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vvanessaives · 11 months

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3, 4, 9, 17 for ves and nix ‼️‼️‼️

more clownery from the two clowns :)

ask game

3. By contrast, what was the moment that first made their ~heart~ Soft for the other person? Not necessarily a conscious realization of “I love this person,” but a moment that had them like “Oh…I adore them…”

I think that for both it's a build up of things, it's a gradual realization. It comes from the little moments when Fenix finally sees how there's someone who's reliable and strives to help him and cares for his wellbeing and Vesper suddenly realizes that she smiled more in the last week than in the last 2 years, when they're together in such a busy city like the one they live in and it suddenly feels like it's just the two of them in the whole world, in the smiles and laughs and longing stares, it's all an explosive mix until they just have to surrender to the realization..they make me white knuckle grip the sink fr.

4. Does this change over time? What will always reliably make them melt with how much they adore the other character?

It's the small little things for me!!!!!!!!!! Fenix getting a little :) seeing Vesper bicker with her brother like they are 15 y/o, or when it's just the two of them and she allows herself to be a little soft, to get a little cuddly,,and says he's Everything to her; Vesper melting like an ice cube under the sun when he gets all funny and cracks jokes and does his stupid little grin and she has to fight back her smile to not stroke his silly ego and then fails every single time. When Fenix goes ti amo and Vesper doesn't know how to answer back in a mix of shyness and embarrassment and it's been 10+ years girl get a grip!!! When Fenix begins rambling about whatever book or thing only him and other 5 ppl in the world are interested in and she says 'u look very handsome when u get all clever' and he's like 👉👈 who, me? genuinely so unwell about them let's move on

9. What do they think about commitment? Is a long-term partnership the goal? Are they thinking about building a life with their partner, or are they focused on the present?

Inch resting question fr. Vesper thinks of the present, living the current day type of feel, and while a 'forever and ever for the rest of our days' lives somewhere in her mind she doesn't actively think of it, mainly out of fear of the future. Fenix on the other hand is a lover. A hater on the surface then a hater deep down and i'm sure there's some more hater until we reach lover BUT it's there and it got unlocked the moment he got with Vesper. I think he genuinely hopes and dreams of spending every moment of his life with her, he's the type of fella that looks back at his life and goes it would have zero meaning if you weren't there with me, he's so sweet :// plus neither of them ever thought of stuff like marriage because they both considered it smth that was never going to be for them until Fenix was like (dead serious, heart about to explode in his chest) we should get married :') and Vesper was like haha you're hilarious :) wait what do u mean it's not a joke. They are building a life together yea <3

17. Under what circumstances would they want to be left alone by their partner?

Game events are the longest 'i want to be left alone by every single person in the world' event Vesper had so that tells you that, in the face of a crisis or rough times that personally involve her, she prefers to be left alone which isn't exactly the greatest choice let's be honest. She thinks that she can handle everything on her own, pushes Fenix away when he tries to offer his help, she simply needs to swim in her own pool of desperation sjfjsjk

Fenix wants to be on his own after a fight, just like Vesper tbh but while she could keep on fighting for hours he just walks away before saying stuff he could regret. He's veeery good at saying stuff he could regret later, especially when he's angry himself which doesn't happen that much, seems unlikely but it's very hard to make Fenix lose his temper but when it happens it's..not a pretty show

#nothing in this world can make me feel every single human emotion in under 5 minutes like them. i love them a normal amount <3 #thank you so much for the ask hil MWAH!!!! :3 #ask games #ask #oc: vesper #oc: fenix

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zenithpng · 10 months

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ough uh. sky for the wip ask game

MAX RIDE AU BABEYYYYY I love this wip so much. a shame i am too lazy to write long fics <3 I just thing the voltron team would fit so well into the kind of dynamic that the Flock has and uhm. yeah hehe

"What were you even doing with these?" Keith says as he grabs spices from the cabinets, almost teasing.

"Cooking."

"Like hell you were."

"I am not that hopeless!" Allura protests.

"Yeah, maybe not at making bioweapons." Allura throws her hands into the air, rolling her eyes to the sky.

#max ride will always have a place in my heart they are all so special to me #jet's talking again #vld #wip - max ride au #max ride #ask game #ask box #mutuals my beloved #hil tag!

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mistysharks · 1 year

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get to know me tag meme

tagged by @hilarychuff !

rules: tag (8-10) people who you want to get to know better. (but i wont beacuse Im a rebel shh)

relationship status: coming up for 10 months married to a straight cis man can you believe (he lets me yell at him about how hard it is to write smut though so we don't hold that against him)

favorite color: really really varies but I've been in a soft pink mood lately

three favorite foods: Chinese hot pot from a place that's gotten waay too popular lately (I have to book like a week in advance! wtf!), vegan Pho and crepes at the moment! Any kind of veggie pie/tart has my heart for homecooked stuff tho

top 3 tv shows: oh that's hard i don't watch that much at the moment! Hmm.... well stranger things duh, Sense8 made me cry but in a good way and Orphan black is my all time favourite for sure!

top 3 characters:..look, sometimes you see a sweaty metalhead from the eighties and cant decide if you want to be him or fuck him and thats ok. So yeah, Eddie Munson followed closely by Wei Ying (the untamed) because goth gremlins from ancient fantasy china are also good and... Jaskier from the witcher. Because i'm also a fan of pathetic men lol (this list needs more women?? Honourable mentions to: Cosima(orphan black) Chrissy(ST), and Byleth(FE3)

what i’m currently reading: look I am a shame to my family of bibliophiles but I'm too busy reading fanfiction and last time i tried to read YA it was REAL BAD Last books I really enjoyed were Legends and Lattes and Iron Widow though

song stuck in my head: BUT ITS NOT REAL!! AND YOU DON'T EXIST!!! AND I CAN'T RECALL THE LAST TIME I WAS KISSED (cielings - Lizzy McAlphine I blame tiktok but also the song is great?)

last movie watched: God I've not watched a movie in ages apparently?? I think its still my neighbour totoro from like a month ago. I started watching the Kdrama Love to hate you on netflix though which is absolutely unhinged but very fun so far

last thing i googled: apparently its just "Valentines day" and I have no memory of this

last song i listened to was: Perfect for you by peach PRC

dream trip: I mean Iceland would be amazing, but I'm finally visiting Orkney and the Shetlands this year and I am EXCITED. Also I would love to go back to Venice one day and not be high on flu medicine pls thanks

time: 11:30 - enjoying my day off even though it did start with me having to get up at 8 for the shower repair man :(

anything i really want right now: a delicious free lunch that i don't have to make myself lol

tagging: Whoever sees this? Youre it now sorry thems the rules that I just made up

#tag game #RIP hils overalls my condolences

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catboyrightsdefender · 7 months

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Smash or Pass: Sam Chignell

pass sorry reece :(

#answers #ask games #jealous of what he and hil have going on

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procrastinatingattorney · 7 months

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i wonder how people (including the writers) can go "yeah a woman who's family owned slaves from this country and was completely indifferent to it, should be able to then become queen of that country" without being utterly repulsed

#hil/daclaude shippers really being one of the most rancid things to come out of that game and thats saying a lot kasjhdkjsahdkah #once again how do you feel safe around these white and non diaspora easians 😭#rantings rambles #her being straight up one of the most racist in the cast to show how fucked up f/odlan is too haskdhsakdhsak

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zukkaoru · 3 months

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Oughkay um. How about nikonathan (don't like at me) and "don't do that ever again"

“Don’t do that ever again,” Nathaniel growls. With one swift movement, Nikolai switches their positions, so Nathaniel is the one pinned against the wall. He traces a hand down the side of Nathaniel’s cheek. “C’mon, you can’t deny the risk of getting caught is kinda hot.” “It is not—” “Don’t lie to me,” Nikolai whispers. He crowds closer, his lips brushing against the shell of Nathaniel’s ear. “Now, if you don’t want your little Guild friends coming to investigate again, all you have to do is stay quiet.” “You would do well to listen to your own advice,” Nathaniel grumbles. But he’s not particularly interested in having this argument right now, not with the way Nikolai’s body is pressed against his, setting every cell in his body alight with fiery want. Not when their time is short and Nathaniel’s biggest concern is Nikolai finishing what he started.

send me a ship + a sentence and i’ll write the next five(ish) sentences

#hil i am obsessed with the way you are being introduced to bsd #you have come to the kingdom of the ultimate rarepair and minor character enthusiast and sat down to dine #anyway my brain is mush right now so i'm going to try to do the rest of these in my inbox to make it not mush anymore #feel free to still send one / send another if you wish #nikonathan #bsd #nathaniel #nikolai #grace's writing tag #ask game #hil tag

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imagine-knowing-a-name · 1 year

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🌈🎀🎈💫

hehe i am here to ask, take these :-] i know someone already made you compliment yourself but im making you do it again hehe cause you deserve a million bagillion compliments from everyone cause youre so amazing :]

but I'm complimenting myselffff, that's not the same as compliments from everyone else 😭 but thank you for the questions hilhil, ily <333

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

Ironically, Overworked. Because I was just really sick while writing it and basically crying the whole time because of a university project that I was procrastinating on. But I just put a lot of effort and struggle into it.

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I'm gonna hmph you for this one. hmph. I don't know what else there is to sayyyyyy 😭 uhhh compliment myself for Jeff actually being pretty expressive in my fics, considering he only has one phrase ya know?

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

I tend to describe my style as 'engineery' (wonder why). I think my writing is quite structured and very like a chain of events. I try to change it up but to varying levels of success, so most are quite similar styles I'd say.

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I answered with pi's ask, but adding onto what I said there: getting questions too!! like people asking and wanting to know more about certain parts of the fic, it's so exciting to get stuff like that!!

send some asks :))

#ask game #hil <333 #asks

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gotham--fc · 3 months

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Sleeping With the Enemy - A Marie-Philip Poulin Imagine

Requested by @simp4panos (sorry idk why the tag isn't working): R is Hilary's younger sister and dating MPP and Hilary isn't happy when she finds out and tries to fight MPP on the ice but MPP won't because she knows it's R's sister

This is neither of the fics I’ve been working on because I’m physically incapable of finishing what I started so I decided to start and finish something completely new so sorry to those waiting on another Hilary fic I’m fighting a war against my own brain rn

I don't speak french so I googled translated stuff so I hope it's not too bad, I also tried to look up like specific Quebecois phrases and things so hopefully the quebecois who see this don't hate me for it

When Hilary enters her little sister’s apartment, she expected a lot of things. She expected to be tackled with a hug. She expected to have silly string sprayed in her face. Hell, she half expected her sister to be sleeping, having forgotten Hilary was coming.

She didn’t expect to see her sister wearing a BU sweater with Poulin stitched across the back. Or Marie-Philp Poulin in her sister’s kitchen. Or Marie-Philip Poulin kissing her sister.

“What the hell?!”

“Hil!” Y/N snaps around.

“Hilary, que faites-vous ici?”

When Hilary signed with Boston, she knew it wasn’t a guarantee that Y/N would get drafted by them too. She thought there was a good chance. After all, who didn’t want both Knight sisters on their team? They were an unbelievable pair, their chemistry on the ice coming naturally after growing up playing hockey together. They went to Wisconsin together, albeit, different years, but they’ve been on teams together both national and not for their whole lives.

It didn’t pan out, and it was disappointing, but not the end of the world. Y/N ended up in Montreal, and Hilary was kind of exciting to play out the Boston-Montreal rivalry with her sister.

Hilary came up to Montreal to help Y/N unpack and get settled. They got to explore Montreal a bit together before Hilary had to head back to Boston. Before Hilary left, Y/N gave her a key to her place, for whenever she was in the city. That was the way things were with them, they had keys to each other places and an open invitation to come over and stay whenever. Hilary is staying at the team hotel technically, but everyone knows she’s going to spend most of her time that she’s not with her team with Y/N.

Which is why she’s here. She dropped her stuff off at the hotel and grabbed an overnight bag to come stay at Y/N’s. They play later tonight, so Hilary is going to drop her bag off and spend some time with Y/N before they’re both required at the rink and then head back with Y/N after the game. And now she’s face to face with Marie fucking Philip Poulin.

“What the fuck is this? What the fuck is going on?”

“Hil, I thought… I thought you weren’t getting in until later,” Y/N says.

Hilary looks between Y/N and Poulin. Y/N looks shocked, nervous almost. Poulin looks fucking guilty.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my sister?” Hilary says. She focuses all her energy on Poulin. “What the fuck are you doing here? Get the fuck out, stay away from my sister.”

“Hilary,” Y/N says, a hint of desperation in her voice, “I wanted to tell you, I swear I was going to, I just… Let’s talk about this.”

“Je devrais partir,” Poulin says quietly, “Tu devrais parler à ta sœur seule.”

“What?” Y/N turns to Poulin and touches her arm. It takes everything in Hilary not to storm over there and put herself in between Poulin and her sister. “No. It’s alright, it’s alright, you don’t have to go.”

Hilary didn’t even know her sister knew French.

“J'aggrave les choses,” Poulin says, “Je te verrai ce soir. À bientôt, ma petite blonde.”

Poulin leaves without a word to Hilary. Hilary’s stare follows her out the door, then stays staring at the closed door Poulin just left out of.

“Please don’t be mad,” Y/N says, “I was going to tell you, I just… I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”

“What are you doing?” Hilary turns to face Y/N. “Are you crazy? You could date anyone and you pick her?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“God, Y/N,” Hilary rubs her temples, her frustration growing steadily since she walked in the room, “Captain Canada. Unbelievable,” Hilary scoffs, “Is this why you’re in Montreal? Did your girlfriend pull some strings and get you drafted here? You’d rather play here with her than in Boston right? It’s not enough for you to play for my rival team you have to sleep with them too?”

“Hilary!” Y/N cries, “It’s not like that!”

“Whatever,” Hilary shoulders her bag and heads for the door, “I’m not doing this.”

Hilary leaves, ignoring Y/N’s yells after her. Hilary heads back to the hotel, to the dismay of her roommate, Hannah Brandt, who thought she had the room to herself for the night. Hilary throws her bag on the ground and throws herself onto the closest bed.

“You good?” Brandt asks. Hilary huffs in response. “You get in a fight with her or something? I thought I wasn’t going to see you until game time.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Hilary snaps. A beat. And then: “I walked in on her and Poulin. I can’t fucking believe it! Why couldn’t she pick anyone else? Why does it have to be fucking Poulin? It’s bad enough she’s fucking here when she should be in Boston, but now I find out she’s bedding the Canadian team behind my back! And who does Poulin think she is? She thinks she can just… just… date my sister? She’s Canada’s fucking captain, she fucking embarrasses us at every tournament, isn’t that enough for her?”

“I thought we weren’t talking about it,” Brandt says, “But seriously Knight, what’s wrong with Poulin? Sure she’s Canadian, but she’s not evil. And don’t you want your sister to be happy?”

“Not with her!”

“I don’t know what to say Hil,” Brandt says, “You can skulk about it all you want but you better be ready to play tonight.”

***

During warmups, Hilary can sense Y/N’s eyes on her. Y/N has been trying to get her attention ever since Hilary got to the rink and Hilary won’t give it to her. Hilary’s pissed. She’s not going to let it go that easy. Everyone can tell she’s in a mood. She’s whipping shots at Frankel, jabbing her stick at teammates in 2-on-1s. They give her a wide berth in the locker room and Hilary knows it’s not how she should act as a captain, but she doesn’t care and honestly, if she has a fire game because she’s pissed then that’s all that matters.

The game starts and Hilary zones in on Poulin. She doesn’t give her an inch of space or time. Every time Poulin is on the ice, Hilary is too. She watches Poulin jump on the ice and she screams at her teammates to change so she can get on. She presses Poulin up against the boards, she bodies her out of the faceoff circle, even though Poulin wins most of the draws. It all comes to a head when Poulin goes in for a shot and Frankel stops it and Poulin jabs at her to try and knock the puck loose.

Hilary doesn’t think. She has no idea what she’s going to do until she’s on Poulin and she’s grabbing her by the neck and pulling her back. Poulin wrests herself loose and Hilary keeps going. She charges at Poulin, shoves her, gets up in her face, and if the refs weren’t there to pull her back, Hilary thinks she might’ve actually thrown a punch. Poulin skates towards her as the refs pull her back and Hilary tries to reach over the refs to get her, until she realizes Poulin isn’t going for her. Poulin is pushing her own teammates back, putting herself in between them and Hilary.

She’s protecting Hilary.

“Arrêt, arrêt,” Hilary can hear Poulin saying. Hilary knows enough French to know what that means. The refs pull her away and towards the penalty box. Hilary pulls her eyes away from Poulin and catches the heartbroken look on her sister’s face.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Y/N says, “You always do this.”

“Wait, Y/N,” Hilary tries to follow her, but the refs stop her.

“Let’s go Knight, any more of this and we’ll give you a game misconduct.”

Hilary watches from the penalty box as her sister and Poulin talk on the ice. She watches her teammates watch her. She watches two minutes of play go by before she’s let back on the ice. For the rest of the game, Hilary tries to behave. She stops going after Poulin. She wants to, but she knows her sister will never forgive her. She can’t get the way Y/N looked out of her head. The last thing Hilary wants to do is hurt her sister.

After the game, the players shake hands and normally Hilary and Y/N would hug, but Y/N just pats Hilary on the shoulder and keeps skating. Hilary skates off the ice and goes into the locker room. Boston won in OT and Hilary should be happy. She should be celebrating with her team, but she’s not feeling it. She changes out of her gear and leaves the locker room without showering. She’ll go back and shower but she needs a minute away from everyone’s cheers.

“Knight.”

Hilary wants to groan. Fucking Poulin.

“Your sister is very mad at you right now,” Poulin says.

“Gee thanks,” Hilary says, “Didn’t pick up on that.”

“She is mad because you fought me on the ice. She’s not very happy with me right now either.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Hilary mutters, “It was all me.”

“Oui, she knows this too. She wants us to get along and we’re not and it’s making her upset.”

“Why can’t you just be a bitch?” Hilary asks, “It’s a lot easier to hate you when you’re not being so nice to me.”

“Why do you want to hate me? Because I am dating your sister?”

“She didn’t even tell me!” Hilary snaps, “I thought we were closer than that. I thought she trusted me. I thought if anything was going on with her that she would tell me. I don’t even know what I did. I told her right away when things got serious with Britt. I tell her everything and I thought she did too. I don’t… Why didn’t she tell me?”

“You’re hurt that she kept it from you, non?”

“Yeah, whatever. How long has this been going on? Did you get her drafted here?”

“That was a, uh, how do you say, happy accident. We… We’ve been seeing each other since Worlds, but nothing very serious. She was in Minnesota and I was in Montreal and long distance is very hard. Things got a little more serious over the summer. Then the league was announced and things started moving and she did not want to start anything when we didn’t know where we would be playing or living. I did not ask for her to be drafted here, but she was and then we knew we were going to be in the same place and things got more serious. We’ve been officially dating since November. She wanted to tell you but she did not want to say it over the phone and she said it felt too soon to say anything over Christmas and to be honest you don’t handle news well.”

“Okay well how am I supposed to act when my little sister tells me she’s dating my enemy?”

Poulin laughs.

“We are not really enemies, you know that. I apologize for how you found out, and I hope you can forgive me for that. I love her, you understand, and I have not told her that, but you should know. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Do you really mean that?” Hilary asks, “You really love her?”

“I do.”

“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”

“Oui. Not a doubt in my mind. She loves you very much.”

“I think we should start this over again,” Hilary says. Poulin looks confused until Hilary holds out her hand. “Hi, I’m Hilary Knight, Y/N’s older, cooler, sister.” Poulin’s face lights up as she takes Hilary’s hand.

“Marie-Philip Poulin, Y/N’s girlfriend.”

“Can you tell her not to leave without me?” Hilary asks, “And maybe all three of us can grab dinner tonight? I… I want to get to know you, as my sister’s girlfriend, and not as someone I try to kill on the ice.”

“I would be very happy to.”

Hilary goes back into the locker room, showers, congratulates her team on the game and takes on the ‘Captain’ role she’s supposed to. She manages to convince Keller to bring her stuff to the hotel and take it up to her room. She waits outside the locker rooms for Y/N and Poulin. She hopes Y/N isn’t too mad. She hopes Y/N agrees to dinner and she hopes it won’t be awkward and stilted. Hilary watches Y/N approach.

When Y/N gets close enough she gives Hilary a good shove in the chest that makes Hilary stumble back a few steps.

“You’re a real ass, you know that?” Y/N says. Hilary doesn’t argue. “You’re buying,” Y/N says as she pokes her finger at Hilary’s chest where she just shoved.

“Seems fair to me,” Hilary says.

They head to a restaurant Hilary’s never heard of, but Y/N swears by, and the whole menu is in French and Hilary feels embarrassed to ask for an English one, so she tries to discreetly google translate the dishes. The waiter comes and Poulin speaks in rapid French to him and he returns with a bottle of wine. He pours them each a glass and Hilary takes a sip and realizes this dinner might cost her more than she bargained for. There’s no way this bottle is cheap.

He speaks in French again and Hilary has no idea what he says, and then Poulin says something and hands him her menu, then Y/N does the same, and he’s asking for her order, and Hilary has no idea what the menu says. When she hesitates, Poulin speaks to him again and then he takes her menu and leaves.

“Tell me she didn’t order me snails or something,” Hilary says to Y/N.

“You’re not in France Hilary,” Poulin says, “This is Montreal.”

“That doesn’t help,” Hilary turns back to Y/N, “You’re being mean, you know I can’t speak French.”

“She didn’t order snails,” Y/N says.

Hilary takes another sip of wine. Poulin says something to Y/N in French and if Hilary hasn’t been making an ass of herself all night she might’ve said something about it. Instead she stays quiet and hopes this isn’t how the rest of the night will go.

“Hil,” Y/N says. Hilary looks up and realizes Poulin isn’t at the table anymore. “Marie told me you guys talked, after the game. What the hell was that?”

“I…” Hilary feels herself flush with shame. “I shouldn’t have acted like that. I guess I just felt like… if you weren’t telling me about your life in Montreal, then maybe you didn’t need me to be your big sister anymore. And I convinced myself it was her fault so I took it out on her. It’s my fault. If I’ve done anything to drive you away–”

“I’ll always need my big sister,” Y/N says, “Yes, you can be annoying and overbearing and overprotective, but I love you. I didn’t tell you because when I first made the national team with you, you warned me not to get mixed up with the Canadians. And then I wasn’t going to tell you over the phone. And at Christmas, you were with Britt and I wasn’t ready to be open about it yet.”

“I thought you realized I was joking about the Canadian thing, given how many of us were shacking up with Canadians at that point.”

“I’m really happy here,” Y/N says, “I know you want me in Boston and I get that, but I’m really happy here. I love Montreal and the team and being with Marie is just… I can’t describe it.”

Y/N has a look on her face when she talks about Montreal. It’s the same one Hilary has when she talks about Boston. And the look Y/N has when she talks about Poulin, it’s the same one Hilary has when she talks about Britt.

“I’m happy for you,” Hilary says earnestly, “I’m really glad you found your place and your people.”

Poulin comes back and when Y/N catches her eye, she beams, and Hilary hides her smile behind her wine glass.

Hilary wanted to hate Poulin (–“You can call me Marie.” “I like Poulin better.” “Hilary!”–). She wanted to believe the Canadian could never be good enough for her sister. However, watching the two of them together, seeing how happy Y/N is, how happy Marie makes her, Hilary could never be mad at that.

***

French translations:

que faites-vous ici: What are you doing here

Je devrais partir: I should leave

Tu devrais parler à ta sœur seule: You should talk to your sister alone

J'aggrave les choses: I make things worse

Je te verrai ce soir: I’ll see you tonight

À bientôt, ma petite blonde: see you soon, my little girlfriend

Arrêt: stop

#marie philip poulin #marie philip poulin imagine #hockey imagine #womens hockey imagine #hockey rpf #woho #woho imagine #canwnt #canwnt hockey

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kathanglangit · 7 months

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The Fifth Blade: Kampilan - Warrior Made

Down to the last three days before Gubat Banwa launches on Kickstarter! Moon-eating titans, sword-souls and bullet devils, giant flying crocodile mounts, sparks arcing off clashing blades like lightning- Gubat Banwa is an action-packed martial arts TTRPG where you play as warrior Kadungganan in a Southeast Asian-inspired fantasy world afire with wonder and violence in a thousand colors.

Counting down the days to the KS launch on October 10 comes with anxiety and anticipation in equal measure, and I thought maybe posting the weapons I've drawn for the game would help cut through it all. These were meant to be posted for Swordtember, but the game needed a bit more time to pick up speed. 5/7 blades done, let's start off the final three with the KAMPILAN

Yet another large weapon from south of Luzon, the kampilan is a long-bladed sword with a unique "trapezoidal" shape, sometimes sporting a small spike at the tip, often with a figural hilt. "Figural hilt" just means the hilt depicts a certain abstracted figure of something, usually a creature or a beast of some kind. The sharpened edge is on the long side of the blade. I repeat: The sharpened edge is on the long side of the blade. You would not believe how frequently people get that wrong. This useful diagram is one of the first things you see when you do a Google-search for "kampilan", so there is truly no excuse for anyone to be depicting it with the sharp side pointing the wrong way.

(Diagram by Lorenz Lasco) The most common examples of kampilan figural hilts depict the Bakunawa- a giant moon-eating serpent of legend- and are decorated with hair or with roots. The angled protrusion on the hilt usually points away from the sharpened edge, and may have been used for added leverage when maneuvering the blade.

(Photos from the collection of Ron Zambarrano) Other creatures commonly depicted in the hilts are crocodiles, cockatoos (what collectors call "kakatua" handles), or- in the case of this somewhat rare example- a horse.

(Photo from the collection of Richard Hudson) The kampilan is surrounded by a rather popular story: That it was the blade used by Lapu-Lapu himself to slay Fernando Magallanes on the shores of Mactan. One of Pigafetta's writings recounts how Magellan was wounded on the leg by a large blade, akin to a scimitar. Whether or not this was describing a kampilan is anyone's guess, and whether it was in the hands of the hero of Mactan is foggier still. While it is difficult to verify the authenticity of this claim, the legend of Lapu-Lapu quickly grew, taking the story with it- and it kind of just stuck.

(Photo from Lapu-Lapu City LGU) Most Philippine blades generally vary in size make depending on where they're from, but the distinctions are even more apparent for kampilan. The two-handed ones shown so far are often referred to as Moro kampilan. The Lumad peoples have kampilan of their own.

(Photo from Iniingatang Talim At Kaluban.; Taken by Ramon H. Bathan) I'm not an expert on identifying these blades, and this is by no means an exhaustive list (as the kampilan was used widely across Visayas and Mindanao), but I will try to show and identify a few select variants. Starting with this "NICE SHOT"

(Various Moro kampilan; Photo by Richard Hudson) Following up with some antique Bagobo kampilan. Notice the difference in size relative to the Moro variant. This seems to be built for one-handed use. You will also notice that the shape of the blade is different, without the spike, and with the sharp edge on the other side.

(Photos from Raymundo Lucero) A more useful comparison; These next three blades come from the same collector.

Bagobo kampilan

T'boli kampilan or kefilan

Moro kampilan (Photos from Dennis Andrew Golez) Sometimes these blades stray far from home. This next one is a T'boli kampilan inherited by a collector.

(Photos from Hege-Eileen Ottem Lund) Rather than hair or roots, the Lumad seem to prefer adorning their hilts with brass bells. When you see examples of these blades in museums for up for auction, the bells tend to be absent. I purposefully included examples with bells to show them off in their full ornate glory. "Lumad" is a collective term for indigenous peoples in the south of the Philippines. Another T'boli kampilan, with a closeup on the hilt to show the brasswork.

(Photos from JC Nolas) This one's a headscratcher for me- supposedly this unique find from the 1800s has a hilt made of whalebone. The blade looks to be of the Moro variant, but I could very easily be mistaken. It looks to have been adorned with bells as well.

(Photos from Ron Zambarrano) One more thing to note is that the kampilan is not a tool-turned-weapon, nor a multipurpose blade. They are made to be used as weapons. I won't fault anyone for subscribing to the belief that Philippine native blades were mostly farming implements, which just happened to be repurposed for combat sometimes. It is true for many blades which functioned essentially as multi-tools, and the languages sometimes don't help when they use the same word for any kind of blade- be it a tool or a sword. Dispel your myths. Our ancestors were not ALL farmers-turned-fighters. They faced our colonizers as warriors.

(Photo by Ramon H. Bathan) The veritable force of nature that is Sam'baha (the smug-looking badass in the art at the top of this post) stands as the face of Gubat Banwa, wielding a kampilan in one hand and a karambit in the other. Challenge her legacy! Be a part of all the tide-churning, sky-burning, world-rending action by supporting the game on Kickstarter!

The Gubat Banwa Kickstarter launches in 3 days! Check it out here:

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