Where Fußball Meets Fun!

Notes:

This chapter was first posted on 7 October 2016 on a now-defunct football website.

Warning:

- Excessive swearing

- Consumption of alcohol

- Mentions of the East German government punishing dissidents

Freunde hinter Stacheldraht

Chapter 1: Union and Hertha find each other in a city torn apart

1.

August 24th, 1963

TSC Berlin arrives home from training covered in an extra sheen of sweat, thanks in no small part to the news buzzing on everyone’s television set: Bundesliga. Tonight.

The Wall might not fall now, he grins, throwing himself onto his couch with a beer in hand, but I have a good feeling about this…

~

Ninety minutes later, in the West, another Berlin club rejoices at her one-all draw. The first matchday for West Germany’s national league is finished. But will it change everything?

2.

November 9th, 1963

‘Shit, I should’ve come sooner’ is the first thought that crosses Eisern Union‘s mind as he steps into the bar. Though the tenth matchday won’t start for another hour, the establishment is already packed with football fans. Unfortunately, the pleasant view of mingling fans is blighted by the wine-colored shirts of Dynamo Berlin. His blood boils at the sight of the club gloating in the middle of his ‘supporters’. If only he wasn’t backed by the fucking Stasi…

With a deep breath that does nothing to suppress the urge to throttle his rival, he makes his way to the almost-full bar, asking for a pint of beer.

His order comes not a minute later. After thanking the tired barman, his gaze travels to the wine red crowd around him.

He groans, downing his drink in what he thinks are three gulps, I’m not gonna make it out sober if I keep sitting here.

Even when he looks away from the pile of shit and towards the TV hanging over the bar, he can still hear the grating sound of Dynamo’s voice and his posse’s half-drunken cheering.

Ugh.

He really should’ve come here earlier… his ears are fucking bleeding right now, thanks to the crap Stasi Boy’s ‘fans’ are spewing!

I mean, he thinks, downing his beverage in just a few gulps, sure, Hertha’s lost on six out of nine matchdays, but they are. Not. Shit.

When the last drop slides into his throat, the blond Berliner pauses to catch his breath. Well, he lets out a long sigh, they played like shit when Hamburg and Dortmund steamrolled them… but that does not make them a shitty club!

As if reading his mind, Dynamo’s posse laughs.

He groans for what feels like the millionth time. “One more, please!” TSC shouts.

Another exhausted bartender serves him his second pint, which he grabs straight away.

He doesn’t drink it all in one go, though. He glances at the clock: it says 16:30. Still thirty minutes left – what would his friends say if he got wasted before the starting whistle?

What would Hertha say?

He pauses at the thought of Die Blau-Weißen‘s personification. While he knows Hertha’s players and matches almost as well as his own, he has no idea how the club looks, or how they act, or… anything, really. To be honest, although the mandatory Stasi meetings mean he knows his fellow DDR-Liga clubs by sight, he doesn’t know much beyond the surface. The dictators likely want to keep it that way.

Does Hertha go by a fake identity, too?

While he admits the West is a bit less… oppressive than the East, (he continues drinking at this) he doesn’t know if that leniency stretches to people – beings, whatever – like him. They could be classified as aliens for all he knows!

…Damn, this is getting really weird. He thought he could hold his liquor… focus on Werder – Hertha now, TSC. Focus.

So he shifts his attention to the TV, watching the ads blur into each other until the match begins… after which, the beers blur into each other as well.

Ninety minutes later, wearing a silly drunken smile, he turns to walk home.

Alcohol really does wonders to spice up brave comebacks like this, even if the end result is a draw.

3.

As the season passes, whenever time permits, Die Eisernen watches his blue-and-white counterpart with unparalleled zeal, supporting them through the ups and many downs.

When Hertha finishes 14th, a point above the relegation zone, he sits on his front porch and raises his glass for a toast, letting the wind carry his congratulations over the barbed wire.

4.

The next season, TSC lounges on his terrace every other week.

He doesn’t talk only about matchdays, or how much he hates Dynamo. There are times when he launches himself into a spiel about his hobbies, his favorite food, his crush…

Despite the Wall,

despite the Stasi,

despite the sheer impossibility of it all, he likes to believe Hertha can hear him.

5.

May 16th, 1965

HERTHA BSC DEMOTED AFTER BRIBERY SCANDAL

Although they finished outside the drop zone, Hertha BSC have to part ways with the Bundesliga as they face charges for bribing players to keep playing in what has become a difficult time for West Germans…

His heart clenches.

Liebe Berliner Mauer, can’t you just fall already?

6.

Regionalliga matches are harder to follow, but he couldn’t care less about it.

He just hopes his faith in Hertha will pay off.

7.

It does.

In 1968, Hertha win the promotion play-offs with Kickers Offenbach.

8.

Years later…

It is a summer day  in Berlin.

In the mid-1970s, representatives of the fan groups of both East and West Berliners first make contact with each other.

Not only they start personal friendships and exchange info or fan articles, they start coming to each other’s stadiums in hundreds, their voices united in song-

Ha-ho-he, es gibt nur zwei Meister an der Spree – Union und Hertha BSC! Wir halten zusammen, wie der Wind und das Meer  die blau-weiße Hertha und FC Union! Wir halten zusammen, uns kann nicht trennen – keine Mauer und kein Stacheldraht!

(Ha-ho-he, there are only two champions on the Spree – Union and Hertha BSC! We stick together like the wind and the sea, the blue-white Hertha and FC Union! We stick together, nothing can separate us – not the Wall nor barbed wire!)

The Unioners’ chants remain stuck in the memory of the blue-and-white supporters. They remain in the mind of their beloved club, too.

And so, die Alte Dame finds herself in the Friedrichstraße Station.

Normally, she wouldn’t even consider going there without a good reason (or a well-planned vacation). But ever since she heard her supporters make the trip from Charlottenburg all the way to the Köpenick in a show of solidarity, Hertha couldn’t sleep well. It’s as if something inside her begged that she find  her counterpart-of-sorts in the East – and see them, if possible. So with her admittedly limited resources, she sent them a letter the day before her departure.

And now she waits near the checkpoint, eyeing the people traveling through the borders.

Only after half an hour does a man approach her – perhaps he’s the one she’s looking for.

~

Many things have changed on the Red side of Berlin.

Over the last seven years, not only has Union won the FDGB-Pokal (the East German Cup) and established himself in the first division before getting relegated, promoted, and relegated again, he also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup twice and reached the final stages of the DFB-Pokal almost every season.

…Well, ok. He watched Hertha do all that, but he did more than share their jubilance – he celebrated their victories like they were his own. Unioners all over the East started wearing blue under their red shirts, singing the famous ‘Ha-ho-he’ chant in bars, and casually chatting about European aspirations in between DDR-Liga matches.

But no matter how much he appeared to be carefree, he still steals glances over his shoulder, especially when he’s alone, and every time the Old Lady appears on TV, he discreetly warns his fans, please, not too loud, not here.

And as the Stasi tightens its iron fist around his country, he sets a curfew for himself, earlier and earlier each time people whisper rumors of suspicious disappearances, and stops his weekly ritual. His messages are no longer spoken, but relayed mentally.

When his fans start to cross the border to send – and receive – physical ones, he starts to lose sleep. Every night becomes torture as his imagination runs wild. But it was that faithful match, Hertha’s last home match of the 1973-74 season, that really caused him to panic.

Hertha were 8th, Stuttgart were 10th, so  it was natural for him – and everyone else in that bar – to expect a win, right? His joy after Hertha won 1-0 was quickly replaced by shock. In the dying seconds of the game, he started hearing familiar chants… dangerously familiar ones.

He stayed rooted in his seat until all the patrons left, mesmerized and terrified at the same time.

With the amount of supporters that had crossed, and then been shown on fucking live TV, suspicions were sure to arise. What would the Stasi ask when they got back? He can’t let his supporters suffer, not to mention his club… god knows what they’d do to keep them in line!

To complicate matters, a letter claiming to be from Hertha arrived yesterday.

He tried to read it upside down and backwards and puts it under the lamp on his desk, but there was no trace of invisible ink, no indecipherable code – just plain, simple Hochdeutsch.

After devising an alibi for when the Stasi surely come looking – if they’re not the ones who sent the letter themselves – TSC takes a train to Friedrichstraße.

~

Oh, god.

The garishly-dressed woman he spots right after he leaves the train couldn’t scream Wessi louder if she tried. Who the hell wears metallic flares to a train station? And no self-respecting Ossi would dye their hair silver, for god’s sake.

But maybe she does it on purpose, a part of him suggests, refusing to concede to the headache caused by the assault on his sight, maybe she is trying to grab someone’s attention.

He pauses. And then it clicks.

This is gonna be one hell of a meeting…

~

“You shouldn’t come here dressed like that, you know.”

Hertha gasps when she hears the man’s voice for the first time, but the strange expression on his face ensures her surprise doesn’t last long. In fact, it tugs the edges of her lips upwards. “You’re Union, I assume,” she greets him.

The East Berliner before her blushes, but quickly recovers himself. “That’s me. And you must be Hertha. Nice to finally meet you,” he replies, offering her a hand.

She gives it a firm squeeze. “Likewise.”

“Now, back to the important stuff,” Union says sternly. “Are you dressing like… this… (he gestured towards her clothes at this) on purpose? Because that’s like saying you have a death wish. Do you?”

Union may be sympathetic, Hertha muses, but he obviously is an Ossi. “Yes, since I can’t die regardless of what I wish,” she shrugs, “and…” she stares at him squarely, her deep blue eyes meeting rust red, “don’t you think it’s a bit much for you to talk about safety when your fans are the ones who waltzed into my stadium?”

His features contorted in anger. “I didn’t tell them to ‘waltz’ into your stadium, damn it!” he hisses, the fire in his voice nearly making his whisper a roar. “Also, don’t pretend your fans are innocent. I saw your supporters in my stands, too!

“Do you know how much it could affect my life? My fans’ life?” he continues, throwing his hands up in frustration, “the Stasi’s definitely gonna interrogate us! I don’t care about me, but what if they’re marked as dissidents or something like that? They can’t work anymore, Hertha! How are they going to feed their children?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she snaps, swatting his hand away, “we just met!” Can’t you take a little joke?!

“And?” the Köpenick team spits back, “I’m not the hypocrite, Wessi!”

His use of the degrading nickname extinguishes his own anger. “I’m sorry….”

The 1892-born club crosses her arms on her chest, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips. “I’m sorry, too,” she replies after a long silence. “Start over?”

“Yeah,” Union beams, his voice filled with warmth, “I’d love to."

Notes:

As that once-thriving website said at the end of the original post, Tune in (...) for Part 2, when the Wall comes tumbling down...

1963, the first year of the West German Bundesliga (nationwide league), television became widespread in East Germany - in the 1970s, apparently East Germans would have a favourite West German team from watching them over the years. Source: https://www.bpb.de/themen/deutschlandarchiv/199829/fussball-verbindet/

TSC Berlin refers to Turn- und Sportclub Berlin, which was the sports clubs formed by the merging of TSC Oberschöneweide, SC Einheit Berlin, and SC Rotation Berlin at the Central Council of the Youth Organization Free German Youth. Source: https://www.fc-union-berlin.de/en/club/1-fc-union-berlin/club-history-eVO6?tab=41-170

Dynamo Berlin, or BFC Dynamo, has a rich history of being the government’s favourite - the “centre of excellence”. The players of SG Dynamo Dresden (who were top players) were moved to BFC to rival Hertha (from West Berlin). Then, they were sponsored by the secret police. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_FC_Dynamo

Hertha BSC 2-2 Werder Bremen is a match that happened in the inaugural season of the Bundesliga, on 9 November 1963 (Matchday 10). Source: https://www.transfermarkt.com/vergleich/vereineBegegnungen/statistik/86_44

Hertha’s relegation was caused by bribing players to keep staying in the club, because a lot of them wanted to leave due to the isolation and unstable political situation in Berlin Sources: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37620918/hertha-berlin-windhorst-promised-bundesliga-glory-went-wrong https://www.mnufc.com/news/get-know-hertha-berlin

Berliner Mauer: Berlin Wall

Hertha and Offenbach contested a promotion/relegation play-off in 8 May and 22 May 1966-67 Regionalliga (then the 2nd division), but lost that one. Sources: https://datencenter.dfb.de/datencenter/mannschaftsvergleich/hertha-bsc/kickers-offenbach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80%9367_Regionalliga#Bundesliga_promotion_round

However, in 1967-968, Hertha and Offenbach both finished first in their respective groups and got promoted from the Regionalliga to the Bundesliga. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967%E2%80%9368_Regionalliga

In the mid-1970s, Hertha and Union Berlin fans started to meet via personal contacts. They started inventing fan chants that show solidarity between the two clubs, such as Ha-ho-he, es gibt nur zwei Mannschaften an der Spree – Union und Hertha BSC! / Wir halten zusammen, wie der Wind und das Meer die blau-weiße Hertha und FC Union! / Wir halten zusammen, uns kann nicht trennen, keine Mauer und kein Stacheldraht! . Continued in this link, Hertha’s matches in Eastern Bloc countries would be visited by Union fans as well. Source: https://www.bpb.de/themen/deutschlandarchiv/199829/fussball-verbindet/

Some of the “unified Germany” fan creations (patches, banners, slogans) are done in private, still. Source: https://www.11freunde.de/bundesliga/es-gibs-nur-zwei-meister-an-der-spree-union-und-hertha-bsc-a-f162cd2f-0004-0001-0000-000000564103

“With the amount of supporters that had crossed, and then been shown on fucking live TV, suspicions were sure to arise.” Yes, Hertha’s chants were broadcast to East German TV as well. Source: https://www.11freunde.de/bundesliga/es-gibs-nur-zwei-meister-an-der-spree-union-und-hertha-bsc-a-f162cd2f-0004-0001-0000-000000564103

Designing the Hessen clubs were fun because I'm basically making their features complementary...

FSV: Dark skin, dark hair, blue eyes, curly hair, strong nose

Kickers: Light skin, light hair, red eyes, curly hair, wide nose

Eintracht: Light skin, dark hair, red eyes, straight hair, strong nose

Darmstadt: Dark skin, light hair, blue eyes, straight hair, button nose

FFC: Tan skin, red hair, blue eyes, curly hair, wide nose. FFC is the "in between"/odd one out because she has no men's team and is pretty much an outsider to the Reveal bullshit until her fusion.

And then of course, the Eintracht + FFC fusion combines their traits (will be explained further below :D)

FSV Frankfurt - she/her (Saskia), he/him (Richard)

For those not in the know, Saskia is the personification of FSV's defunct women's team, while Richard is the personification of the men's team. They have been sharing a body since 1970. This outfit is a combination between Saskia's butch tastes and Richard's femme tastes. (Though the goth style is fully Richard's choice, considering Saskia is a simple dresser... but some goth sub-styles is growing on her). Plus, the ringlets balances Saskia's preference for curly hair and Richard's for straight/relaxed hair. They discuss a lot about what to choose for their shared body! The really respect and love each other <3

FSV Frankfurt is sometimes called the little brother of Eintracht by the fans, so their physical form shares some features, namely the strong nose, full lips, high cheekbones, and black hair. It's more obvious on the photocards, look at it :3

The Frankfurt Gang. They're not literal siblings, and only Richard feels a brotherly bond with Eintracht, but they're best friends. Saskia was even attracted to Eintracht for a bit. Saskia and Richard are not attracted to each other, though. Neither of them is a clone-fucker x)

Kickers Offenbach - he/him

Surrounded by extremely fashionable people, I think I'd like to make Offenbach be more laid back with his style, though with some edginess in the choker and funky shoelaces; the main rival of Eintracht Frankfurt gotta be at least a little edgy (But probably not too much, considering Bayer AG's control). He's got a black-red bracelet to symbolize his fan friendship and partnership with Bayer 04 Leverkusen since the 1980s 🌈

Eintracht Frankfurt (until 2020) - he/him

Ah, Mr. Randalemeister... I thought I might make him fancy like in the funeral outfits, but then again, even for the funeral, he doesn't wear a suit jacket, and is so irreverent still, with no tie and unbuttoned shirt. So I'm making him dress like... I don't even know how to describe this except with the word "sexy". I think in formal wear he also enjoys showing off his body, like this.

This taste in fashion is probably also why it took him his entire life to discover that he is asexual, he likes his physical form and showing it off (not just out of self love, but also because he loves to provoke people), so to dislike sex so much even though he likes people admiring his physical appearance, just baffles him. Sadly, his confidence was shot down a bit by the Kon Man's body shaming. He's recovering from it after the director was ousted!

Here are his accessories:

He is wearing rings for 1. FC Magdeburg, Waldhof Mannheim, FSV Frankfurt, and MSV Duisburg. His patch says "Schwarz-weiss wie Schnee", "Nur die SGE", "Adler im Herzen", and "1899". His belt says "Deutscher Randalemeister".

FFC Frankfurt (until 2020) - she/her

FFC Frankfurt, like her partner slash arch-rival Turbine Potsdam, has a "normie" fashion sense too, though she's hourglass-shaped as opposed to Potsdam's rectangle, and she's more futch than Biene's femme, e.g. with her always keeping her hair short, and preferring to wear no makeup. She dresses more modestly too. She wants to get that Female Gay-ze.

She's also a fangirl who loves not only fiction fandom, but also personification RPF, so of course she's sewn AO3 pockets onto her jeans :p

Here's her accessories:

Pins: "I 🩷 YURI", a football, a rainbow flag, a lavender, "support fangirls", and the DFB logo being crossed out.

Patches: "Addicted to women ⚢", FFC Frankfurt logo

Belt: Frauen-Bundesliga Meisterschale (trophy) buckling the lesbian flag (the pink-orange one)

Fused Frankfurt (2020-) - she/her (FFC), he/him (Eintracht)

This fusion happened when FFC Frankfurt (the club/team) joined forces with Eintracht Frankfurt and became Eintracht's women's team. FFC is absorbed into Eintracht's body, while FFC's body dies and is buried. These two are highly self-assured personifications with rich histories, so conflict is inevitable.

FFC at first is more dysphoric, but as her features start creeping into his body, Eintracht starts to grow more stressed with the changes too.

To be specific, Eintracht's pale skin becomes more tan, his straight hair gets wavier, his wider jaw narrows, his nose widens, his heavy eyelids are gone, his eyes change shape, his body grows curvier on the bust and posterior, and he grows a little taller. Basically, they're getting closer to FFC's features.

They take a while to get used to sharing a body and compromising on what they make or buy (as in, belongings), time used to control the body, gender affirmation (e.g. voice training, binding chest), and so on. Since Eintracht Frankfurt has been through this and is friends with other plural people (FSV Frankfurt, Hamburger SV), he has advice from close friends (and later on, FSV reconciles with FFC).

FFC doesn't like Eintracht's long hair, so she'd prefer to put it in an updo, and she hates having a beard, so Eintracht keeps just the sideburns or shaves it all. She also doesn't share his love for jewelry.

Eintracht doesn't want to dress modestly like FFC, he wants more jewelry, more masculine style, and showing more skin, so they're wearing this blouse with a low neckline, even though he's extremely distressed about his growing bra size and thigh+hip circumference.

SV Darmstadt 98 - she/her

You know, people call someone who is pale "lily white" so I'm giving Darmstadt medium brown skin. Eintracht Frankfurt (pre-fusion) is the one who fits that description, ironically ;p

warning: mentions of transphobia, nonbinary-phobia, slurs, and death (unrelated)

I didn't really think about eastern German clubs besides Union Berlin for "Freunde hinter Stacheldraht". But now, I'm far more interested in them! I thought it's an interesting tension between the disillusion that drives many in the former DDR into extremist/fascist ideology... the fans being like that, and the personification of their favourite clubs not being the "perfect" cis straight white guys that they probably expect.

Carl Zeiss Jena (until 2020) - she/her

Ah, Carl Zeiss Jena, the 2nd division women's club whose men's team is in an even lower division, but the fusion is so interesting to me that I had to make a design and story for her.

Being affiliated to the Zeiss optical company, of course I had to give her glasses. The cat's eye glasses is shaped like her crest somewhat. She has dark blue hair, almost black, and yellow eyes, like the club colors. To contrast the hourglass shaped Energie Cottbus (who also has yellow eyes), she has dark skin and a rectangle shaped body.

She dresses like it's the 1960s because it's just cool to me, no deep reason or anything.

She prefers to have short hair.

FF USV Jena (until 2020) - she/her

The women's club who fused with/was absorbed into Carl Zeiss Jena due to COVID-related financial problems, has been preparing herself to die. She made a will, advance directive, everything.

She wears a combination of flowers (a botanical marvel in the city, and Carl Zeiss Jena's symbol), plus the butterflies (symbolizing death and transformation). To contrast the atheist CZ Jena, FF USV is religious, specifically a hellenic polytheist. She has the inverted torch, which is a symbol of Thanatos.

Her hair is dark brown, but dyed/bleached a lighter brown. Her eyes are a purplish dark blue (purple crest, blue jersey). Her build is fatter and curvier than CZ because of the wider crest.

She dresses like it's the 2000s because it's just fun to me. Although I think it's rare for her to wear clothes that expose a lot of skin like this one. This is just her summer clothes. Otherwise she'd wear like a turtleneck under her top.

She likes growing her hair out really long.

Carl Zeiss Jena (2020-) - she/her

The fusion result combines both Jena traits, the nose is both wide and long, and a tall, curvy build. She has naturally dark brown hair (bleached and dyed silver) and light brown skin, with one eye being yellow and the other being blue. Still needs glasses though. B:P

Jena suddenly feels like she wants to grow out her hair like USV, but CZ's desire for short hair is still in her, too...

Hansa Rostock - he/they

Friendless Jerk Extraordinaire. Being queer and trying their best to deny it gives them constant tension in life.

Hansa's quite fashionable here because SC Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund have dressed him up for his dating endeavor xD Otherwise, he would've just worn a T-shirt and jeans and beanie, and even cover his face with an ultras-like mask, like in Alle Mann Over Board. Still hasn't got the will to take care of their curls, though. Tragic :(

Hansa Rostock and Energie Cottbus are both nonbinary (Rostock is agender/genderless, Cottbus is unlabeled/questioning) and androgynous (in the "minimalist" way, instead of the "maximalist" way that St. Pauli presents themself), and here they both even wear cross-shaped neckwear!

They are an extremely toxic pair who will not hesitate to call each other slurs. They often fight even when they're "dating"... I mean, being deeply in denial, so basically Hansa is like "I'm totally a real normal manly man" and Energie is like "I'm happy to be a woman I'm so cis and straight" even though Energie is also sort of sapphically connected to VfL Osnabrück.

Energie is probably one of Hansa's first pick for the "blindly dating all the 'girls' among personifications".

Hansa Rostock being genderless is basically him thinking, "clubs have no gender, so I don't have a gender either, but unlike those personifications, I accept being a man because I have a ~male body~. I accept if people use 'they/them' because that's what normal people call football teams" (author's note: They do not actually accept being a man... it is a big part of their unhappiness.)

Dynamo Dresden - he/him

Dynamo's hair is based on his crest, naturally. His fancy clothes is based on the Baroque and Rococo architecture in the city. Thank you to neonmice for the inspiration! The contrast between the punk hair and handsome outfit is a fun one ;D

He has an hourglass, broad-shouldered build, and red-gold eyes with gorgeous thick eyelashes, in contrast to the scrawny Hansa Rostock whose eyes are never visible.

Also he's a trans man because I want him to be trans. Also I want him to be super masculine in a pretty way.

Union Berlin - he/him

His style is inspired by "Queen of German Punk" and club-anthem singer Nina Hagen, with the knightly chainmail and morningstar from his mascot, Ritter Keule. He's androgynous to make him stand out amongst the other "Ossis".

Union is wearing green, white, and black piercings, which are the colors of Gladbach.

Bundeslihaha deep lore trivia: Union Berlin is naturally a brunet, as per "Freunde hinter Stacheldraht"! (Though other parts of that story will be changed for Loose Canon.) He bleaches his brown hair into an almost platinum blond.

1 FC Magdeburg - she/her

The brutal fans and brutalist city, inspired by neonmice also (much thanks to them), and also a feminine style as explained in the battle of the gay posse... Techwear is cute and sexy for her pear shaped build. And naturally, it's practical (lots of pockets to carry stuff!) The half-white and half-blue elements are based on her crest, of course. Her bangs are also M-shaped.

Magdeburg has piercings in yellow, blue, and red - the colors of the Axis of Evil (Braunschweig, Mannheim, Frankfurt).

Energie Cottbus - they/them

Energie Cottbus has curly hair because it's rare in the group (only Magdeburg has it), so yeah! The undercut and eyebrows has two cuts/lines just like their crest. Their eyes and hair is yellow/gold/blond because of the crest's laurels.

As discussed in the Hansa Rostock section, I want Energie (and Hansa) to be masculine-of-centre. Cottbus and Rostock do not pursue medical transition, they like their bodies the way they are. Well, except Cottbus is far more confident about it. Hansa on the other hand thinks he's not manly enough because of his sparse facial hair and thin build and other shit he hears from the "manosphere".

I thought Cottbus is a constantly questioning person, considering their fans are swinging between hardcore neo-nazism and trying to fight back against it, so their political views, gender, tastes, etc. is all over the place. They try to be kind and good, though it doesn't work so well at times with their explosive temper, their environment, and also hanging out with Mx. Hansa "wir kriegen euch alle" Rostock.

Cottbus also joins the unethical (but probably funny to the personifications xD) "What will Hansa Rostock come out as?" betting pool, and bets that they're going to come out as a trans woman. I thought it's an interesting idea that Hansa would judge Energie, not just for "failing" to be a woman, but also for "not going all the way" to be more masculine and distance themself from their assigned gender (e.g. wearing a binder, taking testosterone HRT, etc.) and Energie would think that Hansa is so cruel to them specifically because he's the one who "wants to go all the way". (Because transphobia makes no sense.)

To contrast the also-yellow eyed CZ Jena, Energie has light skin. And also, they have an hourglass build like Dynamo Dresden.

Turbine Potsdam - she/her

This is a really fun brush to use tbh. I tried to do an art study of a tumblr artist I like, but their style is really hard to do with a disability like this, so.. like, i've always wanted to do art studies soooo bad all the time. but. well. happy disability pride month everyone!

Bonus: Richard Bornheimer's depression haircut

It's very uneven because he just can't care anymore. I might edit it to be messier later. Saskia is here for him the way he was there for her after the women's team's disbandment.