it was all motivated by guilt in the end and they were kidding themselves.  

But she recalled the Gotham she grew up in. The terror, the helplessness, the filth. 

It wasn’t like that anymore. It had changed, and Jason could tally that in his soul's favour. 

Black mask had been overthrown by his own second in command a couple years ago, after getting his shit kicked in one too many times. That particular criminal empire had crumbled without strong leadership, and Red Hood swallowed and chewed up what survived. 

The Penguin had lost so much ground that in the end GCPD scooped him up and he couldn’t even blackmail his way back out. 

The Joker died in Arkham. Reports were inconclusive. Nobody was fooled.

Hell, things had changed so much that Red Hood had installed safe injection sites across the Narrows, decimating his own drug trade, and dealing the biggest blow to hospitalisation numbers in Gotham’s history, ever. 

City authorities widely condemned the move as explicit distribution, but Jason held such a grip over his own districts that there was nothing they could do to stop him. 

The two of them ate and relaxed together as evening stretched on. He pulled her onto his lap, languid and easy with years of familiarity. His body knew hers so well, as she did his.

Perhaps they were damned for what they did. 

She wasn’t a fool, Gotham’s newfound peace was bought and paid for in blood night after night. They cleaned up the city without the city’s consent. 

As she rocked in his lap, he gazed at her with such devotion. In her he saw absolution. The soothing rain after his scorching fire, the recovery only possible after the infection was burned away. 

She enabled him.

The hands of a murderer held her hips steady. They caressed her body, then cupped her jaw. The lips of a man so drenched in blood she imagined they were both slippery with it, drank from her mouth. There were no vows, no rings, but he was hers. And she was his.

His head fell forwards, and she cradled him to her chest. She wondered if he saw the blood staining their hands just as vividly as she did.

He mouthed at her neck, and whispered her name. 

She didn’t regret a damn thing. 

Next>>

[fandsart]

As someone who projects onto Steve a lot, the idea of polyglot!Steve has occurred to me before, but it was always quickly dismissed because I didn’t have an explanation as to why it would have not come up in season 3, because Robin being a polyglot is what helps them translate. But now @amoris-no-smut-allowed has got me thinking about it again, and I realized I could easily solve this problem by simply projecting onto Steve even harder.

Not long after season 3, Steve says something in Italian, quoting his mother or something, and Robin is like “You know Italian?” He doesn’t usually speak his other languages, but since Robin has already revealed that she knows some of the languages that he knows, he knows she’ll understand, but then she’s way more surprised than he expects and it becomes a whole conversation he was hoping to skip past.

“Yes, I know Italian.”

“Oh, that’s great! Now we can gossip in front of people! This will be so much fun!”

“Oh, yeah! That’s cool.”

“Maybe I should teach you Spanish too, just in case we want to talk secrets in front of your mom, or other Italian speaking relatives. If you’re up for learning a new language that is.”

Steve sucks in air through his teeth. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem.”

“Don’t take to learning new languages all that well?”

“Kind of. English and Italian are my native languages, so that makes things easier, but I actually already learned Spanish. I do like learning languages.”

“That sounds like the opposite of a problem.”

“Right. Except there’s a reason you were so much more useful when translating Russian. Because you’re ears might be geniuses, but even though I’ve learned 7 languages that I didn’t already speak, I can’t understand any of it when spoken by someone else.”

“You know nine languages???”

[codeandcanvas]

An idea for a study project about studying after graduation: Uncredited Credits

I have been kicking around this idea during my graphic design study for a while, since I am nothing but ambitious (and I have a few fond memories of this working before, to my benefit): to actually put in the workload for each topic related to graphic design and applied arts.

Hi. I am Mario, and I have a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, which, to you, should mean that I passed every test. And, for the sake of this project, it is best to assume that I barely made the cut each time. It is also best to assume that this applies to everyone with a degree, since scoring high grades is not what makes you pass.

A passing grade does.

So, right now, I am at the point where I am ready to actually understand graphic design (and my second interest: applied arts), and I was looking for a system, a quantifiable system of work put in, translating into workload, per week, per topic.

And that system is called ECTS: the European Credit Transfer System

Each credit in this system translates to roughly 25 hours of workload put in. A topic or lecture is worth 3 credits? That means an investment of 75 hours. 5 credits translate to 125 hours.

You can use this for yourself, independent of whether or not you actually study a course someplace.

So, you can go ahead and look online for a course giving you information about its lectures, topics, ECTS credits, and workload, and create your own schedule, at your own pace:

45 minutes every other day will very quickly beat the eight‑hour long crunches once each week, since a good schedule is about allowing consistency to take hold. I am not an educator (yet, afaik), but from what I remember the issue with these crunch sessions is that the session which came before is already barely present, its learnings vague, my progress a memory.

So, let us say that you have found a course telling you about its lectures and classes, and how they are set up. Ideally, with information about recommended literature. If you are a polyglot (and who isn’t these days?) you can again enjoy having an edge, for obvious reasons I don’t need to get into. You have been shopping around colleges and universities around the EU, and you have found out that which interests you most, is figure drawing.

And, for the sake of this example, I’ll say that there are three figure drawing classes, called “figure drawing I”, “figure drawing II”, and “figure drawing III” respectively, valued at 5 each. To you, this means a workload of 375 hours for your absolute foundations in figure drawing (5 × 3 × 25).

Of course, to do this, you also need courses in anatomy (75 hours?), drawing (75 plus 75 hours maybe?), and painting (375 hours?) to have those foundations upon which you can build your figure drawing.

Provided you build smart (and frequent a good library in the largest city in your area), we are looking at a workload of around 975 hours.

These are study hours: learning, reading, doing.

What this translates to in terms of doing 45 minutes of work every other day, is that to get those (I assume solid) foundations in figure drawing, assuming you work 3 hours per week in total, will take you 375 weeks.

Or 6.25 years.

This seems slow. And it is. It should be. But the outcome will be the same: a passing grade in figure drawing. For only 45 minutes of work every other day (not counting your trips to the library each time you need a new book to study from).

Of course, we can look at that the other way as well: if that is the workload anyhow, why not get credits for it? They, at the very least, are proof of what you studied. And because, in our example, we just accumulated around 45 ECTS credits, you might as well have them validated and go study for real, feel me?

BTW, my graphic design study was 180 of those credits in total, so you just did a quarter of the points needed for completing a bachelor’s degree.

Huh. This was insightful. For both of us, I hope.

[doumadono]

Greetings, lovely Readers!

Welcome to my corner of the internet. You can call me Marcianna — she/her — hailing from the enchanting land of Poland. By profession, I'm a doctor, but beyond the hospital walls, I'm also a passionate writer and a dedicated mom. With ink-stained fingers and a heart full of stories, I'm thrilled to have you join me on this creative journey ♥

In addition to my freelance writing endeavors, I'm the leader of a language project known as "Romanian At Ease." If you're learning Romanian, this space was specifically designed with you in mind! You can find me on various social media platforms: Tumblr, Facebook & Instagram

My favorite fandoms: My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Therapy Game, James Cameron's Avatar & Bucchigiri?!

When I'm not crafting stories, you'll find me indulging my love for languages. As a polyglot with command over five languages (Polish, Romanian, German, English, Spanish), I'm currently adding Japanese to my linguistic arsenal. My love for languages extends to my travels, as I venture to far-flung places to broaden my horizons.

I'm a certified neurosurgeon, delving into the intricate workings of the human brain. Currently, I'm on the brink of completing my second doctor thesis, which is set to expand my expertise into the field of neuropsychiatry. My scientific interests encompass: central nervous system dysfunctions and damages, schizophrenia & bipolar affective disorder, diabetes and its impact on the brain, as well as the correlation between radioactive radiation and the central nervous system in relation to the occurrence of mental disorders.

So, my dear reader, join me on this odyssey of imagination and exploration. Let's dive into the realms of emotions, traverse the landscapes of fiction, and perhaps uncover a few secrets of the mind along the way. Your presence here is a cherished gift, and I'm thrilled to share this literary adventure with you ♥

Warmest wishes, Marcianna

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