I wanted to ask, when Girlhood is finished, will that continue with something else, or are those chapters the end of the story?
Love your fics! Girlhood is my fav! Keep up the good work!❤️
hi hi! thank you for the ask!
originally i was planning on continuing girlhood into a second fic (i found a way to reappear) which would detail 2.5 years of nat recovering with the finches in ri (shauna does study at brown in this fic, at least for a little while, which result in a lottttt of shaunanat tension)
as of right now, i'm not 100% sure if i'll follow through with that for a number of reasons, but i do have a lot of ideas and loose scenes written, including this one:
“Rough night?”
Hannah lifts her head to see Nat leaning up against the doorframe, arms crossed.
“If you skipped dinner while I was gone, Natalie, I swear to fucking god-”
“Jesus, who pissed in your Cheerios?” Nat snarks. She unfolds her arms and saunters over to the fridge. “I ate the soup you left me, and now I’m getting my court-mandated applesauce.”
Hannah sighs. She hadn’t meant to snap like that, but the throbbing behind her eyes is only worsening by the minute. “You need a protein with that,” she responds tiredly, trying and failing to sound a little gentler this time.
Without even looking at her, Nat holds a cheese stick up to show her while she rummages in the back of the fridge for an applesauce cup. Once she finds it, she stands back up and closes the door with her heel, then turns and drops the cheese stick on the counter. “So what’s your problem?” she asks, ripping the foil off the applesauce.
“Nothing,” Hannah grumbles, opening the silverware drawer. Before she can reach in and grab a spoon, Nat bends the foil in half and scoops up some applesauce with it. Hannah stares, dumbfounded.
“What?”
“We own spoons, Nat.”
“This works just fine.”
Hannah pinches the bridge of her nose. “Jesus. Who raised you?”
Nat snorts. “I raised me.”
“It shows.”
“Wowwww.” Nat shakes her head and spoons more applesauce into her mouth. “That’s nice, Han. Real fucking nice.” Leaning against the counter, she asks; “I take it parent teacher conferences didn’t go well.”
“Nope.”
“What happened?” Nat asks.
Hannah sighs. “Well, Nat, it turns out I’m a real shit parent.”
“I asked you what happened,” Nat tells her pointedly. “Not for a self-defeating statement.” She dips her tin foil scoop back into the applesauce and slurps it off.
“Alex’s teacher thinks she's in danger of being held back.”
“Oh.” Nat stirs the applesauce around thoughtfully. “It’s that bad, then?”
“Yeah, Nat, it’s that bad.” Hannah buries her head in her hands. “I fucked up. I fucked her up so bad.”
“Why do they want to keep her back?” Nat asks calmly.
“She’s behind in, like, every subject.” Hannah’s voice is muffled. “And she’s not paying attention and she’s, like, totally checked out, apparently.”
“She’s not dumb,” Nat tells her. “Not at all.”
“I know that.” Hannah snaps her attention back up on Nat.
“I’m just saying,” Nat says defensively. “She’s incredibly smart. She’s just falling through the cracks in an institution that wasn’t made for her, or whatever.” She glances down at the half eaten applesauce cup, eyes darting between the tin foil and the cup a few times, before ditching the foil and tipping the cup into her mouth, shooting the rest of the contents in one go.
“She’s falling through the cracks because I wasn’t there for her,” Hannah mumbles.
“You’re making it sound like you got stranded in the wilderness by choice,” Nat comments.
“I still left by choice,” Hannah points out.
“Yeah, for a research trip,” Nat responds. “To like, further your education and your career and shit. Your life does not have to revolve solely around your kid. You’re allowed to be your own person.”
PLEASE talk to me about selectively mute ludger i'm literally ;-; i know all the jp canon has him talk a lot but i am still so fond for quiet ludger
(this is lordofcalamity's main btw)
Well all my knowledge about Ludger comes from the game Tales of Xillia 2 and the crossover games like Tales of Link, Tales of Asteria, Tales of the Rays and Tales of Crestoria (RIP).
Throughout the first run of Tales of Xillia 2 Ludger rarely talks, when you finish the game and unlock New Game+ and play the second run his character talks more than on the first one. I like to think the reason why is because he feels more comfortable on the second run because he subconsciously already knows what’s gonna happen and the reason for him being mute on the first run is all the uncertainties in his life, after all the game starts on him failing his exam to become an agent and instead getting a job as a chef on a train.
Imagine your plan in life not working out and having to start a whole new journey at such a young age with the lack of parents’ support. Yeah, I wouldn’t feel like talking either.
On the first run Ludger communicates vocally using grunts, hums and short sentences. While in a fight he says the name of the artes out loud meaning he is more confident on his fighting skills than his social ones. Partially the reason why he gets in debt is because he doesn’t speak up.
I love that nobody questions his selective mutism, neither people that know him like Julius nor people he just met like Jude, instead they immediately look at him and understand that’s just how he is. Also nobody makes fun of nor belittles the times when he does speak, they treat him as usual; they also include him in all the conversations, they don’t exclude him because of him being mute.
In all the crossover games i’ve experienced and all the info i know about the rest, Ludger tends to be a quiet character, he does speak more in those games tho, always gentle, respectful and with a sense of humour. Other characters tend to look up at him because of his personality and his fighting strenght. (And don’t make me talk about him and Elle together like father and daughter, the dynamic they have is immaculate)
Little off topic but looking back at all those games i played, and how their characters and story gave me hope about being true and accepting myself even before i realized i related so much to them, has given me a new perspective about it all. Specifically about Ludger, not only was he the protagonist of my first Tales of Series game but also one of my fav characters whom i kin so hard, i just cannot believe sometimes how much he means to me.
