#I need them to know southern foods and slang | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

softguarnere · 2 years

Text

She Used to Be Mine

Shifty Powers x reader

A/N: This one goes out to all my other seasonally depressed baddies 💕 spring will come again and we will feel better. I won't lie, writing this one was basically just for self-indulgent purposes, because I am not vibing with the current weather situation, and also because I'm coming to terms with the fact that I've changed a lot in the past two years - which is fine, but sometimes acknowledging that things are different than you thought they would be can be hard to come to terms with. A huge thank you to @latibvles for helping me realize that I needed a fic centered around "She Used to Be Mine" from Waitress! 😘 (As always, this is written for the fictional depiction from the show -- no disrespect to the real life veterans!) And as always, I hope you all like this💕🕊️

Also, a quick guide to Southern slang: a leaf looker refers to people from warmer climates who come to Appalachia in the early fall to see the colorful leaves. A snowbird refers to people from lower Southern states, such as Florida, who stay in Appalachia for the warm summers, but go back home as soon as the temperatures begin to drop.

Warnings: seasonal depression, some discussions of what are probably the starting signs of PTSD, discussions of war, a brief reference to implied sex

Cold air stinging your nose like pinpricks is the first thing that you notice when you start to wake up. You scrunch your eyes further shut, trying to tune out the world for a few more seconds before the next round of shellings start. After all, a good, deep sleep is a valuable commodity that is hard to come by in this place; who would blame you for enjoying a few more moments undisturbed?

It takes a few moments to realize that you are not in Bastogne. Instead of the hard, frozen ground of your foxhole, you can feel the softness of your mattress and pillows, and the comfort of the blankets that cover you. More importantly, you can feel all the heat generated from the other body in the bed.

Eyes still closed, you slide your hand across the mattress, seeking him out. When you feel his arm, you latch on and maneuver yourself closer to him. He shifts closer to you, and one of his arms falls around you as he lets out a contented sigh.

“You’ve been up.”

Shifty hums in agreement. “I have.”

“You stayed with me.”

“Of course I did.” His gentle hand rubs up and down your arm, like he’s trying to warm you up, even though the temperature under the blankets is perfect – it’s the temperature outside that you’re worried about. “I just like watchin’ you sleep. You look so peaceful.”

“You do, too.” The last clutches of sleep are heavy on your eyelids, but you blink them away so that you can look at him. His smile is like watching the first rays of sun light up the morning sky at dawn. “You’re very handsome.”

He laughs. “Why, thank you.”

You know that he doesn’t quite believe you. Compliments always make him smile and blush, and he often deflects them, or compliments you right back instead of just taking it. Humble, gentle Shifty – even after all the things you two saw and did back in Europe.

“You want breakfast?” You groan as he shifts away from you, but he’s persistent. He plants a kiss on your forehead as he slides out from under the blankets, taking some of the heat as he goes. “Grits and eggs and biscuits and bacon – all the fixin’s!”

It must be Sunday. Any other day Shifty would have been up bright and early, waking you up with a gentle kiss to your forehead and soft good morning, it’s time to get up now’s. He would brew a pot of coffee while you fixed something for breakfast, and then just as quickly as you could manage to get ready, you would part for the day at the doorway, squeezing his hand as he headed for the mechanic shop and you for the school.

But Sundays are special. Sacred, almost. They’re when you get to rest in, neither of you in a rush to be anywhere. When you do decide to get up, Shifty takes the time to mix up the foods that are staples of a good Appalachian breakfast. Maybe later you go to church with his parents. Maybe you don’t – sometimes you’re too busy engaging in other types of worship. But either way, you arrive at their house for lunch in the afternoon to spend time with his family, and then eventually you make your way home, heart feeling warm from a day spent together.

Except the routine has been hard to keep up lately, and you’re not sure why. It’s laid out before you, now broken in, like a good pair of shoes, but the first step in the familiar sequence – on any day, not just Sundays – is hard to take, and then once you finally get going, you sometimes lose momentum or fall off course. Which frustrates you to no end, because the path is right there, so why do you suddenly feel like you can’t stay on it?

Writers love to use quilt metaphors to describe Appalachia. In the fall, you can see why. The details of the rolling foothills, distant mountains, crags, and gullies seem to stand out even more than usual as the kaleidoscope of colored leaves highlight the differences in the landscape. All the yellows, crimsons, and oranges are beautiful, especially when the sun first rises, casting the world in a warm glow that seems to set them on fire. No wonder the town is becoming crowded with the yearly leaf lookers already.

There was a time earlier in life, you’re sure, that you loved this time of year and everything it entailed. But ever since the war ended, something about the colder weather has slowed you down and set your emotions on edge, making something in your chest feel heavy. It’s like when you came back to the hospital. You had been so excited as a teenager to learn how to be a nurse, but after being a combat medic, you quit as soon as you got back to the states, instead taking up a position at the school for a change of pace – you were not the girl you once knew, and you needed a change to reflect the new path you were on.

You shiver as a gust of wind rustles the vibrant leaves overhead.

“Hey.” Shifty squeezes your hand as you walk back down the path to the house. “Are you okay?”

“It’s cold,” you admit. There’s more to say, but you’re not sure how to put it into words. How do you express the dread you feel at the thought of the temperature dropping even lower, or feel disgusted each time you imagine waking up to snow coating the ground?

“It is,” Shifty agrees. Then, carefully as he fixes you with a sideways glance, “Does it kind of remind you of Bastogne?”

No, you start to say, but stop. When you first woke up, you had thought you were in that dreaded place. The memory of a cold so deep that it chills you to your bones washes over you, making you shudder again. You have tried so hard not to think of that place or the things that happened there, to leave it all behind, and yet, it has found a way to stay with you. Many times you have confronted the thought that you are not the same person you were before the war – is anyone? – but maybe Bastogne took more from you, changed more of you, than you had cared to admit.

“It does.”

“Me too.” This time Shifty looks at you straight on. His handsome brow is slightly furrowed, and a deep sadness is settled in his eyes. He also survived Bastogne. He also knows what it is like to change.

“I knew it was unrealistic to come home and expect for things to go back to normal. But even so . . . I guess I still held out hope for it.” You scoff at yourself, even though if anyone would understand what you’re trying to say, it’ll be Shifty. “I’m not anything like I used to be. Some days that’s easy to accept, but something about this time of year . . .”

He squeezes your hand again. “It’s hard.”

“It is.”

For a moment, the only sound is that of the fallen leaves crunching underfoot as you walk. Shifty bites his lip, deep in concentration. It’s something he does when he’s particularly focused on something, or when he’s trying to work through a problem; it was one of the first things that you had noticed about him back in Toccoa, when you would steal glances at him and secretly think to yourself that he looked very sweet – if there’s one change the war brought that was decidedly a good thing, it’s that you can openly admire him now.

“It always gets very cold around here in the winter,” he says finally. “We usually get quite a bit of snow. I loved it as a kid.”

“But now?”

He shrugs. “Now, I don’t think I would really mind never seeing it again. Or at least, taking a break from winter until Bastogne is nothing but a distant memory.”

Take a break from winter. That sounds nice. What would that entail? Packing up with all the other snowbirds and heading to the beach until April ushered in the next spring, maybe?

Shifty rubs his thumb along your knuckles, making you shudder again, but in a good way this time. (His hands have wielded weapons that have taken people’s lives, but they’ve never felt anything but gentle.) “I got pulled into the office the other day at work. I was worried that I was in trouble, but instead they offered me a new job.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. The company got some government contract and they need a few people to work for them out in California.”

“California? That’s on the other side of the country!” Besides the few years he spent fighting in Europe, Shifty has always lived in his hometown, surrounded by family. The idea of him leaving them is hard to picture.

As if he can read your mind, Shifty nods and continues, “I thought about that. But I also remember Joe Liebgott talking about San Francisco and how much he missed the weather there. Clear, sun-filled skies. The beach.

“Anyway, I told them I would consider it, but I haven’t given them an answer yet. In the past I would have declined. But now . . .”

“Do you want to go?”

“Do you?” He bites his lip again.

You squeeze his hand. “I would go anywhere with you.”

That makes him smile. A shy blush creeps across his cheeks. “I think it could be good for us. To get away from the cold. Make some new memories.”

California! You can hardly believe it. Never would you have imagined moving so far away. Before the war, anyway. Now that you’re a new person, the promise of warmth, of starting fresh, of having Shifty by your side, all of it, beckons to you. This could be your chance to re-write the ending and make it happier – something daring and exciting that would shock the girl you once were, but that will make the one you are now satisfied.

“I agree.”

Shifty’s smile grows, and you wonder if he’s thinking the same thoughts about the boy that he once was. “I’ll tell the boss tomorrow morning.”

#it's been so cold lately! where did the sun go?! come back babe I miss you!!!!#shifty powers x reader #shifty powers #band of brothers #band of brothers x reader #my writing #band of brothers fanfic #band of brothers imagine

68 notes · View notes

acradelius · 1 year

Note

Moira with a southern male reader headcannons?

"AIN'T IS A WORD MOO-RA"

Fandom: Overwatch / Overwatch

Pairing: Moira O'Deorain (Moira) x Southern!M!Reader

Rating: Orange [🟠] (Equivalent to G/PG)

Warnings/Mention Ofs: Cultural Differences, Moira Being A Meanie On Purpose, Moira Being A Menace About Southern Stuff

Word Count: 690 Words

Author's Note: As a southern individual that has moved to a non-southern state, I had to put some of the things people have made fun of me for 😭😭😭

“It’s quite difficult to understand your accent.. Or “slang” as some of the others describe it to be.” Unless someone has been stalking around to count how many times this specific phrase has come out of Moira’s mouth, then there’s no way to track how many times it has been said. “Ain’t gotta clue as ta’ why ya’ can’t understand me, hun’.” It had begun as an ongoing joke at first, knowing that Moira had difficulties in understanding (Y/N)’s dialect, with his southern accent being quite strong, especially for someone such a culture difference like Moira, but at this point in time it led more to a slight argument and Moira trying to give him a language lesson than anything else. “Darling, you know that “ain’t” is not a word,” Moira begins, glancing at (Y/N) from her obscene amount of paperwork, proceeding to chuckle as (Y/N) merely rolled his eyes, wiping oil off of his rugged, stained hands. “Ain’t is’a word, an’ I’mma use it, Moira.” He purposely mispronounces her name, referencing her as “Moo-ra” instead. Either way, don’t get these two started on how to pronounce words from the dictionary.

Thinking that Moira was troublesome with the way that (Y/N) pronounced his words? Oh, no. Wait until you hear her start to complain about good ol’ fashioned southern meals. “What do you mean this is a preference from your homeland? It literally just tastes like liquid sugar?” Complaining about some good, sweet tea? (Especially when it’s Lipton Sweet Tea, which is (Y/N)’s absolute favorite), going to make him cry right there. Next, she’s complaining about how “This supposed delicacy of.. “chocolate gravy on biscuits”.. looks quite.. barbaric..” or “How can you consume all this.. practically fried everything? Do you have any clue as to what all this does to your arteries?” The amount of complaining that Moira has done, all the times she has essentially either made fun of or has made disheartening comments about the delicious food is enough to make a grown southern man cry. It’s (Y/N). (Y/N) is the grown southern man crying. Someone gets this man a napkin before he soaks his good work clothes in tears.

There’s definitely one thing that Moira is certain about and it’s that she cannot begin to understand the appeal and enjoyment of southern hobbies and activities. “How do you find amusement sitting within a tiny boat on a body of water all day, waiting around and hoping that you catch.. a catfish?” Or like whenever there was that surprise visit to one of the Nascar races that (Y/N) had only been talking about for months now? “Not finding the appeal in sitting here for an unlimited amount of time watching vehicles do circles.” Maybe Moira would enjoy attending a rodeo? Nope, too dirty for her liking. Possibly spending time at the local auction, grinning as (Y/N) tries to speak as quickly as the auctioneer does? Ain’t happening. Trying to please Moira with southern activities is hard, another reason as to why (Y/N) cries himself to sleep at night. Yet, there’s one thing that Moira absolutely enjoys when it comes to southern activities. Watching (Y/N) doing his chores on the ranch. The way that despite the conditions he’s always out there unintentionally flexing muscles as he lifts and hauls those hay bales onto the truck. How he handles wrangling them calves or sheep whenever they’re needing to be checked out but aren’t cooperating. Moira’s favorite part about it all? Watching (Y/N) on those horses of his~ The way that he just handles himself on such a creature that could absolutely crush him in a split second. How he gives that sweet, signature grin of his, all while giving that devious wink to Moira, then riding away on that horse to finish his chores. Makes Moira wanna take (Y/N) for a ride around the bar if you happen to catch her drift. Either way, no matter how many comments or teasing that Moira might do to (Y/N), she adores and loves him either way.

#moira o'deorain #overwatch moira #x male reader #orange rating #requests?! thank you<3

40 notes · View notes

bluecoolr · 1 year

Note

random questions cause I'm a random person and love people's ocs

what times does Darrell usually work?

does he have any social media?

I mean, I assume he does have an ID or driver's license, but still wanna ask if I'm correct?

does he have a southern accent (like the terrible trio from Ambrose xD)

does he know any other languages?

favourite food and pizza topping?

Hello nonie! Thanks for liking my oc and being so interested! 🥺🥺🥺 I honestly am so overwhelmed with the positive reception.

But to answer your questions ✨️:

Darrell usually works the day shift (about 8 am - 5 pm), but it varies depending on Melvin's (his manager) need. The guy working the night shift is a pain in the ass. Sometimes Darrell works overtime or even overnight. Melvin trusts him to man the store, because he had a short stint with the Marines. He's handled a couple of attempted robberies by himself. Baby stronk 💪💪💪

He does, but he barely posts anything on them. He mostly uses it to lurk and read about niche topics that interest him. He has an instagram, pinterest, and reddit account. Idk he might have tumblr to look at some art.

Also yes, he has a driver's license! He's got a passport but he hasn't renewed as he "isn't going anywhere".

Big YES to the southern accent (he was born and raised in Texas) like the Sinclairs! He's fluent in southern slang and knows a bit of Spanish. Just a little.

Chicken teriyaki with rice is his fave. He alternates between grilled and deep fried chicken with the sauce. He also has a soft spot for cornbread.

With pizza he isn't picky. He doesn't get the hate for pineapple on pizza. But his fave kind is pizza Margherita. It's simple. It's tasty. Anyway we're talking about a guy who can live on hot pockets.

If you want to know more about Darrell, here's his character sheet.

#darrell todd #slasher oc #original character #bluecoolr.txt #bluecoolr.ask #ask darrell

18 notes · View notes

sweetswesf · 1 year

Text

A Long Overdue Update...And This One's a Juicy One...Pt. 1

Soooo...seems like I've unfortunately and unexpectedly neglected this blog...again! I'm so sorry y'all. I was trying my best to manage things...Soooo where can I start?...

So since I haven't updated you all since April, let's start from back then. Back in April, I was trying my hardest to keep my job...Summer Check-In Performance Reviews happened and I didn't get promoted. My manager did say "maybe in the Winter" so I just tried to continue to stay focused.

I tried to do some interview prep to have a backup and got calls from a lot of good places, but I just was not prepared to pass interviews. Slowly but surely though, I got into a rhythm. My birthday came around in the Summer and I caught COVID for the first time. I had to go to the ER. They gave me an IV, Tylenol, potassium, and later a $200 bill. I keep Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and Pedialyte in the house now. That freaked me out.

Because it was my birthday, my family who had stopped talking to me popped up again to wish me happy birthday. It was okay for a while, but we fell out again eventually. It was quite frustrating.

I lost QUITE A FEW close "friends" who exposed the negative things about them I didn't want to believe. I had speculations they didn't see me as a friend in the way that I did them. I wish them all well...

I went to a wedding and just felt so bloated, big, and uncomfortable, that, when I returned home went back to taking my exercise and diet more seriously, tracking calories, weighing food, meal prepping. I even started juicing. Days became harder and my schedule more strict.

Work didn't get any easier either, but I did reach a level of independence that I was hoping the move from New York back to the Bay would help me achieve. I even was contacted by a reputable music site to do a partnership on my personal app that I built in bootcamp. I teamed up with an old genius colleague to get my site where it needed to be and started collecting ad revenue! Now, it's pennies, but it's a start! I achieved getting another stream of income! A friend from New York came out to visit and interviewed me about the Bay Area and I had come to just accepting the fact that San Francisco was probably going to be my home for a while while I was on this focused mission of achieving whatever goals I had...

Soon, I became (and this editor does not recognize this word, I know it's southern slang, but I can't think of another word that better fits here! hopefully you catch my drift) ASHUING for a promotion! My manager, my mentors, my skip level, all were talking about it...

This was also around the time at my company where they announced that you could only be at your level for 3 years, or get fired. Around this time also, they pushed Winter promos out from Winter to Spring! They even instituted a hiring freeze for Q4. People who were interviewing for roles were kicked out of the funnel and hiring stopped. Work did not let up and we were all just tired. This all made me a bit upset, but I tried not to focus on just doing a good job. I even told myself, "Just get through this year. It's almost up. Get the promo packet together, get promoted, then pick the interview prep stuff back up after the promo." I was plotting on what I would do to celebrate and FINALLY achieve the promotion that I thought and hoped I was going to get YEARS ago...

A colleague on the team I did my internship soon started messaging me, but every time he would, it would only be about his fears of being let go. He never really did wellness checks, he just would ping me to talk gossip, ask for advice for how to make team transfers, or share his fears about being fired and I didn't like it. I hate when people don't take me seriously. I'm not your gossip buddy or trauma bucket. I gave him genuine advice every time though and just kept telling him to stay focused and do what he was supposed to do...

Then my mentor mentioned there would probably be more layoffs in the new year and it made me think back to the conversations my fearful colleague I previously mentioned had...then it became my concern and I wondered what if...

I told myself, "Well, at least it'd come with a severance...I'm trying to leave this place anyway, and hopefully I can take that time to do a proper software engineering interview prep since I've never been able to do that before. Finish the React tutorial I've long wanted to do..."

Halloween weekend came. I was supposed to get my promo packet together, but I had just did a new product launch at work and was WHOOPED! I had tons of chores to do PLUS, I LOVE Halloween and got invited to a costume party I KNEW I didn't want to miss. I also knew that we were going to have the whole week of Thanksgiving off and I didn't plan to go home for any of the holidays this year so I had planned to do it then, especially since the performance review cycle wasn't going to be until February or March of 2023.

Continued in Part 2...

#female software engineers #software engineer #software development #software engineering #software #san francisco #apprentice #web app #apps #computer programming #computer science #reactjs #react #python #javascript #bay area #silicon valley

0 notes

sleepdeprivedheretic · 4 years

Note

fluff alphabet for tai-chan. im in need of fluff

Say no more, Fam <3

A ctivities - I know that food’s a big deal to him, but if he wanted to think outside of the box, he’d do something unique, like take his s/o bowling, fishing, to their favorite places, or generally whichever to wipe away his stereotype that it’s just about food. Don’t get me wrong, he loves eating at new places and stuff, he just wants to do something kinda unique :3

B eauty - He’s into inner beauty rather than outer. He can’t help but be drawn to beautiful smiles and laughter, though <3

C omfort - You bet he’s the epitome of a comfy teddy bear, fat form or slim form. Like he’ll hold his s/o close to his chest and ssh them gently and rub their back as he helps calm them down.

D reams - Tbh? He imagines just two happy dorks married in love and adopt a Maine Coone or Norwegian Forest cat bc they’re big floofy things

E qual - I see him just being in the mix between passive and equal, like he won’t be stepped on, but he won’t be controlling.

F ight - Haaates fighting! Like, I can’t see him get upset unless he had a really bad day at work and was moody at home, but other than that, I don’t think he’s the type to take anger out on s/o.

G ratitude - Our boy is a lil’ dense, but he knows that you’re trying, and so he’ll try to repay you with kindness, as well if you’re doing stuff like the dishes, he’d help you do them and stuff. Sweet cinnamon roll <3

H onesty - He’s an open book. He’ll just ramble about his day, his thoughts and feelings. He has no reason to hide anything from you. Even if it’s angsty and life-threatening, for an example, you’d be the first to know

I nspiration - His s/o would probably help him out a lot with his insecurities, tbh. Like he wouldn’t hide them, but he’d brush them off and forget about them, and his s/o would help him realize that it’s not healthy to do that. He’d start focusing on loving and appreciating himself, more and that his s/o does the same.

J ealousy - He does get a little jealous from time to time, but he knows that you love him and he trusts you. If it gets bad, he’d either pout a little or give whoever is flirting with you a mean look.

K iss - He’s a good kisser, he gives slow and sensual kisses, or just kiss his s/o’s face all over because they’re so cute. His and s/o’s first kiss was when the two of you were playing the pocky game, and s/o just went for it.

L ove Confession - He’d confess in person while you two were more acquainted with each other and comfortable, and it’d be on a date to your favorite place.

M arriage - He would like to be married. He’d wait a while until he proposed, and he’d make sure that you wanted to be proposed to, so yeah, it’s a surprise, but it’s one that you’ve been wanting. He’d do a classical proposal while the two of you were on a romantic date. Marriage would be domestic bliss. Like, the two of you are equals and share the chores and bills and it’s a really healthy relationship that everybody deserves.

N icknames - His favorites are the classic southern slang of “Darlin’, Sweetheart, Honey, and Buttercup”. He’d like others such as Gumdrop and Dear, too.

O n Cloud Nine - He’s always happy, but now he’s happy and seems to be out of focus as little hearts flutter around him. Like Eijiro is low-key worried that he turned into a zombie. Dadzawa and Hawks pick up on it rather quickly, and it’s painfully obvious that he’s in love. He shows extra affection towards crush or s/o, offering them food, lifts, spending more time with them and is extra sweet and goofy.

P DA - Oh hon, he likes to squeeze you in a warm hug or kiss you loudly on the mouth in front of everybody. You’re his, now, and he’s happy to show it. He does like to brag a little, and show you off to whomever. He’s not into making out or long displays, though.

Q uirk- He can make his s/o smile, no matter how bad a mood they are in. He just...radiates sunshine and in an instant, you’ll feel at ease around him.

R omance - He’s super romantic. Like, he likes to be classical and do classy things, such as open doors for his s/o or kiss their hands and it’s super cute. He’ll try to be a little creative in the gifts, like he knows that food is a given, and so he’ll try to hand-make them something or get them something unique, just to think a little outside of the box.

S upport - He supports and believes in his s/o without a doubt. Like, it wouldn’t be him at all if he wasn’t supportive.

T hrill - He’s not too much on thrills, but he does try different things and think outside the box. He might just drag his s/o in the pouring rain one day and dance with them as he sings “raindrops keep fallin’ on my head”, just to give them a nice surprise.

U nderstanding - He’s pretty open to his partner, and they’re the same. He’s super empathetic and he listens and cares about them fully.

V alue - His relationship comes only second to his job. He’s a hero and saves people, and his s/o might be worried, but they have to understand. Other than that, he loves his s/o more than food, probably.

W ild Card - He looooves it when s/o runs their fingers through his hair as the two of them are snuggled up together on the couch watching silly rom-coms.

X OXO - Highly affectionate! He’ll cuddle and smooch his s/o anytime and almost anywhere. Like, he’s the living definition of a teddy bear. So sweet.

Y earning - He doesn’t like it when he or his s/o are separated. Like it’s been thirty seconds he already misses them pls come home, soon. If it’s a week, he’s already stress eating and worries about them.

Z eal - He’s willing to go the extra mile for the relationship. Even if his s/o gets in trouble with villains, he fights them, anyway, and he’d still be with s/o no matter what threats come their way.

There ya go, Anon! <3 This was so much fun to write, it’s not helping my poor heart, either QuQ

#taishiro toyomitsu #Fatgum #Fatgum x reader #Fluff #fluff alphabet

107 notes · View notes

tiiescut · 3 years

Text

headcanon + spanish.

GENERAL. okay i’ve been needing to deep dive on this for a bit now so here we go! Mateo’s first language is Spanish, and he actually is fluent in two different dialects. Because his mother is a proud Mexican & Chilean, she has a deep rooted connection to her culture that she shares not only with Mateo but her husband / Mateo’s father as well. I’m going to talk a little bit about that!

MOTHER. Mateo’s maternal grandmother is chilean immigrant who speaks only Chilean Spanish. His mother grew up using that dialect of Spanish most frequently. His maternal grandfather is half Mexican, who’s primary language was Spanish but also english. Mateo’s mom grew up using both languages, but predominantly Chilean Spanish. A few years after Mateo was born, his grandparents moved back to Mexico where some of his mother’s siblings were living. It was the best choice for everyone but Mateo’s mother really misses her parents. She keeps them close through traditions, food, and culture throughout the home.

FATHER. While Mateo’s father is a white man, his father also speaks fluent Spanish. Growing up close to the boarder, Mateo’s father routinely encountered people in his field of business who spoke Spanish. Being the kind of man he is, his father wanted to learn in order to better communicate with his business partners, workers, and friends of Mexican decent. When Mateo’s mother and father met, his mother was convinced that he was just a light skinned Mexican man and it wasn’t until a few dates in that she realized he wasn’t. His Spanish was that good and fluent and he had a very good grasp on the Mexican Spanish slang.

MATEO. Mateo’s first language was Spanish and it was a mixture of the Mexican and Chilean dialects. As he got older it was easier to differentiate which dialect was which based on various was of pronunciation, slang, and verb usages. Mateo took to languages very quickly simply because he was surrounded by them. He learnt English quickly before starting school. Mateo can easily switch between dialects, and while Chilean Spanish was the first language he learnt, his most used dialect is Mexican Spanish due to them living in the states. Naturally Mateo excels in his Spanish courses at school and actually takes a vested interest in them rather than finding them boring.

FOOD. The Marconi’s make a lot of Italian and Spanish meals. They believe in large portions, hearty combinations, and food that fuels your body rather than starves it. Mateo was a chunky kid and toddler due to this as well. His favourite meals are all Authentic Mexican or Chilean meals, but he has a few Italian ones that make his top 10 as well! He knows how to cook some of them but isn’t the most focused or talented of chefs either.

CULTURE. Mateo’s bed time stories were often Spanish ones. In the home they speak mostly Spanish unless there’s company coming over who do not speak Spanish. They are overly-polite with guests and won’t speak in Spanish around non-Spanish speakers. The walls of their home are decorated with artifacts from Mexico and Chile, as well as a few items from their local state. Almost every radio, CD, vinyl the Marconi’s have aren’t in english, put Spanish instead.

MUSIC. Mateo listens to a variety of music, but in his car the radio station is always tuned to a Spanish station. He doesn’t mind changing the station if people ask him to, but for the most part he never touches that dial. Mateo has quite a lovely singing voice, and more often than not when he does sing it’s usually Spanish songs he grew up with, was sung to as a child, or learned recently. He engages in english music as well, but his default is often Spanish.

OUTSIDE THE HOME. Mateo doesn’t hesitate to speak Spanish with other Spanish speakers –– anymore. In high school, the majority of his friends were white and non-Spanish speaking. They often complained about the language being too ‘complicated’ and never really bothered to learn it. It didn’t stop them from asking Mateo to do their Spanish homework for them though. As he grew up and went to University, this changes as he finds speaking Spanish really wonderful and he no longer feels the pressure to hide behind his friend’s ethnocentric conversations about the language that is his native tongue.

SPEAKING WITH OTHER SPANISH SPEAKERS. Mateo will default to the Mexican dialect because he knows it’s more common in the southern states. It isn’t uncommon for him to use Mexican slang in his day to day conversations as well –– especially with other Spanish speakers or people who know what that slang means. For example, with Ella Reyez ( @fcrtunefavcred ) Mateo and her speak mostly in Spanish but will bounce back and forth between English and Spanish to make a more robust sentence. He may start a sentence in English and then switch half way through, or vice verse. Please note this is INTENTIONAL. As someone who IS multi-lingual I can promise you we don’t just ‘slip into’ another language by mistake. Speaking two languages takes brain power and if Mateo uses Spanish it IS intentional. If he switches between languages it IS intentional and he does it because he KNOWS the other person can keep up with his switching. using two languages in a single sentence can be very helpful in expressing yourself better, which is something Mateo always wants to do –– express himself.

#headcanon ( it only seems fair ).

7 notes · View notes

chaoticevilbean · 3 years

Text

So, there’s this whole Youtuber Atla Au, and I have Stuff stuck in my Head. This is Sokka-centric bc thassa me.

Here Goes:

- Sokka has a mixed channel. He does educational videos, how-to videos, political videos, stories about him and his weird friends, dancing and singing videos, makeup videos, parkour videos, etc. He’s a very well known account.

- He uses fake names/obscure nicknames/code names for anyone he mentions. Anyone featured in his videos either wears a mask/facepaint or allows him to say their real name. He uses only they/them pronouns unless the person is with him and has given him other pronouns to call them by.

- He has never mentioned his name, refuses to be called Boomerang despite someone suggesting it because “that’s a disrespect to boomerangs, please don’t”, and he responds to commenters asking for his name with “;)”, “:)”, and “...”

- People only know he’s a male because he put that in his first video

- Sokka always wears facepaint in his videos, and absolutely no one recognizes him. He is unidentifiable. His continuous need to wear contact lenses and wigs of varying styles and colors also messes with people. No one can figure out what Nation he’s from (there are all four in this AU).

- Sokka has seven different facepaint styles he’ll wear.

- - Earth Kingdom is just Kyoshi Warrior facepaint. Someone attempted to drag him for disrespecting a elite warrior and all-female team. The Official Kyoshi Warrior account responded with this and only this: “Back off, he’s ours.”

- - Southern Water Tribe is based off their traditional warrior paint and La. Northern Water Tribe is based off of Tui and wolves.

- - Air Nomads is brown and blue arrows and flying lemur markings around his eyes.

- - Fire Nation is based off of Agni and the Painted Lady. It’s simple with red and yellow markings, and the accents will either be black (if he’s talking about something funny), blue (if he’s talking about something weird), or white (if he’s talking about something cool). People had to figure out those meanings themselves.

- - The Spirit World is based off of Hei Bai and Wan Shi Tong, a black, white, and grey style.

- - The blended one is cut into six sections. Fire and Air are the top two, taking up his forehead and creeping into his hairline. Water and Earth are on the bottom, bleeding down his neck. The Spirit World and nonbending sections are on his eyes. For those, he does fox markings on both sides, and the Spirit side is colorful like many of the minor Spirits are (bugs and birds and others). The nonbending side has normal fox colors, and the edges of all sections are blended together.

- - Each mask has a different meaning, which wasn’t figured out until later. If something is about a story, then it will be Fire Nation or Water Tribe. If the story includes strangers, then it will be Fire Nation, but if it’s mostly his pre-established friends, then he’ll have Water Tribe. Any sort of performance is Earth Kingdom, unless he’s doing it with someone else, which is when he wears his blended one. If the video is instructing in any way, it’s Air Nomad. If it’s a political video, he will always have his Spirit facepaint on.

- Most people assume he’s Air Nation because he seems nomadic. He’s constantly talking about new friends, his backgrounds change every video and he speaks all the languages one could possibly learn.

- As a Note, there are all four Nations. They all have different languages. There are formal and informal of each language (or common and high-speak). There is also the General Common, which is the language basically everyone knows so they can communicate with other nationalities. Air Nomads have many different slangs depending on where the nomads are from, but only one central language. They don’t have formal or informal.

- Sokka’s most viral video is called Secret Tunnel. He met some nomads and they taught him to use their instruments at an amateur level. He then asked if they wanted to record a video with him. They said yes, so he recorded them singing and dancing to the song, and he joined in on guitar (or whatever the stringed instrument is called in that episode). The video ‘solidified’ that Sokka was from the Air Nomads.

- Things people know about the channel and the Friends (called ‘Boomeraang’, though no one seems able to figure out why - most pass it off as a typo, but true fans know Sokka pays too much attention to his work and his boomerang)

- - Lady is either related to Sokka or as close as a sibling. They’re a master waterbender and extreme activist. They’re constantly starting rebellions and protests and getting into trouble through that. They have once impersonated a Spirit in order to get rid of a corrupt company that was polluting a river and then got the nearby fishing town to work together to clean said river. Lady got their education in waterbending after beating “an old coot in battle, didn’t have much to learn but Lady needed ‘finesse’ or something.”

- - Kuzon is Lady’s SO. They were friends first, SO’s second, and Sokka had to endure the pining. Kuzon acts older than they look, and uses extremely outdated slang. A video with Kuzon in the background as Sokka told a story confirmed the fact when Sokka asked “What did you say to Bluey?” “Flameo, Hotman!” It is assumed that Kuzon is a bender, but no one knows which type. Kuzon once threw a raging party because his school was really strict. The entire student body was invited and the cops were called, but no one got in trouble because they weren’t breaking any laws.

- - Bluey is either a nonbender or a firebender. Sokka’s stories are unclear on that, but one thing is clear: Bluey is a vigilante. And works in a tea shop. And holds some sort of position of power somewhere. It varies from “Bluey stopped a drug ring this month” to “Bluey’s uncle told them they can’t work the night shift because they haven’t slept” to “Bluey just passed a rule saying no drinks during meetings. They’re just mad that I kept slurping my cactus juice.”

- - Bandit is an actual criminal, but also holds some position of power. They are blind, maybe, and an earthbender. Apparently the greatest earthbender in the world, but that could also be Rocky. Bandit scams scammers, usually ones on the street that can’t call the police because they’re also criminals. They’ve made a lot of money that way, and Bandit uses the funds for a combination of food and taking Sokka shopping since he helps them. Bandit also fought in an underground earthbending tournament and won the title every time. Sokka says that the reason behind Bandit even going there was that their family was awful and somehow thought they were fragile, so they learned how to ditch their escort and vent their frustration via illegal fighting ring.

- - Rocky is a king. And insane. And friends with Kuzon and some old people. Nothing else is known, besides they’re a bender.

- - Bison. Is maybe an actual bison. Is Kuzon’s best friend and they’re constantly kissing everyone and messing around with Lemur. Lemur is flighty and loyal and like lychee nuts. Not much else is told, but they’re in many stories and the wording is weird enough that no one can tell if they’re animals or humans.

- - Wheaty was a real jerk when they all first met, and the group all left on bad terms. However, when they met back up, Wheaty was much nicer and was trying to be better than they originally were. They had to go to therapy to help with anger issues and were recovering well when the group reunited. Gurl (Sokka makes sure to spell it out for the viewers) is one of Wheaty’s best friends, having been there for the other through everything. Yuyan was in a similar boat, and was usually the ‘voice’ (Sokka would laugh at that, before continuing as if he hadn’t) of reason. The trio were all very nice and helpful, and had some other friends that Sokka met and hit it off with. Mini-Me was someone who was smol and idolized Sokka. Big Man always traveled with Mini-Me, but never once stopped them from following Sokka around.

- - Warrior is a nonbender and is the one who taught Sokka to fight with fans. They also educated him on toxic masculinity, getting rid of the sexism ingrained in him (*note, in this AU, Sokka wasn’t as sexist, due to being exposed to a few more people and the internet, and therefore finding more female idols. Suki helped him stopped what was left, because he still struggled and wanted to be better). Warrior is about 30% of Sokka’s impulse control, which is still a large chunk considering how many impulses he has. They have been in a few videos wearing an entire robe and mask get-up, and spoke once (1) when they told Sokka that Knife and Ballerina were head over. It was the middle of a video about how to fight with fans.

- - Princess, Knife, and Ballerina were a trio that could rule the world. Princess probably would’ve turned out awful if they hadn’t left home with their uncle. Knife hated any sort of protocol, but never seemed to show emotion. Both they and Yuyan were people that had to be observed to understand their emotions at any one point. Ballerina was happy, a gymnast, a yoga instructor, and a nonbender. It is assumed that Knife is a nonbender who uses only knives and Princess is a master firebender, but there is speculation.

- - Roller and Pusher were best friends. Roller was in a wheelchair and Pusher always pushed them. Roller was incredibly intelligent and often helped Sokka with inventions, while Pusher was a skilled earthbender who used more finesse than most.

- - The Moon is mentioned once and never again, and everyone wonders why he mentioned them in the first place (when discussing what he’d done while Lady battle for her education “I hung out with The Moon”).

- - Most likely to appear in a video are Roller, Pusher, Bandit, and Gurl, all in masks. Bandit’s they can’t possibly see through, but they walk like everything’s normal.

- - Most likely to be off-screen in a video are Kuzon, Bluey, and Lady.

- - Most likely to be mentioned in a video are Kuzon, Bandit, Bluey, Lady, and Warrior.

- Things that are known about Sokka:

- - He learned Earth Kingdom formal from Bandit and informal from a combination of Friends and observation. He learned Fire Nation formal from Bluey’s uncle and Bluey occasionally slipping into it and informal from Kuzon and some colonists he met. He learned the dialects of the Southern and Northern Water Tribes from The Moon, Lady, and Lady’s family. He learned Air Nomad from a variety of monks and people like Chong and Lily.

- - His parkour skills come from a combination of his Friends’ illegal activities, chaotic antics, and just a dash of bad luck.

- - He learned fighting from practically everyone he’d met, and observing them or having them teach him. He hadn’t actually wanted to learn to fight with fans or knives, but Warrior and Knife had taken one look at him and told him he had to or else. In fact, the only weapons he wanted to learn to use were a sword, a club, and his boomerang. He learned the first from Rainbow Father, the second from Bi Father, and the third was self-taught. Everything else, he posted videos as he learned new skills, and also told the varying stories of how he was coerced into being taught. For example, Ballerina insisted on teaching him chi blocking, a very obscure form of fighting, and would randomly use it on him until he agreed. They always undid what they blocked immediately after, but it was still annoying to randomly lose use of both arms.

- - Sokka’s Boomerang is deadly in his hands. He does not know this. During a livestream, Gurl snuck in after causing a distraction outside of the room he was in and read it off someone’s comment. They informed the viewers to never bring it up because Sokka didn’t know and if he underestimated his Boomerang, than everyone he used it against would, too. And that led to hilarious situations.

- - Sokka is a genius and inventor who has several patents. However, no one can find him through them, mostly because he didn’t want any attention when he put the items out into the open. He invented submarines and airships (people had no use for them before, but found they were incredibly useful when Sokka got everything patented and got a sponsor). He also invented cactus juice, which is as mentally impairing as alcohol with none of the lasting physical effects. Bandit loved that one.

- - Sokka has seemingly been everywhere. He’s mentioned meeting the Spirits Hei Bai, Wan Shi Tong, and the Moon and Ocean Spirits in passing. (*while wearing the Spirit facepaint* “I mean, I get that the Spirit World seems great and all, but I’ve been there. Not that exciting. Met Hei Bai and had to be rescued. Don’t see the appeal. And there isn’t a single bathroom there.”)

- - Can dance pretty average, but knows a lot of different styles because of various Friends. Can also sing and whistle well, and usually hums Secret Tunnel while doing parkour. Most of his music videos include other people, minus a few where he was asked to demonstrate his instrumental skills. He, again, is average and only knows the different instruments because people decided he should learn.

- - He is amazing at makeup. Every person he brings in to do (mostly people who aren’t seen again on the videos) leaves with stunning work done.

- - He can draw and paint, but he didn’t start off good. He started doing instructional videos based off articles and lessons he found. His viewers learned with him, and he’s improved greatly. He’s also prone to adding random rainbows to his landscapes, even in the black and white ones (it starts a trend of usually colorful things done in black and white, or in a way that’s more appealing to colorblind people).

- - Sokka wants to get rid of patriarchal societies and old men with problems. He fully supports his Friends’ protests and rebellions, and is likely to have cohesive arguments backed up with verifiable evidence and trustworthy sources.

- - He loves terrible jokes, and knows they’re terrible, but that’s the point.

- - He’s theorized to be in a position of power because once King Kuei and his bear Bosco walked on-screen from behind (Sokka was at a park and had his Earth Kingdom facepaint, so he definitely wasn’t expecting anyone to come), spotted Sokka and looked absolutely delighted, came straight over and hugged the boy from behind while he was explaining a move with a club. King Kuei said nothing, just hugged him until it was returned, let go, and waved goodbye. Bosco did a similar thing before following his owner. Sokka just continued the video as if nothing had happened, so it seems that he’s used to being around heckin’ royalty.

- Boomeraang gets a lot of hype and Sokka does sell merch and earn money, but only sells what is specifically requested. Someone requests he make t-shirts with his channels logo on it, he starts selling them, and doesn’t stop until there aren’t any more demands. Spoiler, there’s always demands. He tries to tell them he doesn’t want to take their money, but he almost had a riot when he suggested not selling anything anymore because he felt bad.

- The Gaang knows about the channel and talk about it a lot. Sokka had planned to keep it small, anonymous, and just have fun with his catch-all videos. He’s 2/3 at this point.

- Katara has her own activist channel, and considered making a second as the Painted Lady and use Sokka’s rep to eventually boost her, but decided against it. Her channel is called ‘Freedom Water’, based on the fact that water is the element of change. She has a moderate following.

- Toph has her own channel as well, which consists of Sokka holding the camera for her and videotaping her as she performs complex earthbending. She calls her channel ‘roc’. Her following is mostly other earthbenders who aren’t too proud to learn from a preteen, and other kids who think she’s cool. She also has a channel called ‘Bandit’, which is just her in the mask she wears for Boomeraang, telling all about different ways she’s scammed scammers, occasionally also showing videos of those instances. Sokka is her cameraman there as well, and will sometimes go on-screen with his facepaint. That channel has a large following because of Boomeraang. Toph is actually good at not slipping into the wrong nicknames or giving away genders.

- Aang has a channel called ‘The Temple’, which is almost solely different animals he spots. Some people try to say that he isn’t at the Air Temples, but he just laughs and ignores them. It drives people insane and it’s just accepted that the name of the channel is misleading. He has a small to moderate following, mostly animal enthusiasts, and the others are nature enthusiasts.

- Zuko has a channel followed by only theater kids and wannabe theater kids. He literally put ‘Title’ as the name, and uses his videos to rant about different plays and a lot about how the Ember Island Players botch the best of shows.

- Jet has an official channel for his Freedom Fighters, which is now solely used for spreading awareness and raising funds for those who need help (orphans, abused people, and people affected by disasters). The group lost a lot of followers when they changed their tune from angry and vengeful to calm and actually trying to help instead of harm. However, Katara and Zuko both gave shout-outs to the channel, and Toph ‘mentioned’ them as well (*read: threatened her followers if they didn’t check it out*). Their following has grown and now has a very good rep.

- Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee share a channel called ‘Royal Three’ where they show off their skills. They have a large following.

- Teo and Haru help manage everyone’s accounts and Teo is the official Kyoshi Warrior technician by the time everyone is done. Both are paid by their Friends for the work and recommend the duo to literally everyone possible.

- The Kyoshi Warriors are extremely well-known. There was an uproar when Ty Lee was announced as an official Kyoshi Warrior. They post basic fighting tutorials.

#atla #sokka #katara #aang #suki #zuko #toph #kyoshi warriors #sokka is a kyoshi warrior #youtube atla #atla youtube au #boomerang #sokka's boomerang #youtube au #avatar the last airbender #avatar

22 notes · View notes

sinnercerely · 4 years

Text

𝕋ɪʟʟ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴅᴏᴇs ᴜs ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ|

To be her’s and only her’s! // 𝒯𝑜𝑔𝒶 + 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇!

♡ Toga only. However, a poly relationship with uraraka is coming! ♡

🥀 reader-type:

o Black (familiar with African-American culture)

♡ She/Her/They/Them

o Asexual

♡ Feline Quirk 🥀

—————————————————————————-

Headcannon: Himiko and the reader’s relationship dynamic and love between the two troublemakers! ————————————🔪————————————

(fluff!) |Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

🌸 Possessive

🔪 Touch-Starved

🌸 ChAoTiC/IMPULSIVE

🌸 A week hasn’t even passed, yet she is absolutely DEDICATED to you. She makes sure to kiss all your tears away and clean all your wounds. Emotionally and physically.

🍡 When she cleans your cuts and bruises from fights with heroes, that slimy bastard is all over you (her tongue)! She won’t lick you on the intimate parts of your body, she respects you too much to break your boundaries!

🌸 When it comes to comforting you, she loves to make jokes out of dark situations. Nothing is off-limits for her unless you say so. If you want her to be more serious, she will, even if that lasts for at least 3 minutes. She will always be serious about you, so she will show you that. As long as you give her cuddles for her effort! She wouldn’t want for her kitten to be forced to be put back in their place...though, you do look cute with bite marks, cuts, and bruises...

🍡 Won’t let her help you? Fine. Hope you are prepared for feral Toga. She gets nasty with you by, talking over you, attacking you with her love bites in public, ignoring you when you want her attention, killing everyone in the damn place for talking or looking at you, and cutting you with her knife. The cuts usually are on your thighs, stomach, and arms. She would mark your face, but, that area is for her slaps. Though, don’t worry she would kiss all the tears away and makeup if you wear that. Just...let her love you lol.

🌸 If you have a side job, she will stand in the corner of the store and watch you. Her posture tenses up when someone gets near you. God forbid someone tries to hit on you...at least 5 bodies are dumped in the dumpster at the back of the building. She won’t even collect their blood. Only the tastiest and worthy blood enters her. So...I hope you can handle her trying to suck onto you like a CapriSun lol. Even when you are working. Might need to knock her in the head to stop her.

🍡 Now, is you won’t allow her to be in the building you are in, that’s fine. She will follow you either way. Behind a counter? She is outside the door and staring at you with a hoodie that says ‘Thot Destroyer’. Getting some fresh air? Cool, she’ll stand on top of a building and stare down at you. Taking a shower?.........where are your clothes?

🌸 She has a tracklist of being a pervert, so, yeah, she will take your clothes to admire your body as you search for a new set of clothes...which is all under her butt. But, you don’t need to know that :].

🍡 Insecure about your body? Oh hell no! Not on her watch! “WHAT?!- DID SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BODY KITTEN?!?- OH HELL NO-” If you have slang in your vocabulary, she will take that crap and slander a bitch until all their insecurities are popping out. She will drag that bitch by their roots (anyone can get it) and disfigure their asses. Just to throw their asses outside with no dignity and missing limbs (if that’s what you want honey) or slowly and painfully end them.

🌸 No one is making you insecure? So, your thoughts are making you insecure? "Well, when are those thoughts gonna show up for these rounds?". She is kidding of course. She would make sure to praise you every day and 24/7. Feel ‘too fat’? She will encourage you to wear tight underwear and kiss all your fat! Suffocate her with your thighs, please! PLEASE. Discolorment on your body? She will spoil you in products that will help ease that insecurity while making sure it does not hurt your gorgeous melanin!

🍡 Now for the educational bit! Japan isn’t free from colorist ideas and racism. So, you need to be honest about your experiences with being black in Japan. She will educate herself on black culture and history, if anyone tries to deny the damage colonists have created, bastards are gonna be laying cold on the floor. She isn’t ignorant to how shitty black people are treated, especially if you are dark-skinned, just know she isn’t gonna be a ‘savior’ for black people. She will be an ally, she will respect your culture, and hit people with true history!

🌸 Now, back on insecurities, creams that 'lighten your skin' is very common in Asia. So, she would not shame you if you did that or is considering doing that, she will however compliment you. Not for brightening your skin, but for being black. She will praise your culture and make sure to buy things that are very prominent in your community. She will encourage you to start embracing that melanin! You do not have to pay for your thickness, big lips, beautiful big eyes, and THAT SHINE. My dude, that glow on dark skin...welp, she is jealous!

🍡 She will definitely do your hair for you! No matter how long it may take, she will make sure your hair is healthy and moisturized! She will order products from amazon for your hair type if you are going natural, like puffballs, afros, braids, and etc. However if you have your hair relaxed or permed, she will buy the best products for your hair, things that strengthen your hair definitely. Wear wigs? Cool! She will try some on with you! Praise you, no matter what others think, you are beautiful/gorgeous/breathtaking with and without the wig.

🌸 Though, she will need to be reminded to not harshly brush your hair, since your ears are big and blends into your hair (and well it hurts as well!). She will be mindful but will mess with your ears, you will need to bite her hands to get her to stop!

🍡 When she is allowed to bathe you, she will fill the bathtub with bubbles and terrorize you! She will scare you by popping out of the water without your acknowledgment, pull your fluffy tail, and tickle you into submission so she can mess with your big ears. So, lock your bathroom door! But, even then, she will wait in a bathroom counter just to bathe with you, soooo, you do not have a choice.

🌸 Anyway, she goes by the rule, “Talk shit, get hit.” Soooo, yeah, lol. She does not play when it comes to you, no matter how different you are to her, she will love you regardless! You two are always ready to fight for each other, so you two are quite the dynamic! Plus, fashionable! Even when blood stains your clothes, beauty cannot be hidden, love.

🍡 Now for some chaos! You two steal from everywhere! Malls, houses, banks, and grocery stores of course! Toga tends to overfill her bra with snacks for you and her (even if you don’t want to eat something, she will ‘gently’ force food down your throat). She likes to get you thicker, even if you are skinny, she will want some type of change in your body, even if it just shows in your face. Also, she will make sure to get supplies for periods as well, if you have those.

🌸 If you two are unfortunate enough to have devils disguised as the uterus, you two will cry, stuff your faces, force a lot of water into your system, and holding heat pads against each other! Even if you don’t have that, she needs you! The girl throws up, cries, and can faint when on her period. So, cuddle her, make her food (something is southern please! She likes southern food from America! Grits, biscuits with gravy, and sausage please!) even cover her in kisses, she will pay you back when the pain stops :)

🍡 When you two are working in the LOV, you two create a lot of fun. Stealing Tomura’s game systems to throw them in the nearby garage bin, cock blocking Dabi, hooking Mr. Compress up with multiple people (even if they are married 👀), and being degenerates in public while cosplaying with Spinner. When Tomura tries to end you two, Toga whips his ass lol. You’ll jump in of course (don’t worry, Tomura won’t actually kill you two, you two are too valuable to the team. Also, he loves his team! He will kill for you two! He loves y’all too much 🥺). Dabi will laugh his ass off while recording the scene, Spinner’s jaw is on the floor, but he is chuckling silently, Mr. Compress breaks it up, but he does watch for a while and poorly hides laughter. So, Tomura now sits in the corner of the bar and complains under his breath, if Toga looks at him, he turns away and tenses up. Toga is a baddie honestly!

🌸 For softer days, you and her whip Tomura’s ass while playing games (he will use cheats to prevent this! Do not say anything though, he is a brat and will dust your controller right there and then). Next, go to the arcade with Spinner, you two always compliment him to ease his insecurities. When someone says something about his appearances, you and Toga plan a homicide. Now, being lazy with Dabi is rare, but fun. You all chat about random stuff, even if he taunts you two, he does still listen and care (he is trying!) about you two. Finally, Mr. Compress is the person who takes you two out for dinner. Toga eats like a pig, but you and Mr. Compress wipe her off and scold her. She has a tendency to swipe both of you two's food, so be careful, and she does bite if you try to take it back!

🍡 You two made a nighttime routine, which will include cuddles, kisses, and a lot of talking. She can not shut up until you fall asleep, she usually talks about the future and how much she loves you. She is considering repurposing her life because she wants you to be able to reach your dreams without her criminal record weighing you down. Even though you have a criminal record as well, she is willing to do anything just for you to go get a high school diploma and go to college. No matter what it takes. She wants you to be happy, successful, and healthy. Hopefully, you two can change together. She would not look bad in a doctor’s coat, and you would not look bad with a diamond ring on your finger...

#toga x reader #toga himiko #himiko x reader #bhna fanfiction #bhna headcanons #toga headcanons

26 notes · View notes

demivampirew · 4 years

Text

Don’t judge a book by its cover chapter 1.

A Cap. Syverson story.

Triggers: Violence; talking about xenophobia, white privilege, homophobia, misogyny; crying; cursing; slang words.

Synopsis: Rebeca is an Argentinian girl who a few months ago moved to the USA (Washington D.C) to study in university thanks to a scholarship that she was granted. She’s lonely. People don’t treat her well. Some could be understood but most of them just hate her for being a foreigner. She meets Syverson because he’s a man from the South and she has not had a good experience with people from there, but she may find out at the end that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

She was walking towards the book store. She needed yet another ton of books for English class, even though she bought several of them two weeks ago. She got a scholarship a few months ago, that as long as she maintains high grades, it will allow her to finish her studies on the University of Washington, with the full coverage of the tuition money and a plus for materials. But still, with all those privileges, being in college was expensive. The extra money that the programme gave her scarcely was enough to buy three-quarters of the materials she needed and let's not forget food and other necessary stuff. She got a job at a grocery store, that didn't pay much, but enough to keep her going and the owners were one of the few people that were nice to her and even allowed her to study if there were no clients in the store. On the weekends, she would help primary and high school kids with their Spanish homework. Incredibly, those few hours gave her more money than working all week at the grocery store, but those people weren't so nice to her and it wasn't a steady job as her week job was. She could always find a job as a Spanish tutor, though. Most of her clients were high middle-class families and most of them were Republicans and hated Latinos, but she was a "white Latina, so you were ok." That's something that one of her classmates told her, a Mexican girl - she wasn't at the same University because she also was granted a scholarship, but because her parents saved money since she was little for her to go to a good college-; It hurt, but she knew that it was right. It isn't like her life was a field of roses. Not at all. College was full of rich kids that hated her guts and made her life a living hell. They'd laugh at her if she made the slightest mistake when speaking English and insulted her if she pointed out that they also made mistakes and that it's their native language. They would scream "In this country, we speak English, bitch" and other things if they heard her speak in Spanish with somebody over the phone. Three times she had to change the window glasses from her small apartment because they'll keep throwing rocks at them. But still, she had to admit that she understood why the Latinos at college didn't like her much. If there was some trouble, no one would even look at her. And the only time they let her go out with them, they got stop by police to ask for their identifications but told her that wasn't necessary. Not only she was white, but also she came from Buenos Aires, Argentina and she particularly didn't have a thick accent so immediately catch on the standard American one. After buying the necessary books, she hurried to go to work. Her boss told her she could go buy the books she needed and she could stay late to cover the time that she used to do that. She truly needed a car. At first, she thought that'd be a waste of money because in her city you could use the bus to go anywhere you needed to go. There was always a way to go by public transport, but here it was more difficult and besides, she needed to save time. She rushed to cross the street before the lights turn red, but didn't make it on time and as soon as she took the steps into the street, the light changed and cars began to pass. A car stopped abruptly just as it was about to hit her. - Ma'am, are you insane? - screamed the driver of the car, as he descended to make sure she was fine. She took a few steps back to avoid being in the middle of the street and also because she was afraid of that man. He was tall, with a big back and big muscles. He had a beard and his head was shaved. He was wearing cargo pants and a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt. But his looks were not the thing that scared her, it was the strong southern accent and the authority in his voice. Every time she ran into someone that sounded like him, it turned out to be a misogynistic, homophobic, racist and xenophobic asshole. Some times it would be some of those qualities, but most of the time, they were all together. But in the last second, she had a sudden change of attitude. She decided that would be the day that she won't let an idiot treat her like shit. She stood up like she wasn't afraid of him and looked at him fiercely. - No, I'm not insane. I'm just running late and when I checked the light was still on the green, I didn't see it change, that's all. - she replied - It's very rude for you to scream at me that way after you almost run over me with your car. You must haven't been paying attention to the road ahead or otherwise, you would have seen that I started to cross when it was still green. - Are you blaming me for your stupidity? Do you understand that I could have killed you? - He asked her irritated. She slapped him on the face. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together trying to contain his growing anger. - I'm sorry.- she apologized, but after a second she changed her mind- No, you know what? I'm not. You deserved it. You called me stupid. You don't know me and you called me stupid?! How dare you? I'm fucking tire of people like you! Every single day of my life I have to deal with people insulting me and treating me like shit like I wasn't a human being like I didn't deserve anything that I worked hard for just because I wasn't born in this freaking country. Or maybe you think I'm stupid just because I'm a woman, I had heard that too. Every single fucking insult that your brain can come out with, I'm pretty sure I heart it daily. So, if you excuse me, I would like to continue my way before I lose my job that I really need. - she said and run away, wiping the tears that started to come from her face. She ran for a while, crying desperately. People on the streets stared at her, probably thinking that she was mugged or something like that. Two blocks away from her job, she stopped to give herself time to breathe and clean all the tears left on her face. It was hard to cover that she had been crying but decided to share with the store owner just the part that she got scared because she was almost hit by a car on her way there and that she cries due to the scary episode. Thankfully, that explanation was good enough for her and did not ask more questions. As soon as she ended her shift, she went straight to her apartment. She was about to open the door when a man outside called her name and she turned around scared. It was the man from earlier that day, the man than almost hit her with his car. - What are you doing here? How do you know where I live? How do you know my name?- She questioned, confused and terrified as the man was getting closer to her. - Stop there! I'm going to call the police! This is harassment! - she screamed scared. The man raised both hands to leave them to her sight and stopped walking towards her. - I'm Captain Syverson. I'm a military man, ma'am. I'm not here to hurt you or do anything to you other than to apologize for the way I treated you today. I would like to return this to you as well, you lost it when you left the place.- he said, reaching his pocket and getting your credit card. -That's how I knew where you live. As I said, I work in the military, so I asked a friend of mine to get me your address, I hope that's ok with you. But I truly wanted to reach you and let you know that was not my intention to mistreat you today. You'll see, I'd been in the war zone for way too long so I lost my touch on how to react delicately to certain situations. You're not one of the soldiers on my command, you're just a lady crossing the street that got yelled by a southern asshole, as I believed you called me.-he said smirking. -I won't steal any more of your time. It's late and I'm pretty sure you want to rest, so have yourself a good night. - he said and turned around. She thanked him for returning the card and he replied "no problem". The next morning she got up early to make it on time to get to the class. She had an important exam to took that day, so she did not want to be late. As soon as she crossed the door and closed it, a young man scream "good morning" into her ear, scaring her. It was Trevor. One of her classmates. One of the leaders of those popular fraternities that's always making parties and playing sports and fucking instead of studying. - What do you want? - she asked annoyed. - Becky, Becky, Becky...-he said playing with her hair and she grabbed it so he would stop.- Is it weird that a Latina has a name like Rebeca? - Isn't weird that you have a brain a never use it? - she replied, annoyed. He grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. - Careful, bitch. I could fuck you up if I want to.- he threatened her - Yes, I know. I then you'll call your daddy to clean the mess that you left behind, like you do every time, right?- she defied him and he got angrier and closed his hand into a fist and was about to punch her. She wanted to be brave but could help herself and closed her eyes, afraid waiting for the punch. It never came. Instead, she heard screams. Some came from Trevor, others came from another man with a deeper voice. Trevor's were from pain, the man's were insults and threats. Rebeca finally opened her eyes and saw Syverson beating the shit out of Trevor. She ran to stop him. He was a military man. Trevor was just a stupid frat boy; he could cause some serious injuries and might cost him his military range or something. It took some time, but she finally conquered her goal of making him stop beating Trevor. You had to call the police and an ambulance, the was no other choice. Great. If your neighbours did not like you much before, now probably hated you. Not only you were the cause of a major fight at 7 am but you also got the street with police cars and ambulance, blocking the cars from getting out so they could get to their jobs. - You shouldn't have done that - Rebeca told Syverson as they waited on the police station to give their testaments - Should I have let him hit you instead? - he asked her surprised and annoyed. Like there was no other thing to do but what he did. - Why were you there anyway? - she questioned confused - I wanted to talk to you. - You've already apologized - she reminded him - It's not about that. I wanted to know what did you meant when you said: "I'm fucking tire of people like you"? Who are the "people like me"? - Southern people - she replied - Do you hate southerners? - he questioned, surprised and amused. - I don't know. I mean, I'm yet to find a good one. Maybe you could be that one, although you have to admit that you are not giving the best impression - she answered, raising an eyebrow and he laughed. - Yes, I guess you're right. My bad. - Every time I run into someone from the South, they treat me like I was below them just because I'm not from this country. When I moved here, there was this old southern man in the same street where I live. He used to look at my ass and use degrading slangs. He was disgusting. His wife hated me. They were extremely religious and when they found out that I was bisexual and atheist, they actually had a church meeting outside my house, praying for "the devil" to leave the place. A few weeks later, the man died of cancer and the woman was put onto a care home by his son. I think no one bothered me anymore after that because they still believe that I'm actually the devil - she said rolling her eyes and Syverson laughed out loud. - Hush. You're here to be questioned about giving a guy the beating of his life, you should be laughing. - You're right. Well. I understand your point, but I should tell you, just because you were given a few bad apples by the store, doesn't mean that said store doesn't have some good in them. - What? - What I'm trying to say is that because you met a few of my people that were pretty shitty, doesn't mean that we are all that way.- he explained to her - Look, I did not only joined the military to serve my country, but I also did it to help people. When I was out there, in the war zone, I protected as many innocent people as I could, mine or not. I made a few friends work with locals there. People are people. Period. I don't care if you were born here or not, as long as you are a good citizen and behave good, that's fine by me, stay all you want. Also, I couldn't care less what people do with their lives. If a man wants to be with a man, it's his fucking business. And about religion, I'm believer, but I won't judge you if you don't, I'm sure you must have your reasons. - he said and smiled at her. She was so focused on her judgment that she didn't allow herself to really see how attractive he was, especially now that he was close and she could see his deep blue eyes.

They both went separately to give their statements about the incident. Some neighbours were also brought by the police to testify as witnesses. Luckily, the woman who lived across the street saw the whole thing and her testimony matched Rebeca's and the police marked it as an act of self- defence and she and Syverson were free to go. They took a taxi to the house so he could pick up his car. She called her workplace and told the whole story from the police station because she wasn't sure how much time she would be stuck there for questioning and her boss gave her the day. As soon as they made it to her place, with neighbours spying on them, she invited him for coffee and he accepted.

#captain syverson #cap sy #captain syverson fanfic #fanfiction #henry cavill #demivampirew

49 notes · View notes

justgottafinishthischapter · 5 years

Text

Worldbuilding Tips: The Five Visitors

You’ve done it. You’ve come up with an idea for your fantasy world, but right now it’s mostly curb appeal and decorations without much else. So, you have the skin and flavor of your fictional world, but what if you’re having a bit of trouble coming up with the meat needed to make your world juicy and delicious? Well, I have a little game that can help flesh out your world.

Imagine a ship or whatever other kind of vehicle arriving on the shores or outskirts of your fantasy land and from that vehicle emerges 5 people from our own mundane world: a historian, an economist, an anthropologist, a diplomat, and a cartographer. There are some other visitors, but these are going to be the most universally beneficial.

The Historian:

This person is going to be interested in the backstory of your world. They don’t need to know every minuscule detail (though they wouldn’t turn that much information down) and just a general overview would be much obliged. Many fantasy worlds such as Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Martin’s Westeros are far more rich and interesting due to the amount of effort put into crafting their world’s histories. If you’re stumped, look to real world history for inspiration. It doesn’t even need to come from the middle ages so long as it works for your story. You should be able to answer questions like: How long has the dominant civilization been around? What are the biggest defining moments in your world’s history? What things are common knowledge that every child is expected to learn (such as George Washington being the first president of the USA) and which stuff is known more by historians and social studies teachers? And as you’re discussing the rest of the visitors, think back on how the answers you give would impact the historical aspect.

The Economist:

You don’t have to know the exact cost of every single thing in your world, but have a good guess. Be able to at least have a scale of price. If someone can buy a loaf of bread for 13 of your world’s currency, but a house costs 17, that would mean that either that bread is very expensive, that house is very cheap, or each unit of your currency is equal to a lot of real world money. Whatever you use to refer to your currency, keep not only price scaling in mind, but economics. If you have a port city, there’s going to be a lot of merchants in that area. The first primary export you’re likely to see in such a port town would be seafood, but also keep in mind the things that are closet to that port, as well as the climate. Greece for instance is a very rocky and mountainous country, so while they can grow crops, they would not have been any match for medieval French Aquitaine, the crown jewel of medieval farming territory. It’s also worth remembering that food in the middle ages was far more valuable than it is today. There was an old saying that wheat is worth its weight in gold. It was southern France’s bountiful soil that caused it to become one of the richest and most coveted territories in medieval Europe. So, keep in mind where resources would come from and where they would need to go, as well as trade that would be useful. A seaside farming town might not have any good access to raw minerals, while a city in the frozen mountainous north might not be able to grow crops, but are bountiful in minerals. The correlation of supply and demand now opens a vital trade route between them. This becomes more complex when the topic of war comes into play. The kingdom that supplies your crops and food is at war with your oldest ally. Now there’s a dilemma between having enough food to feed your people, or betraying the trust of a long time friend. Now your world building can be used as a part of your drama and narrative tension. The economy also impacts culture. What is considered a display of wealth, or is a common status symbol? What are the living conditions of the poor, the working class, the rich, and the aristocrats? Is there upward mobility? In the middle ages, you were what you were for the most part, especially serfs: peasants tied to their land. It was illegal to leave your territory, but there was a saying in the middle ages that “city air makes you free” that once a serf made it to a city, they’d be free of the life they’ve escaped.

The Anthropologist:

Every society has a culture. The way they act, think, dress, believe, talk. It’s all impacted by culture. Beliefs tend to be tied either to what has come before, or based on the world as observed. While many modern fantasy pantheons are based on ancient Greece, it’s not the only model to live by. In a loose interpretation, religion in it’s earliest stages was a rudimentary science used to explain why things happened. A culture that developed along rivers, sea coasts, and other popular trade routes are far more likely to be diverse melting pots due to the frequent traffic of people coming and going, and the common sight of foreigners choosing to set down roots. Meanwhile, a more out of the way and isolated culture is far less likely to have widespread cultural diversity. Tying back into history, a country that has experienced a number of successful wars may tend to think of themselves as invincible, or may try to police the issues of other countries, assuming they’re always on the right side, or that they can’t be defeated. The same culture may ask a high price of any other culture that asks them for militaristic support. Ask what things your people value, be they material or abstract ideals. However, try to refrain from creating a Planet of Hats, a trope often seen in Star Trek and similar Sci-Fi shows and even some Fantasy stories where everyone of a single race all have mostly the same skills, interests, personalities, and roles in the global culture. This is also the time to start thinking about myths, legends, folk heroes, and historical people and events worth celebrating, as this may be when you start to craft holidays or celebrations. This could also lead into discussing religion, and the gods or lack there of that might be celebrated by your culture. How does your society reflect itself in art, music, literature, dance. Does the way someone dresses tell you something about their place in society? Some taboos come from simple logic. The reason it’s frowned upon to eat a cow in India is the same reason it’s immoral to eat horse in western culture. Both are beast of burden livestock worth a lot more alive than dead. Cows produce milk, a source of nutrients and health. Horses are strong and were used in just about everything from plowing fields to pulling entire families or communities a great distance. Horses even became status symbols, as even in modern culture, owning a horse or pony is still considered to be (largely) a snobby rich person thing. Understanding not only what your people believe, but even just a vague idea why they would believe it is a vital aspect.

The Diplomat:

As this landing party is your fantasy world’s first contact with our own reality. How would they react to the newcomers? If there’s more than one society in your world, how would each society, country, kingdom, race, etc. react to something completely foreign? Would they try to forge an alliance? Open trade negotiations? Declare war? Prepare a feast? How would they feel about the way we dress? act? talk? How would they react to different levels of progression in technology? Could an unbiased third party from our world help two feuding sides come to peace with one another? How would they feel about knowing of a world beyond their own? Are there actions or behaviors acceptable in our own society that are considered offensive to them?

The Cartographer:

Although it’s not necessary that all fantasy worlds have a fully designed map, it is a good idea to have at least a rough idea of where things are in relation to one another. This can tell you about climate, resources, wildlife, natural borders, natural disasters, food chains, and more. It’s worth at least taking a crash course in understanding how geographical biomes tend to be laid out in order to make your world feel more real. Some authors claim that a world map is the single most important feature, others say it’s not that important. Frankly, trust your gut based on the kind of world you have. You may need a map, you may not. It really depends on the size and scope of your world. For instance, with Disney’s

Zootopia

, the entire world doesn’t matter. The audience doesn’t need to know where in the world Zootopia is, or what climate or biome it’s in. Zootopia itself is the world being built, and the separate districts and biomes of the city explain the world that’s being focused on.

Secondary Visitors:

They may still be important to your world, but are less likely to be universally helpful to all people.

Biologist: if your world has creatures beyond those found in our real world, it may be worth exploring how their bodies work on a more scientific level in order to give more realistic weight to their supernatural abilities.

Linguist/Translator: If you feel compelled to come up with a language no matter how basic or complex, it may be worth while to consider the problems with communication. this may also extend to unique idioms, colloquialisms, and slang native to your fantasy world.

Teacher/Scholar: Regardless of whether or not there is a formal education system in place in your world, a teacher may be interested in how knowledge is passed down, and what information the culture might have that would be unknown to people of our world. Whether that’s how to keep a wild animal from charging you, to knowing how to forge a mineral that exists only in your world, being able to readily answer questions is generally considered to be a good thing.

Healer: There may be healing spells in your world, there may not, but most fantasy stories tend to involve either action or adventure, both of which tend to cause fights. And since fights tend to lead to injuries, it’s important to know what can and cannot be treated, and how readily available these healing abilities are to the public.

#world building #worldbuilding #fantasy writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing worldbuilding

5K notes · View notes

planetjisungie · 4 years

Text

NCT Dream reaction to S/O using British Slang

an; i could help myself im soRRY also im southern so some may not exist in the north? idk man im just vibing in London. side note, gifs have nothing to do w it i just like them 🥺 also i really wanted to put arkid in there but im not northern so i dont rly know how u guys use it

RENJUN

"fucking hell mate dont be such a wanker!" you groaned, banging your head against the car window. immediately following, you raised your fist in outright rage and aggressively moved your arm up and down. renjun, sat next to you gaped at the thick accent spewing the vulgarities. he was slightly surprised at the angry sounding outburst, even more so at the gesture you made afterwards.

"what did you say?" he leaned forwards, turning to you so you can translate it back into korean. at this, you fluster up slightly and swallow. how the fuck do you translate that?

"its— dont worry i dont think i can translate it" this would probably make renjun confused because what kind of thing would have had to have said for him not to understand?

"what does it mean then?"

"its just an insult"

LMAO after that day idk why but i can just see renjun bullying the poor dreamies with all these words that they don’t understand

JENO

"alright then you prick, just shove past me then. absolute bellend." you would sarcastically say after someone shoved between you and jeno, not even caring to apologise after knocking your phone out your hand.

jeno would get the insinuation of the insult, just from the pure malice and sarcasm that dripped off your words. he would also make one of his confused jeno sounds, helping you up as you picked your phone from the ground and made sure it wasnt broken. "huh? prick? bellend?" and then he would repeat the words, obviously not knowing what they mean.

"i— jeno, dont repeat anything i say from now on, okay?" you would look at him amused, from the cute korean accent as he tried to pronounce words that would just sound so very wrong when not said with a british/irish accent.

i feel like jeno would later on ask you what they mean with the intention to add them to a wordbank he uses to understand your small phrases, then probably get very confused when you explain the literal meaning of bellend. after that i dont see him using the words unless he makes it a habit of muttering them under his breath so its not embarrassing if he says it wrong yet he gets the satisfaction of cursing at someone with a word they dont know.

HAECHAN

"finally! scran!" you dashed towards your boyfriend that you would be eternally grateful for for bringing you snacks.

i feel like hyuck would be more confused than the profanities, because there really is no way to tell what scran meant with no underlying emotion. "scran? whats a scran?" he would probably think it was just a random word like yay until you would only just realise he didnt have a clue what you just said.

"scran means food babe"

for hyuck i doubt he would use the word scran again unless he was on a show and he suddenly remembers the word and just claps and points at the food like "ayyeee scrann"

JAEMIN

"this cake is pengers mate" you declare your love for the delicious spongey dessert while you eat it. jaemin just looked at you curiously while you ate. at first you would be self conscious from how hes literally just watching you eat, until you notice hes whipped out the english book where he writes all his new english words and was looking at you expectantly.

"so i know mate means friend in a casual way, what does pengers mean?"

then i feel like hed love the way you said it, then ask you to teach him more words like that. this would be when he finds the miraculous invention of ‘leng’ which baffles him because why the fuck would you need to use a word which means penger than peng? but then he would start using these words a lot, which would probably be cringey if it wasnt jaemin because im convinced he can do anything and it not be super cringey.

CHENLE

"y/n babe, have you seen jisung?"

"yes love, up the apples and pears"

😭man would be like?? excuse me??

"up the... up the apples and pears? are you feeling okay?" because he is actually pretty good at english he would obviously know what apples and pears are, the edible, tangible objects which grow on trees under the category of ‘fruit’. and jisung is too big to be inside a fruit.

"yeah, up the apples chenle, that is what i said" probably wouldnt hit you that he doesnt know what the fuck the apples and pears are considering all youve known is people knowing immediately what it means. "y/n...baby... what are the apples and pears? did jeno and jaemin feed you sugar cubes again?" he would halt his hunt for jisung and come sit next to you as you very slowly come to the realisation that he really doesnt know what the apples and pears are.

"oh shit! chenle im so sorry, the apples and pears is cockney rhyming slang for the stairs. jisung has gone upstairs"

after this i very much doubt chenle would use it, he would probably be reminded of it every time he saw stairs, an apple or a pear but i feel like cockney has to be said by the people who grew up saying it otherwise it doesnt sound right

JISUNG

"jisung sweets, you look knackered" your eyes scanned the tired boy who just walked into your room like a zombie and flopped onto the bed. he had just come back from dance practice, except the others came back 2 hours ago because jisung wanted to stay longer and perfect the routine.

i doubt the word would even register in jisungs mind until a few days later when he sees the word in an instagram comment. "y/n? what does n-n oh my god nevermind, what does this word mean" he would also probably give up on trying to pronounce it because literally fuck you english and your weird phonetics. so you would look over his shoulder to read the very familiar word with a hum.

"knackered? it means really tired or exhausted"

i dont think he would be using it ever again until he hears you say it a few more times incase he says it wrong. big babie can understand english but we know he worries about his speaking so would just listen to you say it before he even attempts to use it.

#nct #nct dream #jeno #lee jeno #jisung #jisung park #chenle #renjun #nct reactions #nct dream reactions #british slang #bri ish #jaemin #na jaemin #huang renjun #nct fluff

17 notes · View notes

ariarrietty · 4 years

Text

... Hi welcome to my first post. Guess I'll start by responding to a thing I was tagged in (I combined two of them actually) before I flood the rest off this blog with nonsense

Tagged by: @ibrithir-was-here

Name: Ariane (Hello)

Zodiac: Pisces, Rooster, & Ocelot 🐓

Favorite Musicians/Bands: Pomplamoose, Family Force 5, Imogen Heap

Fav Sports Team: The Fire Ferrets

Other Blogs: Instagram counts right? I have two of those... (twitter too, but not actively)

Do I get Asks? Sometimes on Facebook, but it usually takes me over a month to see them, so they remain ignored. Plus they're usually the "post a beautiful pic of yourself from your camera roll" verity. Not interested and my phone camera is garbage. (Besides, I don't need a trend-post to know I'm a catch 😏)

How many Blogs do I follow: 38 (tho only 6 are active 😅)

What I'm wearing: Leggings and a tunic/dress (comfy & classy)

Dream Vacation: hmmm... prettymuch anywhere not in America tbh. My only out-of-country experience so far was Kyiv Ukrane. Even just waking around was incredible! (America is such a baby country, our culture and architecture is kinda boring.) The only specific "bucket-list" location tho is to visit The Louvre.

Dream Car: Mini Cooper 🚙

Favorite Food: Toast. I eat it almost every day. I take the phrase "best thing since toast" very seriously. Also raspberries.

Drink of Choice: Lemonade 🍋

Languages: English and Southern (when accents/slang get think enough, it's like another language)

Celebrity Crush: Matthew Bomer (because of Neil Caffrey's impeccable clothing taste and artistic ability)

Random Fact: I might be ace, but I don't really feel the need to officially identify because I don't care that much.

Top 3 Ships: eh... that's a hard one for me.

- Adrian x Marrinette (Miraculous Ladybug) except I'm having second thoughts with the newest season because those children are a mess!

- Rian x Deet (the Dark Crystal Age of Resistance) they deserve all the hugs!

- Amaya x Janai (The Dragon Prince) those two... they're just such a power couple!

Lipstick or Chapstick: Chapstick always. But only if its medicated, otherwise it's a useless tube of flavored wax.

Last Movie: Knives Out! (Refreshingly original and surprisingly unpredictable, I quite enjoyed it)

Reading/Playing: I'm never not playing Animal Crossing (the new one is just...👌🏻) And audiobooks are like air for me. I'm nearly finished with The Return of the King.

Three Random things that make me happy: ah, so many things. It was hard to narrow:

- First and foremost is my Family. They may drive me to frustration sometimes, but at the end of the day I know I'll always have them.

- More trivial things that I love: Tea (everything: tea parties, tea cups, tea dresses, tea cakes, etc) I've started a teapot collection, it might just be a problem.

- Lastly (and the best remedy for chilly evenings) Dryer-warmed blankets ♡

People I'm tagging: no one because I'm anti-social like that 🤷🏻‍♀️

#how do tags even work #first post #and its not a reblog #Original Post #thanks for tagging me!

2 notes · View notes

blackpoliglota · 4 years

Text

⚜️Laissez les bons temps rouler⚜️

I just love this photo. In the words of my cousin Toosie: “It’s SO New Orleans!” Haha, but in all seriousness, if I had to choose one photo to describe my hometown It’d be this one above. In all the cities I’ve traveled to, I have yet to come across a place where you hear live music on every other street corner. Yeah some cities may have blocks and blocks of houses painted in bright, lively colors... and some cities may even have their own unique cuisine to offer! But no city – and I mean NO CITY – comes alive with music and dance like New Orleans!

This quarantine period has me seriously missing my city, making me WISH I took the chance to fly from Madrid back home before we hit beaucoup case numbers! I mean, I was missing it before... but now? MY LORDT!!!

As a means of quelling my yearning for Nola (”New Orleans, LA” for short), I’ve decided to dedicate this post to some terms and phrases influenced by (mainly) French that we still use today – New Orleans slang, if you will.

“Beaucoup”

I don’t know if any of you caught my usage of this word earlier in the post (it’s bolded and italicized), but this word is an actual French word for “much” / “many”. We always use it in a negative context to express an overwhelming amount of something, and it’s always placed in front of the the noun it’s describing, as in French.

Ex. “Stop bothering me boy; you know I got beaucoup things to do!”

“Banquette”

This is a diminutive of the French word “banc”, which means “bench”. However, somehow throughout the history of language exchange it came to mean “sidewalk”. In fact, my mom, her parents and her siblings used to use this word all of the time.

Ex. “Stay on the front yard, and don’t go past the banquette.”

“Bayou”

Coming from the Choctaw word “bayuk”, this word has transitioned into Louisiana French (also known as Louisiana Creole) as the bolded and italicized word you see above. It refers to a slow-moving body of water found in swamps.

“Bébé”

This is the French word for “baby”. Now we don’t go around spelling “baby” like it’s French counterpart, but I wrote it like this because this is how we pronounce the word. When pronounced like this, it’s more often than not used as a term of endearment for everybody – and I mean EVERYBODY. Doesn’t matter your age, gender, life experience; when you come down here get used to being called bébé, because that’s the only thing we’ll call you by. But no worries! That just means we actually like you!

“Cajun”

Having been derived from the word “Acadien” (French demonym), this term was once used to name the French Acadians who escaped British rule in Canada by emigrating to mainly Southwest Louisiana; now we use use it to refer to the descendants of those people. We also use this term in tandem with food, music and other cultural aspects that came from the Acadians and their descendants.

Ex. “How do you expect me to survive without my cajun spices!? I can’t eat anything unless I have my spices!”

“Do-do / Dodo”

***Pronounced like “DOUGH-DOUGH”

Some of you may remember this word from my Stromae post! This term is derived from the French verb “dormir” or “to sleep”, but is also used as a verb to mean “sleep”. I first learned of this word from a lullaby my mom would sing to all of her children, and even her grandchildren. My older brother used to say it to my nieces when they were infants:

Ex. “Okay y’all, time to go do-do.”

“Fais do-do”

Yet another word from the Stromae post! It actually means “go to sleep”, but it’s transitioned to Louisiana Creole to refer to a (usually) Southern Louisiana Saturday night dancing event for adults, an event during which children were supposed to be asleep.

“Lagniappe”

Derived from the Spanish “la ñapa” (”a little extra of something”), this is a Louisiana Creole term that shares the meaning with its predecessor. Fun fact: a middle school Louisiana history textbook of mine would have lagniappes off to side of some pages in each chapter that displayed some extra information related to that chapter’s theme.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

Aaaah the title of this post. This is our city’s motto that can be heard at literally any event, whether it be a neighborhood second-line, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a Saints football game, etc. It means “ʼLet the good times roll”.

“Let me learn you something–”

This is an older saying – therefore not heard as much these days – that my mom, her siblings, parents, etc. would say to each other whenever they needed to address/clarify something in an assertive manner. Due to the combination of this phrasing being more associated with something that’d come out of the mouth of a Black person and it not being the standard way of signaling that something needs to be addressed, it’s considered “bad English”... which it isn’t since there’s no such thing as “bad English”, but I’ll get into this on another post. ANYWAY, I included this expression because I came across it’s French counterpart in one of my French textbooks about a year ago: “apprendre quelque chose à quelqu’un”, which literally means “to learn something to someone”! To those who may be confused on how to interpret the meaning of this expression: the standard version is “Let me tell you something–”. I’ve yet to find anything on the internet to properly connect the English expression in bold and the French expression, but I find it hard to believe that the English expression would not have resulted from language contact, like several words in this list thus far.

Ex. A: “I can’t BELIEVE you told them something that was supposed to stay between us!”

B: “Let me learn you something: I’m not a blabber-mouth like a certain person, so whoever told your little secret is clearly someone who was eavesdropping.”

“Making groceries”

This is a Cajun English expression that was directly translated from the French phrase “faire l’épicerie”.

Ex. “I have to make groceries, so I’ll be out for a little while.”

“Mardi Gras”

Y’all should know what this is already... but if you don’t!

Literally meaning “Fat Tuesday”, Mardi Gras is carnaval season for us Louisianians. It always occurs on the Tuesday before the Lent season begins, which is on Ash Wednesday, hence the name Fat TUESDAY. Now as far as the FAT part goes: “carnaval” means “to flesh, farewell”. The purpose of carnaval is for practicing Christians to eat as much of the food they’d give up for Lent as possible, this food being meat or “flesh”. So it’s during Mardi Gras season when we break out all of the flavorful, fattening Louisiana dishes, especially our very own King Cake!

Fun Fact: this picture was from my birthday last year, which was on Mardi Gras Day, so naturally I had a King Cake for my birthday!

“Nainain” & “Parrain”

This isn’t as much of a trend anymore, but when my mom and her siblings were growing up they would call their godmother and godfather “nainain” and ”parrain” respectively. These two French terms are the direct translations of their English counterparts.

“Praline”

The name for this sweet treat made out of pure diabetes – yet still irresistible – comes from the Frenchman who created this sugary goodness, a Monsieur César, duc de Chioseul, or better-known as Le Maréchal du Plessis-Praslin.

According to Wikipedia there are 3 types of pralines??? Which I didn’t know was a thing. What I also didn’t know was a thing was that the praline mixture is more commonly used to fill chocolates out here in Europe... we just straight up eat pralines as they are in Louisiana, haha!

“Vieux Carré”

And last but not least! This is French for “Old Square”, the name that refers to the most exciting part of New Orleans: The French Quarter. Yes peeps, this is where you can find the famous(ly overrated) Bourbon Street, wedding second-lines, Café du Monde, po-boys, etc. Fun Fact: the exit sign we have i the city that directs us straight to the French Quarter is still called the “Vieux Carré” Exit!

Congratulations for reaching the end of this crazy-long post! I wasn’t expecting it to get this long... but I’m not upset! If anything, this post did its job: help quell my yearning for my city. Hopefully you can take away some new knowledge about my city and my heritage; I had a lot of fun making this post!! There are loads more of terms, names, etc. that I could have added to this post, but I figured I should just cap it at where we’re at. As always, if there are any questions, feel free to send me asks! Sources are under the cut, so click “Keep Reading” below if you’d like to learn more about Nola. Cheers!

Brass Band Photo: https://unsplash.com/photos/sEoR_ea8KoE

King Cake Photo: Mine!

Praline Photo: https://bernardscandy.com/product/original-pralines/

Louisiana Terms and Definitions:

http://www.experienceneworleans.com/glossary.html

https://www.crt.state.la.us/tourism/pressroom/almanac/glossary-of-louisiana-terms/index

https://www.wordreference.com

https://www.google.com

“Carnaval” Term Folk Etymology: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carnaval

“Praline” Term Etymology and History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praline

#French #Français #Vocabulary #Vocabulaire #Grammar #Grammaire #Colloquialisms #Black Linguist #NOLA in the house #⚜️⚜️⚜️#Langblr #Studyblr #Original Post

2 notes · View notes

kcwcommentary · 5 years

Text

VLD7x05 – “The Ruins”

7x05 – “The Ruins”

With the Paladin roster finalized as Keith in Black, Lance in Red, and Allura in Blue, and Shiro in nothing, and with the death of Zarkon, the title sequence for this show is antiquated. It now functions at the start of every episode as a reminder of what the show used to be. The opening title sequence for a show should always be a statement about what the show is, but this sequence is so far from what the show has become. The title sequence not matching the current content of the show highlights how the show has lost its sense of direction.

I like the first shot of this episode in that the nebula is pretty, the smallness of the Lions creates some of a sense of immensity for space. I don’t like the white trails behind the Lions though. They’re not shown to be moving through anything, so what’s creating the white trails behind them?

Hunk’s sleeping, and Keith yells, “Everybody up!”

Pidge is dreaming about getting “only [a] 99 on the test.” I guess some people – I’ll say Mitch Iverson, since he wrote this episode – think grade anxiety is funny. Grade anxiety comes from a lack of parental support. A kid thinks they have to earn the absolute highest grades possible to be able to keep their parent(s) from criticizing them, emotionally abandoning them, or even at the most extreme physically abusing them. Pidge has always had endless support from her family, so having her demonstrate having grade anxiety reveals this show sees intelligence as a caricature. The creators of this show, or at least the writer of this episode, included grade anxiety without having even a basic understanding of what it is. They just thought it’s funny how some clearly intelligent people are scared of not getting perfect grades. They’re mocking people with grade anxiety, not revealing character with Pidge.

Lance and Allura want to sleep some more. Romelle’s sideways on her bed, foot on the wall, head hanging off the side: her posture made me genuinely laugh.

Everyone except for Keith and Krolia have been sleeping. Keith says, “We can’t let this long journey make us soft or dull our skills.” It’s obnoxious for this show to have Keith equate the need for sleep with weakness. They have all been through really stressful events, it makes sense that they need to rest and recover.

Shiro speaks (what? he’s still a character on this show?). “Keith’s right. Routine is what got me through being Zarkon’s prisoner and being in the infinite void of the Black Lion.” What!? Having a routine can be very useful, but neither of Shiro’s citations are instances in which he created a routine for himself. Shiro was a prisoner. Prisoners don’t manage their time, those who imprison them do. If he had a routine while imprisoned, while having to literally fight for his survival, then it was because the routine was imposed on him by the Galra. As for being in the Black Lion’s psychic space, what exactly was that routine? Literally, what actions is he supposed to have done while disembodied and existing in endlessness? This line written for Shiro is ridiculous.

Keith won’t even give the other Paladins a chance to wake up, he’s already calling or them to conduct battle simulations. Krolia has programmed a new one. I still don’t feel that she’s earned the prominence this show is giving her character. She presents the challenge. “You’re on a planet with double gravity—” what does that even mean? double what? double Earth’s gravity? “—dense volcanic fog, and eight [some kind of] raptors are attacking. What do you do?” Keith thinks that “this is a good one.”

What’s the mission objective that’s supposed to be at the center of this simulation? They’re on a planet and local lifeforms are attacking. Okay, why are they on the planet? If the challenge is solely to survive the creatures, then just leave the planet.

One of the raptors latches onto the Yellow Lion, and Krolia yells, “A [whatever kind of] raptor just melted your face off, Hunk!” Krolia has not earned the position of integration into the group that she’s being written to have. It makes her presumptuous. I guess the personalities being demonstrated in this scene are supposed to make Krolia and Keith look like badass personality types, but it doesn’t work for me.

Krolia says, “Now it’s eight-on-four,” and Hunk quietly replies, “That’s fine by me. I’m eating.” If you’ve read much of my commentaries, you’ll know that I usually have a big problem with how this show writes Hunk and food, but I like his response here. I don’t blame him one bit. Hunk, you go get yourself some food.

The planet weirdly shoots like twenty-foot wide columns of lava hundreds of feet up into the air. It looks silly to me. Keith orders everyone to “split up to thin their numbers.” For a story that’s supposed to be about the development of a team, these guys don’t really work as a team often. If you’re being attacked, you have greater safety and defense as a group. That’s why a lot of animals have herds or flocks or schools. Separating from one another makes the group weaker. This is not good leadership or tactics. Keith gets hit by an energy blast from one of the raptors. What is with this show having so many animals that can emit weapons blasts?

For a place that has “thick volcanic fog,” as Krolia said and Pidge now repeats, they all can see really well. Does this show know what the word “fog” means? Pidge says that the raptors “must use some form of thermal vision to see us.” Again, this environment has been depicted as having high visibility, not any kind of fog, so the raptors could see just like the Paladins can. But also, if they use “thermal vision” on this volcanic planet, then the raptors would have a hard time seeing. Unless this show is making up something else with its use of the term “thermal vision,” what is being referenced is the ability to see into the infrared spectrum of light. Things that are warm radiate light in the infrared portion of the spectrum. If we humans could see infrared light, every time we looked at another person, they would be glowing. I like the idea of the show presenting creatures that see more of the spectrum that humans can, but what Pidge says here doesn’t make sense. She’s presenting the idea of the raptors having “thermal vision,” as their natural ability to see, that it’s somehow supposed to be an adaptation to living in “volcanic fog.” But if the raptors see infrared, then the heat of the “volcanic fog” would inhibit that vision. And the heat of the lava on the ground would be blinding. This show really cannot do science.

Lance says, “Maybe I can lure them away with my heat-rays.” Have the raptors been distracted by the large, hot plumes of lava that jet up off the surface? No? Then they wouldn’t care about Red’s fire cannon either. But Lance blasts some rock with his fire cannon, and the raptors fly off to check it out. It’s senseless, and thus contrived.

Allura, Lance, and Pidge all get taken out simultaneously by a lava plume. Krolia chastises them for having “focused too much on the raptors and forgot about the volcano.” I still don’t like Krolia. She says, “I programmed the simulator to be unbeatable. I wanted to see how long you survived.” In other words, Krolia wasn’t trying to help them with training whatsoever. This wasn’t designed for them to learn anything, not new skills, not something about their character, nothing. Krolia was just being a troll. She and Keith woke up people who needed rest in order to mess with them.

Hunk is making burritos. He packages six of them, ties them around the space wolf, who teleports them to the others. Krolia and Keith each get one. The wolf gives Alura, Romelle and Coran each one. Then suddenly, the wolf’s bundle has more than what Hunk put in it. Pidge takes two, one for her and one for Shiro. That leaves one for Lance. I guess this counts as an animation error? Hunk only put six in the bundle, but there are eight given out. Team Voltron kind of discuss the wolf, nothing that explains the wolf’s narrative importance or reason for being included in the show or anything, but his name. Hunk suggests “Cosmo.” Keith objects to the name, “I figure when he’s ready, he’ll tell me his name.” Does Keith actually think the wolf is going to talk? Keith lived with this wolf for two years while in the quantum abyss, and he hasn’t named him yet? Who has a pet for two years and doesn’t name them?

Lance likes the way the burritos taste but doesn’t want to know what’s in them, saying, “I just want to eat it and pretend that it’s my meemaw’s home cooking.” Lance is supposed to be Cuban. Why is he calling his grandmother “meemaw?” The best I can tell, Meemaw is a southern United States thing, and I’ve seen one suggestion that it’s derived from French through Cajun culture. Why is a Cuban guy using Cajun or southern United States slang for his grandmother? As a Cuban guy, wouldn’t Lance call his grandmother Abuela?

Pidge picks up a signal that she only identifies as, “a signal!” Allura reacts with, “How did you get a signal?” Unless the Lions’ communication systems are broken or the rest of the inhabitants of the universe, including all the Galra, ceased to exist, the Lions should be getting more than a few signals. Getting any particular one they’re looking for is different, but the idea that it’s such a surprise for them to have picked up any signal at all is absurd. What is the signal? A television show from Bii-Boh-Bi’s planet. Bii-Boh-Bi is not and never has been funny, can the show please stop using him and his species? Please!? Team Voltron watching the show goes on for far too long.

There is what Pidge thinks is some interference in the signal, but Krolia – because of course it’s Krolia because why have the main characters have any importance in this show when you can instead give the importance and time to a side character like Krolia – can tell that it’s not interference. She has Pidge “amplify that signal.” She then listens to it with her eyes closed. Pidge says that it’s “just deep space interference.” Krolia says that that is “just what it’s supposed to sound like. Listen to the sounds in between the pulses. There’s a unique pattern.” Only after Krolia says this does the sound design for the show actually start including a specific beep to correspond with what Krolia is identifying. That beep did not exist in the sound until after she says so. That seems like bad sound design to me; the beep should have been there the whole time.

Krolia says, “Before the Blades were unified, we would use this crude way of communicating with each other.” Uh, when were the Blades not unified? Is this some undetailed period of the Blades’ history that the show hasn’t ever presented? Why am I expecting this show to have anything be deeper than the shallow instantaneous and fleeting use of anything just because it suits the individual moment of its usage? “Not many Blades know this code,” she says. “It must be a senior member.” I guess that means that she’s also supposed to be a senior member?

She says it’s a distress signal. They trace the signal to a specific area, which Hunk says is “a pretty severe detour from Earth.” So severe that it lasts only this one episode. So, yeah, not severe at all. Dialog like Hunk’s has no meaning, no impact on the story. It’s not like diverting to check out this signal will make them late to Earth and something bad will happen while they’re on this detour. The bad thing that’s happened to Earth has already happened because of the time jump (I’m still significantly annoyed by the time jump’s plot hole).

Cut to the Lions arriving at the planet where the signal’s coming from. That was such a big detour that it happened instantly. The planet is one of the most ludicrous planets this show has done. Like, it’s bad even for this show. It’s maybe the size of an asteroid, but it’s jagged and has weird holes and slopes. This show doesn’t even try, does it? Pidge says there are signs of a former civilization, but no signs of life. There are broken buildings. Team Voltron walks around – remember how the space wolf was injured and that’s why he supposedly couldn’t help Coran two episodes ago, well that’s resolved with no resolution.

Krolia says, “The signs are all around us. There was a massacre here.” This episode is really giving Krolia a disproportionately large amount of the script. It’s just so frustrating for a side character to be given so much screen-time, but main characters, like Shiro are nearly non-existent.

Allura says, “Some of this damage looks like it’s from magic.” What does that even mean? What are the characteristics of building damage that indicate it comes from magic? Ultimately, this line from Allura is leading. The show knows that the villain of the episode is one of Haggar’s Druids, so it has Allura make this comment to foreshadow that. Allura saying this right now though feels totally forced and manufactured.

Krolia says that some of the “strike patterns,” scratches in the rock, “look Mamoran.” If this signal is supposed to be a Mamoran signal, then is it a surprise that they might have gotten into a fight here? I know this episode thinks it’s setting up some mystery, but it doesn’t feel mysterious.

The space wolf growls and runs off and tackles someone to the ground. Keith yells at the guy, asking, “Who are you? Who’s broadcasting the signal?” Why does Keith assume this guy knows anything about the signal? Oh yeah, because characters make whatever assumptions the writers need them to, rather than behaving in a way that’s actually natural.

The guy says that he’s the one who’s broadcasting it, and Keith replies, “Impossible! You’re not Blade of Marmora!” What is Keith basing that on? Keith doesn’t know every Blade in the universe. If he’s basing it solely on the clothing the guy is wearing, then that’s senseless. Keith’s a member of the Blades, but he’s not wearing a Blade uniform currently. Krolia’s a Blade, but she’s not wearing a Blade uniform right now either. Why would Keith assume this guy couldn’t be a Blade? Again, it’s the writer leading the story, rather than the story unfolding in a natural way. The writer knows that this isn’t a Blade, so I guess it’s supposed to be foreshadowing. It gives the writing an unnatural, jerky development.

They let him up, and he takes them to his campfire. Romelle calls the location of what looks like someone struggling to survive “disgusting.” Good to know that her experience hasn’t changed her pampered, privileged mindset. At least she gets called out on her insult. She tries to cover, but it’s obnoxious. “‘Disgusting’ is Altean for lovely. You don’t speak Altean, do you?” She could have been written to recognize her privilege and apologize for her insult, but no. I don’t like Krolia, and I don’t like Romelle either. Ugh.

Pidge confirms the signal is from here. The masked guy reveals he knows they’re the Paladins of Voltron. Shiro asks him what happened here. The masked guy, with an ominous voice, says, “Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here.” I actually kind of like this line and how he sounds saying it. It actually has some creepiness to it. He identifies himself as Macidus and says that this is his home planet and that he’s the only one left alive here.

Krolia finds a not-really concealed set of blades from Blades of Marmora. She immediately turns her gun on him. He says he has them arranged as they are “in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.” Knowing that he’s eventually revealed to be a Druid, he’s not exactly lying in saying that, the Blades were trying to protect the universe from people like him.

Macidus tells them how this all started when Voltron disappeared. He says that the “power vacuum that ensued destabilized much of the universe.” That again makes Voltron’s turn against Lotor look totally short-sighted. The problem I have with this is that, while this does reveal consequences to the Paladins’ actions, I never get a sense of them actually taking responsibility for those consequences.

Allura asks, “what happened to Haggar, the witch,” and Macidus says, “no one knows, but her Druids continued her work.” What work is that? This is a big part of my dislike of Haggar: Whatever she does off-screen that’s supposed to be so villainous is almost never shown. What her goals are for these actions are not revealed. We know that Honerva was obsessed with quintessence, and that drove her to poisoning herself. We know she would create Robeasts to attack Voltron, but that was mostly in support of Zarkon and his dictatorship. We know she used the komar (are we to assume there was ever only one komar?) to extract quintessence from the life on planets, but we only ever see that done once. We know she had a particular interest in Shiro – “You could have been our greatest weapon,” she said to him in 1x13 “The Black Paladin – but we have no idea why she was interested in him or what she was planning in thinking of him as a weapon. Are we supposed to think that she was just accumulating miscellaneous weapons? It’s not like Voltron had reemerged at the point she had started thinking of Shiro as a weapon, so with the Galra dominating the universe, what were the Galra lacking that meant they needed more weapons? We know she oversaw the clone program, but there was never anything that suggested the Druids were involved with that; instead, it seemed more like that was a secret side project she had. And we never are given an explanation as to why she was having so many Shiro clones produced.

So, Voltron has been missing for three years. Haggar hasn’t been seen in that time either. Given season eight, we’re supposed to understand that during these three years, she found Lotor’s colony hidden in the quantum abyss, establishing a relationship with the Alteans there, hyping them up into a vengeful fury against Voltron for killing Lotor, and using whatever powers she gained from killing the White Lion in Oriande searches through all the other realities to find one that she thinks of as being perfect? I guess I’ll get to all that when I get to those episodes, but the topic of who’s the show’s antagonist is a topic relevant to now. Once we get to Earth and dealing with the invasion and occupation there, Sendak becomes the primary antagonist. But Sendak has always only been a secondary antagonist. That’s one of the many weaknesses of the story in season seven. The villains are shallow. Ezor and Zethrid were villains for two episodes because they wanted power. Sendak wants to conquer and dominate. Haggar is off-screen, at best, only slightly coming into play with the Altean-controlled mecha at the end of season. There is no character motivation grounding the antagonism of the conflict of the season. That’s not to say the show has ever been all that great at having compelling villains because it hasn’t, but at least in the first two seasons Zarkon and Haggar worked as foils for Shiro and Allura. There was a character connection there. And as much as I hate that they played the Lotor’s-secretly-been-a-villain-all-along absurdity for seasons three through six, at least he was emotionally connected to Allura. But here in season seven, anyone that can be identified as the antagonist could be easily replaced by any other character and things are really still the same. Consider this season’s story, but instead of Sendak, it’s another Galra like Ranveig or Gnov from back in season five. The story doesn’t change whatsoever. Sendak behaves the same as every other villainous Galra.

Macidus says that Haggar’s final order to the Druids was to destroy the Blades of Marmora. Another problem with this is we don’t know anything about the Druids. Who are they? Why are they Druids? How are they Druids? They all use magic, so do they come by that magic on their own, and in demonstrating magic are recruited by Haggar into the Druids? Or does Haggar teach them magic after they join the Druids? Part of me kind of likes the Druids because they’re differentiated from regular Galra, but I find them frustrating because they don’t feel like characters. They’re masks and magic, and that’s it.

Pidge says, “After Lotor took over the throne, almost every Mamoran agent was exposed.” They were? This supposedly-multiple-millennia old covert organization failed to maintain their cover because Lotor became Emperor? This is a huge deal that’s never come up before. Did the Blades suddenly become incompetent when Lotor became Emperor? I could understand maybe Kolivan became exposed because he was broadcasting his face all over the universe when communicating with the Voltron Coalition, but every other Blade took explicit measures to conceal their identities. How were they exposed? This does not make sense.

Macidus says that “all Blades were called from their assignments and sent to this base. Kolivan knew they were being hunted and wanted to make a stand against them.” Are we to assume that the Druids were just so good at magic that the Blades’ covert methods were no protection? The Blades could conceal their existence for thousands of years, but now for no reason they couldn’t? Maybe this is the problem with all this story being told through exposition. None of the logistics of this have been thought through by the creative team.

Macidus continues, “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base.” So, Kolivan wanted a base for the Blades to be able to defend against Druid attacks, and he chose an inhabited planet? I know Macidus is spinning a tale here, but thinking of it logistically, this planet has been established as having once had a civilization on it. Unfortunately, this means that once again this show reduces the concept of a civilization to a few hundred people and one city – they did it with Arus, they did it with the mermaids, they did it with Taujeerians, it also feels like they did it with the Olkari. The population of planets in this show are unbelievably too low.

“The Druids […] arrived without warning.” How were there no monitoring systems for this planet or from the Blades? Throughout human history, we monitor the borders of our respective territories, but not here.

The conflict was supposedly a long one. Casidus refers to it as “a long battle of attrition.” I guess. “Casualties on both sides were enormous.” There have only ever been a handful of Druids in this show. So, these enormous casualties had to have just been regular Galra. This show has had the Paladins blow up a lot of Galra, so this “both sides” crap feels manipulative. But then, Macidus is being manipulative, but his ruse should be such that he doesn’t care about the Druid+Galra side. Is this supposed to be another hint that Macidus is not who he’s pretending to be? The Druids have never been shown to care about Galra death before; like with Haggar, the Galra have always seemed as nothing more than pawns for them to use. I can’t believe that Macidus now cares about the Galra who died under his command.

“My people were the first to try to escape,” and they’re shown running through the city streets. I thought this was supposed to have been a war of attrition? That would require the Blades and this planet’s people to have hunkered down in a strong defensive situation. That’s antithetical to escaping. Macidus says he stayed behind with Kolivan, who “led those of us who remained to battle the last of the Druids, but for each one we were able to take down, nearly a hundred Blades would fall.” Again, there have only been a handful of Druids in this show. Allura, Kolivan, and Antok – just the three of them – were able to kill two Druids while also fighting Haggar in 2x13 “Blackout.” So, the Druids are more powerful now without Haggar than they were when they literally fought alongside her? I know that Macidus is spinning a tale, but is any of what he’s saying supposed to be considered accurate? And if it’s not, if this is all a total lie, then this episode is giving way too damn much time to his telling this tale. You don’t write a character to tell a tale like this unless most, if not all, of it is true. This conflict between the Druids and the Blades feels totally disproportionate to what we’ve seen of both Druid and Blade in the past.

Krolia can apparently “recognize every one of these blades.” She’s got a really good memory then. “I trained many of them myself.” This makes her character feel even more over-important than she’s felt already. Kolivan’s blade momentarily glows. I thought a blade only glowed for its owner. I guess the way the blades function for the Blades of Marmora is another instance of the show’s magic system never being defined. Krolia concludes that Kolivan must be still alive, and Macidus, with the cliché voice of an 80s villain, says, “Just barely.”

Surprise everyone! Isn’t everyone surprised? Macidus has tricked you all!

“Your hand is looking much better,” Macidus says to Keith, referencing way back to 1x12 “Collection and Extraction,” when Keith’s hand was injured fighting the Druid and was healed when quintessence accidentally splashed on it. That happened so long ago that it feels, not like a long-range plan for the story, but like someone in the writing staff went back and rewatched the first season and realized they never really explained that moment in that episode.

“You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in,” Keith says. Thank you for stating the obvious, Keith. The Druid cackles like an empty, cliché villain. He teleports away, and in his place a grenade falls to the ground. Krolia yells, “No!” in slow motion as it explodes. It’s silly. The space wolf teleports to Keith and teleports him away from the explosion. The explosion creates a pink bubble of energy, and everyone is stopped inside it. I guess it’s some kind of time-stop bomb?

Keith, the wolf, and the Druid are in some tunnels. Keith and the wolf initially just walk off to the side, but then are suddenly underneath the platform the Druid is walking on. I guess the Druid is just assuming that his bomb took out everyone? Despite the thin, wooden walkway he’s clomping across, the Druid stops because he hears something somehow over his loud footsteps. I guess maybe he magically sensed something since magic is whatever the writers want it to be at any given moment in this show. A canister rolls out of nowhere, and the Druid zaps it with purple lightning and walks away. Keith turns around, and boom, the Druid is behind him and stabs down through the platform. His aim with the stab is not even remotely accurate though. I guess he’s supposed to have teleported to behind Keith after having walked away. It feels more like a fake gotcha moment.

The space wolf teleports Keith away. The Druid follows. Keith slashes at the Druid’s mask, and it breaks and falls away, revealing the Druid’s face. He doesn’t look Galra to me. He has no nose and circular ears. I don’t know if he and/or the Druids are supposed to be Galra or what. He screams and attacks. Keith fights using his Marmoran blade rather than his bayard. It makes me think of how Keith gets two weapons while Shiro gets none.

A ball of energy starts to glow in Allura’s hand, and then that quick piece of a scene cuts back to Keith. The Druid keeps teleporting after Keith, Keith and the wolf run and teleport. By happenstance, Keith and the wolf end up in a room where Kolivan is suspended by ropes from the ceiling.

The Druid arrives, and complains, “Our high priestess Haggar has forsaken us because of your treachery. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return.” Because the show does not show us her “forsak[ing]” the Druids, this is mostly just confusing. We’re not told or shown any specifics of what happened. Did Haggar tell the Druids off? Did she just disappear? Both could be considered her having “forsaken” them, but they’re still very different. Macidus seems to connect, I guess, the Paladins’ killing Lotor to Haggar’s leaving. I guess Haggar’s supposed to have blamed Voltron for it, but we’ve never seen anything to show what Haggar knows about Lotor’s death. The last we saw of Haggar was in 6x05 “The Black Paladins” when Lotor told her off, Axca tried to shoot her, and Haggar teleported away. Is it supposed to be that Haggar irrationally blames the Paladins for the emotional rift she created when she abused Lotor? If Haggar has forsaken the Druids, if they haven’t seen her for years, then how does Macidus think he’ll be able to present his having killed the Paladins to her? I imagine the show would just say, he’s a villain, he’s not thinking clearly, thus nothing has to make sense within the narrative. That’s just lazy writing.

The Keith-wolf-Macidus teleport battle resumes. Allura’s ball of energy glows blue, the air swirls around them, and then poof. The sphere of pink energy disappears and Allura is left glowing pink. I guess she’s supposed to have absorbed the time-stop energy? Allura asks Pidge to “lock on to Keith’s location,” and conveniently, he’s “right directly below us.” Allura slams her hand into the ground, which cracks underneath her. She blasts through to the chamber Keith is in. I guess the blast vaporized all the rock because there’s almost no debris. The other Paladins join Allura in jumping down into the chamber. They fight Macidus, and he knocks them around too easily. Again, I think back to Allura, Kolivan, and Antok killing two Druids while those Druids fought alongside Haggar, and that makes Macidus seem overpowered. He teleports behind Allura and zaps her unconscious.

Macidus looks at Keith and teleports away. Keith then closes his eyes, somehow sees flashes of where Macidus is (if he’s invisible) or will be (if he finishes a teleport to wherever he’s going to appear). Keith throws his blade at where Macidus appears, hitting him. What is this power? Since when does Keith have magic sensing powers?

Macidus has a couple of blue lightning sparks and then he glows and explodes. The other Druids we’ve seen killed didn’t explode like this, so what’s causing this other than inconsistent writing and production?

They get Kolivan down. He’s injured, but alive and will recover. We find out now that Keith gave Kolivan the coordinates of the Altean colony. Why this hasn’t been brought up before now, I don’t know. Kolivan says he “sent a team. There was nothing there, just an empty facility.” Keith would have had to have given Kolivan the coordinates sometime between the end of 6x02 “Razor’s Edge” and the beginning of 6x04 “The Colony” because he was too busy with fighting the clone and Lotor after “The Colony.” Did Kolivan sit on the information until sometime after Voltron was under the effects of the time skip during the battle with Lotor (again, ignoring the plot hole that Coran, Krolia, Romelle, and the clone would have experienced the three years that passed outside the rift since the Castle Ship never went in)? When did Haggar collect the Alteans from the colony?

I know throughout the entirety of this episode’s commentary, I’ve put a lot of work into trying to understand the logistics of events that are only halfway referenced, at best, and take place entirely off-screen. I have probably put more work into understanding this than the creative team did in writing it. I really doubt that any of them cared if any of this really made sense or not. Keith got to have a supposedly exciting fight alongside his magic space wolf, that’s all that mattered to them, really.

Kolivan says that he has to “find the others. The universe needs us now more than ever.” So, did any of the battle that Macidus described in his tale even happen? Or did he only capture Kolivan and lure other Blades to this location one-by-one to kill them? The show is not clear about what has actually happened.

Krolia declares she’ll join Kolivan to help rebuild the Blades of Marmora. At least she won’t be here to take up so much of the story for a while. She goes to Keith and says, “I’m sorry to have to say goodbye to you for a second time.” Yeah, remember when she revealed herself as his mother back in 5x05 “Bloodlines” when she couldn’t control herself in the moment and said, “I left you once. I’ll never leave you again,” remember that? Yeah, that overwhelming amount of emotion that got to her in that moment no longer exists. She’s going to leave Keith. I don’t mind her leaving (beyond my being tired of her character) because they’re both adults and they’re both fighters in a huge conflict. But her leaving here makes her previous proclamation that she would “never leave [him] again” lose meaning. It takes away whatever emotion that part of the story had. It makes her declaration hollow. Once again, this show has flipped a switch narratively, and things are just different now just because. Keith gives her his Marmoran blade, and they hug. “Thanks for everything you taught me, Mom,” Keith says. Of course, we have no idea what any of these supposed things she taught him are since almost all of their relationship has happened off-screen.

“Keith, it’s time to get going,” Shiro says. Oh? Shiro’s still in this show? Of course, the show would have it be Shiro to be the one to interrupt Keith and his mother’s moment. And why are the Paladins so eager to leave right this very minute? I know they want to get to Earth, but they’re all still in the decompression phase of this conflict with Macidus. This separation feels forced.

Krolia and Keith tell each other they love each other then cut to the Lions flying away from the planet.

I like the premise of this episode. I like bringing the Druids back into the story, but that’s mostly because the show has never treated the Druids like characters and I’ve always wanted to learn more about them. While we get a Druid as an actual character in this episode, because of his lying, we have no idea what he says is true and what he says is a lie. We still don’t have any sense of the actual organizational relationship between Haggar and the Druids.

This episode having Macidus be the specific Druid that Keith fought in “Collection and Extraction,” while kind of cool to have a reference back to that early in the show, it reminds me about Keith’s hand seemingly being healed by the quintessence. If quintessence, and not Allura’s generated quintessence, but the refined quintessence ripped from living creatures can heal wounds, then how is quintessence a substance that poisons people so that they lose control of themselves? So, unfortunately, this episode just leaves me with more questions than it answered.

While I spent a lot of time trying to understand the logistics of off-screen events, and I don’t think much of it makes sense, and I know that a lot of my questions have no answers because the show’s creative team never thought to have answers for them, this episode is still way better than the past three.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 7 #vld 7x05 #commentary

48 notes · View notes