Hey All,

ignore this if you've gotten an ask like this before but what do you think the mercs love languages are?

Ah yes, the act of human love. Something I am both terrible at and perfectly unqualified to talk about. What better reason to make a long post?

TF2 mercs showing their love, let's go!

Scout:

Shares food with them. Not just any food, no, it has to be good. His favorite, even. Usually he has quite selfish eating habits - comes naturally from growing up with so many older siblings - but if he really loves someone, he'll share.

Slows down. He's a very enthusiastic man, always full of energy, always up to something. But at the sight of someone he loves he just... stops. Like his entire headspace is instantly filled with just them and nothing else.

Ruffles their hair. It might sound weird, but that's what his mom used to do when he was little - run a hand through his hair as a gesture of love and care. He doesn't do it consciously himself, doesn't even realize he picked up the habit.

Walks kinda backwards when they're walking together. Always wants to look at their face. Ends up bumping into people. Doesn't care.

Introduces them to his favorite videogames. Shows them the ropes, cheers loudly when they win. Still kicks their ass in PvP though.

Soldier:

Listens to them. Hes usually loud as all hells, it's hard to get through to him. It comes from the kind of habitual aggressiveness that starts as a defense mechanism and develops into a full-blown personality, but it works because he rarely ever feels safe. It's only with the people he loves that he drops it completely.

Shows them everything he thinks is cool. A weird rock. A flock of birds in the sky. A piece of cardboard he bets would be really tasty. A shoelace. Just... shinies. Something that makes his world brighter.

Loudly announces their name when they enter a room full of people. Talks about them and how great and awesome they are. Wants everyone to agree.

Makes medals for them. Gifts them his war trophies. Dedicates his victories to them.

Puts his helmet on their head. This is the only piece of armor he wears, and it keeps him safe. He wants the people he loves safe as well.

Pyro:

Draws them. Has a whole sketchbook dedicated to just them. Ironically, he doesn't care for appearances much, but the way he draws - colorful and emotional, linear and dynamic, or soft and caring - is about the heart, not the shell.

Crafts for them. For everyone, but for them especially. Matching bracelets, matching rings, matching pendants... He feels lonely sometimes, when he knows he shouldn't, and he'd never make it someone else's problem to deal with, so he combats the fear of abandonment by keeping his loved ones close through things. It's like a bond. A physical object that locks them together.

Hugs them. Excitedly, arms over the shoulders, and kind of... uh, what do you call it... tucks (?) their head to his chest. People hug that way after a long time apart, but for him even a day feels like an eternity.

Rests his head on them. Their shoulders, chest, stomach, knees - everything goes. That said, he himself doesn't mind being a pillow either.

Gives them candles. Lighters. Sparklers. Fire-making things. Teaches them to handle it the way he does - it's like taming a wild animal together. Maybe one day it will grow into a family pet.

Demoman:

Acts all cool and solitary. No, he doesn't need company. Sure, he doesn't mind spending time together - not that he didn't have anything else to do, though. "I didn't need yer help, y'know?"

He's the kind of man who'd kiss his friends on the lips platonically if it was socially acceptable, what's to say about someone he loves? He gets bird-related nicknames for how often he wants to peck someone on the cheek.

Tries to make them laugh. Tries to make everyone laugh, but them - especially. It's the best thing anyone can do for the world around them! He's good at it, too. He brings joy with him wherever he goes.

Writes notes for them. On a sticker on the fridge, on their desk, in a bouquet of flowers he sends to them, on the sand with a stick... They're regular notes at first, but quickly devolve into a mess of inside jokes and code words, and soon they need to decipher every sentence, but it's worth it every time.

Takes them places. An old house he'd heard might be haunted. A tall hill from where they can see the entire city. A strange cave that might or might not actually be somewhere, so vague are the directions. Everybody loves a secret place. Demo's not the type to stop at just one though.

Heavy:

Picks them up. Sits them on his shoulders. Carries them around. Doesn't matter if they're big or small - everyone's tiny compared to him.

Reads poetry to them. In Russian, knows a ton of it by heart, most of it - love poetry. Doesn't care if they understand or not, translates the best he can, but the important parts are in the feeling, not the wording.

Wakes up early. Makes breakfast. Doesn't make a big deal out of it, doesn't come back with a stacked plate and a coffee - just leaves everything in the kitchen, sometimes maybe with a note, but most often just there to eat whenever their loved ones please. He doesn't like to sleep in anyway.

Watches them. When they're busy, working, immersed in something. When they're lazing about, doing absolutely nothing. Lets them know he's there, leaves if he's not welcome, but when he is - watches, and smiles to himself, and fills the room with warmth and comfort.

Can be loud too. Not all the time, not for show. He can confess his love in public, or he can do it in private - it's all the same happy, thunderous voice that leaves no room for uncertainty.

Engineer:

Wants them around. Invites them to join whatever he's doing, tries to make it interesting even when it's really not. He may just be tinkering with an old machine that might or might not work in the foreseeable future, but he'll glow with happiness if there's the right person watching him do it.

Holds their hands. He may only have one, but he wants to grasp both of theirs.

Contrary to his friendly and open-hearted facade, he's a very private man when it comes to feelings. He wouldn't "confess" per se, but he'd say things sometimes, quietly, when there's nobody around. Profound, meaningful things, like telling them the brightness of their smile would put the stars to shame, or something better. And then shrug like it's nothing and chat about the weather and whatnot.

Cooks for them. It's all family recipes - well, changed and improved and switched up a thousand times, but the emotional attachment is there, and that's what all family dishes are about, anyway.

Shows them his work. Robots, inventions, smaller personal projects - everything. First to them, then to others. Sometimes just to them.

Medic:

Wants his doves to get along with them. It's hard to get the birds to do something they're not inclined to do, but he's keen on fighting over it for the rest of his life if he has to - it adds to the drama of the predicament.

He talks non-stop. It's not all "nothings", either - he has so much knowledge in him, so many ideas, so grand a philosophy, and he shares it in tons of words. The more he loves them, the more talking they'll hear.

He makes up excuses to spend time with them. Terrible, pathetic excuses that don't fool anybody, but that's the intention. He knows who he wants to spend time with. He makes sure they know he wants to spend time with them. The excuse is but a joke, a social commentary, a funny little bonus to strike up a conversation.

He keeps them safe. A lot of people want to keep their loved ones out of harm's way, it's a natural instinct, but Medic wouldn't be Medic if he didn't go above and beyond in that regard. He'll prove death curable if that's what it takes. Thankfully, more often than not a simple reminder to sleep at nights, drink water, and eat at regular intervals is enough.

He gets them very small and completely useless gifts. A pen. A single flower in a tiny pot. A decorative sticker. Tiny, tiny things he gets excited about for no reason whatsoever.

Sniper:

He's the little spoon. Not to be cute or whatever, it's just... nice to have his back safe, for once. Not to worry about a backstab and all.

Teaches them things. Doesn't know much, beyond his profession. Teaches them that. How to shoot a rifle, how to reload it, how to defend oneself with a knife. Makes him feel like his job - his greatest passion in life - is being appreciated, and, by extension, he is appreciated also.

Brings them sweets, but they're not normal sweets. They're either sour-sweet or bitter-sweet or spicy-sweet, because he can't be normal about it, he only loves the stuff that gives other people existential crisis and dental pain.

Takes them fishing and hunting and hiking. Plans out the routes, tells them about all the plants. Points out mushrooms, moss, bugs, spiders, all that stuff. Shares a story about how he ate poisonous berries by mistake once. His idea of a fun time.

Gives compliments readily, excitedly, but lacks the knowledge on how to, as well as the elegance to do it properly. He's the type of guy to get nervous, blurt out "You have teeth!" and show a thumbs-up, but he's trying his best, and if he has to cover his face with his hat and find an excuse to get the hell away immediately afterwards, then that's on him.

Spy:

His love language is French. No, this is not the old joke again, he really does talk to the people he loves in French. He finds it difficult to express himself otherwise.

Buys them good gifts. Expensive gifts. A nice watch. A beautiful scarf. A pair of earrings. He has great taste, but even better he is at observing people and finding out their tastes. He'd never get gold for someone who only wears silver. He puts so much thought into a gift, it doesn't need any kind of engraving to be personal.

Knows the best restaurants, but merely having dinner together isn't always his idea of fun. He frequents poker nights, golf clubs, pool tables. Knows all the best ones, and makes sure their love discovers them as well.

Gives them nicknames. Long and short, funny and poetic, actually meaningful and completely nonsensical - he likes to have a lot of words to call them, and often complains that English is too poor a language to convey the diversity of character that he's so in love with.

Ah, but it would kill him to make a compliment. So he finds a roundabout way to do it, makes it... Well, not backhanded, exactly, but balanced. "Handsome Devil", "wretched wonder", "blasphemous beauty", sometimes it feels like he's knitting words together only to level them out, god forbid someone finds out he loves others more than he loves himself.

That's it! Hope you enjoy!

Have you had the sudden urge to drink blood lately, my liege?

Did my broken tooth get sharper or something??

How would the mercs react if they got sick? Nothing serious, just, like, a cold or something.

Demoman:

Likely pretty honest about it. Medic spooks him at times, but he trusts the doctor to at least give him some semblance of a “good” idea on what to do if he gets sick.

Though before he does anything, he likely tries to work through it himself. His ma taught him how to care for himself, so he mostly just needs help setting it all up.

If he gets cold medicine, you have to have a guard on him at all times, because he can and will try to drink, even if he knows they absolutely do not mix.

Engineer:

Assures everyone he’s doing fine. Being the voice of reason and the team mom, he’s sure he’ll work it out on his own and mostly just self-isolate until it’s over.

It’s only until he’s hollering encouragement to Scout on the battlefield that he breaks into a coughing fit, and things go south.

Surprisingly, Scout is the one who ends up volunteering to take care of Engineer. The whiplash it gives the rest of the team is palpable. 

He tries his best to make the soup that Engie always brings the others, not very well, but he makes a genuine attempt.

Eventually he has to ask for help from spy, this dude sacrifices his own ego to help someone and Medic is about ready to check if scout himself is feverish-

Each member of the team eventually gets involved to chip in and help out, and Engie gets better quicker than any of the others. Scout denies that he did anything, but the sentiment stays.

Heavy:

Like Engineer, Heavy assumes he can get away with just shrugging it off and braving through it. He has bigger worries.

Unfortunately, with Medic’s constant doting, it catches on pretty quick that he’s sick, and he gets the angry talk about how he’s contagious and should have told the doctor.

Heavy disappears for a day to Medic’s office, nobody is entirely sure what happened, but he comes back smiling and feeling better, so they don’t question it.

(Medic may or may not have just replaced his lungs entirely)

Medic:

Ludwig here knows full well that he’s sick. He’s the “Do as I say, not as I do” kind of guy that advises the others to come to him when they’re feeling unwell, and then proceeds to cough on others.

Who’s to say he doesn’t do it on purpose? He uses it to his advantage. Someone ticks him off? Cough on them, deal with the consequences later. 

Colds make him sleepier than usual, he’ll be slumped over the main room table with a coffee and looking like death itself, then come back the next day looking spry as ever.

(He may or may not have also just replaced his lungs entirely)

Pyro:

Pyro is a drama queen when they’re sick, because it means they get to cuddle up with their toys and the other mercs and have attention. You’d think that Scout would be the one to do this, but nope, it’s Pyro.

Engie is in their room 24/7 making sure they have hot soup, plenty of things to do, puzzles to solve, the others are almost envious.

Pyro is sad when the extra attention ends, but Engineer assures them that they can visit his workshop whenever.

Scout:

Scout, on the other hand, will come to the respawn room, eyes streaming, nose stuffy, and say to your face “I’m fine, shut up.”

He doesn’t want the others to think he’s weak or think less of him because he managed to get sick, so he tries to hide it from the others until it ends up worse thanks to his attempts to push it away.

Sniper is tasked with bringing him soup and medicine, and Scout refuses to take any of it unless the door is closed and nobody can see him do it. The only reason Sniper gets to even do it is because he doesn’t talk all too much and keeps secrets to himself.

Stubborn.

Sniper:

Nobody really notices he’s sick since his eyes are covered in aviators and his hat shadows his face. Not to mention Snipes tends to blend in with the background, something that can be to his advantage.

Not now, because he’s too shy to really ask anyone for help.

Ends up having a coughing fit and completely missing his targets one day on the field. BLU spy, who was just getting ready to backstab him is just watching like “yo wtf”

He uh, doesn’t want to get sick either, so he just creeps away and alerts the medic before he backstabs them.

Soldier:

Nobody knows how he manages it, but any time he catches a cold, he’ll disappear for a day, and come back good as new.

In reality, he goes and screams at the sickness until it cowers in fear and runs away, then walks back.

Seriously, how does he do it?

Spy:

Not one to really ask for help, Spy mostly takes care of himself. Having been with Scout’s ma meant he has decent experience with caring for the sick, not to mention his constant ventures to other countries. 

Begrudgingly visits Medic to get some cold medicine, and ends up having to knock him out so that he wouldn’t get his lungs replaced.

Never again. He’ll just stick to laying in bed and drinking water.

no longer normal I need his hand in marriage

I’m not one to try and spread negativity, but if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s the constant drawing of (canon) Demo, Soldier, Heavy, and Medic as stick-thin.

I struggled to draw their body types at first, but getting into tf2 actually helped my art style a LOT as I was forced to branch out of what I was used to drawing.

I just wish more people would do the same.

Such in a shitty fucking mood today. Tell me about your LEAST favorite thing the TF2 fandom does. The worst widely accepted headcanon. Hatred rage violence. I'll probably bite someone.

Brooo thank you for the positive kitty... I don’t think I can tag everyone I’m friends with so imma just post this in our server... positive kitty....

@outforawalkb1tch @enemy-to-the-state @blueisagreatcolorforawitch @aggressive-positivity-network

makin my way downtown

it’s friday, post the dancing demoman

So, self insert ocs.

As someone who’s blog revolves around this one, I have some thoughts on the post.

Edith was originally a self insert oc. However, since I wanted the fic I was writing to be a sort of love letter to the community, I decided to expand her personality and try to make it so that she could be projected on by anybody. Or at least, as many people as possible. Speaking a second language, feeling out of place, having anxiety about going places, making impressions, the things in her past and mistakes she’s made, all of these things are a mixture of what I feel and what I’ve heard others feel a lot, and so I added them.

But she is, in fact, her own character and 10th class, whom I love a lot. Whether or not she is so wholly unique that she stands out, I don’t care.

But what I did care about, ironically enough, was making an impression. And that came with the mechanics of her class. 

Just because you have a self insert or 10th class OC, you are not obligated in any way to explain what their purpose is, what their reasons are, so long as YOU are happy.

For me, I wanted to come up with a unique 10th class that had her own mechanics, but that’s because I saw untapped potential. If she were to be in the game, it would be near impossible for those mechanics to actually work due to map limitations. 

And that’s the thing, because she’s a work of fiction, it doesn’t matter.

That means I can get as creative as I want with her, because she’s not part of the game. 

As for shipping, my personal rule is not to ship her with any of the mercs! Not in the main fic, anyway. Might make some spinoffs if I ever finish the main one, but I felt that many had a bias towards certain characters they liked, (which is absolutely fair and I love those kinds of fics either way), and I wanted to keep it so that she could have varying relationships with everyone and not just romance! It’s for personal reasons, not influenced by anybody else.

 However, I immensely enjoy seeing people shipping their ocs and self inserts with the team! Why the heck do you think I post x reader headcanons sometimes?

In the end, your characters are not more or less valid, and you don’t love your characters more or less depending on how developed they are.

As long as a character makes you happy, as long as the relationships they share make you happy, as long as you are content, then nobody, and I mean NOBODY can tell you how YOU should write YOUR characters.

You can take overdone concepts and expand upon them in your own way, because your character is unique to YOU.

You can give them modern day clothes and use tropes because your character is unique to YOU.

and YOU,

can do whatever you DAMN want.

You are valid, loved, and your characters, your self inserts, your tenth classes are yours and yours only. I support you all the way!

Do not send hate/harassment towards the author of the post being mentioned here, you goofs. 

Are the requests open? 👉🏻👈🏻

Indeed! I’m finishing up one or two, sorry for the delay! I’ve got a couple in my inbox already but due to my constantly shifting interests and motivations, they’re likely to be done out of order ;^-^

Basically, absolutely! Requests are always open unless I state otherwise B)

I’ve shipped little otter to you for Heavy… He’s little lion’s colleague, and is here to help! Whenever Heavy is frustrated, little otter is very holdable and will want to help calm him down.

Perhaps I should sew up plushies for everyone… I think they all deserve a loving companion. :]

Heavy holds the little otter in his hands, and he smiles, pleased. “Oh, he is good friend...thank you, I will keep him next to Sasha!” He greatly appreciates the gift and the craftsmanship.