Hey dear! I'm Smiling Marauder and I'm an italian creative and illustrator. This is a blog for my drawings, sketches and other/fandom/random/weirdo stuff
This is dedicated to all the young teenage heroes who, in their everyday lives, strive to become the version of themselves they can be proud of.
There are too many kids who never hear these words from their parents, and it's not their fault.
I'm choosing Inko Midoriya as my avatar for this message (also because I'm much closer to her in age, and I have a nephew who is Izuku's age) because My Hero Academia also made me think about the responsibility I have as an adult to believe in kids, like I wish someone had when I was their age.
There's a saying: "If pain made you bad, you wasted it."
So, even if it's a small thing, I recognize it, but I say that even if I don't know you guys, I'll never talk to you, I'll never know all your stories, I love you!
I know you're fighting every day to be yourselves, kind and strong despite everything, and I'm truly proud of you!
Exclusive party just for ProHero! No one thought they'd actually participate in cosplay until they learned the room was an air-conditioned attic...
To convince Shouta to do a matching cosplay, Hizashi had to leave months in advance, rewatch Trigun, and give him an action figure as a gift. Of course, Shouta then gave him the collection edition and the collectible vinyl of the soundtrack for his birthday, which he bought at an auction after months of grueling negotiations. Hizashi cried when he received his gift.
I'm a romantic, forgive me!
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What other cosplays did the proHero bring to the party? I'd love to add more "photos"!
Apparently, I've started working on my Erasermic Ghostbusters AU fic…
Seeing a video on YouTube today, I thought of a young Shouta revealing his secret to his friends… he can see ghosts! He thinks they'll make fun of him and stop talking to him… but, incredibly, not only do they believe him, but they also involve him in completely senseless and dangerous nocturnal explorations in search of ghosts, equipped with cameras and recorders.
Shirakumo immediately becomes the leader of these new Ghost Hunters! Although, in the end, the most they can find in the places they can access… is a cat.
I'm in love with this series!
I'd love to have a brushbug in my real life, but I have to settle for my cat. He does the same things, but weighs 11 lbs…
"I'm just resting my eyes…" or: movie nights gone bad.
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Shouta is the kind of person who claims to hate people who snore because they disturb his sleep, but then he sleeps perfectly well next to Hizashi (who snores incredibly loudly).
He only wakes up when his own personal white noise suddenly stops…
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photo reference: Taikan yohō (My Personal Weatherman) <3
Sorry for this delirium of mine that has been following me for a while now and which needed to take shape…
I am originally from and currently live in Southern Italy (not in Naples, but very close) and I imagined that no place better than Naples could be so inclusive and an incredibly intense learning ground for young heroes, and their teachers!
I'd also like to talk about all the Italian traditions and contradictions that not everyone knows about, beyond the usual stereotypes! My idea is to culturally adapt the characters, not just move them around! Who knows, maybe something interesting and entertaining will come out of it…
This is just a "clip", but expect more!
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The Café tradition in Naples
The naples UA will certainly also have an internal café where professors can enjoy themselves during their work breaks, as often happens in large offices, but very often colleagues meet at a café on the street (or just outside the office) to have breakfast together before actually starting work.
In any Italian city, there are countless bars serving espresso, cappuccino, croissants, sandwiches, pizzas… whatever you want to eat or drink. It's a bit difficult to find an international translation for "Italian bar," because our establishments also serve alcohol, unlike the rest of the world. In this case, I'll use the term "café."
They have tables inside, or even outside on the sidewalk, sometimes even in the middle of the street (whether this is legal or not depends…).
Traditionally, however, coffee is ordered at the counter.
Going from central Italy to the north, the custom at the café is to pay for your drink and then go to the counter to ask for it. In the south, it's a little different. You find space at the counter, order everything, consume it, and then pay at the cashier. It's different if you're with someone… because once you've ordered something, there's a competition to see who pays, and then offers it to others. Tipping at the counter is optional (often people leave cents or a small amount in a bowl at the counter, but it's not mandatory).
Café are also often places where you can also find a tobacconist, where you can buy cigarettes and other products, a counter to play lottery tickets, and buy scratch cards.
In Naples, there are historic café that are marvels of architecture and decoration (like the famous Bar Gambrinus), or incredibly shady dives in the dark alleys of less frequented neighborhoods.
Choosing your favorite café is often a matter of luck or proximity. All café serve more or less the same things, but the differentiating factor could be a friendly barista, a preferred brand of coffee (there are plenty in Italy!), maybe it's a quieter place, maybe it's a nicer place… let's just say that every bar tries to specialize in something or attract a certain type of customer. Of course, even if a city like Naples is full of café, it's unlikely they'll truly compete, even if they open just a few meters from each other!
Speaking of our professors now…
The first one I think is a regular café frequenter is, obviously, Aizawa. He can't exist without his unsweetened espresso (I'll dedicate a separate post to Aizawa on espresso etiquette!). Since he's certainly picky about the taste of his coffee (freshly roasted Kimbo brand), he's found a café where they serve it perfectly, just the way he likes it. A quiet spot, close to school, a small, discreet place, where he can start his morning in peace without the risk of bumping into the students gorging on drinks at the café before heading to school…
This happened the first few weeks of school, until Kayama and Yamada decided to investigate why he never arrived early to do "PR" with the other teachers.
They discovered his café, and from that day on, they've been waiting for him to have breakfast with them, whether Aizawa wants it or not.
Nemuri and Hizashi are those people who are super social even in the early morning, even with three hours of sleep each. They love talking, catching up, and gossiping (it's a must in Naples), things that Shouta obviously has to passively endure every morning…
Except he hasn't yet found another place where they make coffee as good as that café fairly close to school, so for now he has to put up with them…
Every morning they always order the same things:
Kayama has a soy cappuccino, with a vegan honey croissant (if they don't have one, he has no problem ordering anything else)
Aizawa has his black coffee, without sugar, with a curly sfogliatella (a typical Neapolitan breakfast pastry with a crispy puff pastry exterior and a cream and candied fruit interior)
Yamada, on the other hand, opts for a savory breakfast, gorges on a ham and cheese sandwich and a long American coffee.
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Sorry for the long post! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm hoping for comments from Italians and non-Italians about this silly idea! I'm glad I shared it with you!
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Bonus Pic! La Sfogliatella Napoletana!
When I was little I didn't like it, but now every time I go to Naples I ask for my sfogliatella! <3
"You absolutely have to listen to the latest LP I bought! 🎙️
Soft afternoons, good company.
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In my opinion, Hizashi is one of those boys who grows a mustache first among the boys in his class... Except that as an adult, he never grew a proper beard, so his moustache became a precious thing to be proudly cared for!
Hizashi is definitely one of those people who gives you existential speeches as soon as you wake up. He's ready for his morning workout, he is getting ready healthy porridge with fruits and chocolate from breakfast, and happy vocals with the radio blasting.
All this while Shouta has just emerged from his sleeping bag hoping to spend the morning devoting himself only to coffee and contemplating human misery. He's still trying to remember his name.
